Monthly Newsletter: Month 18

Future's So Bright, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Last week you passed the one-and-a-half mark, an impressive milestone in and of itself. I think in some ways you are more like a 2 or 3-year-old, so I forget that you are still just one! I think having an older brother and sister definitely make you feel the need to keep on your toes, and you have no problem holding your own when the other two are around, that's for sure!

You recently had your 18-month checkup, and you are still WAY off the chart for height, so it's another reason, perhaps, that you seem older than you are. You are tall and gorgeous — and amazingly cute and funny as well. The language barrier is becoming less and less of an issue as your vocabulary continues to grow. You are curious and clearly intelligent, and just an absolute delight to us all.

Right now it seems that your favorite person (aside from me) is your sister, "Deedee." When Edie is not home, you ask for her often, saying, "Deedee?" and you'll point at the door to the outside. If I say, "Edie isn't here," you'll think for a minute, then say, "Byebye?" (As in, "Edie's gone bye bye?") A few weeks ago I made a comment to you one morning about a half hour before it was time to pick up Edie from school, and you came and took me by the hand and pulled me to the door, where you smacked your hand on it and exclaimed, "Deedee! Bye bye!" You were ready to go!

You just might be ready to truly begin potty training — more than once you've paused in what you were doing, clutched your hand to your diaper and looked at me intently. When I asked you if you needed to go potty, you nodded, and together we ran to the bathroom, but we haven't yet made it in time. But the interest is definitely there.

Another funny new development with you is at bedtime. Generally I put you to bed before the older two kids, and although you are always very quiet when I put you to bed and never make a fuss, there are many nights when, by the time I am tucking Edie into bed, I get in the room to discover you are still wide awake! And suddenly, once Edie is lying in her own bed across from you in your crib, you think it's party time, and you grasp the top of the crib and jump up and down while giggling and squealing. Even Edie, who think it's funny, has had to come out to me more than once and say with a big sigh, "Mommy, can you PLEASE make her go to sleep? She's keeping me awake!" You just think it's so great to share a room with your big sister, I guess.

And in the mornings, you, like the other two before you, are generally as good as gold, and will play contentedly in your crib until someone finally comes in to fetch you. What a dream baby you are... what a lucky mommy I am.

And though you are still rather stingy with your kisses, you will frequently come over to me and wrap your arms around me and give me a quick snuggle, tucking your head in close with a sweet smile, before running off again to goodness knows what adventures you are getting into now. And those little sweet embraces are just enough to melt my heart, sweet, sweet girl.

I love you! Happy one-and-a-half birthday!

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 14

Imp, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

This post is just a few days late, as our lives have gotten into the full swing of post-holiday, back-to-school and spring sports madness. With Owen and Edie both in sports (baseball and softball), our days and weeks are exceedingly full and busy. And you — you are just along for the ride.

You seem to think everything is a new adventure, and you happily tag along to wherever we need to be, fairly content to squawk and babble and take it all in.

Your newest adventure is that, at last, you are completely and truly WALKING. You're still just the tiniest bit unsteady, particularly on an uneven surface, like the bare grass, so it's definitely an adventure, but each day you get a little faster on those little feet of yours, and you follow me wherever I go throughout the house. And I think with the freedom of walking has come a new sense of mischievous discovery, and I often find you searching through the drawers and cupboards in my bathroom or dropping things into the toilet with glee. And when you are heading somewhere that you know you aren't supposed to be, and I follow you and say, "I'm gonna get you!" you squeal and giggle with delight and try to walk a little faster, which inevitably makes you stumble and fall.

We have decided that, of all three kids, you are the most independent-minded. Where Owen and Edie would parrot us and repeat things we would say or ask them to do on cue, you instead smile a cheeky grin and manage to look cuter than ever. If we ask you for hugs and kisses, you RARELY give them — you'd rather wait until you haven't been asked, and then spontaneously come over to me and lay your head on my knees and wrap your arms around my legs, preferring instead to give them to us on your own terms... which makes those spontaneous little hugs all the sweeter.

I know I say often how I feel so blessed to have gotten my little bonus baby, and I thank God every day for the miracle of you.

