July 14

Isla is 6 weeks old this week. We were playing outside tonight, so I thought I would take advantage of the natural light and get a few pictures of her. She is so much more relaxed outside, and she fell asleep as soon as I laid her down. I tried to wake her up to get a picture with her eyes open, but I didn't have any luck!
She is fattening up quite nicely. Someday, she won't be too excited about me talking about her getting fat, but for now it is a good thing! Her cheeks are now nice and plump, her belly is nice and round, and she is starting to get some rolls on her arms and legs. She looks much more like a normal baby now, rather than a tiny fragile little baby. We haven't had her weighed in about 3 weeks, but I'm guessing she is getting close to 8 1/2 pounds by now.
Her favorite activity (besides eating and sleeping) is staring. She will stare intently at our faces, and it appears that she is very seriously studying us and trying to decide what she thinks of us. It is very cute. She is a bit stingy with her smiles. We get some half smiles and a few real smiles occasionally. I am looking forward to the day when the smiles start flowing a little more freely.

She is getting stronger too. She has more control of her neck and can hold her head up for brief periods of time. We are working on tummy time and getting her to lift her head up when laying on her stomach. She will lift it up for just a second or so, before giving up and getting mad at us for making her work so hard! =)
She is starting to get into the rhythm of a schedule. I say that with caution, because things are subject to change frequently with a baby. At night, she will wake up once or twice to eat, then generally she will go right back to sleep. She is a very restless sleeper though, and often grunts and squirms in her sleep for what seems like the whole night. Sometimes we get her up because she is making so much noise, but really she is sleeping and we end up waking her up. She has had some issues with gas, so that might be part of her restless sleeping problem. The doctor says it takes about 3 months for babies' digestive systems to mature. I'm hoping as she gets older, she will start to sleep more soundly and generally be more content.
As soon as we came back inside tonight (and out of the good light), then she decided to wake up and open her eyes!