4 Months

Diaper Size: 1

Clothes Size: 3 months and 3-6 months

Eat: Breastmilk 7 times a day. With the extra breastmilk that I was giving her worked and boosted up her weight. The doctors did not suggest formula this time! So I will continue to do this. 

Sleep: She has been sleeping throughout the night (around 10/11 hours). Her bed time is 7:30pm. Occasionally, she is waking up earlier because she is teething. She has been a hard to get her to nap unless she is napping on Daddy or me. Usually I'll have to nurse her to sleep and it only last for 20-30 minutes. 

Play: She can roll over from tummy to back and is trying to roll over from back to belly (hasn't done it yet). 

Milestones: She started teething and tries to mimic us 

Likes: Loves her teething ring and the nursing/teething necklaces I wear. She likes to be bounced. 

Dislikes: Starting to not want to be in the swing as long as usual. She doesn't like to be left alone (like on the playmate) for too long. 

Personality: She is truly a happy baby. She smiles all the time! Daddy calls her a strong warrior because she doesn't cry much (unless she's hungry). She even took her 4 month shots like a champ and didn't even cry. However, she did get a low fever and had to be given Tylenol for the first time, which she was not a fan of. She is more of a day time baby and starts to get a little grouchy around 5pm. 

Dear Presley,

You are getting so big and strong! We love to see you grow, but we want to keep you as our baby forever. You had your first fever a couple days ago & we felt so bad. It was so cute seeing you take Tylenol though. You did not like it. It will be so cute seeing you try foods soon. This month you will see Santa Claus for the first time. I know you will get a lot of presents from him because you are so good! We love you so much!

Love, 

Mommy & Daddy

Presley's First Thanksgiving

Presley enjoyed her first Thanksgiving! Even though she didn't eat anything besides breast milk, she got to visit Daddy at work. An auxiliarist family from the base was so sweet and made the Thanksgiving meal for everyone who had to work. This was so thoughtful and it truly shows how the CG is a true family. 

She was so excited that she got to see where Daddy works and saw some of his coworkers. All of his coworkers loved her! 

Since John worked Thanksgiving we had our own family Thanksgiving the following day. Next year is going to be so memorable with Presley eating her first Thanksgiving meal. 

Angel Baby 1st Birthday

November 17, 2016 

Today would have been our angel's baby first birthday. I think about him/her every day. My life has changed so much since we lost our first baby. I learned how to appreciate every moment, no matter how hard the moment could be. I believe that is why when I got pregnant the second time I enjoyed it so much and was always happy. I know how it feels to loose someone so precious to you and no matter how hard a day was being pregnant I appreciated it.

It's hard to discuss the torn feelings that I have. If our angel baby would have been born we would not have our wonderful baby girl, Presley. I could not imagine life without her. Part of me feels bad saying that because that means our angel baby would not exist. It sounds very confusing. Maybe I am the only one who understands.

Presley will know about her angel brother/sister. Every year we will be sending off a balloon to wish him/her a happy birthday and she will be apart of it. I want her to know who she will meet many many years from now.  One day (far from now), we will all meet again in Heaven as a whole, united family.

Happy 1st Birthday, Angel! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

3 Months

Diaper Size: 1

Clothes Size: 0-3 and 3 months. The 0-3 are starting to get a little tight and short on her arms and legs. 

Eat: Breastmilk 7 times a day. We do a bottle (5oz) before bed and in the early morning. The remaining time she is nursing for about 15-20 minutes on each side. I started to give her the extra milk that I pump after nursing to try to boost up her weight, so when we go to the doctors for her four month appointment she will have gained more weight and I won't have to hear the doctors suggesting formula again. 

Sleep: She has been sleeping throughout the night (around 6 hours). However, now with the time change she is starting to wake up an hour earlier. Not a fan of this time change now. 

Play: She has gotten so much stronger this month. She can hold her head up for a LONG time. She has even started rolling over occasionally. 

Milestones: Laughs and smiles all the time. She rolls over occasionally and loves to sit and stand up. She has very strong legs. 

Likes: Being held and sleeping on us. She enjoys being taught how to roll over from stomach to back and back to stomach. She likes us talking back to her and having our conversations. 

Dislikes: She seems to only really want her pacifier for when she sleeps. Other than that, she doesn't want us giving it to her. 

Personality: She is very happy and active baby. She loves to cuddle and talk to us. She is doing things like rolling over that are early for her age. She even scared me at night when I saw her trying to roll from her back to stomach. She hasn't done that yet, but she will get there very soon. Need to get her the Halo sacks soon just in case. 

