3 Weeks Old Today

Dear Isabella,

My goodness, sweetie, life with you sure is a roller coaster. We are still trying to figure out if you are colicky or just a really needy baby, but every night about 9:30pm you start to cry, and many nights you are just inconsolable until about 1 or 2am. Other nights we can get you to quiet down and doze off a little but no deep sleep and definitely no putting you down in the cradle or anywhere else - you want to be held by a human! And your crazy little arms need to be restrained by swaddling you or else they go all over the place and wake you up and upset you. Changing your formula and the bottle we use has seemed to help your tummy troubles, mostly. Hopefully we continue to make progress because everyone is so tired - me, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Nick!

It feels like time is flying by but it also feels like you're much older than 3 weeks. It seems like ages and ages ago that I was still pregnant with you. Before I forget I want to tell you about some of the nicer things from when I was pregnant. A lot of my pregnancy was really really tough, and pretty unpleasant. I spent a lot of time on this blog talking about all the hard things. I didn't take the time to write down a lot of the wonderful things, especially towards the very very end. Feeling you move inside of me was the most amazing thing I've ever felt in my life. Knowing you were there, all the time, and when I felt you move, knowing that meant you were happy and healthy - that was priceless. Sometimes I'd be having a conversation with someone - often a customer - and you would start to wiggle around. I always felt like we were having our own secret conversation at the same time.

On my last day of work, your Daddy went walking around the block with me. I was so uncomfortable and anxious for you to arrive and I had heard that walking would encourage you to come faster. It was a really hot day, and our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks or much shade. But your Daddy walked with me around the block (I couldn't handle much further than that!) and helped me feel better. That was the Friday before you were born.

On the Monday before you were born, your Grandma went to Ala Moana with me for the same reason - I just wanted to walk around the mall. We went looking for shoes for her, but mainly the reason was just to walk from Sears to Macy's and back. Man, oh man, walking made my pelvis and back hurt so much! But I was determined to walk as much as possible so that you would come faster!

Your Grandma and Daddy took really good care of us the whole time I was pregnant with you, but especially right before you were born. Everyone was so excited to meet you and also they felt so sorry for me being so uncomfortable. Even Orange seemed to sense that something was about to happen. He cuddled with me a lot in the nights when I was by myself.

The Saturday before you were born, your Daddy and I had lunch with a bunch of our greatest friends. Aunty Pi'ilani, Aunty Amber, Uncle Shaun and Uncle Jeremy met us at Wahoo Fish Tacos for lunch. Aunty Amber and Uncle Shaun brought little Camdyn, who was so excited to meet you! Uncle Jeremy kept telling us how much he hoped you would come a little early, since he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan on April 10th. We had a really nice afternoon with all of them, talking and catching up. Aunty Amber used to work with your Daddy at Senor Frog's, and Aunty Pi'i and Uncle Jeremy used to hang out with me when I would go and spend time at Daddy's work. We all have a lot of really fun memories together. And now that you're here, we'll be making a lot more memories together too!

I was supposed to spend time with your Aunty Christina while I was on maternity leave also - she was going to go with me to this ceramics place to paint some pottery, to keep me distracted from being sore and itchy. We were supposed to go on the Friday of the week you were born - but I had to text her and say, let's reschedule because here she comes!

You're so loved, little Bean, and so am I. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives that love and care for us. And I love you more than you'll ever know!

Happy three week birthday my girl. Let's see what the next week has in store for us...

Love you,
Mommy