Motherhood Side Effect?

Seriously, I do not have a green thumb.  I usually manage to kill whatever plants and flowers we have.  As you can imagine, I was a little nervous when Todd's sister Ashley sent us an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  I was very happy to get it, but so worried about not being able to make it grow.  It's not like I could even kill it because there wasn't really a flower to kill.  I had to grow it from scratch!  The gift arrived with only the red ceramic box with a pot of soil.  The package included directions and a picture tempting me of what I could have if I could make this flower grow.  I followed the directions and voila... 2 months later and I have a beautiful flower!  Well really, 4 flowers!  Amazing.  Could this be a side effect of motherhood?  The flower is beautiful and really makes me happy.  Thanks Ashley for having the confidence that we would be able to do this! 

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Ali!

She's growing up so fast!  Ali turned 4 months old on February 20th, and we went to her 4 month checkup today.  Here are her 4 month stats:
Weight: 14 lbs, 12.5 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 23.75 cm (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 42.5cm (90th percentile)

Ali's teacher Miss Kyndal has many nicknames for Ali including Itty Bitty, Tiny Tot and Little Bit.  Well, Todd told Miss Kyndal today that Ali is in fact short and fat!  I guess Daddy hasn't learned that girls don't really like to be called fat.  Then I overheard Todd telling Ali that she just weighs more because she has a lot of muscle.  It's interesting to me how the percentages seem to flip flop.  At Ali's 2 Week Appointment she was in the 25% for weight and 75% for height.  Then at her 2 Month Checkup, she evened out and was in the 50% for weight and 45% for height.  Now she is the opposite ratio of her 2 Week Appointment and is in the 75% for weight and 25% for height.  Regardless, Ali is doing really well and progressing right on track.  She had a good appointment and received another round of shots.  This time, you could tell she felt the pain much quicker than she did at her 2 month appointment.  We took her to school after the appointment, and I was expecting her to be fussy because of the shots, but Miss Kyndal said that she was even happier than normal.  What a Dream Baby!  We are so Blessed!

Presidents' Day Weekend

I absolutely LOVE and miss my college girlfriends.  Although we all went to college in San Antonio together, we have managed to end up in different cities all around the country including Denver, Minneapolis and Chicago.  We also have friends in Tennessee, Alabama and Maryland.  This past weekend, a big group of girls came into town for Ann's baby shower!  I was so excited to have Katie, Jen, Stacey and Amy stay with me.  Todd was such a good sport for putting up with a house full of estrogen.  It was the first time the girls met Ali, and she was a perfect angel all weekend.  She was happy to be passed around and let anyone hold her.  She actually got really spoiled from being held all weekend because her teachers said that she was unusually fussy on Monday unless she was being held.

We had a great weekend eating a lot of Mexican food, hanging out at my house, playing games, and enjoying margaritas on the patio at Chuy's!  I wasn't great at taking pictures, but we did manage to get a few from the weekend.

The main event of the weekend was Ann's Baby Shower on Sunday.  Emily hosted a wonderful shower with a tasty brunch and mimosas.  There were many babies at the party, and it was so good to meet some babies for the first time.  For those who don't have kids yet, I think it was a good dose of birth control.  Although all the kids were well-behaved, it was a little crazy to have 7 babies under one roof!  As usual, Ali was a dream baby.  She fell asleep for about 30 minutes on Miss Jay.  It was so sweet.  We tried to take a picture of all the mommies and babies in age order (middle picture in the top row), but we're missing Katie and her her three girls since she made the trip to Texas without babies.  With Ann's baby, we will be welcoming the 9th baby girl in our group of friends.  I seriously cannot believe we have ALL had girls.  Who's going to be the one to have the first boy?

I miss my girlfriends already, and I can't wait for our next reunion!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We wish you a very happy Love Day!  Yes, it's a Hallmark holiday, but we'll take this excuse to tell you that you are very special to us!  I didn't get around to getting Ali an official Valentine's Day outfit, but we were able to put this outfit together from our wonderful hand-me-downs!

Sleeping Beauty

For those of you who were worried (Mom)... Ali is sleeping in her crib!