Beautiful baby girl

Dear Presley,

You are our pride and joy. You make us so happy every day. I feel so lucky and blessed that I can stay home with you and see you grow every day. There is something new that we learn about you every day. You are so strong! You love to stand and sit and have learned how to roll over. We started taking infant massage classes and you love the bonding that we have together during it. Maybe when you get older you will be a big helper and massage me too :) It bittersweet knowing that you are growing up, but you won't be my little baby forever. I love seeing you learn! Can't what to see what you learn next month. 

Love you always, 

Mommy and Daddy 

Presley's First Halloween

October 31, 2016

Today is Presley's first Halloween. Even though she won't remember it I surely will. She dressed up as a cute little ghost :) We started our family tradition with watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." We even got a huge surprise with Daddy coming home to celebrate with us!

All of us sat outside and gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters. I am looking forward to taking her next year trick-or-treating.

2 Months

• Diaper Size: Newborn and 1. We are in between the two sizes. The NB are little too snug, but the size 1 diapers are a little too big. We have some NB to finish up, so once we finish those we will just move to size 1. 
• Clothes Size: 0-3
• Eat: Breastmilk 7 times a day. We do a bottle (5oz) before bed and in the early morning. The remaining time she is nursing for about 15-20 minutes on each side.
• Sleep: She has been sleeping throughout the night (around 6 hours), but still occasionally wakes up around 3am. She naps about 3 times a day for about an hour each time. 
• Play: She enjoys her play mats and the swing. She does enjoy tummy time. Started introducing her to the mirror with tummy time. She loves looking at herself. I am in the process of printing and creating the contrast cards and board. 
• Milestones: Sleeping throughout the night, she smiles and coos. She recognizes John and I (smiles occasionally when she sees us). 
• Likes: Holding onto Mommy's hair, being held, looking at herself in the mirror, clapping her hands and mommy singing to her. 
• Dislikes: Her pinkie falling out her mouth 
• Personality: She is a very happy baby. She smiles and has started finding her voice. 

Cutest lil pumpkin in the patch 

My pumpkin pie! 

Month 1 and month 2 

Dear Presley, 

It's amazing how much you change every day. We love to see you smile. You are such a beautiful young lady. Your personality is really starting to show. Mommy loves that you let her sleep throughout the night. You love to have your hands clapped and when Mommy sings to you. You are such a blessing to us and we can't wait to see you learn more things. 

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy 

1 Month

I can't believe our baby girl is already one month old!! It seems just like yesterday that I was pushing her out and meeting her beautiful face. This month has been challenging, but wonderful at the same time. I can say that we have finally mastered breastfeeding. She is latching on successfully and there is no longer any pain. Thank goodness! I truly love the bonding that we have with it. 

• Diaper Size: Newborn (but think we might have to go up soon)
• Clothes Size: Newborn 
• Eat: Breastmilk 6 times a day. We do a bottle (4oz) before bed and in the middle of the night (or early morning). The remaining time she is nursing for about 15-20 minutes on each side.
• Sleep: She has been sleeping throughout the night (around 6 hours), but still occasionally wakes up around 3am. She naps about 4 times a day for a couple hours each time. 
• Play: She enjoys her play mats and the swing. She does enjoy tummy time. Can't wait to start introducing different activities next month during tummy time. 
• Milestones: She can hold her head up for a long period of time. She is very alert and follows objects or people as they move. She has started reaching for objects and pulls and hits the object. She even holds on really well to mommy's hair :) Plus she started sleeping at night for a longer period of time (about 6 hours)
• Likes: Her binky, being swaddled, cuddling, the swing, car rides and bath time
• Dislikes: Being naked and when her binky falls out
• Personality: Starting to smile

One month out of the belly 

Presley with Grandpa 

Dear Presley,

You are our miracle baby. We love you so much. Every day we learn something new about you. You are growing so quickly. Please slow down :) We are blessed to have such a sweet and well behaved baby. Not sure how we got so lucky! We can't wait to see you grow and start calling us mommy and daddy. Please remember how much we love you and how we will do anything for you. 

Love Always,

Mommy and Daddy

Presley's Third Week

Presley's third week went better than expected. We had a doctors appointment to check her weight gain and she did better than I though. She went up 8 oz! All the pumping and late night feedings have paid off! I really did not want to supplement her feedings with formula like the doctor wanted me to. She is up to 3 oz of breast milk in each feeding, but I am sure if I gave her more she would eat that too. She has a big appetite like her momma. 

This week I've tried to feed her an extra ounce before bed in hopes to keep her sleeping a little longer at night and I think it helps. I can get around 4 hours of sleep before she starts to wake up. Our routine is getting better. I know it is still too early to have a straight 6-8 hours of sleep and I only dream of the day that I can have that. 

