Lots of new developments!

Isabelle has been busy this last week. She surprised us with sleeping through the night last week, and has been doing fairly well with that since...(I knock on every piece of wood I see!) Since then, Isabelle has been working on giggling...no giggles yet, but she's trying to push SOMETHING out when she's excited and smiling big. She's also trying to copy the sounds we make when we talk to her. She especially likes 'gooo' and 'ahhhhbooo.' She watches people talk very intently. Other developments; she tracks people and Magnum across the room, she watches sometimes as her hands zoom by above her face, she's figured out how to make her kick bouncy chair work, she would rather sit up and be able to watch what's going on around her than lay back when being held, she's starting to learn to buzz her lips together, and she loves to kick the box of wipes off the changing table. She's a busy girl!

Here are a few recent pics:

Hug me...you know you want to...

Baby Ninja....Hyeeeeee-YA!

See, tummy time isn't all bad!

I'd forgotten....

what it feels like to sleep for 8 hours. Wednesday night Dan put Isabelle to bed at 9:45 or so after a nice big bottle. I figured that one of us would be seeing her once in the normal 2-4 am window. However, the next thing I knew my alarm was ringing at 6 am. My eyes popped open...I turned to Dan and asked him if he'd gotten up with her...he shook his head. Instant dread. What is it about the first time they sleep through the night? I crept into her room fearing what I would find. I found Isabelle squirming as she usually does before she wakes up! When she finally did wake up about 10 minutes later...she was HUNGRY! So, we were thankful but weren't really thinking she'd do that again for awhile. However, last night..Thursday night, Isabelle again went down at 9:45 or so....and woke this morning at 5:45! I've never been so happy to get up that early in my life. I haven't gotten an 8 hour stretch of sleep since my second trimester! If this keeps up, maybe Dan and I can start to relinquish the half-zombie state that all new parents adopt for a time.

10 weeks old!

Hi Everyone, here are some pics from the last week. I'm currently waiting on some software to install here, so I thought I would post a few.

*wink wink, nudge nudge*

Isabelle maxin' and relaxin'

WHAT is THAT?!?

Does mom's hair look THAT bad?

Oooo....I think I filled my pants.

Recent Pics - 9+ Weeks

Time seems to be going by faster now that I've gone back to work! Thankfully my employer has agreed to let me try getting my hours in a 4 day week with working from home when necessary on Wednesdays. Today is my first Wednesday home, and it's been great! I've gotten some things for work accomplished as well as been able to spend time with Isabelle. Dropping her off at the sitter is still hard, but the routine that we're all getting into makes it a little easier.

Here are some recent pics:

What'choo doin'?

THE COOLEST chick on the block

Hanging out

Enjoying time in the floor gym

8 Weeks Old Today!

Today, Isabelle is 8 weeks old. This marks quite a few new things that will be happening. For one, I re-join the work force tomorrow. I wish I could spend more time with her. As many of my family members have told me: At this age, dropping her off at daycare will be harder on me than it is on her. We took her to meet the gal that will be taking care of her until our original person gets off her maternity leave in August (she's also having a girl, so here's hoping Isabelle will have a good little playmate!) She was great, and I think Isabelle will do really well with her, but I still left there with a pit in my stomach.

Also today, we had our 2 month doctor's appointment. Isabelle is 11 lbs, 6.5 oz, so a little lighter than I thought, but still in a great place. That puts her at around the 75th percentile for weight. She's 23.5" in length, which puts her at the 90th percentile for height. So our little one, at least for the moment, is a tall one! Guess that's why she's out of most 0-3 month clothing! Isabelle also had to get her first round of shots today. That experience had us both a little upset. She seems to have forgotten about the incident much sooner than I have at the moment....there was just something in her reaction to the pain that got to me. It was evident by her reaction that she really never had experienced pain or pinching before. I wished I could have taken the shots for her.

So onto the more fun part of the post. This morning, I tried to take some 2 month pictures of Isabelle with the birthday bear. Below is my favorite....a couple of the others are included below because I had a hard time deciding which one I liked best... ;)

Isabelle at 8 weeks with great-grandma's b-day bear.

Isabelle in the midst telling me a story.

So peaceful

Now onto the out-takes: I thought this one was cute, she was distracted by something outside the window.

Here is my favorite shot, but it wasn't appropriate to use as THE 2 month picture. I call this Isabelle's "gangsta" pose. Note she's giving the 'sign.' Word.

