One Month Old

The face I get when she is starving

Loving the steam from the shower

Nice and clean after her bath

Hali holding her baby sister "Sesli" (the only time she has held her at home)

Listening to Daddy's advice

Grandma and her girls

The famous 'Presli pucker'

Her hands are always by her face

Again with the pucker

Happy with a full tummy

Mama's sweet girl

She really likes her swing

Our sweet Presli is one month old today, and I am already sad she is growing up so fast. Here are some fun things we have learned about our new addition this past month.

-She loves her head rubbed (and we sure love rubbing that fuzzy little head).
-Her right tear duct is clogged on her eye (just like Hali's was). I am always cleaning it so it looks pretty sore. When she wakes up in the mornings it is always stuck, I hate it!
-She LOVES to be held, and loves her back patted.
-She has an awesome mullet with just a little on top, and a good amount in the back. Her hair is darker (more black) than Hali's was, but like her sister's is extremely curly.
-She doesn't really like to be swaddled and always wants her hands right by her face.
-She nurses like a champ and eats every three hours or sooner.
-Her lips are always puckered.
-She will be completely asleep and just out of nowhere will just cry as loud as she can and will be asleep one second later.
-She likes her binki, but will not take it when she is really hungry.
-She looks more like her mom as a baby where Hali has always looked more like her dad. She is a Barney baby.
-She does like the swing and has taken some very long naps in it (like four hour naps).
-She loves to sleep in our bed. Anybody who knows me knows that it is my rule that our kids don't sleep in our bed, but while she is so young I am allowing it for the last stretch of the night (5am-8am). Let's face it at that point I am just too tired to care!
-In her short life she has already traveled about 25 hours in the car and did great.
-She is always sticking out her little tongue and smacking her lips.

We just love this little girl so much! She is such a good baby, and we feel very blessed and lucky to have her in our family.

Four Week Whirlwind!

I cannot put pictures up right now because it won't work, but before I get too overwhelmed with being behind on updating I thought I would just give a quick update of our lives these last four weeks.

First, we welcomed our sweet Presli to the family (as you already know from Travis' updates). Second my Grandpa Barney passed away the same day Presli was born. He was an amazing man and we will miss him very much. When Presli was only two days old we traveled to Richfield so we could make it to the funeral.

The following week was full of trying to adjust to two kids, lots of Dr. appointments while trying to recover from the weekend trip and a c-section (thank goodness my mom was here to help).
Next I braved heading to San Diego for a whole week for the anual October vacation. Everybody was very helpful with both of the girls and we had a great time, but it is always nice to be home.

This is my first week home alone with the girls and we are just trying to get back into some sort of routine. Hali is very kind to her sister and always says "oh she's cute", however, she is very sensitive when Presli crys. Generally when one is crying it is pretty much a given that very shortly they will both be crying. I am hoping with time she will get out of this stage. The hardest part about it all is that I am unable to pick up Hali. I knew this would be a challenge even before having Presli, but I never thought I would struggle with it so much. How do I explain to my 22 month old that I can't hold her, but then I pick up the baby? She has had a hard time understanding that mommy has an 'owie' that makes it so I can't pick her up. However, only a couple more weeks and hopefully we will have some sort of normalcy again.

I have taken so many cute pictures of our family so I will get them up as soon as I can!

I Love My Grandpas

Presli already loves her grandpas, and I think they are quite fond of her too!!

My Girls(Lindsey didn't even know I know how to do this)

Check out these girls. They totally rock. I am totally happy to have these three girls in my life. They are the best and I love them a ton. Lindsey you are so tough, you always amaze me. Hali makes me laugh, and Presli already has me around her tiny finger. These girls are so awesome, and I am so happy to have them in my life!!! Love you!!!

Love, Travis and "Dad"

Presli has entered the buidling!!

Presli made her grand entrance Wednesday September 23, 2009 at 9:41 a.m. She was 19 inches long and 7.4 lbs. She is so adorable, we are really excited to have her.

Baby Sister is Coming!

The date is set, Presli will be here September 23rd! I am scheduled for a C-section just one short week from today; unless of course she decides to make her debut before then. We will keep you posted...