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 13

pretty baby, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Today you are 13 months old, and just as delightful as ever.

I find myself often sitting back and taking stock of this still relatively new family unit of ours, this party of five. It is a vibrant and boisterous bunch, yes, and so full of love and happiness I feel like my heart can hardly bear the weight of it.

I watch the three of you — you, Owen and Edie — and marvel at the changes in you all, and get such a kick out of watching you reach each milestone, remembering when Owen and Edie did it first.

You are just as easygoing and laid-back as Owen and Edie were — perhaps even more so, if that's possible — and yet you are also definitely your own person and have your own opinion about things. You are at times imperious and demanding in that egocentric way unique to toddlers, pointing at things you want and grunting out, "Dis? Dis," then getting angry when you don't get it... but you are also sweet and loving, freely giving out kisses and hugs (but only when it suits YOU to do so — you rarely will do anything on command).


Christmas was fun this year with you, though you were funny with the presents — I thought sure you'd get a big kick out of ripping off the paper, but you daintily picked at an edge of the paper until someone (usually Edie or Owen) came along to help rip it off for you. It was a little bit of sensory overload for you, I think, but you handled the experience well. YOu also really loved the new playhouse I made (see previous post), and crawled in and out of the doorway opening countless times while it was set up.

I was talking recently to another parent of three, and she was saying that she really felt the third child has a unique perspective on the world around her, because she is around other children almost all the time — those brothers and sisters are built-in playmates! And I would have to say that's true for you... Owen and Edie certainly love playing with you and making you laugh and cuddling with you — almost as much as YOU love it, I think.

As for you... you are very TALL — taller, even, than Owen and Edie were at the same age, and neck and neck with Edie in weight at age one. But you are lagging in the mobility department: you still don't walk! You have taken, at most, three or four wobbly steps, but you infinitely prefer crawling or, funny as it is, walking on your knees (which is adorable and hilarious at the same time). I also think you have fewer words than Owen and Edie did (though honestly, it's difficult to remember these things)... you are just the tiniest bit cautious, and that's okay. It might be the one thing you inherited from me, since it's clear you don't LOOK like me. I was a cautious child, too.

And, like Owen and Edie, you LOVE your blankie (which, true to form in our household, is called your "mimmy") — so much so that you point and grunt for me to get it for you, and once you are holding it, you lean into it and cuddle close, burying your face into the satin and sighing with happy delight.

I don't know what I did to deserve you — all of you — I love you so much I can hardly stand to think of NOT having you here... my little bonus baby.

Love, Mama

First Birthday

Birthday Girl, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Tomorrow is your first birthday, and oh my goodness, how can you be turning one already? You, my juicy little love bug with the totally nibble-worthy cheeks and irresistible smile — you are so incredibly dear to me, my little "bonus" baby.

Just after Thanksgiving, we got out all the Christmas decorations, and as we decorated the house this year, I was thinking about last year at this same time, how heavy my belly was with the unborn promise of you. How tired I was, and how excited. How I couldn't wait to meet you, and find out if you were a boy or a girl (but secretly kind of hoping that you WERE a girl!).

And then, when I put up the small tree in my bedroom that I like to have in the front window, I remembered in a flash those first few weeks with you, how you slept in the sweet cradle next to my bed, and how I'd feed you in the middle of the night with only the soft glow of white Christmas tree bulbs lighting your precious, tiny face. How you'd wrap your fingers around one of mine and grip so tightly. The soft, sweet grunts you would make, somehow magnified in the kind of quiet you only get in a house where everyone is sleeping.

There are no words for the magic you (and your brother and sister before you) have brought to my life. You have allowed me one more chance to remember Owen's and Edie's first milestones, and to feel bittersweet agony in knowing that those early days are gone.

I adore watching you with Owen and Edie, seeing your delighted expression when they pay attention to you. But you have definitely got your own personality, too — at times imperiously bossy in the way that 1-year-olds can be and alternately sweetly loving, planting kisses on anyone who gets in your way.

