Our Little Presli is One!

I can hardly believe we are already to this day. One year ago today my heart was both aching from the passing of my Grandpa Barney (one hour before I gave birth), but also exploding with happiness as we welcomed our sweet Presli into the world.

Presli has been a great baby from the second she was born. Great eater, great sleeper, and just all around happy. In fact the first night we had her home my mom was here helping us. That morning she came in saying "I'm sorry I didn't get up to help in the night, but I never heard her". Our reply was "neither did we" as she was still sleeping in her bed next to ours. She slept about 6 hours a night almost every night from the time we brought her home until six months (not sure what happened there, but she figured it out about three months later). She has always been so happy, mellow, and just easy going. The older she gets the more spunky and girly she is getting, but I think a lot of it comes from her sister's example. Hali has sure taught her how to hit the highest pitch scream possible and she is very good at it (they both are)! Here are some more fun things Presli does.

*Presli loves to talk on the phone, and pretends anything in her hand is a phone.
*She isn't talking a lot, but will occasionally say hello, bye-bye, uh-oh, mama, dada, and baba.
*She HATES to get dressed or have her diaper changed. The second she is on her back she is trying to roll over to get away while screaming the whole time.
*She loves to have baths with her sister.
*She has figured out how to torment her sister by taking whatever Hali is playing with and crawling away as fast as her little legs will take her.
*Trav and I fight over who gets to put her to sleep because she is SO easy. Just give her the binki, her tag blanket and she rolls over to her side and goes to sleep.
*She only has 3 bottom teeth (that she got at about 10 months old). However, I see 4 on top all working their way out (she has been feeling them too!)
*She is Mama's girl!
*She LOVES playing on mom and dad's bed with her sister. She just giggles, and rolls all over.
*She like to eat anything she can gum, but hasn't got to try a lot of real food because of the lack of teeth. Presli is done with baby food, and whenever she sees me get it out she shakes her head no. She turns her head away from me until I shove some in her mouth so she knows it tastes ok. We will both be happy when she gets more teeth, it will make meal time much more enjoyable for both of us.
*Presli's current tricks are giving five, shaking her head no, dancing to music, spitting when you say "Ew gross", riding on her sister's back like a cowgirl.

*She is not really interested in walking or standing, but I'm sure she will figure it out eventually.
*Presli's nicknames are Sessie Bean or Lillie Bean. When she was born Hali couldn't say Presli and instead said Sessie, Lillie is her middle name, and the bean just kind of went along with both I guess.

We just love this girl more and more everyday and can't imagine our lives without her. Happy 1st Birthday Sessie Bean!

We are having a party for her tomorrow so I will add more pictures later.

OCTOBER 2009

San Diego Trip

When Presli was just two weeks old we headed down to San Diego for the annual October trip. We had a lot of fun just relaxing, and spending time together. Hali loved playing in the sand on the beach and being around all the other kids. I enjoyed relaxing and bonding with my new baby. Hali got to go ice skating for the first time, and Travis competed in the San Diego Classic triathalon with Logan and his brother Tyler while we were there.

Presli One Month Old

So far... she is a great eater, a great sleeper, she loves her baths, and we just love her!

HALLOWEEN

This year for Halloween Hali was a lady bug and Presli was a little leopard. We went trick or treating at daddy's work (Kolob Care Center) and then went to the ward Trunk or Treat. Hali caught on quick to the trick or treating concept. She loved holding out her little pumpkin to get candy inside and made special requests for suckers quite often.

The best picture we could get of the both of them.

Showing off her cute little tail.

Quick update

I think it is about time to put an update on this blog. However, I know most of you have already given up on me. Thank you all for your advice for the computer. Unfortunately there was not much we could do to save the pictures. We took it to three different people to see what could be saved, however, we had no luck. On top of the computer crashing our hard drive was just overall bad (which contributed to the fact that we couldn't get much back) so we need to get a new one. I can't blog on my computer for two reasons 1-there are no pictures on it,, and 2-because it is so messed up it won't let me log onto blogger. Overall, it could have been much worse and I still have all of the pictures of my girls, but there are a lot of pictures that make me sick to think I have lost. Some of them being my monthly pregnant belly pictures of Hali, and the many trips Travis and I went on before we had kids. So that's that.

Enough about the computer I am now moving on. Because I hate doing things out of order I have decided I am just going to do monthly posts that go back a while just because there are too many important things that happened that I would hate to skip over. So stay tuned I promise there will be something worth looking at here soon...

I'M DEVESTATED!

This is an understatement to what happend to us two weeks ago. Our computer crashed and we lost EVERYTHING including almost all of the pictures of the 6 years of our lives together. Luckily I do have all of Hali's first six months and was very good about blogging many important events in her life, but still there are tonz of pictures that I will never see again. I cried for days and still have a hard time when it is brought up. The reason I am sharing this is if any of you happen to come across pictures of our little family I would love it if you would share them with us. Let me know, and let this be a lesson to you all to back up your pictures.

