Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day has extra special meaning for me since it is my first as a new mom.  I have a new level of respect for mothers now!  Happy Mother's Day to all the special moms in our lives, especially Grandma Levreault and Mimi.  We love you, and we thank you for everything you have done for us. 

In honor of Mother's Day, here are some pictures we dug up:

Grandma Levreault and Baby Todd

Mimi and Baby Cindy

 

Daddy and Ali gave me beautiful tulips and baby hydrangeas for Mother's Day.  Ali "made" a little frame for me at school with her picture in it.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and the soon-to-be mothers we know!

What Happens When Daddy is Alone with Ali...

Daddy gives Ali her first golf lessons.  I try to get Todd to contribute to blog posts, but I know he'll never type a post.  However, he took these pictures of Ali this morning while he let me sleep in and he suggested these would be good for the blog.  This is the closest we'll probably get to Todd contributing.  Here are pictures of Ali's first golf lessons.  Apparently Todd thought she needed to learn the importance of the sand wedge.

Busy Weekend for the Levreaults and the World

Although I love scrapbooks, I don't always seem to get them completed.  Example: I started a scrapbook for Coco, and it's stuck on when she was 2 months old.  So, I wanted to have  realistic solution to give Ali a scrapbook.  I have started a book for her that details her family background, talks about my pregnancy and the delivery and then goes through her first year and her "firsts."  It's a really cool book with pre=printed pages, but it's stuck on December.  I do plan to get that book updated this month though, and I just have to finish it through this October.  In addition to that book, I plan to have this blog turned into a book each year so Ali will have a more detailed scrapbook.  Most of the posts in this blog are about our family, but from time to time, I will put some news information so we can document what is going on during her life now.

Last weekend was a busy weekend both personally and in world news.  The weekend started off with The Royal Wedding on Friday morning!  Thank goodness for modern DVR technology, I chose to record the wedding instead of waking up at 4am to watch it.  Since Todd was out of town Friday night, I was able to come home and watch the wedding before he came home.  I absolutely loved watching the real life fairy tale come true as Kate Middleton married her Prince William.  I can't lie... I'm so looking forward to helping Ali plan her wedding!  Todd tells me I need to slow down... ha!

Speaking of slowing down... everyone told us that having a baby would slow us down.  I have to say, we may have slowed down a bit, but I don't think we've slowed down as much as others expected.  Someone once told me that when they had a baby, they chose to bring the baby into their life instead of changing their lives to accommodate their new baby.  Although I think it's impossible to not make some changes to your life after having a baby, we've tried really hard to continue living our lives with Ali.  Luckily for us and for her, she's a portable flexible, happy baby.  Saturday morning, we had Ali's 6 month photo shoot with Zack of ZT Photography, dinner with friends Saturday night, brunch with friends Sunday morning and then dinner with another group of friends Sunday night.  It was a busy but fun weekend.  Here is a sneak preview from her 6 month photo shoot!

We ended our weekend with the announcement from President Obama that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US Navy Seals.  Although I choose not to celebrate anyone's death, I will say that I am relieved that we have somewhat of an ending to the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. May 1, 2011 will forever be an important day in American history. 

Moving on Up!

Big girl Ali is moving up from the Infant I Room at School called Cuddlebugs to the Infant II Room called Scooters!  I didn't expect Ali to move up for at least another month because there are two boys in her class that are 8 months old.  I sort of expected those boys to move up first, but Ali is jumping Maxwell and moving up in front of him because she can sit up, is close to crawling (she's definitely army crawling!) and is eating solids.  Apparently Maxwell has not hit these milestones yet which is very normal for little boys.  I'm a little sad because I love Ali's teachers Kyndal and Lisa, but I'm looking forward to getting to know her new teachers Olivera and Jane. 

Miss Kyndal sent me a couple of cute videos she took on her iphone of Ali at school.  It certainly looks like her teachers have fun with the kids.  And it looks like they may be starting some early match-making! 

Easter Weekend in San Angelo

We headed to San Angelo this past weekend to celebrate Mimi's birthday and Easter.  We had a weekend of firsts:
Ali's first taste of solids (the sweet potato that I made!)
Ali's first long car ride (and she did great)
Ali's first time to meet four-legged cousin Gus
Ali's first visit to San Angelo, and
Ali's first Easter!

