Baby Updates: December

Isabelle Susanne Liles 

Born Monday, December 1, 2014 at 8:52am

8lbs 7oz, 20 inches

 

Here are some highlights and photos of Isabelle's first month:

• Overall, she's a happy, feisty and determined girl

• Enjoys looking at faces

• Practicing her facial and eye movements

• Follows objects and sounds with her eyes 

• LOVES music. The sure-fire way we've found to get her to stop crying when she's fussy is to put on some music and dance with her/sing.  

• She's starting to smile

• Gurgles, grunts, coos, cries, hiccups, and one little squeal
  

• Starting to gain neck strength

• Starting to gain leg strength. Enjoys pushing her legs out to standing while on our laps when we hold her under her armpits.

• During her tummy time on her play mat, she attempts to crawl, wiggling legs and body and makes frustrated grunting noises when she can't move forward far enough (takes after mom being competitive and sometimes having expectations too high!). Joe and I can't help but giggle at this.

At the hospital on Isabelle's birthday

At the hospital on Isabelle's birthday

One day old at the hospital.

Two days old at the hospital

Two days old. Getting ready to leave the hospital to go home!

6 days old. Isabelle's first Broncos game and outfit!

One week old. Daddy's Little Princess.

Three weeks old.

Isabelle's first Christmas and first Christmas outfit!

Smiling with daddy. 4 weeks old.

Both kittens have adapted so well to Isabelle. Sophia is the guardian and protector; she comes over to alert me right away when Isabelle cries, and Finnegan just loves to cuddle.

Two weeks old here with her Christmas stocking

Grandma Carole visiting from North Carolina

Papa Mike visiting from Colorado

Christmas Day Family photo. Isabelle just had too much excitement on Christmas morning to stay awake past 10am!

Baby Updates: November

November 1st marks 36 weeks; and now only 28 days until Isabelle's due date! We're in the home stretch now and getting so excited to meet our little girl. 

Here are some photos of what we've been up to:

Here is the hospital Isabelle will be born at. Our childbirth class during the month of October included a tour of the hospital and maternity floor. It is a beautiful new facility, with beautiful birthing suites; and being able to take a tour puts our minds at ease.

We ordered some final items needed before Isabelle gets here. Here, Joe is doing some nesting by figuring out the baby video monitor. He is just the cutest!

Joe finding the best place for the video monitor.

A wonderful neighbor/friend sewed us a couple changing pad covers for Isabelle's room. She did a wonderful job and we love them!

A couple of super soft and cozy Christmas sleep and plays we bought for Isabelle. So precious! One of them says "Santa's Helper" and the other one says "Joy".

I put together the outfit we will take Isabelle home from the hospital in. I wanted something comfortable for her to wear, so this is perfect. I knit the hat/booties, and the onesie, pants and bow are from Papa Mike and Grandma Georgine. I absolutely love the little kitten on the butt of the pants!

I couldn't resist and bought Isabelle a Christmas/Holiday outfit. I seriously cannot wait to dress her cute little self up!

38 Weeks! It's getting harder and harder to move around and get comfortable, so I've been living in sweatpants and comfy t-shirts. At our last doctor's appointment on 14 Nov, the doctor said Isabelle will be at least 7.5 pounds. Joe is predicting 8.5 pounds. I prefer just not to think about it, except that she will definitely be a happy, healthy little girl!

More to come this month... if there is more to report! I will continue to try and post weekly bump photos. I am predicting Isabelle will be born in December, but Joe says "Joe babies are born on time!" So, we'll see!

 

Joe and I traded in our two 20-year old cars and bought something more reliable with a lot less maintenance. Here is our 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Mr. Jeeperson (named by me). He arrived just in time before Isabelle's estimated arrival!

40 Weeks, 11/28/2014! At our last appointment, doctor predicts Isabelle will come this weekend based on my body's progress...We'll see!

 

~

Baby Updates: October

Baby Shower!

Joe organized a co-ed baby shower/barbeque ("Baby-Q") for me, and surprised me with a visit from my dad and my aunt! Oh my goodness, it was an emotional weekend to say the least; full of so much love and excitement. We were so overjoyed by all the people who came to help us celebrate Isabelle, and I was not expecting such a large turnout. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives! Here are some photos from the weekend (taken mostly by my dad):

What a beautiful day!

Decorations put up by my dad & aunt

Me with my aunt Robin!

Decorations

My aunt Robin and my dad

In Isabelle's room before the shower

All the guys! Joe is in the bright teal shirt.

All the girls gathered around for presents. (The guys took all the kids and played some games outside).

Emotional day! Such sweet gifts.

Maternity Photos!

We had our wonderful and talented friend take some maternity photos of us. We wanted to have the photos taken on the beach because it best represents our time here in California. Here is a preview of some of the photos.  I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Here are some other things we've been up to:

Joe and I went to Babcock Vineyard in Lompoc to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary on October 3rd. We had a wonderful time together with a picnic lunch outside in the shade. We only took a short walk around the vineyard because it was a hot day- almost 100 degrees out!

A knit sweater I made for Isabelle. It was my first attempt at knitting sweater. The pattern was much easier than I thought, and I had so much fun knitting it! For those interested, here is the free pattern: Autumn Leaves Sweater

I loved this yarn so much (Valley Yarns Stockbridge, a 50% Alpaca, 50% wool blend), that I also made a beanie to match the sweater. I went ahead and couldn't resist making myself a matching hat as well (hehe!). Here is the free pattern for the hats: Purple Stitch Project Beanie

I wanted to make Isabelle some comfy, girly bow headbands, so here they are. I found the sewing tutorial online, and they were super easy and fun to make. Find the tutorial here. 

Testing out the color match and sizing (not to dress up a stuffed dog). This photo just makes me laugh.

We got a sweet gift of a jogging stroller and infant car seat set. Thank you to Grandpa Mike and Grandma Georgine! Sophia got to have the first ride, and she actually loved it. We can't wait to use it with Isabelle to take her on all our adventures!