Hiiii!

Preslee has perfected the word Hi. She has many different versions of saying it as well. So thats why I am starting out with Hiiii! 

 I am sorry for the lack of post but this month was a long one! The holidays are always exhausting but add in the emotional fatigue and I am just glad I survived. But there are many special memories we made with Preslee this year and I wanted to document them so I remember there were some good days amongst the sad ones. 

We took P to her first Christmas parade! I grew up going to this parade so it was fun to taking her and seeing her enjoy all the sights and sounds. :) 

Then we sent to see SANTA! Obviously she really loved him. And to be honest, I love crying Santa pics. :) 

We have been so blessed by many of our friends coming to visit us. Jennifer and the kids have been down quite a few times and that makes our day! And that day, they just happen to be in Hot Springs so we met them for dinner at CFA! The kids had so much fun playing in the Chick-fil-a play ground!

 During the holidays, it was important to me to be surrounded by my closest family and to pour myself into Preslee and making sure that she had fun! I was really excited for her to get to play with my niece and nephew on Christmas Eve! 

There were many aspects of the holiday season that I could have just skipped this year but I didn't want Preslee to be affected by any of this. I want her to have memories and pictures just like she would have if Matt hadn't died. So... Santa came to see her even though he (she) didn't really feel like it! :) 

Then we headed off to do Christmas with Matt's family. She was so spoiled with all her new toys! :) 

We were at our 3rd Christmas by 1:00 and she didn't miss a beat! :) 

She is a gift to us all! She has become so affectionate and loves giving kisses! It makes everyone feel better! :) 

We ended Christmas night with SNOW!! I took a nap and woke up to inces of whiteness! It was so beautiful! 

 Preslee definitely brought so much joy to all of us during the first holidays without Matt.  Her smile and personality made us laugh instead of cry!

The new year brought on many different emotions. I found myself thinking about the past new year when we had a 4 week old baby and we just were starting a new chapter of our lives. My stomach hurt thinking about 2013 because it was a date that Matt would never be apart of. 

 Then, the week that had been dreaded.  Jan. 8 was Matt's 33rd birthday and Jan. 13 would have been our 6th wedding anniversary. I was really sick with virus that week and I decided that I would move to my new house that week too. I am not really sure what I was thinking but I just about killed myself trying to get things settled I guess I was just trying to keep busy so that I didn't let my thoughts and emotions of the week get me down. 

But that brings me to the fact that Preslee and I are finally in our own house! We love our little place and feel very comfortable and cozy here! I am going to do a whole post of the renovations of the house so you can see the before and after. After 3.5 months of living with family, I am just so thankful to have a place of my own again. My parents and MIL are absolutely wonderful and took such good care of us but it was just time to try to regain my independence and figure out what life looks like now. 

So now that I am somewhat caught up from the past month, here's to hopefully starting to blog more regularly again! Thank you ALL for you constant prayers and thoughts for us. They are so appreciated and I know are helping us get through this day to day! Love you all! 

Preslee's First Christmas

I did a terrible job at documenting Preslee's first Christmas! I was just so sick that I wasn't myself. I barely took any pics! I just hate it but we did have a good Christmas with our baby girl! I didn't care if I got one present because Preslee was the best gift I could ever receive!

We spent Christmas morning with Matt's mom! It was a special morning as Preslee's first Christmas but also Matt's brother proposed to his girlfriend as we were opening presents!

Best thing about Christmas was my Papaw meeting his great-granddaughter! My Papaw means so much to me and has been so excited about me having a baby girl so I couldn't wait for him to see Preslee!

My dad's family also came to meet Preslee too! She met both her great uncles and aunts! She was very fond of my Aunt Ann! She slept on her all evening through lots of loud talking!

My childhood best friend, Tizzie came to meet Preslee too! I loved getting to see her and her family!

We didn't do much for Preslee for Christmas because she is so little and we knew the grandparents would do so much. But Santa did bring a special present... This rocking Polar bear is the cutest thing I had ever seen!! It's precious in her nursery and I can't wait for her to play on it!

Stockings for the babies at my parent's house!

Christmas with children is something I dreamed of and look forward to for the rest of my life!

Preslee got her first baby doll from Nanny and Pop!

Seth was such a joy to be with this Christmas! We were blessed with 2 kids entering our family this year and I can't wait for all the fun times we will have together!

Seth LOVED his drum set and knew exactly what to do with it! Future musician like his dad! :)

Sweet cousins!

Birthday twins--- Macy Boyles and Preslee were due a day apart but were born on the same day! It was fun to get the girls together while I was home for Christmas! Macy slept the whole time and Preslee fussed the whole time! Ha! Maybe our next playmate will be more fun for them! :)

Pretty girl at 4 weeks old!

Meeting Santa

Yes, I am the parent that took their 2 week old to see Santa! (Please don't think badly of me!) Ha! I really debated it for a while because of the germs and getting her out into such a public place like the mall, but I just couldn't let her first Christmas go by without a pic with Santa!!

I absolutely love the Santa photo we got!! Santa did this pose all on his own and I thought it was perfect!

We were getting ready to tell him what she wanted for Christmas! I think I should have sat down and asked for sleep! :)

I was so thankful we got to the mall and she wasn't having a meltdown! She didn't even wake up to talk to Santa!

I couldn't get a good pic of her pretty Santa Baby gown but she looked s0 precious!

After being such a good girl, it was time to eat... :)

Christmas.

Matt and I are from the same hometown so we are extremely lucky to be able to spend time with both of families during the holidays. We still have to split our time but thankfully we get to spend some great quality time with each side! Christmas Eve day we spent at my parents house. We did every thing the same as we would on our normal Christmas mornings so it really felt like it was Christmas day!

Brunch on Christmas morning is our family ritual!

My dad normally cooks all the breakfast but this year my mom made waffles for us too! Kota was ready to eat!

I was taking a pic of my mom in her cute Santa apron and Romeo went and stood next to her like he thought he was supposed to pose with her! It was so cute!!

The Turners on our 4th married Christmas! We were ready to start opening presents!

We had a to get a family pic with our sweet fur baby too! I am praying so hard that next year we have another person in this picture... whether it is physically with us or just inside me, I truly hope that will be our Christmas morning picture next year!

I love this photo of my brother, Evan, his wife Rachel and sweet Jack!

It's so funny to me that Jack and Romeo are such good posers for the camera!

My Papaw, who lives in Tennessee has literally never missed a Christmas with Evan and me! I love my Christmas memories with him!

Love these new canvases of our sweet fur babies that my mom had made!!

NAP TIME! Kota and I passed out after brunch and presents!

Christmas eve dinner is also a big tradition at my parents house! We like to eat! :)

We had an amazing day with my side of the family but after dinner it was time to head over to my mother-in-law's house to spend the night and spend Christmas morning!

My mil and her sister live together right now and its so much fun having Matt's aunt and cousin with us on Christmas morning! Hence all the stockings! :)

Santa thought I was very special this year! :)

We decided that is just ridiculous for all these presents to be for just 6 people!! Next year we are vowing to not do this again! ha! I do love opening gifts though.

Romeo found his gifts and was ready to open!

Cute new hat and scarf that my MIL got me in NYC!

The marina at the lake in our home town has a huge light display every year. Matt's dad's name was on a memory board at the marina! Very special to see his life being honored.

We had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. I love spending quality time with them and eating such great home cooked meals! We are SO blessed with wonderful, loving parents!