Here are some random pictures from the weekend.  Mimi made Ali a new polka dot dress with matching hat (not pictured) and a new blanket that she is sitting on in the bottom middle picture.  You can't tell from the picture, but she really did like the sweet potatoes, and she really got into jumping in her jumper this weekend.  Mimi has the perfect open doorway for the jumper!

We had a great first Easter with Ali.  She got great presents from lots of Easter bunnies!  Coco and Gus had their own baskets, too.  I'm so impressed that we got Coco and Gus to both sit for pictures before they dug into their baskets filled with raw hide, treats and toys!  Ali didn't wait... she dug right in to her baskets.

Happy 6 Month Birthday, Ali!

Ali turned 6 months old today!  She shared her half birthday with my mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mimi!

We took Ali to her 6 month doctor's appointment this morning.  She had a great checkup, but the shots were harder this time.  She definitely felt the pain, but we were able to give her a bottle right after the shots so she settled down quickly.  Many kids have reactions to shots and may be fussy or develop a low grade fever that day, but Ali's teacher Miss Kyndal said she was even happier than usual today smiling and laughing.  I'm SO thankful for that! 

Here are her 6 month stats:
Weight: 16lbs, 5oz (60th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches (10th percentile - she may be a shorty!) 
Head Circumference: 43.2 inches (75th percentile)

I was looking back through the pictures of Ali we've taken to document her growth.  I can't believe how much she's changed!  I remember thinking my little girl was really cute, but I definitely think she's gotten cuter and cuter as she's grown.  Of course, I'm completely biased in my opinion.  She's also showing so much more personality these days, laughing and babbling. I think we have a talker on our hands!  Last Sunday, she hit another milestone: she started sitting up by herself!  Ali is growing up so fast!  Here's a look through the half-year.

Moving... Backwards.

Well Ali is on the move!  But she's going backwards.  Since babies develop upper body strength first, it makes sense that they may start moving backwards before building their lower body strength to help them move forward.

Check it out... I put three balls (thanks Missy!) in front of Ali so she could try to crawl toward them. 

Here's the starting position...

 

 Starting the move...

  Taking a break to examine her position...

 Back on the move...

 Getting farther away...

 And farther...

 Even farther...

 Defeated.

Food Made with Love

Stacey's Mom (every time I say that I start singing the song!) sent me a fabulous gift for Ali.  She sent me a Baby Bullet, made by the makers of the Magic Bullet, for making my own baby food.  Despite doubts from friends, we were determined to give making baby food for Ali a shot.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to receive the Baby Bullet to make this task even easier.  Honestly, I didn't think making baby food would really be that difficult.  Todd and I typically make meals on the weekends to freeze and eat during the week, so I figured that I would just add meals for Ali to the mix.  Well, let me tell you... this Baby Bullet surpassed my expectations!  Tonight I decided to make Ali's first baby food - a sweet potato.  I boiled the sweet potato while we were eating dinner.  Then after dinner, I put the cooked sweet potato in the Baby Bullet with one cup of water as instructed in the cookbook.  The directions said to puree for 10 seconds.  No kidding... 10 seconds later and we had baby food.  I really thought it would take few minutes to get all the lumps out, but it was literally 10 seconds.  I was very pleasantly surprised!

The Baby Bullet comes with a the puree/pulse base, a big batch bowl, two small batch bowls, six single serving containers with date dials so you know when the food was made, a freezer tray, an insulated food tote and a cookbook! 

After 10 seconds, we had baby food!

One sweet potato made 9 servings.  I love these single serving containers with the date dial (which you can't see since it's on the back of the lid.)

I'm actually looking forward to making more baby food for Ali.  My friend Katy let me borrow her baby food cookbook, and it has some really cool recipes in it like Potato, Leek & Pea Puree.  Todd is giving me a hard time because he says Ali is going to eat better than we do!

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary to Us!

