This week our poor little Isabella has developed a bad (in our expert opinions) case of baby acne. It's so sad looking, little bumps all over her pretty little face :( The week before last she had perfect porcelain-esque skin and now this. Jeff and I are both very bothered by it. According to all authorities, the acne is caused by hormones (mine, thank you very much) that she received during birth that signaled to her skin that it was supposed to start "working," i.e. making oil. Also, it is completely painless to her and doesn't seem to bother her a bit. She doesn't have a fever, eats better than ever, doesn't cry more than often, and doesn't try to scratch it. So...we just have to wait for it to clear up. Jeff is worried because some authorities on the subject indicate that it can last for 6 months--EEK! I keep saying that it's not going to last that long...I really don't think it will...probably just a couple of weeks. Selfishly, we really want it to clear up because she turns one month today and we want to get pictures taken of her. It's probably better to wait a couple of weeks anyway so she's a little more awake for the photo session :)

Today marks Isabella's first month birthday!! Rest assured that we won't commemorate her birthday every month this first year...just maybe the first couple of months. This also marks the first day that I'm off work and not getting paid. Ugh. I got up and went to the office this morning to gather some work to do at home. I'm ready to start doing some work, but the thought of it is a little overwhelming. I don't have much time during the day that Izzy is sleeping, considering that there are other things to do...like get a shower! Now I'm going to try to squeeze in hours of work during the day too? I'll do my best! I know that I could also do work when Jeff gets home in the evening, but this theory is not without fault. Taking care of a baby and myself all day is a job in and of itself. Now I'll also do work work while she's sleeping during the day. That at least equates to a full-time job during the day. If I hand her off to Jeff when he gets home and keep working, then it's like having a full-time day job and a second job in the evening. Now, add in the fact that she get's "fussy" (see previous post) during the evening hours, and my presence is often required, this makes the evening work almost impossible. I know this probably sounds like complaining, and I don't want to complain about working because I'm looking forward to doing some work and with daycare looming on the horizon we need the money. I'm merely pointing out why this seems like such a daunting task for me. I'll do my best!

At the recommendation of one of Jeff's friends who just had a baby, I purchased a baby sling carrier the other day. You carry it criss-crossed against your body and it has a pouch that the baby lays in. It's very much like a kangaroo pouch! Babies seem to really like it. The choice to try one with Izzy wasn't difficult. We have a "front" carrier for her, but she's a little small for it since she can't hold her head up yet. Carrying her in her carseat is really not an option for decent distances--she and the carseat are just too heavy! And just think, we have the lightest carseat on the market! Our girl's just a "two-hander"! We still need more practice getting Izzy into the sling...our attempt yesterday resulted in screaming...but we'll get it. It worked well on the first try and we think she liked it...what do you think?