6 week selfies

Isabelle is 6 weeks old today and just started smiling within the past day or two!

 For some reason, she is very smiley first thing in the morning. (She did not get that from me.)

So today, I said, "WE SHALL TAKE SOME SELFIES!"

 "Mom, you're a dork."

 We love this little peanut to the moon and back!!

One month old! And a very long winded name story.

Isabelle turned one month old last Saturday! What a darling little baby and getting so big.

 She's got some cheeks on her! Her arms and legs are plumping up, too. (And she lost her hair on top, poor thing, just like her siblings did.)

{4 weeks old}

Here's a video of her hiccuping, grunting and pulling faces like a pro.

♥♥♥

 

 With Luke and Madelyn, each month I'd have a photo of them like this next to their name sign in their room, followed by a pic of me with them and their stats and new developments.

 Princess Buttercup here does not have a name sign yet...OR a quilted wall hanging (like I made for the other two) OR even a crib yet, and I feel like a dud.

Well, with my other kids, we had their names figured out months before they were born. With Isabelle, we didn't decide for sure until she was in our arms.

I haven't told this story yet, huh. Well!

Basically, I had always wanted to name her "Miranda"...it had been a favorite name for 15 years. But Mark was like, "Meh..."

He had his own favorite names for 15 years--"Sydney" and "Samuel" that I wouldn't let him use for our other kids, so I was afraid of that happening.

In fact, I was so afraid that I wouldn't tell him what my favorite name was for a long time. Then he said, "I think I already know what it is--'Isabelle!'" (Which was actually my second choice.)

We'd thought about that name for Madelyn, but Mark had nixed it because of "Crazy Old Isabelle" from North Carolina that he grew up with. But we went ahead and named our very first goldfish that back in 2002.

Anyway, Madelyn loved the name, too but we hit a snag when Mark told me he'd be calling her "Izzy" for short (which makes me cringe) and I said I wanted to call her "Belle" for short and we couldn't agree, so we just threw that name out and start from square one.

FIFTY THOUSAND NAMES LATER*........In early April, Mark was about to get wheeled into surgery for his deviated septum and told me that in case he didn't come out of anesthesia, we needed to have a name for the baby. So we decided on "Asia Mei". Both names had been on our list for years. Finally, a decision! We didn't tell everybody, but we did tell several family members.

BUT THEN, as her due date came closer, and people kept asking if we'd decided on a name yet, Mark kept saying, "We don't know, we're going to just decide when she's born." Whaaaaaaaaaaat?! So then I started to second guess "Asia". Then we were having an ultrasound at 35 weeks and Dr. Sanders asked Madelyn what name she liked, and she said "Isabelle", and so that's what he called her during the ultrasound, and it just seemed right. (I didn't say anything at the time, though.)

So four weeks later, we were in the hospital, I was in labor, and we still hadn't come to an agreement. Mark had essentially given up and told me I could name her "Miranda" if I really wanted to. I told him my top three names were "Asia", "Miranda" and "Isabelle", but I was leaning towards "Isabelle". He said he didn't realize that was back in the running again--but that's the name he'd been thinking that was the right one, too.

 

 One month stats:

Weight: 9 lbs. 4 oz. (32nd percentile)
Height: 21 inches (20th percentile)

That's about 3 lbs. and 2 inches since birth! Holy moly!

New things she's learned: holding up her head, smiling (probably not on purpose, but still adorable)

I decided to go for broke and ask that her middle name be "Miranda", and Mark agreed. It's a name invented by Shakespeare for the play The Tempest...it's the name of a moon...it's just so pretty. Oh, and I loved the name "Éowyn", too. You know.....Éowyn:

Only the most epic female literary/theatrical character EVER....

Well, the actress that plays her in the movies is named Miranda, so...close enough.

 

 Father's Day 2014. Such a round face!

 We sure are enjoying having a cute little squish around the house again. We could do with some more sleep, though.

 *No really, I borrowed a book of 100,000 baby names from my sister Maria and read through every one in the girl's section. Other names in the running were Belle, Taya, Elena, Annalise, Lauren, Audrey, Giselle, Sadie, Leia, Eva, Mirelle and Amelia. Maybe I just need to have 12 more kids...

The second two weeks....