WARNING: This is a LONG post and may be somewhat of a controversial post, so if you're going to judge me please stop reading now.  I'm a firm believer that every parent has to do what is right for them and for their kids.  I don't believe that there is one right way to do anything, and I believe that what works for one family may not work for another.  Moreover, what works for one baby may not necessarily work for another baby.  Sleep is a tough issue for most parents and babies.  Some parents believe in Sleep Training and Cry It Out (CIO) methods.  Some parents believe in having a family bed and sleeping with their babies.  Some of my friends have been fortunate and their babies have been able to sleep in the their cribs from the start and learned to sleep through the night themselves with ease.  I'm very jealous of those people.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen with us.  I'm not here to judge anyone; I'm just telling you what we did.

For our convenience and sanity, Ali slept in our room for the first part of her life because we didn't want to go up and down the stairs every time we needed to get her.  We started her in the newborn napper in her pack and play, but she quickly decided that she didn't want to sleep without being rocked to sleep.  We moved her to the bouncer for naps and the swing for night time sleep.  We knew that at some point, we wanted to move Ali to her crib, stop rocking her to sleep, and stop giving her a pacifier.  We chose to do that this weekend and use the CIO Extinction Method to teach Ali to self soothe.  I'm not going to lie... Friday night was ROUGH!  If it weren't for the support of my good friend Katie and knowing that others have done this before us with great success, I'm not sure we would have made it.  The basic theory behind the Extinction Method is that you put your baby down drowsy but awake at bedtime and do not go back into the room until it is time for baby to wake up, even if your baby continues to cry.  Ali pretty much cried on and off all night Friday as we watched her on the monitor to make sure she was okay.  Todd and I really didn't get much sleep.  It was excrutiating and broke our hearts to watch her cry but we knew that we were doing this for Ali's benefit so she would be able to sleep well in the future... short-term pain for long-term gain!  Around 5am, I noticed that Ali put her hand in her mouth and started sucking on it.  She was learning to suck on her hand to fall asleep!  What was truly amazing is that she was her happy usual self on Saturday even though she had such a rough night.  When I picked her up on Saturday morning, I was afraid she would be upset at me, but she greeted me with a huge smile.  As my friend Katie said, it was as if it didn't even occur to her that we could have come in at any point during the night to pick her up. 

During her naps on Saturday, she would cry but eventually get her hand in her mouth and fall asleep.  She's a fast learner because by Saturday night, she had it down.  After her bath, bedtime stories, and feeding, I put her in her crib at 6:55pm.  She fussed a little but put her hand in her mouth and was asleep by 7pm.  She woke up around 4:30am and put herself right back to sleep until 6am when we got up for the day.  Her naps today have been great, and she hasn't even fussed when I put her in her crib.  When we put her down for the night, she barely fussed and fell asleep within 5-10 minutes.  I am thrilled to say Ali is happily sleeping in her crib without a pacifier!  Ahhh... it feels so good to have crossed another parenting milestone!

Sophie Meets Baby Ali

I'm a little late with this post... our friends Nancy and Steve were in Dallas last weekend, and they brought their daughter Sophie (she's almost 2, maybe 20 months?) to meet Baby Ali.  I have to admit, I've been obsessed with Sophie since before Ali was born because Nancy is Asian and Steve is white and I thought their child would be an example for what our child could look like.  I'm crazy, I know.  We had fun hanging out with our friends, and it was so cute to watch Sophie interact with Ali.  She was so good with Ali which is a good sign because Sophie is soon going to be a big sister to two babies - Nancy is having twins!

Ali Fights Sleep...

We're having ANOTHER snow day today!  Ali's school is closed again, so I'm staying home with her this morning and Todd will take the afternoon shift.  I can't believe this is how I'm starting the first two weeks of my new job, but thankfully they seem to be very understanding.

Our little girl does not like taking naps, never has.  I wish I could trade places with her.  I wish I could tell her that one day, she will likely appreciate being able to take a nap.  She's already trying to bribe us with her looks.  Sometimes she smiles and giggles at us trying to look cute so we'll pick her up.  Other times, she sticks her bottom lip out to pout.  I do think it's terribly cute, and it takes everything I have not to pick her up.

 

It's so nice once she finally falls asleep.  I love our little sleeping angel.  And yes, she's still sleeping in the bouncer, but we plan to move her to her crib this weekend.

