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!

Our Trip to Florida!

We headed to Orlando this past weekend for the Bay Hill golf tournament and for Ali's Baptism.  Todd's mom lives on the 2nd hole, so it's always a big party at her house this weekend.  Ali saw her cousins Michael and Julia again, and this time she was very interested in watching the kids.  Jules was very interested in Ali as well and would give her sweet kisses.  Once again, Todd's youngest sister Andrea set up a concession stand in the backyard to raise money for her mission trip.  She did this last year and used the money to go on a mission trip to Ireland.  This year, she is using the money to go to the Dominican Republic.  We did take Ali on the course once in her stroller and walked around, but she usually hung out in the backyard with Grandma, Mimi and Aunt Jeannie.  For the most part, we sat on 2 and watched the golfers come through.  It was surprising how many people still follow Tiger, and Phil also had a large following as usual.  I really enjoyed watching Rickie Fowler (that kid has crazy outfits!) this year, and Martin Laird won the tournament this year. 

Do you think someone should call CPS?  Apparently Ali is already really intrigued by Todd's Bud Light bottle?  Could it be that it just resembles her bottle?  Don't be fooled by the pictures... we did not allow Ali to partake in under age drinking!

We also baptized Ali on Sunday at Todd's mom's church.  All of Kathy's grandchildren have been baptized at St. Luke's United Methodist where Todd and his siblings grew up.

Todd and I are not typically late, but we had a rough morning and literally RAN into the service 10 minutes late.  Apparently Reverend Barnes had been stalling and completely called us out as we walked in announcing that the guests of honor had arrived just in time for the baptism and asked up to come on down.  He said it in a joking manner, but I was mortified.  Todd and I pulled Ali out of her car seat and hurried up to the altar.  After the rush, we were able to calm down and enjoy Ali's baptism and the rest of the service.  Ali was a sweet angel during the baptism and service.  Although we were late, we were very happy to baptize Ali and make the commitment to lead by example and guide Ali in faith as part of a Christian family.

After the service, we headed to Crave for brunch.  The food was served family style, and we had a separate room for our party of 12.  It was a great place to celebrate Ali's baptism!

If you'd like to see more pictures from the weekend, visit our Picasa Web Gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindyhu