A Week of Firsts!

We started taking Ali to daycare earlier this week, dropping her off for a few hours each day to get familiar with the process, give us some time to get things done, and even have some fun.  Many of my friends had awful first days dropping their child off and then crying all the way to work, so I thought it might help to ease into it.  I have to admit, it's been really nice to have some time off from taking care of a baby.  Todd and I went to see a movie yesterday for the first time since Ali was born.  Todd played golf today in the nice 70 degree weather, and I was able to have a child-free lunch with my girlfriend Kim.  Here is Ali with her teachers Miss Lisa and Miss Kendall.

I am actually looking forward to going back to work and getting back into my normal schedule.  I am very comfortable and happy with Ali's childcare, so I think that makes it much easier for me to think about going back to work.  There are definitely times when I start thinking about whether I would want to stay at home with Ali, but those thoughts are short and fleeting.  I think taking this time off has made me realize that I enjoy working.  I also know that Ali is in good hands and is at a very good school.  There is a great curriculum for the kids, and I know that if I stayed at home, I would beat myself up trying to come up with learning lessons and trying to provide all the social interaction that she will receive at school.  And on a selfish note, I really like having a maid, and if I stopped working, I'd have to BE the maid!  This is NOT to say that I am judging ANY of my stay-at-home mom friends.  In fact, I completely respect your decision and truly look up to you.  I think taking care of your baby all day long is harder than going back to work.  

Ali also ROLLED OVER from tummy to back on Tuesday!  You should have seen us two grown adults celebrating with Ali... I'm sure we looked pretty silly.  We know that it's not a fluke because she's been doing it every day since then, sometimes up to 3 times in a row!  We're so proud of our little girl.  We wish we had it on video, but we had to exchange our Flip because Best Buy sent the wrong camcorder to my mom and we're waiting for the right one to arrive. 

Another first that Todd and I are PUMPED about is that Ali slept through the night last night!!!  She went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake up until 6:30am this morning!  I feel so much more rested today.  I'm really hoping this will be a pattern for her and not just a fluke because it would be so nice to have her sleeping through the night when I go back to work.

I guess this was bound to happen... I experienced another first today when I was at lunch with my girlfriend Kim.  As we were leaving, a waiter came up to me and said "Congratulations!"  When I asked him "What for?" he said "You're pregnant, right?"  Nice.  I guess that's a sign that I need to start working out.  I'm trying to tell myself that it's because my friend Kim gave me a super cute present for Ali and he must have seen it... maybe?  It's a super cute hat, and she definitely knows how much I love bows on Ali!  Here's Ali in her new hat.  Thanks Kim!

We've had a wonderful 2010, and we're really looking forward to 2011.  We wish you a Happy Happy New Year - Cheers!

Look Who's Talking!

In the past two weeks, Ali has really started being vocal.  This kid talks up a storm!  Hmmm... wonder who she learned that from... Coco?  Okay, so she's not speaking actual words yet, but we think her mumbo jumbo is pretty cute.  We got a Flip camcorder for Christmas (Thanks Mimi!), so now I can capture Ali moments on video.  I'm not really sure that Ali likes being the star yet, but she better get used to it.  Enjoy!

Test Post

Merry Merry!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas.  We feel so blessed to spend our first Christmas with our baby girl.  We had sort of a rough start to our holiday when Cindy went to pick up Mimi (Cindy's mom) from the airport.  On the way home, my Check Tire Pressure light came on, so I started watching the pressure in my tires.  Since cars are so smart these days, my car could tell me exactly how much pressure was in the tires.  I watched as my back left tire pressure dropped from 24 psi to 23, down to 20, 17, 14 and eventually down to 10 psi.  I despise car issues, so I called Todd and pulled over into a gas station.  Luckily, we were not far from home, so Todd came to meet us at the gas station.  We found out there was a large metal object in my tire, so Todd let me take his car home while he took my car to Firestone.  Thankfully, Firestone was open on Christmas Eve and put a temporary patch on the tire.  Since the gash was so large, we'll have to get a new tire next week.  Merry Christmas to me... I guess I'll get a new tire by default for Christmas.  Thank goodness Todd had already purchased my gifts!

We've had a wonderful Christmas celebration.  Mimi came to Dallas to spend Ali's first Christmas with us.  We had Christmas Eve Hot Pot Dinner with the Wongs on Friday night.  Hot Pot is the Asian version of fondue, but with chicken broth instead of oil - much healthier!  Then we went over to the Carpenters' house on Christmas Day.  Besides spending time with friends and family, my next favorite thing about the holidays is all the yummy food and we enjoyed a lot of it.  We're all stuffed tonight!  Good thing I still have maternity pants and an excuse to wear them!

Ali is a lucky girl and had LOTS of cute Christmas outfits.  Grandma gave Ali the cute dresses, and Mimi made Ali the red snowman bunting and plaid dress with matching hats.  Check out all her cute outfits and some pictures from our first Christmas with Ali!

Opening gifts on Christmas morning...

  

Mimi with Ali at the Carpenters watching A Christmas Story!

Coco enjoyed celebrating Christmas, too!

Blog Design

When I first set up this blog, I used a free blog background I found online.  Several times, I would log in and my background would be gone. That really irritated me, but as I always say, you can't complain about free.  So, I decided it was time to do something about it and get a real blog design.  My friend Missy has a very talented friend named Amy who does cards and blogs on the side, so I had her design my blog!  If you're interested in having her help you with your blog, email Amy at the.kaspars@me.com.  She's very easy to work with!

