Perry is TWO months old!

Perry Frances is TWO months old!  She is growing WAY too fast!

Perry had her 2-month doctor appointment a week before she turned 2 months old, and here are her growth stats:  

Weight:  12 pounds 8.5 ounces (87%)

Height:  24 inches (99%)

Head circumference:  16 inches (99%)

• She is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes.
• She wears a size 1 diaper and has been since she was about 2 weeks old.
• She eats about every 2.5-3 hours.
• She usually goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until 1 or 2 before she wakes up to eat. She will usually go back to bed until about 4:30 to eat again, and then wakes up off and on until we get her up for the day around 6:30. Many nights one of us has to take her out to the living room to sleep with her from about 5-6:30.
• We are experiencing the "witching hour" in a major way! Baby girl has been fussing all evening long and often will not eat before we put her down for bed because she is so upset. We are hoping she grows out of this soon. :)
• She is on somewhat of an eating schedule, but not even close to a napping schedule. We try to maintain an eat, wake, sleep cycle, but it's not always successful. I have tried having her nap in her pack-n-play a couple of times, and she will last about 30-45 minutes. Otherwise, I pretty much hold her for naps during the day, or she will nap in the car. We are working on putting her down for naps.
• She now sleeps in her pack-n-play at night! We made the transition from the rock-n-play about two weeks ago, and it's going well so far.
• She has decided that she HATES bottles. I don't know what happened. I am grateful that nursing is going so much better than before, but she refuses to take a bottle now. We need to work on that. :)
• She is still a spitter-upper and pretty much always spits up a lot after eating!!! It drives us nuts, but it doesn't seem to bother her most of the time.
• She like bath time now!
• She is a really good baby and hardly ever cries unless she is hungry or tired...not counting the witching hour, of course.
• She likes pat-a-cake, when mommy sings to her, and being in the car.
• This month she started "talking" and cooing, and it is SO adorable!

We ADORE you, Perry Frances!

Life lately on the iphone...

We have had an eventful past couple of weeks! Here are some highlights as captured on the iphone...

Perry had her first sleepover! Our air conditioning broke, so we escaped for the night to Mumsie and Popsie's house.

We went on our first family walk - at the mall. :) We are looking forward to FALL, so we can finally enjoy the outdoors more!

We went to the doctor, and Perry got snuggles from the amazing women who helped bring her into this world. We love Dr. Levin!

My bestie came to visit for a few days! Perry had so much fun meeting her Auntie Annie! She is a complete natural with babies and loved on my girl the whole trip. We spent a lot of time make-up free in our jammies, watching the Olympics, eating Shipley's and Torchy's Tacos, and catching up on life. It was the perfect visit. Please come back soon, Annie!!

We also went on our first outdoor walk and had a mini photo shoot in this adorable swaddle that Annie got her.

I could not resist this outtake. Perry is a spitter-upper, and this shot captured her mid-spit-up. Hehe!

We went to the lake for a day/night with some of my coworkers. It was so much fun showing Perry off to everyone! I was worried about how she would do on the trip - particularly, with the 2.5 drive, heat, and sleeping situation. She did great and was such a trooper! It was overcast and shady, so we could spend plenty of time with her outside. She even went on her first boat ride (for 5 minutes)!

We celebrated my sister's birthday, and Perry went swimming for the first time! Nothing beats spending time with family!!

Just some other pictures I found on my phone...

Smiles :)

There is simply nothing better than baby smiles!  A couple of weeks ago, we started getting real smiles from our girl, and it completely MELTS my heart every single time.  Her smile lets me know that she is happy, and that is what I will always want for her...simply, to be happy!  She doesn't give out smiles very freely, so I eat up each and every one. :)

We love you, baby girl! May you continue to exude JOY in all of your days!

Perry is ONE month!

Perry Frances is one month old!

Perry is wearing her Auntie B's bubble. :)

A few things about our girl:

• Perry loves being snuggled, and I don't mind one bit!  She is happiest when she is laying on John or me.  She particularly loves "tree-frogging" her daddy (laying on her tummy on his tummy with her arms and legs spread around his belly).  It's adorable!
• Perry is super alert!  She gets very focused on things and loves staring at her mommy and daddy.
• Perry is definitely a spitter upper.  This can be slightly frustrating, but I don't think it really bothers her much.  
• Perry does not like her bathtime.  But she sure does look cute in the hooded towels!
• Perry loves bottles!  We started giving her a bottle in the evenings before bed, and she guzzles them down.  John gives her the bottles, so it's a sweet bonding time for them.
• Perry does not like tummy time.  She usually spits up as soon as we put her down on her tummy. ;)
• Perry is eating about every 3 hours, give or take half an hour.  
• Perry usually sleeps for a good 6 hour stretch at night (from about 9-3), but not always.  We are thankful for the nights that she does though!  We are trying to start making her bedtime consistent around 8:00.
• Perry has been sleeping in the rock-n-play next to our bed up to this point.  Tonight we are attempting to transition her to the pack-n-play.  We may regret this decision!

Perry is absolutely perfect in every way!  Happy one month birthday (a day late), baby girl!!!

Perry's first few weeks!

We have a 4 week old!  Parenthood has been the most amazing and the most challenging thing we have ever done.  What an incredible adventure!  Here is a glimpse into Perry's first 4 weeks of life:

Perry's first bath!

Perry's first doctor's visit!  She has been to the pediatrician four times already, partially because mommy is a worrier. :)

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for a week!  It was so special introducing them to their granddaughter.  They were incredibly helpful while they were here - cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, and of course holding and snuggling our precious Perry!  We are so grateful for them and can't wait to go visit Milwaukee in a few weeks!!

I love this picture of Perry with all four of her grandparents! It will be rare occurrence that she gets to be around all of them at the same time, which makes it extra special!

We ventured off to Surfside for the 20th Preston family reunion!  This year we just went for the day so Perry could meet everyone and we could visit for a few hours.  On the way home, we stopped at an Arby's to change Perry and grab a quick bite.  When John came back out to the car, he casually let me know that I had poop on my face.  Welcome to motherhood!  It was kind of hilarious!

We went to Mumsie and Popsie's house for the first time to celebrate Georgia Kate's 3rd birthday!

We've also done a lot of snuggling :) Here are some of my favorite pictures of our girl from the last few weeks:

Perry may or may not have her mommy's gigantic feet!

This girl LOVES her daddy!

Perry meeting her Guinny for the first time. She is lucky enough to have three great-grandmothers!

We love you, sweet Pear Bear!