4 Weeks Old

Today marks four weeks since Isabella was born... Wow! The past four weeks have flown by and she is growing like a weed! Her birth weight was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches and at her two week wellness check, she was up to 8 pounds 7 ounces and is 21.5 inches. During her stay in the NICU, Bella dropped down to 7 pounds 11 ounces, which is normal, but it certainly is reassuring to know that she is growing. Her four week wellness appointment is this Friday and I'm curious to see how much she's grown in the past two weeks.

Sleep... what's that?!? We are adjusting to life with a newborn and are coping well with our new sleep schedule. Bella averages 3-4 hours of sleep during the night and naps for about 2-3 hours during each nap. I'm by no means complaining, because things could be a lot worse, but I can't wait for her to start sleeping through the night. Sleeping through the night to me means 6-8 hours of sleep, but this could be wishful thinking. I've consulted several baby books, including "On Becoming Baby Wise", "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and "Healthy Sleep, Happy Child" and I'm still stumped on how to approach sleep training. Some books suggest rigid sleep, wake and feeding schedules, while others suggest a more flexible schedule. At this point, we're not ready to begin sleep training, so I still have some time to figure things out. Any suggestions?

A friend stopped by today and visited with us for a few hours. She's a new friend, whom we met through child birth classes, and she is expecting any day now. It's nice to have a friend who is at a similar point in life. She and her husband live close by, so hopefully once their little guy arrives, we'll have baby play dates and fun family events. I love my single friends and my friends without kids, but it really is nice to make new friends who have babies close to Bella's age. I also joined a group for moms with young babies. I met up with a few of the ladies on Sunday and we walked along Bayshore Boulevard for about an hour. The ladies were very friendly, the conversation was great and the exercise felt good. It's nice to get out of the house for a few hours and once Bella is a little older I know she'll enjoy playing with the other babies. I look forward to attending more events with this group and hopefully I'll meet some life-long friends.

My dad is coming to Tampa tomorrow for a week-long visit! We're really looking forward to his visit and I know my dad is looking forward to meeting Bella. It will be nice to have some company at home and to have a little extra help around the house. I haven't seen my dad since February, so it's been a little over two months since we've seen each other. Bella and I will be picking him up from the airport around noon and then we're going to stop by Ian's office to meet his co-workers. Ian is taking Friday and Monday off and so we'll have a lot of family time. Did I mention that I'm really looking forward to this week?!?

Our little family is doing quite well and we're enjoying life... just the three of us (or five of us, if you include Kaiser & Riley)! Life is hectic, a little chaotic, but most of all, fun.

Love always,

Ian, Kim & Bella