Oh my goodness, likl lady. So much to write for the last few weeks of adventures with you!
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.