You aren't walking YET, but you are very close — and your words are mostly a mumbo-jumbo of sounds and gibberish that I love listening to. You, like your sister Edie before you, just never SHUT UP. You will cruise a room, babbling higgeldy-piggeldy, pointing at things and repeating certain sounds, then squealing with delight at your own cleverness.

You also LOVE to dance, and whenever Edie puts some music on her CD player — usually Taylor Swift — your butt wiggles and you bob from side to side, little cheeky grin on your face. You are, in a word, delightful.

Happy birthday, my sweet baby girl. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 11

Mouth full of teeth — that's FOUR molars she's got in there., originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Today you are 11 months old, and are just so full of delightful energy and curiosity, sometimes I feel full to bursting.

You are completely and fully mobile now, and alternately crawl and "walk" around the room, reaching for things you know you aren't supposed to have and smiling impishly at me in the process. Now you know when you aren't supposed to have something, and you try and get away from me when you see me coming, crawling as fast as your butt can wiggle and squealing with delight at the thrill of the chase.

There always seems to be a constant stream of jibber jabber pouring from your mouth, these days, too... "Mama" is really the only discernible word you say with any clarity, but that's not to say that it is by any means the ONLY thing you say — we just don't know what else you are telling us, but you certainly say what you have to say emphatically and with great gusto. What's funny is, your words do have inflection, so it sounds like you are just speaking your own special baby language. Just this morning you were in my bed with me for a little bit after you got up, and you were playing with the remote control that operates our ceiling fan; it has tons of buttons on it, and makes the light go on and off, so you were having a great time playing with it. Finally, you held it up to your ear like a telephone and started chattering away! I nearly died of the cuteness of that moment.

A few weeks ago you developed a runny nose, and it remained for three solid weeks... and at the end of those three weeks you had three new molars to show for it! You now have nearly a full set of chompers, and you love to eat more than just about anything else in the world.

Owen and Edie still get a kick out all the new things you are constantly doing, and you remain their biggest fan. Every morning when it's time to wake Edie up for school, I grab you from the crib and yell, "Dog pile on Edie!" and then I swoop you across the room to plop you on top of your sister, who always pretends to still be sleeping, but the little smile on her face gives her away. And you almost always bend over to plant a big, wet kiss on Edie's face, chattering away your very own version of "good morning" in Isla-language.

It's hard for me to believe you are going to be one year old in a month... I keep looking at all three of you and marveling at how big and grown up Owen and Edie are getting, and realizing that I'm not quite ready.... that maybe you were a special gift to me for that very reason. And each night when I go to check on you in your crib before I go to bed, I press a kiss to your forehead and whisper softly in your ear, "Don't grow up... don't grow up."

I know it's inevitable, of course... but that doesn't keep me from still wishing for it, all the same.

I love you, sweet baby girl...
Love, Mama

10 months: 10/10/10

Making faces., originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Today you are ten months old. It just occurred to me that in just two short months you will be one whole year, a fact that just blows my mind when I think of it. And when I look back over the last ten, joyous months since you arrived and made our world that much brighter, it seems incredible to consider how much you've changed.

You are a very big, robust girl, tipping the scales not only in weight but seriously OFF the chart for your height — you are one tall baby! While your weight is pretty much neck and neck with how Owen and Edie measured up at the same age, you are over two inches LONGER than they were. Your feet are long, too — much longer than Edie's were, and she's got pretty long feet as it is. Here's hoping you'll be a tall girl when you grow up.

You talk a bit less than either Owen or Edie did at the same age, I think, though it is hard to remember specific dates of milestones. You say "Mam mam" and a whole host of other squeals and sounds that carry inflection and clearly mean something to YOU. In fact, you have developed this little chattering sound, which I think is actually you mimicking the sound of real speech, a little jibber jabber of noises that are just delightful to listen to.

You are still such an easy-going, happy, jolly baby, and friendly, too, though not quite as eager to go to other people as Owen and Edie were. You are happy to smile and flirt with people from the safety of your mama's arms, but if someone tries to hold you or pick you up you immediately become very nervous and look around for me.

We were lucky enough to spend nine days in Hawaii just last week, and you did GREAT. First time on a plane? No problem. Snaps to you! You were a little squirmy, but never fussy or loud, and I received lots of compliments on the good behavior of not just my darling infant, but all three of my kids.

