Isabella's 2 month milestones

Sorry for the delay in getting a blog post up lately... I had another big deadline at work at the end of January. 

Isabella turned 2 months old on the 13th of January.  She had her 2 month pediatrician appointment in late January.  She also had her first round of immunizations (one was oral and the other was under the little pink band-aid on her leg). We are following an alternative immunization schedule - like we did with Mercer.  She did really well, but I still feel bad when they give her the little prick.  The 2nd photo expresses her feeling on getting immunizations!

All-in-all, she's a good, healthy baby.  She got another A+ on her check-up "report card."  Her stats:

- 11 lbs, 4 oz.  Of course, she ate about 3 oz of a bottle while we waited in the doctor's office.  Do we need to take a little off of that total?? (she's now 46% according to the charts)
- 22.75" long (49%)
- 15.75" in head circumference (70%) 

She actually shed a tear on the day she turned 2 months old.  Yes, Isabella fusses and cries (a little).  There have been several people say that they've never heard her make a peep... that's almost true, but when she's really really hungry -- she cries.  When she's got a dirty diaper sometimes she cries too.  So - we know her tear ducts work, but honestly, I don't know that I've seen any tears since.  I remember reading up on that when Mercer was a baby -- kind of stunned that babies weren't able to make tears at first. 

Isabella has been laughing and smiling a lot more. (And "on command" too -- as we can make faces or the high-pitch baby voices and get some smiles out of her.  Guess that's why people talk like that around babies... to get a reaction~)  Don't know if I've mentioned before that Mercer's voice even goes into a higher pitch when he talks to his baby sister too. 

Isabella is pushing her pacifier into her mouth now.  It has to be near her mouth, but she knows now that she can control it a little and actually get it in there.  It's been cute to watch her do that and self-soothe (especially while I was cranking on my deadline), but it reminds me that she's growing & getting older!  She can do it while laying down like this, but she's also started holding it into her mouth while she's sitting up. If she didn't have the pacifier, she would be gnawing on her hand.  It goes in her mouth a lot more than Mercer's ever did.  We're still convinced that she's teething (drooling, gnawing, bumps on the gums) but the pediatrician wouldn't concede.  Here's another photo I like with her sleeping on her belly in "child's pose" with her butt in the air!  So cute~

We mentioned that she's starting to "talk."  Well, we finally have been able to catch it on video (check out this link -- it's really cute!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiiibsb2934

Mercer may be having a little bout of regression (?).  We've heard this can happen when a baby is brought into the house, although I think regression is more intentional.  He's had "accidents" 4 times this past week -- once during a nap but the other 3 were overnight.  Since it's happening while he's asleep - I don't know that he's doing this for attention, but we've got to figure out how to stop it!  He wants to have a friend spend the night in his new big-boy room when it's done... and we don't want this to happen when a company is over because Mercer gets pretty sad and a little ashamed when it happens.  Poor guy~

Todd finished the closet build-out and installing all of the trim in the new bedroom.  I've enjoyed hanging out with Mercer and Isabella all day each weekend -- getting the kids out of the house so Todd can work.  We've done some nice things together / explored some different parts of the city.  Our most recent "outing" was at the High Museum.  This was the first trip that we've taken where Mercer actually hung with me looking at the art exhibits.  We checked out an adventure back-pack for the day which had a few activities for kids, but I'd like to think - as he's getting older - maybe he's gaining an appreciation for art?  (I can hope so!)  Of course, his favorite thing to do there is action-based:  sliding blocks in the shape-sorter tables... and playing with the giant leather-ette blocks.  He loves stacking them up and crashing into them. 

Now, it's my turn to paint every surface in the room (and re-paint the walls & ceiling that only ever got one coat of paint).  Mercer is very excited about his new room and has even wanted to help paint. Granted -- there's a little bit of damage control that has to be done & a little re-painting that I have to do afterwards, but I'm happy that he wants to help.... it helps to provide a sense of ownership.  

Here's a picture Mercer drew at school of his sister (with rainbow hair).  There are some pretty cool things they're learning in school right now.  He came home with a drawing of the body with areas highlighted on it and his writing out the words identified in the highlight... he brought home a colored food pyramid... he also told us that they learned about brushing their teeth and staying healthy.  Mercer constantly is hungry... and he says he wants to eat so he can grow big.  Of course, it's our job to put good things in front of him & for the most part we're holding to it & he's learning what's good for him / what's not. 

"Grandma Gloria" was here at the end of January too.  She passed through here on her way to a cruise to celebrate her retirement.  She went to the Bahamas and Bermuda (as well as some spots in between).  After the cruise, she stayed for a couple of days to hang out with baby girl and big boy Mercer.  After my project at work went out, we did a little bit of shopping, however, our trip was cut short because of bad weather.  There were tornadoes north of us, but we decided to play it safe and hang out in the hallway off and on throughout the day!  More importantly, a lot of time was spent playing games with Mercer and holding baby Isabella.

I forgot to write about Mercer's MLK day "project."  He had the day off from school and I had the day off from work.  He and I talked about Martin Luther King Jr and made an art project in honor of him.  We made a couple of Unity Hand Print posters -- one for Mercer's room and one that he took to school.  Mercer asked a couple of times in disbelief:  I can put my hand in this paint?! 

We also went to the MLK day parade on the square with friends to cheer on those who marched.  And - timing was on our side because right before we went to the parade - we also watched part of Obama's 2nd inauguration. 

Mercer asked questions about why all of the people were there, but he knew who the President was and he knew that the big building in the background was the White House.  (School again?!)  So glad we got to talk about both MLK Jr., the President, and work on an art project all in one day!  It was a great day that we spent together, indeed!