HOLY CROW. (As my G-ma would say.) So I am a teensy bit behind on the ol' blog. It turns out that having a baby around makes everything a thousand times harder to get done. You'd think that I would have known that already!

Anyway.

Leaving off from my last update...we had a lot more visits and first meetings and so on and so forth.

 Isabelle has several little baby friends that were born within a month of her. This is Kaleb, my friend Jenny Chamberlain's baby boy. He was born 10 days before Isabelle and was 9 lbs.10 oz. and by this point was 11 POUNDS at approx. 3 1/2 weeks old. I am glad that I have dainty babies. 

This is Morgan "Rex", my friend Alane Jones' baby, who was born 2 1/2 weeks before Isabelle. He was 6 lbs. 11 oz at birth, and I'm not sure how big he was in this photo at 6 weeks old. I grew up across the street from the Joneses and this was a big surprise for them. They have a son, Tanner, on a mission and three girls (the youngest of whom is 10-12ish). Cute little caboose!

 This is our friend Jeff and Lindsey Ure's baby Amelia (they work with Mark) and she was born 2 1/2 weeks after Isabelle. She was 9 lbs. at birth. I just don't know how I would have survived delivering a big baby like that!

 We went down to LaVerkin for my dad's birthday on May 29th.

We met in my parent's new house, which they have been building for over a year (and isn't quite done yet). 

 I think my folks enjoy having grandkids. This is #10 for them. (Madelyn was #1 and Luke was #5)

 

 

 This little pumpkin gets held all the time. Alllll the time. (I'm having to type this with one hand because I'm holding her right now.)

 My Aunt Nanette and Uncle David Nelson came to visit from Denver on their way to see my G-ma in California. Nanette has had two major surgeries this year for breast cancer. I was so glad to see her looking as good as she did.

  

Uncle David is a great baby snuggler!

 Maria came over with her kids, too.

 Luke and Emery have become such good little buddies. (Luke calls her "Emeria", combining her name with her mom's.)

They crack me up!! Always riding bikes, or playing with trains, or singing song from Frozen. So glad that they are our neighbors now.

 On June 8th, my sister Megan came down to open her mission call! It was her first time meeting Isabelle (3 1/2 weeks old).

 All sorts of people came to watch (that is Dorothy Bone and Kristan Stewart, old family friends) and it was quite the ballyhoo. Kristan was Meg's best friend growing up, and she is also about to serve a mission in Peru.

 Eeeek, what an exciting moment!! She lives up in Orem, (3-4 hours away) but had the call sent to my parent's house. It arrived on a Thursday but she waited till Sunday to open it so her friends and family could be there.

 She got called to the Mexico, Saltillo mission and will leave in October! She really wanted to speak Spanish, so she was very happy. I can't believe she's going. That means I'm getting old.

 Her best friend Veronica...they have been two peas in a pod for a lot of years.

My sisters in law Lori and Monica with Gary and Isabelle

 

 Luke and Emery

 This is Steve Jones (whose baby Rex I showed above) and he's an art teacher. He made a beautiful drawing of Megan. He drew me a long time ago, too.

 Sisters!!

 Then we had to get home, because TIGER CAME BACK! He was gone for two weeks, the turkey!! He finally showed back up at his old owner's again. Madelyn had been putting on a brave face, but when she heard that he was back, she burst into tears. I'd given up on him, honestly. He was sort of beat up around the ears again and skinny and bedraggled, but otherwise okay. That's the last time we let him be outside past dark!

 Sunday lounging after we got home. (Look at Madelyn, LOL.)

 Tiger is enjoying being a spoiled house cat again.

 Isabelle's first bedtime story. Madelyn is  such a good big sister! I don't know what I'd do without her!

 

She is even an enthusiastic diaper changer. It is so awesome.

Last week the kids went to their cousins Nathan and Ava's to swim in their pool.

 

 Summer fun! It was 108° down in St. George that day. Yuck.

 Luke's typical day...

 *asleep*

*asleep*

I could make a coffee table book just of pictures of my kids asleep in weird places.

 Mark took the kids fishing up Cedar Mountain and he and Madelyn caught one trout a piece, and Luke caught six! They threw them all back.

 One of her favorite faces to make.

 Time flies when you're having fun!