One of your very favorite activities is EATING, and you have discovered a whole host of new foods that make you very happy, indeed. In fact, the more regular food you get, the less inclined you are to want to eat the jars of mushy baby food — not that I can blame you there.

And your newest milestone is that you can now stand up, and you love to pull yourself up to stand around the coffee table or stand up near the low shelves in my kitchen where we keep the cookbooks. You especially love to stand in your crib, gripping the rails with those chubby fists and laughing imperiously at Owen and Edie, who are at your eye level when you stand that way.

And I continue to be so grateful that Owen and Edie just love you so very much. They are so careful with you (most of the time), and are quick to make sure you don't have things in your mouth that you shouldn't. I have two extra sets of eyes to help me out, which is great, because you are one busy baby!

You are such a delight, sweet sweet girl, and we are all of us just completely in love with you. You like to give us big, wet kisses — sometimes when we ask you for a kiss, and sometimes — the best times — you just look at me for a moment and then lean in and plant one on me all on your own, and then you have the grace to look exceedingly pleased with yourself. I wish I could bottle the feeling I get in those moments. It's pure euphoria.

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 9

hi, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

You turned 9 months old last Friday, but my monthly update was delayed because your daddy and I were out of town for the weekend, celebrating our 15th anniversary a month late.

But you... YOU. You are... in a word... splendid. You are so sweet and adorable it really is all I can do to not just take a big bite out of your delicious cheeks.

Your newest tricks are as follows:

1) You can now officially crawl. You began on the very day your brother and sister started back to school, almost as if you wanted to make sure that the day was a special milestone for EVERYONE.

2) And with crawling now comes... pulling up. You can't quite make it to your feet — yet — but you can pull up to your knees, and I now have to make sure that there is nothing on the coffee table or any other low surface that you can get to. This also means that more often than not when I come into your room to get you from a nap or first thing in the morning, you are up on your knees, peering over the railing of your crib and crowing happily. Owen and Edie are particularly delighted with this, and they spend lots of time playing with you while you laugh at them from your perch in your crib.

3) You now blow kisses (in addition to giving the big, wet, open-mouthed sloppy REAL ones you've been giving us for a couple of months now). And, as your sister before you (who "blew" kisses from her forehead), you blow kisses in your OWN unique way, preferring to press the back of your hand to your mouth and wipe it to the side.

4) I decided I want to try and teach you baby sign language, which I had started to do with Edie but gave up when it was clear that she was such an early (and clear) talker, I didn't really need to rely on sign language to communicate with her. So the other day I was feeding you in the high chair and decided to try using a very easy one: the sign for "more." Imagine my delight when you picked it up almost immediately, and now when it's feeding time, if I say to you, "Would you like more, Isla?" You press your palms together (your version of the sign is not quite right, but you have definitely got the idea) eagerly with a big grin on your face. Clever girl.

5. You have also become very interested in the telephone, particularly if someone is speaking on the other end whose voice you recognize, whether it's me or daddy or Jacquie. When your daddy and I were out of town this past weekend, we called every evening and morning to talk to all you kids, and Jacquie told us how your face would light up when you'd hear our voices.

Also? Like your brother and your sister before you, you are, at heart, a mama's girl, and you reach for me whenever I am near. When we arrived home to pick up you kids from Jacquie's house this weekend, your face broke into a huge grin when you saw us, and when I scooped you up, you cuddled me close for a moment before pulling back just a bit to really get a good look at me, your eyes traveling from my forehead to my eyes to my mouth and back up, with a sweet smile on your face. Your expression seemed to be saying, "I've missed seeing your face, Mama."

And oh, I missed seeing yours too, baby.

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 8

Blue Eyes, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Today you are eight months old, and just as chunky and sweet as ever. This past month you began to take a LITTLE more of an interest in moving around on the floor, so now I have to keep a closer eye on you as you scoot across the floor. Oh, and by the way? You scoot backwards. Haven't figured out how to get it out of reverse, yet. Then you wind up scooting yourself into a corner or wedging your leg under the couch and call loudly for assistance.