 

Your Vote Counts. Help Us Win!

Our photographer is having a facebook contest, and we could win a free session with her!  Please help us out by doing the following:
1. Log in to your facebook page
2. Go to my post and LIKE B4 Photography (you can get the link from my most recent post)
3. Then LIKE the photo of Ali that I shared.

You have to LIKE B4 Photography in order to LIKE the picture, and you have to LIKE the picture in order for your vote to count.  The contest is over Monday at midnight, so you can UNLIKE her page after that if you want.  High jack your husband's facebook page and make him do the steps, too!  If you want to go the extra mile, please share with your friends and ask them to participate so Ali gets more votes.  THANKS so much!

I really didn't plan to be a contest-entering mom, but technically, I didn't even enter this contest.  Our photographer just uploaded pictures and started this contest.  Ali's picture just happens to be one of the pictures that she picked.  I'm just taking part.  :)

Here's the photo of Ali that is in the running...

And More Snow...

So the weatherman is saying that it's colder in Texas right now than Alaska... It's in the teens here.  That's just absurd.  We got 5 inches of snow today in Dallas.  Being the crazy mom that I am, I decided to bundle up my child and take her outside for some snow pictures.  I thought she would appreciate the memories.

Coco loves playing in the snow.  Todd even took her for a walk around the neighborhood to help her burn some energy.

Oh several people have asked me about how Ali is feeling, so I thought I'd also give an update.  Thanks so much for asking about her!  Ali is feeling much much better.  When Todd gets sick, he is literally sick for one day and then much better.  Typically, I get whatever he has and it will linger for a week.  If I'm the one to get sick first, often times Todd doesn't even get sick.  It's kind of annoying.  Well thankfully, I think Ali got Todd's amazing immune system.  She had a fever last Saturday and by Sunday, it was gone.  She's continued to have a lingering cough, but the doctor said that would last for about two weeks.  She definitely seems back to her normal happy self.  Really, she was only fussy on Saturday morning.  By Sunday, she was back to normal.  Amazing.  I hope all of her sicknesses are this easy. 

Here's to hoping everyone has a fun Super Bowl weekend and that we start seeing some warmer temps soon!  Cheers!

Snow Snow Go Away...

OMG... I never thought I would say this, but I am SO OVER Snow Days!  We've had a wintery mix of snow and ice since Monday night.  The city has basically shut down.  We've had rolling brownouts through out the state because apparently Texas doesn't have enough power to meet the demand.  Oh, and it's also Super Bowl week here, so what that means is that all efforts are concentrated near Cowboy Stadium.  The roads are a mess, and the drivers are idiots.  Schools have been closed since Tuesday and will be closed through the end of the week!  This means that Todd and I have had to split staying at home with Ali.  The timing isn't great because Todd just started his new job last week, and I started my new job this week.  Neither one of us wants to give a bad impression to our new employers, but we don't have many options when it comes to childcare.  I even asked Ali's teacher if she would be willing to babysit during the day, but she is sick and running a fever.  I guess it would probably be a good idea for her to stay away from Ali.  Todd and I are both going stir-crazy.  I can't wait for life to go back to normal.  Poor Coco is really going nuts, too.  For a dog who gets almost daily exercise, four days of being housebound is not a good thing.  Thank goodness Coco will go outside to use the bathroom.  We have a friend whose dog refuses to go outside and just uses her wood floors!  I wish we could take Ali outside, but we just don't have any clothes that would be warm enough for 20 degree weather.  I don't evenknow where to find a snowsuit for her in Texas!  So, we can only enjoy the snow from inside.

Oh hey - Happy Chinese New Year!  It is the year of the Rabbit!

New Year, New Design

I decided to change our blog design so that I wouldn't have to keep updating the picture in the header.  Plus, I didn't really like seeing the huge picture of me staring back at me.  I got this design from Designer Blogs (www.designerblogs.com).  If you're looking for a great affordable blog design, check out the Premade Blog Designs on their website.  This design was a steal for $15!  They also do custom designs if you're looking for something more specific, and they were so easy to work with.  If you use them, please let them know I referred you so I'll get a referral bonus - Thanks!