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.