Speaking of calling loudly, you definitely have discovered your voice! You screech and yell and chortle and sing at ear-piercing levels, and you are just so happy doing it. And a few words have started to appear: namely. "Dada" and "Mama." At first it was really just coincidence, but now you really say them, and my heart just melts when you look up at me and say, "Mama." In fact, the times when you say it the most are when you are in distress, and it's heartbreakingly sweet when your little chin is all puckered up with unhappiness and you are sobbing, "Mama!"

Of all my three babies (who were all really good at keeping themselves entertained), you are the one who most wants to be held. I can generally leave you on your playmat for a LITTLE while by yourself, while I sit nearby and keep an eye on you, but as soon as you decide you've had enough of being by yourself, you squall for company. And generally that's all it is; as soon as someone comes to sit with you — or even just BY you — you are pretty much all smiles again. Little social girl... you're more like your daddy than you know! What will you do once the two older kids start back to school, and your days become much quieter? Owen and Edie are still two of your favorite people, and you watch them closely, taking in all their antics.

We spent some more time with our new baby cousin, Fletcher, this past month, and you are very intrigued by that little guy. I think you think that he is your very own personal baby, because you reach for him with great interest, and I think you'd probably pinch and squeeze him if left to your own devices.

As for you, you are full of sweet smiles and happy chortles most of the time, for pretty much everyone. Lately you've begun to be slightly shy, and you'll give shy smiles and then turn your face down coyly, looking up from under those dark lashes sweetly. And you also now give kisses — not all the time, but often, if I say "kissy kissy," you'll lean over and smack me with a big wet one — or two or three. And occasionally — the best times, in fact — you lean over and give me a kiss without me even asking.

Those are magic moments for me, sweet girl. I love you so much my heart feels like it will burst.

Love, Mama

Monthly Newsletter — Month 7

Love this girl
Originally uploaded by JenSig

Dear Isla,

Today is your 7-month birthday, and also happened to be the day you got baptized. That blessed event was... well... INTERESTING, to say the least. When Owen and Edie were both baptized, the water was poured gently over the tops of their heads, and the anointing with the oil was just a small sign of the cross made on the backs of their necks and the tops of their heads.

Well... I guess it's true that every officiant will perform the ceremony his own way. Today, the priest gleefully poured three huge scooping handfuls of water down your entire head (into your eyes and mouth, too), which had you sputtering in indignant anger; then the anointing of the oil came, and imagine my surprise when he poured literally a beaker full — about two measuring cups or more — of warm, scented oil all over your entire head. Fortunately none got into your eyes or mouth, but let's just say that you were Less Than Pleased.

In any event, it was a beautiful and special service, followed by a lovely brunch here at our house, with family and loved ones surrounding you.

I keep thinking to myself what a blessing you are to me... you, who arrived at a time in my life when I didn't expect to have any more children; it's like God wanted me to have you.

In other news, you are scooting all over the room, able to do pushups with your arms but still haven't got the hang of getting up onto your knees yet. You make all kinds of great noises, like raspberries and squeals and "ohs" and "ahs." I love listening to you "talk" to yourself.

You met your new baby cousin for the first time last week, and you are very intrigued by him. He's still so small, that I think you must think he's like the baby doll you play with, the one you like to alternately cuddle with and gnaw on. Today at your baptism, you kept trying to reach for him, and once or twice you managed to get ahold of his arm and try and pull him to you. As always, I wonder what's going through your head at times like these.

The other new development with you (and something that's unique to you, as Owen and Edie never really did this) — is that you are becoming more and more "mommy-centric" — if I'm not around and someone else wants to hold you, it's fine, but if you can see me, it's all over; woe to the person who is holding you. This is mostly true when you are feeling a little tired and crabby, and I have to say, a small part of me secretly loves the way your eyes will instantly zero in on me if I'm in the vicinity, and love the way you reach for me... and especially love the way you lean into me, and your body relaxes once you're in my arms, imperiously looking back at whoever had the unfortunate position of having to give you up.

You make me want to hug you close and never let you go, sweet girl.

Love, Mama