Way to go Gators, Way to go!

Oh how we love March Madness... It was a good win by the Gators today, and Ali was in full spirit!  We also upgraded Ali to her big girl stroller and took her on a walk around the neighborhood.  She's growing up SO fast!  After staying up to watch the game with Daddy, she quickly fell asleep on our walk.

Ali, What Are You Doing?

I think this is Todd's version of Peek-a-Boo.  Ali thinks Daddy is pretty funny!

Sleeping Beauty is on the Move!

Ali does not stay still when she sleeps.  This little girl gets a workout moving around in her crib.  This is how I lay her down in her crib at bedtime:

Often times, she turns to sleep on her side. Check out that crazy hair pattern.  We call her tufts of hair her "horns" since she has it on both sides.  It's perfect for our little Texas Longhorn!

Ali starts scooting around in her crib before we even go to bed.  Here she is starting her rotation.

In the morning, I walk into her room to find her in the opposite direction that I left her!

She really doesn't cry in the morning.  She just makes some noise and waits for us to come pick her up.  If you know me, you know how hard it used to be for me to get up in the morning.  Well, that has completely changed.  I can't resist getting out of bed to go pick up this sweet angel... even if it is 6am on Saturday morning.  I know this can't last forever, so I'll enjoy it while I can!

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!