Well, most of my posts are about Ali which is probably what you care most about, but I thought I'd give you an update on Todd and me. We've had a lot of changes in our life recently with our new baby girl and our new jobs, but things have been going really well.  Time seems to have flown by!  Todd is enjoying his new job, but he's been traveling more than we initially expected.  I don't think he's complaining too much though... he just got back from staying at the Venetian in Vegas.  I'm definitely challenged right now trying to learn the mortgage business and starting the mortgage lending division for the Bank.  There are many days where I wonder if I've gotten in way over my head, but then things happen and I start to feel really good about what I'm doing.  It's nice to be using my brain again.  We are loving every minute that we spend with our baby girl, and we've also made time for date nights and hanging out with friends.  We are very lucky to be able to have one of Ali's teachers come babysit when we need some time to ourselves.  We celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary tonight at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Five Sixty (named because it's 560 ft above ground in Reunion Tower.  It's one of those restaurants like many big cities have where the restaurant is high up and rotates so you have a complete view of the city from downtown.)  This was the sweet ending to our awesome tasting menu dinner with wine parings.  Dessert was an assortment of cookies and an Apple Crumble.  I didn't take many pictures, but I  managed to snap this shot of the cookies before they disappeared.  The fudge in the middle was especially fun because it was topped with Pop Rocks!  We left the restaurant way too full, but we had a great time.  Happy Anniversary to Us!

LPGA in Training

Todd wasn't kidding when he said he was going to start teaching Ali about golf early!  Daddy and Ali enjoyed watching Ali's first Masters this weekend. 

Goodbye to Good Friends!

Two sets of our Dallas friends are moving!  We're so sad to say goodbye, but we're happy for our friends and their new opportunities.  I'm bummed because these friends both have young kids and have been great mommies for me to hang out with.

We recently had a goodbye dinner for Season, James and Avery.  Season has been the glue to our monthly supper club with a group of friends, and it was sad to have our last regular dinner with her.  But, we're already talking about making a trip to Kansas to visit, and we hope Season will come back to Dallas to visit.  In addition to being a good friend and great experienced mommy to bond with, Season has been incredibly generous in letting us borrow Avery's clothes.  Ali has been the most stylish baby in Avery's hand-me-downs!  Season and I took the girls to the Outlets on Saturday, and we had quite the adventure in the Gap store.  After waiting for half and hour for a dressing room, Ali had a massive blowout and a mommy who only had limited wipes.  Thank goodness Season was there to help me change Ali's clothes, get her cleaned up and let me use some of her wipes.  I don't know what I would have done without her help!  We're going to miss this family!

The Girls get together for one last supper club dinner with Season

Ali was on her best behavior at Laura's beautiful new house

Ali and Avery are on their way to a shopping adventure

Last night, we had dinner with Mike, Katy and Landon.  Although this was not the final farewell dinner, they are also moving away from Dallas. 

Loving Tummy Time!

Little Miss Ali loves to be on her tummy these days!  Check out this happy girl.  She even sleeps on her tummy now.  I'm also happy to report that her hair is starting grow in.  She still has two unmistakable patches of hair on the side of her head, but her hair is starting to fill in.

A Trip to the Dallas Arboretum

Todd's sister Ashley came to Dallas for a work trip this week, so we took her to the Arboretum.  It was a nice day for a stroll.  It was almost 90 degrees, but there was a nice breeze.  I didn't realize how much there is at the Arboretum, and I'm looking forward to taking Ali there when she's a little older and can run around and explore.  Ali was a cool baby in her shades checking everything out.  We stopped at a nice bench to give Ali a bottle.  (Notice that she is really helping hold her bottle these days.)  Here are some pictures from our afternoon. 

Introducing Rice Cereal!

Ali has been showing all the signs of being ready to eat solids.  She has more than doubled her birth weight.  She holds her head up well on her own.  She can turn her head away when she's full, and she shows interest in what we are putting in our mouth.  She also has seemed more hungry lately even after I increased the size of her bottles.  Additionally, my body has really started decreasing the amount of milk I'm producing, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her feedings.  As a result, we decided to introduce Ali to rice cereal today. 

We started by sitting Ali in her bumbo and giving her 2 oz of breast milk thinking that she would learn that it was meal time and that she wouldn't be so starving that she would refuse the cereal.

Starting with an appetizer bottle

Clean before the feeding madness begins!

Then the fun began!  When we first introduced the cereal, Ali wasn't sure what to think.

 

Then, she started becoming interested in what was in her mouth and started to want more.

Then Daddy took over, and Ali started to really enjoy the rice cereal.  She would lean in for more, and she even tried to eat the bowl!

I think it was a success!  Feeding Ali rice cereal was definitely messier than just giving her a bottle, but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.  I'm sure things will be much messier when we move to things like sweet potatoes and peas and when she can throw her food.  I'm just happy that we've successfully crossed another milestone!