Five Months Old

Our little Presli is already 5 months old, time is flying by. She is such a fun little baby who always has a smile for you, we just love her so much!

PRESLI FACTS at FIVE MONTHS OLD

*You know Presli is mad when she starts blowing raspberries when she is crying. It is often to her detriment because it is just so cute we often watch her cry a little longer than we normally would.
*She loves her binki and won't go to sleep without it.
*She likes to suck her thumb, but has recently found that she loves to suck on her big toe even more.
*She loves to roll to her stomach but has forgotten how to roll to her back so she gets stuck and very frustrated.
*She still LOVES to be swaddled. A lot of times she doesn't like to sleep in her carseat because she has to much room. So now we tuck the blanket as tight as we can around her so she feels that comfort.
*She is sleeping in her crib now (I like to keep them by me for the first few months). However, our great through the night sleeper has now decided to wants to see us in the middle of the night at least once and sometimes three times. Little stinker!
*She loves her sister, and smiles and giggles at everything she does.

She just went to the doctor last week (for her 4 month) and here are her stats:

Weight: 12.56lbs (11th percentile)

Length: 24.75 (47th percentile)

She is a little bean long and skinny. Very fitting considering we often call her Presli Bean. She brings so much joy to our lives and always has a smile for us. We love you Seslee!!

This was the first time Hali ever asked to hold Presli. It lasted about as long as it took to take the picture.

Presli with some of her friends.

She has always loved cuddling with her daddy.

Finally sleeping in her crib

St. George Parade of Homes

This has to be my favorite room of the house. One day my girls will have a room that looks something like this one.

I would love to do laundry in this beautiful room

This is the room that can either be opened or closed off by the barn door, such a cool idea!

Beautiful master

I want that bathtub!

I wish I could say this is my house, but it's not. It is however, two lots away from my house, and the house my father in-law 'Hoopes Construction' built for the 2010 St. George Parade of Homes. This is his first time ever doing a Parade house and I think he started out with a bang! As you can see it is BEAUTIFUL. The pictures speak for themselves, if you love the French country style then you will appreciate this house. There were a lot of very talented people who worked together to make this house happen. Shawn Patten was the architect who came up with the clever barn door idea, Dan Hoopes the builder made it all happen, and Herritage Home and Garden were the decorators who added the beautiful details. These are only a few of the pictures taken from this house so to see more go to hoopesconstruction.com. Oh and if you are looking to build a house, get a lot by us we would love to have you as neighbors, and Cottam Fields is a great location, we love it!

Presli Laughing

I have so much to update it has become very overwhelming, but I need to post something current so here is a video of our now 4 month old Presli laughing (wow time flies!)

4 Fun Facts about Presli

*She slobbers more than any baby I have ever known. We go through many bibs and outfits in a day.

*On January 20th she officially rolled from her back to her belly.

*She is a very good baby, and really always has been (I know everybody says that, but she really is, trust me I have had a baby on the other end of the spectrum.)

*She already has a couple nicknames "Seslee" and "Lillie Bean" (Hali has always called her Seslee because she can't pronounce her name and it has kind of stuck.)

A cool story by my famous husband...

I can't get the video to work on my blog, but here is the link check it out.

http://www.kcsg.com/news/local/82759557.html

Travis LOVES his job mostly because he really enjoys working with the residents at Kolob Care and Rehab. In talking to many of these residents he has found that there are many simple dreams they would like to accomplish before they die. He has talked to me about helping them fulfill these dreams for a while now. So of course he has set out a mission to help accomplish as many dreams as he is able to. When he heard that this man's dream was something he could help with, he was more than thrilled to see it through. So one down and many many more to go...

Way to go Trav!
Check out the blog http://www.makinglifecomplete.blogspot.com/

Backtracking!

I am going back in time over the last 4 months. Too many exciting things have happened to us to just not blog about them. It is for my own personal journaling purposes. Enjoy...

Presli Lillie Hoopes

38 1/2 weeks pregnant and ready to pop!

Just before going into surgery, last belly picture at exactly 39 weeks.

Presli's first picture, only seconds old.

Nice and clean after her first bath

So excited to hold my baby even though I am feeling sick

First picture with mommy and daddy in the recovery room.

Our good friends had their baby just two days after us, so we visited them before we left the hospital.
All ready to go home (well to drive to Richfield)
Watching cartoons with mommy
So tiny in daddy's hands
Hali's gift from baby Presli, she loved it!

On September 23, 2007 at 9:41 our sweet 7lb 4oz and 19in baby girl joined our family. Getting her here was a much less painful and stressful process than Hali. To begin with we chose a day and marked the calendar for when she would arrive. That in of itself was great! She was due Sept 30, so I got to skip a whole week of pregnancy.