Ali's Newborn Photos

We used B4 Photography for Ali's newborn pictures, and we love Ms. Brandi!  I love the sweet sleeping newborn pics, but Ali just wanted to stay awake.  She was wide-eyed for most of the session, but Ms. Brandi managed to get some sweet shots.  Here is our birth announcement and some of my favorites from the session.  Okay, so I have a lot of favorites....

 

To see all the pictures from the session, visit our Picasa Web Gallery at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindyhu

Ali's 2 Month Stats

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Ali!  The second month was definitely easier than the first!  Ali had a good 2 month doctor's visit.  She had her first round of shots... I've never heard her scream so loudly!   Poor baby, but she did great and so did her parents.  Here are her 2 month stats:
Weight: 10 lbs, 5.5 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 21.75 cm (45th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39.8cm (80th percentile)

Ali is growing like a weed and developing well.  She's focusing on people and all things shiny and bright, especially light fixtures.  She is smiling and cooing up a storm, and it's super cute.  I wonder if this means she'll be a talkative one!  She has great head and neck control, and her legs are also pretty strong since Daddy likes to help her "stand up."   This child still doesn't like to sleep and fights it, but luckily her parents usually win.  If you can't tell in the pictures, she has two kissing reindeer on her shirt, so Daddy decided to put the reindeer booties on her feet.  Yes, they really are that large in person!  Ali's definitely gaining on Bunny... soon she'll be much bigger than Bunny!

Daddy makes Ali smile!

Ali Bear

I ordered a warm bear costume for our little Ali Bear for Halloween, but she had way too many Halloween outfits that this one never made it out.  I wanted to take her on a walk, but it is 40 degrees outside.  So, I busted out this warm outfit.  I think she likes it, and I think she looks precious!

What Crazy Moms (including me) Do For Their Kids...

I decided to brave the crowds and take Ali to visit Santa and have her picture taken.  Here's sweet Miss Ali all bundled up for our busy day out.  I'm not sure she knows what to think!

I completely admit that this was more for me and not for her, since she won't remember it.  However, I hope she'll later enjoy the pictures of her first Santa visit.  We didn't go see just any Santa; we went to see the famous North Park Santa who has been called "The World's Santa Expert" by the Wall Street Journal.  This Santa is actually a psychology professor at UT in Austin, but he has been coming to Dallas from Thanksgiving to Christmas each year for the last 27 years to be the North Park Santa.  He's the real deal.  If you don't get there early, you'll be waiting all day.  One of my friends went to get her number around 11am on a Sunday and by 3:30pm, she still had not seen Santa.  They start handing out numbers at 9:00am and Santa starts seeing kids for photographs at 11:00am.  Todd went to the mall this morning at 8:30am to stand in line to get a number, and there were already 3 people ahead of him in line!  Then Ali and I went up to the mall at 11:00am to meet our friend Season and her daughter Avery to get in line to see Santa.  The mall was an absolute zoo!  Check out ALL the people!

Ali was not phased at all by the mall commotion.  She slept through the whole thing, both in line and on Santa's lap!  Thanks so much to my friend Season and her sweet daughter Avery for meeting us to see Santa.  It was a frantic experience, and we decided that we need assistants next year to help us get good pictures on our cameras.

We're in line and next to see Santa!

Sweet Ali asleep on Santa's lap

Whew!  Another "First" to check off our list! 

First Attempt

Here is a mock layout that I've created. Please let me know you thoughts. I had to change the header because it didn't POP against the background.

Really? You Want More Pictures?

I can't believe it, but some people have asked me for more pictures of Ali.  Honestly, I didn't think anyone other than me would really care to see tons of pictures of my baby, especially since she spends most of her time sleeping or eating (and there won't be any pictures of that!)  Some of my friends take HUNDREDS of pictures of their kids each month.  Ali's not that exciting yet.  However, per your requests, I have started Picasa Web Albums.  If you're dying to see more pictures or just looking to kill some free time, click on the link below.  Bookmark it and check back for more pictures because I don't want to bombard people with emails saying that I've uploaded new pictures.  I've also included the link on the right column in case you forget to add it to your Favorites.  Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cindyhu

This Little Piggy

So Todd's version of "This Little Piggy" goes something like this:
This little piggy went to the market because he was rich
This little piggy stayed home because he was on welfare
This little piggy had roast beef cuz he was a carnivore
This little piggy had none because he had lap band surgery
And this little piggy cried wee wee wee all the way home!

Haha!  Looks like Coco wanted to play, too!

 

Here are a few more daddy/daughter play pictures.  Ali really likes her activity mat and is doing really well with tummy time!

6 Weeks Old and Growing Like a Weed!

Q: What can you do with a food scale, a baking pan and a towel?
A: Weigh Baby Ali!

We don't go back to the doctor's office until Ali is 2 months, and I've been wanting to know how much weight she has gained.  Our doctor told us to come in any time to weigh Ali, but that seems like too much work.  I tried getting Todd to stand on our scale to weigh her, but our scale only measures to the half pound.  I was looking for something more accurate.  This worked!

Ali now weighs 9 lbs, 5 oz!  That's 50% of her birth weight (6 lbs, 12 oz).  She growing like a weed!