Isabella is grace-ing our lives...

 

Already in the first two+ weeks she has been in our lives, Isabella has brought so much joy into our home!  One of the most rewarding things to see is how Mercer's big brother instincts have kicked in.   He is so kind... so gentle... so sweet... so loving.  (Here, he's counting her fingers.)

Many of the same fears and observations in the early weeks of us tending to Mercer are the same with Isabella: 
- the whole chunky mustard poo situation occurred.  now, she's moved onto a different style of poo for the most part
- we're still scared to death to trim finger nails and toe nails, but it necessary & we just do it. 
- we're trying to get back into the swing of swaddling and shushing in order to get a better night's sleep (we're still doing a little bit of shift work and figuring out how to get through each day / each night)
- we're still tracking feedings and observing that some of our early victories of stretching out her feedings at night have somewhat reverted back to middle-of-the-night feedings

Overall, however, we're more relaxed.  Partly because we've been through it.  Partly because we're at home and have a lot of support of friends and neighbors.  Partly because we had more time to prepare.  (oh wait - that last part's not true!)  I was looking back at Mercer's entry into our lives and there was a lot of mention about researching baby products.  That all paid off, as the things we brought into our home for him are still very appropriate, non-toxic, durable, and still in use.  So - there's less time trying to figure out what's needed and more time staring at baby girl!

Isabella - at her 3 day old appointment - did not do anything dramatic like Mercer did "christening" of the doctor's office.  There was one interesting thing that happened, however:  at the pediatrician's office, she was measured several times, but came up an inch short each time from her original birth length:  18" at 3 days old where the hospital recorded her length at birth at 19".  We all agreed at the doctor's office to take the difference thinking the hospital had to have written down the length incorrectly -- so the "official" 3 day old measurement is 18 1/2" long. 

The doctor confirmed what we had been observing:  Isabella is a healthy baby girl.  We reported that Isabella had rolled from her back to her side the first night we had her.  The doctor was actually amazed at her neck strength -- holding her head up already at 3 days old.  Since then, we have also observed her schooching in her crib (starting at one end and eventually working her way to the other side), and using her legs to push her up over the boppy pillow / to push up over our shoulder as we're holding her.  Actually - the other day - she had her hands underneath her and had lifted her upper body.  (She looked like she was ready to crawl if she could get her legs under her and used them to scooch!)  We will have to watch her, for sure!  Looks like she's going to be very active!

The only thing that came up at Isabella's appointment was her very very dry skin... but that's pretty much been resolved already and at her 2 week old appointment, she got an A+ report card (they give everyone an A+, honestly).  Her head circumference is normal at 52%.  Her weight and height are low on the charts for a 2 week old (around 16 - 17% compared to other kids), but she was born a little smaller than a lot of babies are.  She's now weighing in at 7 lbs, 4.8 oz.  Heck - I was just reading about a baby that one of my former colleagues had:  10 lbs... I wonder if Isabella will even be 10 lbs at 2 months old??  We'll see. She has a 2 month appointment in January.

All-in-all, things are going really well. She's a very content baby.  She's starting to smile (and not just from gas or "pushing something out").  She seems to recognize Todd, Mercer, and myself now.  She pretty much only fusses when she's hungry.  She's a voracious eater and seems to grow hungrier each day (looks like we'll be increasing her food consumption again this week).  She's a good eater - just like Mercer was.  She doesn't spit up very much at all.  She's at 16-17% now on the growth chart... I imagine she will be closing the gap by the next doctor's visit.

My mom was able to come down for a visit last week to help out while I'm working (yes - still working... not sure when I'll be able to "take leave").  She came to the doctor's appointment with me and thought the doctor was a little rough on our precious little girl.  (At the hospital, they were practically tossing her around, so I guess we're gentler than we need to be?)  Mom held the baby a lot, folded at least a dozen loads of laundry, did a lot of dishes, and played with Mercer / gave him some extra attention.  It was a nice to have a helping hand.  Here's a photo of the proud grandma~

The week before her visit, we did a couple of memorable things as a family:  we all participated in our first family fun-run... the Gobble Jog... a fundraiser for a local food bank.  Isabella went too (but we did not register her, as she just rode in the stroller).  Later that day, we went up to a neighbor's house for a late Thanksgiving lunch.