2 Months Old

("I can sleep anywhere and in any position, just like mommy!")

I can't believe that in just 2 hours I will be taking the little one to the doctor's office for her 2 month check up! Time has FLOWN by and Isabella is getting bigger and bigger by the day! She is eating well, gaining weight well, feeling well...now (even though we are now taking some meds due to some reflux issues she was having), and sleeping like a champ! The night she turned 7 weeks old, she gave mommy quite the present when she slept through the entire night giving mommy almost 7 hours of sleep after her last feeding! For probably 2 weeks prior to that, she has been going for about 5-6 hours and then waking, but this day was something extra special! She followed it up with several nights back to 4-6 hours at a time, but then last Friday after we returned from the football game, she slept in the next morning for 8 hours and there has been no turning back....well, maybe a little!

Chris and I decided to start letting her go a bit longer even if she wakes up crying. She quickly cries her self back to sleep and has managed to go an entire week now by sleeping through the night! There were two nights in there that I had to get up at 4 and 4:45am to pat her tummy and reswaddle her, but it took just a mere minute and she was out again! Unfortunately, our week long run will probably take a back seat for the next two weeks since Chris' parents are in town and we don't let her cry as much in the middle of the night if she does wake, and then her and I change timezones and head to Ohio for a week with my family! At least we'll have 2 more weeks to get back into the swing of things before I head back to work.

Yep, that's right. On November 3rd, I will be heading back to work full time. Part time will be in the office (Mon-Thursday 8 to noon) and part time will be from home (all afternoons and all day on Friday). Chris and I are just thrilled for the arrangements that have been made for us to allow me to be with Bella, but to also help bring in "the bacon" with keeping my full-time job. Many have asked if I am ready to go back to work and the answer is "Yes and No!" I love my job so I am excited to head back, but I also love being with Bella all day too! Guess I'm getting the best of both worlds since I only have to leave her 4 hours for 4 days a week! :0) Praise God for that!

(Visitng Daddy at work)

I feel much more at ease now about going back since I have Bella's day care situation worked out! We found an incredible lady that lives not to far from us to watch Bella. She has an 11 month old little guy and is around my age. She actually works part time at the church in our Children's Ministry (which I didn't know since she has been hired since I've been on leave). She will watch Bella 2 days a week from home and then one day at the church during Women's Bible Study hours. This is again another huge blessing since it is normally not allowed, but since she is our normal sitter and helps out watching kiddos that day, Bella gets to "go to work" with her which allows me to be on hand to feed her and take her home with me at noon! WAHOO! I'll be savoring these last 3 weeks of no work for sure, though! What ever will I do with out seeing the "Price is Right" every day and 4 rounds of Family Feud that happen to be on every time I feed?!?!? (Speaking of which, PiR starts now, so I gotta wrap this up!)

Currently Bella is enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa Shondelmyer whom she met for the first time on Wednesday. After she gets her vaccinations at her check up today, we are heading up North to the Beasleys' cabin for the weekend. Daddy thinks that it will be a great idea to give Bella her first quad (like a four-wheeler, but larger) ride, so we'll see how that goes! Daddy wants to get her acclimated to our type of lifestyle early on!

Check back for photos of her enjoying the Northern Arizona outdoors when we return!

("I don't like it when Daddy has to leave me in the morning for work!")

("This is my "Praising Jesus" pose. Mommy will have to tell you more about that later!")