22 Months Old

ALL ABOUT HALI
*She is really into ‘owies’ and trying to find the ‘owies’ she doesn’t have. She will also find owies on us just so she can kiss it and say “all better”
*This girl can hide like nobody’s business. We have had many scares at the Hoopes’ house when she all of a sudden disappears (it is a little more nerve racking there because of the pool). Every time it takes at least 6 adults 10 minutes to find her. When you do find her, she is just as still and as quiet as can be with a big grin on her face just listening to everybody panic calling her name. She thinks it is hilarious. One of her favorite places to hide in anybody’s house is in the closet she scoots back behind the clothes hanging (yeah she is good!)
*Loves to pretend to be a cat. She crawls on her hands and knees and won’t talk, but meows and squeaks like a little kitty. She will also come up to your leg and lick you. We have no idea where she picked up on this, because we don’t have a cat nor does anybody we know, but it sure is funny.
*Love books, and will sit in her room pulling every book off the shelf looking through all the pages for a very long time.
*Loves any animal especially cats, dogs, and birds. We go to the pet store weekly just to see the animals. She squeals with excitement as she runs around looking at each animal.
*Has never really liked movies, but has always loved the baby Einstein videos. Her favorite is the ‘Baby Noah’ which she calls “animals.” However, the last time we drove to Richfield I put in Bugs Life (because we were so tired of listening to the Baby Einstein music) and she has loved it ever since. Now she will actually ask to watch “Bugs.”
*Isn’t really into TV shows with the exception of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves Mickey and sings all of the songs when she watches. However, just lately she has started getting into Dora, or as she calls it “Dooda” (I’m not really sure how she knows about it, but she sure picked up on it fast)
*Loves to color right now! For so long I have tried to get her to color but she was never really interested until now. Now she will say “please mommy” when she finds paper, very cute.
*Hali has been able to sing her ABC’s with very good accuracy since she was 18 months. I was quite impressed! I would love to take the credit, however, it was actually Leap Frog that taught her. We have the magnet Leap Frog ABCs that go on the fridge that she loves to play with and sing the ABCs with.
*At 20 months she started counting to 10 without repeating or missing any numbers. She loves to count anything and everything.
*LOVES to sing. Anybody who knows Travis knows he is always singing a song, and it has definitely rubbed off on her. She has her favorites like “Bubble” and “Wheels on the Bus” and “Old MacDonald” that she will request us to sing with her.
*Loves to push the shopping cart whenever we go to a store, especially at Costco.
*Still LOVES her blankie and binki, but not for too much longer. We will be getting rid of the binki when the baby is a couple of months old (I’m really not looking forward to those days, any advice?)
*She has begun the temper tantrums; oh my, I think we may be in for it. She can be sweet as can be, and with the flip of a switch she is another child. We are still experimenting on the proper way to deal with the tantrums. She is getting better at standing in the Naughty Corner by her self now.
*Whenever she is asked where something or someone is her response is always the same “he’s hiding”
*She is terrified of nail clippers. Not only will she not let me clip her fingernails and toenails, but she cries when she watches us do it to ourselves. Whenever she sees a pair of them she will cry and call it an “owie.”
*She covers her mouth so cute when she coughs, and when she giggles – it’s adorable.
*LOVES the water, and would hang out in the bathtub or in Grandma & Grandpa’s pool all day if we let her. She has become quite the little swimmer this summer. The only scary thing is that she thinks she can swim even without her floaties and won’t hesitate to jump in without them. She has no fear when it comes to water (but I sure do!)
*Is finally a great sleeper she goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes up at 9:30 (sometimes 10:00) then has a 2 ½ hour nap in the afternoon.
*Knows all of the places in town where she can get a free balloon (Harmons, Roberts, Red Robin) and points them out every time we drive by.
*Loves to get “pop” (popcorn) whenever we go to Target and again mentions it every time we drive by.
*Travis always honks as he comes home while Hali and I wait out on the porch. She gets so excited whenever she hears him and waves and claps her hands like crazy (the cutest thing ever!) She sure loves her daddy.

Animal sounds
Cat, dog, horse, cow, donkey, rooster, chicken, monkey, snake, bird, lizard (sticks out tongue), fish (makes fish face), skunk (plugs her nose and says ‘pee-you’), whale, dolphin, frog, lion, tiger…..and the list keeps growing

Nicknames: ‘Bug’ (by everybody), Hals (Aunt Shellee), Hal-er (Grandpa Hoopes), Halster (Dadddy)
Favorite Book: Go Dog Go, Hand Hand, Fingers, Thumb
Favorite Song: Old MacDonald
Favorite phrases: “Oh man,” “Where’d it go? I no know. He’s hiding,” “Lookin (while she gasps and points)” meaning ‘look’, "Thanks mom/dad," "Wanna watch animals?", "Yes," "No thanks"

We sure love you little girl and can't imagine our lives without you!