sleeping at sweet sixteen

Sixteen weeks, that is. Today she is three months and twenty-six days old. It's hard to imagine that she's about to hit that official four month mark already. Most of the time it feels like she was just born.

Right now, she's sleeping peacefully and noisily on a pillow next to me. She still has the raspy breath sounds she had at birth. Even though the pediatrician says it's fine, I still find myself listening closely to her to make sure she's not in some kind of distress.

It's been a big weekend for the bitty little bun baby. She spent it with both sets of grandparents, her big sister and two aunties, celebrating her and her big sister's baptism. Isla was amazing during the service, falling asleep in her daddy's arms during the service and then only wailing a tiny bit when the cold water hit her head. She went back to sleep not long afterwards.

She's starting to pull herself into a sitting position using just her abs. It's truly incredible to watch her body work. She's so very small and so very strong and so very fragile. The juxtaposition of her strength and frailty boggles my mind. I feel so thankful to be able to watch this, to watch her (and her sister) grow and change.

ten eleven weeks old

Ten weeks and growing. At least she was when ten weeks old when this post was first started. Now, she's a growing eleven week old, full up on vaccines and ready to travel. First trip, Paris.**

Our bitty baby is now a sweet bundle of ten pounds, thirteen point five ounces. That's just a little bit more than two bags of sugar if you're counting by sweet, though the truth is, ten pounds of dixie crystals is nowhere near close enough to measure the sweetness that is this baby girl.

Isla is tall, or perhaps long is a better description. Her 9-week check-up measured her head-to-heel length at 23 and a quarter inches. Though the girth of her tiny little body still fits in newborn size clothes, her long torso and legs are stretching the limits of her 3-to-6-month-old sleepers. She is swallowed up in the extra fabric, but is, at least, able to stretch out her legs.

Her disposition is mild, though she requires much more attention in this infant stage than did her big sister. She is a good sleeper, snoozing nearly every night for five consecutive hours, though there are occasional mid-slumber awakenings for a snack to tide her over 'til dawn. She likes to be held, she hates to stay in a wet or dirty diaper for one second longer than it takes her to utilize it, and she adores her big sister, smiling for her almost every time she sees her.

She smiles now and laughs, and still makes those sweet little grunty noises (the same little grunty noises that had us and our night nurses slightly concerned the evening she was born) almost every moment that she breathes. She can hold her head up for a fairly good length of time, and has even started to roll from her tummy to her back.

She does not cry often (her sister may disagree on this point, and would probably, if asked, relate that her baby sis cries all the time), but when she does, she really, really does. This child will not starve or suffer from the smallest amount of discomfort, for her wails will summon anyone and everyone within hearing distance - and with her lung power, that's a lot of folks - to her aid without delay. We-the-parents rue any miscalculation in feeding times while driving as those last couple of blocks home are near unbearable with a hungry Isla riding in the back.

**We're not going to Paris. Not yet, anyway. Her first trip was to Jacksonville.

eight weeks and two days old

and resting. Pretty well. Last night our little Bun slept from 12:30 ante meridiem clean through to five-point-five hours into the ninth of September. Not to be outdone, our growing Bee slept, alone in her bed, without waking up once from roughly twenty-three-hundred until nine-thirty this morning.

What???!!!!???!!!!

Yes. And that means that we-the-parents also slept, quietly, without waking (or at least waking to feed or comfort someone other than ourselves) for five beautiful hours.

Isla is resting now. Right now, this very moment, as I type this in fact. She has just returned from her baby shower (how much fun is this to do after they are actually outside the womb!) where she was adorable, awake, and quiet - aside from her standard repertoire of breathie, gruntie, baby noises (remember, the 'ie' makes it feminine ...). The super-sweet friends that Dadoo works with made her a special party lunch, complete with delicious chocolate cupcakes, sweet tea and yummy subs from Mama's new favorite sandwich shop. Her big sister got to come, too, and all four of us had a blast.

In other recent Isla news, she's a total pro at head-lifting and throwing, though like her sister before her, she doesn't love tummy time yet. She's sweet and snuggly and likes to be held - a lot - and when she's smiling, she's really, really, really smiling. She smiles most at her big sister, which in turn makes we-the-parents really, really, really smile, too.

Here's what a Bun looks like at eight weeks:

six weeks old

Our sweet girl is smiling now, especially when she has the chance to hang out with her big sister. Those tiny smiles are amazing.

a burrito

A sweet, warm, adorably swaddled burrito baby.

*At first, Isla did not like this swaddle. Her feet were too short to stay in the bottom, and she didn't like her arms tied down. A matter of weeks is all it took for her to grow an inch and not fuss about the arms. New moms, you need this blanket. (thank you Mrs. Z for this blanket ... it was a miracle for Averie and we love it again for Isla.)

4 weeks, three days and eating

Bun-baby is officially a month old, whether you're counting by weeks or days. Fast, fast, super-fast, says Mama, as time flies by us again. It's incredible how quickly the days go. Except for those super slow parts when our Bee-baby-now-pre-schooler is out of sorts at the exact same moment our Bun-baby is screaming for food. Those parts do not fly by. They seem to linger, dissipating at an unbelievably sluggish pace.

The tiny baby sister is a sweet one, spending most of her daytime moments asleep and waking for conversation in the evenings while she enjoys (endless) hours of multi-course, specially prepared meals. She's cuddly, and soft, and growing. A lot.

Our girl came home from the hospital a bitty, teeny six pounds and eleven ounces. So small and wrinkly, with not a bit of baby-fat anywhere. Two weeks later, she was back to her birth weight, and a mere twelve days after that, she's surpassed her big sister's birth weight at 8lbs, 7oz. That's a big jump in the percentile chart, and some serious encouragement for a tired Mama who wasn't quite sure if her little Bun was getting enough to eat. Turns out, she totally is.

Not to let her height out-do her weight, Bun's head to toe statistics show an increase as well. She's up from her 20 inch birth length by 1.5 inches to a super-model tall 21 and a half inches.

Big sis accompanied her to this latest doctor's appointment, and was a model of perfect behavior and decorum. The baby sis was slightly less amiable, and graced the entire office with an operatic show of lung power. In the bitty one's defense, she was hungry (though she'd eaten but an hour earlier), and when she's hungry, well, she's just a tiny bit less than content.

Current family status:
Bun-baby: temporarily full, clean, and sleeping on Mama's bed.
Bee-baby: full, clean, dressed and playing with her Thomas, her bunny, her duck and the salt & pepper mills.
Dadoo: tired, @work, tired, still the cutest boy I ever saw.
Mama: tired, @(home)work, tired, tired, and thankful.
George Rémoulade: tired, frightened, hiding in the bathroom laundry.

... three weeks old

And back to her birth weight. While we took her home a mere six pounds and eleven ounces, our bitty baby girl is now back to her initial seven pounds, three ounces, plus one extra ounce. We-the-parents are glad to know she's growing, and still a bit amazed at how tiny she still is. Mama is secretly pleased that she has the chance to keep her so small just a little bit longer.

These first weeks disappeared quickly for all of us amid a blur of diapers, family visits and trips back to the lab for bilirubin tests. One moment she was born, and a short minute later our tiny Isla is almost one month old. How fast it goes again.

Here she is ...



*** Many thanks to our dear friend Tim
for this gorgeous photo of our baby girl. ***

here

Isla Mireille Larson

Born 6:17 p.m. July 13th, 2010

7 lbs, 3 oz, 20 in.