First Hotel Stay and Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Indiana

We went back to Gunnison last weekend for my 10 year high school reunion. The highlight of the trip was definitely the half and half salad from Mario's - so delicious!

We hadn't been back since before my parents moved so it was great to be in Gunnison again - it is so beautiful in the summer (although hotter than I remembered and would have liked). We stayed at at hotel which went well and was great since we got to take Ali swimming for the first time! The video shows Ali going into the pool for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KNr9MiWcaQ

The reunion was nice too - neat to catch up with people and hear what everyone is up to now that we are all grown up :). It was also great to catch up with my old gymnastics coaches at the Gunnison gymnasts reunion.

This weekend Ali got to meet "great grandma and great grandpa Indiana". My grandparents drove down from Indiana and were in Fort Collins for the weekend so we stayed with my parents and got some wonderful family time.

So fun to see everyone with Ali and I am so thankful she has so much great family from both me and Jesse. We also managed a quick side trip to visit with our friend Amy and Brandon and their two girls.

Ali will be 5 months old tomorrow (I can't believe it) and I think she is ready for a weekend off. She is pretty exhausted from all the travel and excitement the last two weekends (although you wouldn't know it right now as she is refusing to go to sleep).

In other Ali news she is pro-roller from tummy to back (it is still somewhat infrequent although she did it three times in a row tonight and did show off her rolling skills for Molly this morning). And she has rolled from back to tummy. Calee took care of Ali last week while I was at work. Before I left Tuesday morning she says to me "what do I do when Ali rolls onto her tummy during her nap?" I responded saying "She did???" That one was definitely a fluke though since she has yet to roll onto her tummy when she is awake (although she does get very close sometimes).

Ali laughing

Cutest video ever! I posted this on Facebook but thought I ought to post here too.

Ali laughed big time like this for the first time right at 4 months. This video was taken in the evening on July 6, 2010.

Size Comparison

My mom has been wanting a new size comparison so here it is!

Ali seems to be catching up with me on length (she is now the same length I was at 3 months) and has now surpassed me on weight :) Ali still has no shot of catching Jesse on either measure but I think that is a good thing! She has definitely slowed down the weight gain a lot (but I hear that is normal at this age) so I am interested to see where she falls percentage wise at her 6 month appointment.

Rock and Roll Baby!

Ali rolls! She rolled tummy to back twice Friday night and once this afternoon.

I ordered Ali a baby floor gym (a mat with toys hanging on arcs above it) since she is no longer as entertained by the fan but loves when someone dangles toys above her. It arrived Friday and I set it up and put her on it. She liked looking at the toys so I rolled her to her tummy to look in the mirror. She quickly rolled back over to her back. The first time I thought it was a fluke - maybe I hadn't rolled her all the way to her tummy I thought. So I put her back on her tummy and she did it again! This time she got stuck for a minute - she rolled her shoulders but left her hips and legs behind - she did get them over though just as Jesse walked back upstairs. Of course Ali refused to roll over again so Jesse could see.

I tried to get her to roll over several times yesterday with no luck but then she did it again this afternoon (in the gym again). Ali has still refused to show off her new skill for Jesse but she took a good long nap this afternoon so I am hopeful she will roll again this evening.

We may be onto something!

Ali slept through the night two nights in a row now (and 3 out of the last 4 nights)! I have to admit it is pretty nice :)

We had a great 4th of July. We went to church and the BBQ afterward which was delicious! We had a relaxing afternoon at home before heading to our friend Cook's house for the evening. Ali was wonderfully behaved all evening but she is quite a party animal! She only napped for a few minutes the whole time we were there and she was up WAY past her normal bedtime! She was great though - she was happy to play on the floor and observe everyone.

She looked super cute in her 4th of July outfit from her great grandma Lib. Once I get the pictures uploaded I will add a pic of her in the outfit to this post.

What a Big Girl!

Ali had her four month doctor visit on Monday and she looks great! She weighted 14 lb 13 oz (76%) and was 23.75 in long (29%). She is maintaining her weight curve and is moving up in length percentile! She was a champ for her vaccines again - she hates the taste of the oral one but does so great with the shot. No fever again - I am very happy about that.

Ali is still fasting when I am at work (she refuses the bottle and just sleeps until I get home). So most days she ends up not eating for about 6 hours in the afternoon. The first time she did this a few weeks back she made up for it by eating a ton at night. Luckily she hasn't done that again but I keep thinking she will. Yesterday she did the same thing - came and nursed just before noon and didn't eat again until I got home at 5. She ate a ton throughout the evening and I fed her last and put her to bed at 7:45 pm. She was wide awake and kicking around when I put her down but she put herself to sleep anyway - what a great baby! Then she slept until 4:30 am! And she didn't wake up crying! She woke up and was happily kicking around in the bassinet making noises (but not crying!). I picked her up and fed her (she ate a ton) and she was still wide awake but again she put herself back to sleep until she got up for the day around 7:30 am.

I can barely believe our good luck - she sleeps through the night - and with no effort at all on our part! :) I still don't expect it all the time but I am so relieved that it does happen. I was pretty on the fence about doing any "sleep training" type things. Our pediatrician just sent info home about getting them to sleep through the night and I just wasn't crazy about the suggestions. At this point I am pretty confident in believing that she is developing great sleep habits all on her own and will sleep through the night consistently before too long all on her own!