We went into the hospital at about 7:30 and my c-section was scheduled for 9:00. I got my IV, filled out all the paperwork and didn't wait long before they had me walking down to hall to where I would be having my baby. Such a different experience than my first delivery! I was pretty calm throughout the whole morning, but as I was walking to the operating room I started to get a little nervous. I was without Travis throughout the beginning procedures so that didn’t help. Even though this was my second c-section this was the first one I would remember. With Hali, after 17 hours of labor my epidural was no longer working. We needed to get her out because I had a fever and they were worried about Hali getting an infection, so they had to put me completely out. Sadly, I don't remember her birth. So with Presli I was just hoping and praying everything would work with the anesthesia so I would be able to see and hear her when she was born.

I received my spinal and was surprised that I literally felt nothing before he said I was done and I could lie down. That was the easy part. They laid me down and I could feel my feet starting to get warm. I wasn't really sure how long it should take for me to be completely numb so I was getting a little worried that as they were prepping me and I could still feel it. My doctor knew I was really worried about this so he assured me he would make sure I was extra numb before he started. My paranoia comes from the fact that when I went into my c-section with Hali they started pinching me for the surgery and I could feel everything they were doing, so I started freaking out and so they put me to sleep.

They tested to make sure I was numb and began. Once they had started they let Travis come in and that calmed me down a lot. I was surprised with how quick it went, and how much tugging and pulling I could feel. It felt like they were pulling her from my chest, and I didn't like that feeling at all. I also had to finally close my eyes because they kept hitting the sheet (because they were pulling quite hard) in front of my face, and at some point I saw fluid spray onto the sheet! At that time I just kept my eyes closed and concentrated on breathing until I heard her cry. Later Travis said to me "you were so out of it during the whole thing, you kept opening and closing your eyes." I told him I wasn't out of it, I just didn't need a visual as to how much force they were putting into getting her out. There were a couple of times that I felt so nauseous I wanted to throw up. Finally, I heard the little gurgled cry and I think I was in shock. It was the best sound I have ever heard in my life! My doctor tried to hold her up over the sheet so I could see her, but all I saw was her little wrinkled forehead. It was such a neat experience to be awake for all of it, but it also made me feel really sad that I missed out on all of that with Hali! I was surprise to hear she was only 7lb 4oz. I wasn't expecting her to be that much smaller that Hali who was 8lbs.

When Travis brought her over to me I was surprised to see she looked a lot like Hali. However, I think that is really the only time I have seen her sister in her. The older she gets the more Barney she gets in her. After she was born Travis went with her to get checked out and I headed to the recovery room. I was feeling quite good after, just SO thirsty! After about a half hour Travis brought her into me and I couldn't believe how small she was. She nursed instantly which was such a blessing since Hali was never great at nursing. After taking a couple pictures in the recovery room we headed up to my room. Just being wheeled down the halls in the bed made me so nauseous.

When I got to my room our whole family was there including Hali. She wasn't really sure what was going on and she got very scared when she saw me hooked up to things, and sick. I told Travis I wanted to be there when she saw her sister for the first time. She was being very shy and wasn't really sure what to think about Presli, but only because I think she was worried about me.

It was after only being in my room for a couple of minutes that I asked my parents about how my Grandpa Barney was doing (he had been hospitalized just the day before) that I found out he had passed away only one hour before Presli was born. They knew when we called them to come to the hospital just before my surgery, but didn't want to ruin my experience. I know the timing was no coincidence. There is no doubt in my mind that my grandpa wanted to see his new great grand-daughter before she left for this earth to give her a big hug and kiss, tell her she is a 'good kid' and send her on her way. I like to think she has a special bond with my grandpa because the day he left this earth is the day she entered. Presli's middle name Lillie is after my Grandpa Barney's mom Lillie.

Having Presli in our hospital room with us throughout my stay was surreal. It was so nice to not have to get out of bed and get wheeled to another floor to the NICU to see, hold and feed my baby! Hali would come and visit periodically until she would get bored in our tiny room. She liked Presli, but was still nervous about me being in the bed.

With Hali I stayed in the hospital 4 days, but with Presli I left after two and a half days because I really wanted to go to my grandpa's funeral in Richfield. I knew it would be rough, but I didn't want to miss it. So two days after my c-section we basically left the hospital and headed to Richfield. That whole weekend was a blur because of the medications I was on, but I am so glad I went!

This c-section was a little rougher for me to recover from, but I think a big part of that was the fact that I traveled right after having her and then we went on vacation to San Diego when she was only two weeks old. So I never really got to just lay in bed to rest and recover.

Presli has been such a sweet spirit in our home. She is such a good baby and we are just thrilled to have her here with us happy and healthy!