This week my dad came into town to see Presley. It has been nice having an extra set of hands, especially when John's been gone back to work. He has offered to take a night shift for me, but since I have to wake up to pump in the middle of the night it's hard to except it. But it has been nice knowing I can leave him to watch her while I try to catch up on some extras Z's.

I have noticed that Presley is getting stronger every day. She can hold her head up on her own for at least 10 seconds. I'm incorporating tummy time every day and can't wait until she can do more activities  with it. I have noticed some more personality traits coming in and she is smiling a lot more :) 

Here is a comparison to my baby picture and hers. I do think we look more alike than I thought. 

Presley's likes:

• Cuddle time
• Pacifier
• Bath time
• Feeding
• Swing

Presley's Dislikes:

• When her pacifier falls out

Presley's Second Week

Presley's second week has been great! She has been opening her eyes more and being more attentive. She also wants to be held a lot more. The bottle-feeding of the breast milk for the middle of the night feedings has been very helpful. I was lucky one day and she slept four hours straight! My breast milk has come in even more. Occasionally, I have been able to pump 3 oz total, but my usual amount is 2 oz.  I haven't been able to pump enough to freeze the breast milk, but hopefully soon I will be. 

We go to the doctors next Thursday and our goal is for her to gain at least 5 ounces. She didn't gain their expected amount and they want me to start supplementing formula. I really don't want to do that, so I am going to try to feed her more and hopefully produce more milk. However, if I don't gain the goal amount I might have to consider it. She is having regular bowel movements, but I will do what is best for her. Wish me luck that she gains the weight and won't have to introduce formula. 

A big accomplishment this week was her umbilical cord fell out. Now, bath time will get a little easier. Not sure if she is going to have an innie or an outie belly button yet, but right now it is an innie. 

Such a daddy's girl already 

Having fun on the piano mat

Such a precious smile! 

Loves looking at her pretty self! 

Presley's likes:

• Be held
• Cuddle time
• Tummy time 
• Pacifier 
• Bouncer
• Bath time

Presley's Dislikes:

• Being changed
• Getting her blood drawn

Presley's First Week

I can't believe our baby girl is already one week old. Time sure does fly by and I hope it does not go too quickly. I'm cherishing every day with her. The first week has gone a lot more smoothly than I thought. It sure has been helpful with my supporting husband and wonderful mother here. 

She has been sleeping pretty good throughout the night. The first night at the hospital I only got two hours of on and off sleep. Not because she was crying, but because every noise she made I would wake up to and got a little nervous because she kept spitting up. Luckily, the spitting up only lasted that one night. 

We have figured out that if we feed her a bottle of breast milk before bed she will sleep around 4 hours straight before needing to be fed again. I decided that I will give her a bottle of the breast milk before bed and when she wakes up in the middle of the night. This reinsures me that she ate enough food and it helps her stay asleep longer. After I feed her in the middle of the night I will pump to keep my milk supply high. 

Breastfeeding hasn't been too easy. I thought it was going to be easier than it has been. I know it has only been a week, so I am hoping as she grows she will latch on quicker and better. It has been getting better, but just not where I need to be yet. Practice makes perfect I guess. 

Keeping a list of our feedings and dirty diapers has been very helpful. The only hard part is to remember to keep track when I feed her at night. When you are half asleep the last thing you remember to do is write something down. The lack of sleep hasn't been too bad. I try to sleep when she sleeps during the day. I just feel that she has her nights and days confused still. She sleeps a lot during the day and wakes up more at night. Hopefully as she grows she will be more awake during the day.

I have seen a lot of changes already in one week. Her eyes are more open and she is more alert. She enjoys tummy time and I am looking forward to creating some timmy time stations that we can work on each day. Her hair has gotten a little lighter and her personality is starting to appear. She likes to make noise when she sleeps and we say that she is singing to us :) She has already gotten taller too. She enjoys taking a bath. I am still a little nervous bathing her by myself, so I will wait to bath her when John is home. Right now, he is off for 14 days so it is very helpful. I'm hoping once her umbilical cord stump comes off I will feel a little more at ease. 

Overall, the first week has been great! The feeling of being a mother is amazing and I feel so lucky to have the chance to raise a wonderful and beautiful girl. 

Presley's first bath. She enjoyed it for the most part :)

Presley's likes: 

Her pacifier 

Bouncer

Tummy Time

Breast milk

Being held

Sleeping with her hands up

Presley's Dislikes:

Woken up to feed

Taking her clothes off

Presley with her Mema

Daddy and his little girl