All the books say to expect your first smile to happen around 6 weeks and you were like clockwork.
That smile started coming out for no good reason-I can't tell you what happiness stirs in your Dad's and my stomachs the second your face makes a sideways, capital D. And when you're awake and alert, we make all the noises and faces we can muster to try and coax that smile out as many times as possible! :) I've seen Duntie, Grandma, Meemaw and Pawpaw do the same. Now, the truth is that you've been smiling since the day you were born...but they were 99% in your sleep and not based on anything we did to prompt it. Around the 6 week mark, you started smiling while awake and in response to some joke about your mom and dad (haha-we figure!). We love it. You're beautiful.
For the last month or so, we've had our second round of visitors--your grandparents can't stay away!
Your dad's parents came out for about 8 days, taking advantage of an annual Expo in Denver: The AWWA ACE13!
Your Pawpaw got to come out "on business" with his Wilson County Utility
board position and brought Meemaw out too. While they were here, we
brought you to your first festival: The Festival For Water (put on by my
work--Water For People) and your aunt Vicky made us VIPs! :) Your
Meemaw made us a sling to carry you in and lots of cotton swaddling
blankets to use during summer. The weather turned really hot for a few
days, even reaching 100'F one time, and Pawpaw came to the rescue when
he bought us and installed an A/C unit for the main part of the
upstairs! We would've survived without it, but we found out quick that
your skin is pretty sensitive to the heat (Your poor face, neck and
chest broke out in a rash every time it got toasty!). Now it's nice and
cool indoors and we're a lot more comfortable in the afternoons and
evenings! Happy Fathers' Day to us!They were here during Fathers' Day and we gave PawPaw a frame to hold lots of his favorite shots of you thus far...I think he liked it. We got dad a special card (from "you" and me) with the exact amount of days you've been in his life...57. Dad and PawPaw snuck away to see a movie too.
Last
week, your Grandma (my mom) came into town for a visit and she was
super excited because she hadn't seen you since the day after you were
born. She fell right in line without missing a beat--changing diapers,
bopping on the ball to make you burp and even got lucky (?!) putting you
down for the night in your bassinet one time...one of maybe 3 times
thus far when we didn't have to go back in and get you. Her trip was
only a few days, but I felt like it was a really blessed time of
napping, holding, playing, etc. By the morning that she left, I noticed
that you recognized her voice from the other room and smiled when you
did--you make my heart just melt with this kind of thing!The weekend Grandma was here was also Aunt Sammi's birthday (Duntie), so she and her boyfriend came up that Saturday to hang around at our pool.
You
and your dad continue to enjoy each other in the evenings and on
weekends when you nap on his chest or make faces at each other in the
hammock. He loves to take pictures of you at any chance he gets...even
in the tub, getting changed or riding in your carseat.
By the way, we're getting a lot better at traveling together. By now, you and I have nursed in a restaurant bathroom stall, in our backseat, at the Water Festival (!) and we've changed your diaper in a thrift shop, at the Water Festival, at your Uncle David's house (a few times!) and other public spots...mostly without disasters ensuing.
I've had you wrapped up in the Boba on a trip to Home Depot (but you weren't in there quite tight enough, so there was gradual slippage happening), in the sling to my office, shopping and touring the Kidoodles daycare and in the carrier around the house. You seem a little unsure of these traveling options at first, but eventually settle in and will more or less allow them all for at least a little while. I won't say we've mastered any one style yet (other than the stroller/carseat), but we'll keep working on it. I ordered your daddy a sling and we tried it out with you yesterday...to be continued. ::wink::
At the end of last week, we went to your 2-month doctor's appointment and got your first round of immunizations--3 shots and an oral dose (for rotavirus...ick). You were such a champ about it too--coo'd and smiled for the Dr. Julie and only cried for a moment with your shots. Like the doctor warned us, you were a little under the weather for the following couple of days--you slept a bunch and seemed a little sensitive to the touch in your legs. We gave you baby tylenol and tried to keep you comfortable.
What else, little Bel...I still haven't settled on what to call you. I'm okay with the rest of the world calling you your full name ISOBEL, but I'd like to have a special nickname that only I call you. We'll see how that plays out. I know your Meemaw has always called you IZZY and your Grandma goes back and forth. I know you don't know your name(s) yet, so it's okay to keep changing it up. I just hope you know you're someone special and that your Mom, Dad and others are taking good care of you--keeping you safe and healthy.
Next up: sleeping through the night...maybe, starting to use cloth diapers, deciding on sending you to daycare (or not!), having a new/old roommate around downstairs and other fun times.
You continue to amaze us, Isobel. We are starting to get new glimpses of your personality and it just delights us to get to know you and interact with you more and more. I hope we're exposing you to enough new sensory stuff-and keeping you occupied enough, but not too much. LOL
I really have been agonizing over whether or not to return to work in a couple of weeks. I had to ask for more time from my boss because I couldn't bear to return next Monday, like I was supposed to originally. Thanks for being awesome.
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