PRESLEY GIRL IS 8 MONTHS

My Pres-babe is 8 months old today. 

If I had things my way, I'd sit and snuggle this girl all day long, everyday. She's just that sweet! 

She is rare and beautiful. 

She's currently going through a phase where she's crying if she's not held. 

She's got the cutest dragging crawl. She's starting to pull herself up and stand up while holding onto things. 

Her brother is her most favorite person. She crawls towards him any chance she gets and tries to get a hug but sadly he's not so friendly at the moment. She smiles at him all the time and sometmes he makes her laugh, and hes the only one that can make her laugh! 

She is on the move 24/7, never sitting still, even on my lap. 

Peek a boo can almost always get a smile out of her. 

"Crying it out: is definitely not an option for her because she will cry for hours. I've tried it so many times and it just doesn't work with her! Kai would always cry it out in less than 30 minutes which made things easy :) Pres is always very determined to get her way though, and it's so cute. 

If she sees any kind of plastic bag in sight, she won't stop until she gets her hands on it. 

She looks so much like Kolby to me, but everyone says she's my little twin. 

She is so happy when she first wakes up in the morning, instantly smiling when her eyes open. There is nothing I love more than waking up to that cute fuzzy head. 

She won't play with baby toys and constantly tries so hard to get a hold of my keys and phone. 

She is my happiness! We sure love you Pres-bug. Thanks for making all of our dreams come true baby girl!

12 THINGS

Gosh these two just kill me! I've said it 1000 times and I'll say it once again, I am the luckiest mama in the whole world.

So 12 random things right now...

1. I finally fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans and am back to my old weight, so all is well in the world.
2. I've only got 2 more weeks of working full-time, and then I get to be back at home with my favoritest people all day!
3. I got the best text ever from my mom this week saying that we are planning a family trip to Hawaii in June to visit my grandparents. YAY!!! Kai, Presley, and Kolby can finally meet my cute Japanese grandma!!
4. I get temporarily depressed when the cold suddenly hits and summer is over. Can we move to Hawaii....
5. Can The Bachelor just start yet?!! I'm dying over here.
6. I don't know what it is about my baby girl lately but I just wanna hold her all day long and never let go. I can't wait to experience life with her.
7. I usually end the day with a big (we're talking 3 cups) bowl of French Silk Kroger brand ice cream. It's the creamiest most delicious ice cream ever!
8. Does anyone else think Mike Posner's song "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" sounds exactly like Savage Garden?!
9. One thing I do love about fall is all of the yummy soups I get to make...with copious amounts of bread to go with them :) Creamy tomato tortellini soup, broccoli cheese soup...GIMME ALL THE SOUP!
10. I'm one of those people who LOVES Halloween. My husband HATES it. But I still make us dress up every year :) I am getting some things together for our costumes and pretty excited! I found some great stuff at the thrift store this weekend and am SO excited to be my favorite character ever! I'm also so so excited to take Kai trick-or-treating! This will be his first time doing it and I know he will love it. I might love it more though ;) #immakidatheart
11. I found a Cars Lightning Mcqueen backpack for Kai and he loves it. He wears it whenever we go somewhere and it's just the cutest!
12. Last Fall we went to Banff, Canada when I was pregnant with Pres. We had a blast and I'm dying to go back. I can't believe Pres was a tiny thing in my belly a year ago! And that Kai had just started walking and was the cutest little 1 year old...I wanna go back in time. Looking through these pics from 1 year ago makes me want to book a trip back there right now.

SO LONG SWEET SUMMER

If you can tell me the song that inspired the title of this post, then you are my kind of folk :)

It's the end of summer and I feel like we didn't do enough hiking and exploring (but then again can you ever do enough?)

Here are some of our summer highlights:

-our week in Hawaii with Kai, exploring the jungle and laying on the beach
-hiking to the hot pots twice
-time with family in Texas
-hiking Mt. Timp
-lots of days spent at the park

It may not be as an adventurous summer as I had hoped, but Kai and Pres are still little and it's hard to hike with TWO of them. We sure tried though! We might do a little trip to Zion's national park when I finish my work training, if I can talk Kolby into it ;)

I'm just finishing my third week (out of 6) weeks working full time and things are crazier than ever, hence why I've been so awol lately.  I can't wait until I'm only working 1 shift a week and can spend time with my little loves all day at home.

Kai is starting to put little sentences together and copying a lot of words we say. Today he said "watch Dora mama". (watch Dora with mama). He is obsessed with Dora the Explorer and gets SO excited when I put it on. He sings along to the theme song and it's pretty dang cute.

Pres is almost 8 months old and I think she's teething because she drools a ton and loves to chew on things, especially this Nuby pacifier! If your babies won't take a pacifier and you want them to, I recommend trying this one because it's a different shape than most of the other brands out there. It also makes a great chew toy for babies...Pres seriously loves to chew on it all day. It's silicone and BPA-free. It also has a space in it where you can attach a pacifier clip. YAY for good pacifiers!!

NURSE BY DAY, MAMA BY NIGHT

Even though I love staying at home with my babies more than anything in the world, sometimes I get a little stir-crazy at home with them and my brain craves a little intellectualism. I'm always keeping an eye out for nursing jobs that would work with my REAL job, which is being a mom. And I think I found one!

I already work a few hours a week for a home health company, and now I'm starting a new job as a nurse case manager at the hospital, which I'm so excited about. I was shocked when I got the job offer and can't wait to get back in the hospital setting and live my Grey's Anatomy fantasy...haha just kidding, but really I'm excited to be back doing my nurse thing. And the extra income doesn't hurt :) I have to train  full time for 6 weeks, and then after that I can pick up shifts whenever I want, and I plan to work 1 day a week when Kolby can stay home with the kids. It's perfect!

These last few days of working and starting my new job have been chaos. For all you mamas who work full time and have babies and somehow stay sane, I don't know how you do it! Major props. I miss Kai and Pres so dang much while I work! My job will always come second to them. They will always come first in my life, they are my everything!

My babies are growing too fast and the only way I know how to cope with it is by taking a million pictures of them. Here's a few we snapped on our walk the other day while visiting a friend: (still can't figure out why they look so blurry when I upload them to this blog :(

He was so interested in this tiny little stick...I love that he makes me stop and notice the small simple things in life!