7 & Some

It's hard to believe that the little Peanut will be 8 weeks old this coming Monday. I also can't believe how fast she's grown, or the amount she's changed. Another thing that's hard to believe is how much Dan and I have adapted in this relatively short amount of time. For example, I now have a ratings system for diapers. The severity of the mess is rated in the number of wipes it takes to clean it up. So far the ratings scale has ranged from 1 to 5....5 being achieved just today. I didn't know so much could come from one so little in such a short amount of time. :P

Recent pics:

We love the changing table

We also love the mirror attached to the changing table

Isabelle in her car seat at almost 7 weeks...we graduated to taking out the newborn inserts. She looks much different in here now than when we brought her home.

We love Daddy. I should also say that this picture was taken shortly after the "5 wipe" incident.

6 Weeks Old Already

Monday marked the end of 6 weeks for us in life with Peanut. I had my 6 week check-up with my doctor - everything is good, she said to call if I need anything. She gave me a big hug on her way out of the room. I will miss seeing her and talking with her. Honestly however, I am happy that medically, I can be left ALONE on that front for awhile.

On to Isabelle! I stepped on our scale with her this morning...it's not the greatest scale in the world, but it works...according to that, Isabelle is up to 11.5 lbs! So, it isn't our imagination...she really IS growing! The newborn clothing is on it's way to being packed away because she's too tall for it now. She's talking a little more, interacting a little more, and it seems to me that she's turning into more of a very little person now with her own emerging personality.

Some pics from the past few days:

Sheesh....growing is hard work!

Does this pacifier make my face look funny?

Here's Isabelle giving big brother a hard time....and Magnum saying 'Mom, make it stop!'

Heading Towards 6 Weeks Old

We're heading towards the 6 week mark this coming Monday. While it seems like the long sleep that we had a couple of weeks ago were just a fluke for the time being (yep, Dan and I are back to being sleep deprived), there are plenty of firsts still going on. In the evenings, Isabelle is alert and awake (and a lot of the time upset). When she isn't upset, she likes to lay on the floor and squirm and kick and just generally take in the world around her and stretch out. I readied the floor gym yesterday, so we'll see how she likes that when she's ready for her floor time this evening. If any of you guys have any ideas of how to take the relatively sleepy mornings and alert evenings and nights and shift them a little, let me know! I'd rather she be sleepy at night when its time to go to bed! She doesn't have her days and nights mixed up exactly, her awake times just tend to be towards late afternoons and evenings, which isn't a problem until it gets close to 10-12...and we have to be productive the next day. Is she still developing her little internal clock, or is our little girl destined to be more of a night owl? (Just like mom and dad in college....OY...could she be getting this from US???) When she isn't upset, she's started doing a little cooing, which is a much welcome change.

Anyway, here's what Isabelle has been up to lately, aside from being upset at night:

What are THESE? Are they good to suck on?

Yep! They work great! (note she's STILL flipping the camera off...she fits right in!)

She can now actually SEE the mirror and mobile above the swing. She's also practicing her smile, which hasn't come out too much just yet.

Very First Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day as a mom. It was a special day that I'll remember for a long time. Dan surprised me in bed with something he said he and Izzy picked out. There was a card and one of those "small boxes." In the box was a necklace with a Mother's pendant that has Isabelle's birthstone set in it. What a surprise! I didn't expect anything like that. I also didn't expect how seeing it and knowing they (ok Dan, really) had picked it out just for me would make me feel. Had I not still been half asleep, I would have most certainly teared up (in a good way). The good day didn't stop there. We took Isabelle and all 3 of us went to Target for a bit, then to a Mexican restaurant in town, and then to some friends' place for some conversation and just to hang out for a bit. That may not seem like much for an outing, but it was our first outing with all 3 of us. It was amazing to feel like we could actually start doing things together again....within reason anyway. We still have to be mindful of feeding times to avoid melt-downs, but it's a start!

A Fluke or ?

Well, right on the heels of her 1 month birthday, Isabelle had a little surprise in store for us. Yesterday she was awake most of the afternoon and evening, and not MAD the entire time...just awake, which was nice. Then at her ~9/10 o'clock feeding she took 4 oz...a big meal for one so small! Then around 11:30 she finally went to sleep.....until 5:30 this morning. That's right...7 hours between meals, 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep! What is this world coming to??? I'm hoping that last night wasn't a fluke...then I started looking back at the log I've been keeping. Aside from the night before last, she's been eeking out longer and longer periods at night....2 days ago it was 6.5 hours between feedings at night, she just didn't go to sleep...so maybe we're starting a good trend. Here's hoping!

She was also interested in just laying on the couch and kicking her feet and moving her arms around last night and studying the light patters on the couch. She did that for almost 1/2 an hour....it was a little strange, but I guess the black couch with white light shining off it could be interesting. I'm thinking it might be time to start getting out the floor gym?