Water Baby

The health visitor came this week on Wednesday. Isla has had some skin issues that grandma and I tried to diagnose. The Health Visitor seemed to think it was just baby skin getting used to "the world." As it is only on her head that she's gotten her spots, we assume it's where she has rubbed against clothes that has been washed in "adult" laundry detergent (here in the UK there is "non-bio" and "bio" laundry detergent...I can't figure out the difference or what we use in the States, but as we have an American washer and dryer, I've had relatives bring over "baby friendly" soap, but have continued washing Ali & my stuff in the Costco stuff.) The Health Visitor did prescribe some ointment to help Isla's skin that can also go in her bath.

While mom was out on her walk with Cassie this morning, dad bathed Isla. Isla is VERY obviously Alisdair's daughter as she LOVES water. She will stay in the water as long as you let her and gets very "relaxed" in all that warm water...

Daddy: The Babysitting Wonder!

Alisdair took on "dependents" duties last night to give Kenna a break...Cassie (the lab) preferred the silence of the mudroom, but the other three had a great time being entertained...all while learning the finer points of "Mythbusting."

Who says men can't multi-task????? :)

One Month Already and Celebrating in Style!

Who would believe it but Isla was a month old this week!

To celebrate we broke out some of her new Cabela's outfits....well, out of necessity we did. With mom and Emily in town I decided it was a good time to start trying the re-usuable nappies (and Emily has a real gift for doing laundry). They are great, but unfortunately give new meaning to "does my butt look big in this?"....she now can barely fit (and in most cases, doesn't fit) in 0-3 month old clothes, so 3-6 month outfits it is! This (in honour of Uncle Boyd) is her union suit (complete with back flap)......accompanied by her "Little Hunter" hat. She makes Alisdair proud!

She does look like she's been out hitting the Jagermeister with her hunting buddies, but really had just woken up and has been suffering from some baby acne this week...more about that later...

Isn't she lovely

We all know you check this blog to see the latest pictures of Isla so here are a few.

Isla's First Easter

Isla got to wear a pretty Easter Dress with a beautiful white bow. We went to church and then headed to the Blackford Duck Race. Isla's duck came in first place in it's heat and then got stuck on a branch in the final race and came in last place. Very sad, better luck next year.

Gifts for Isla

Isla has certainly enjoyed all the gifts that she has received over the last few weeks. Here's a snuggly bunny and creative bouquet.

Soup and Blankets for the Survivors

While checking to see if the sheep in the field had water Kenna got the truck.....stuck. She had a full vehicle; 3 dogs, a 3 week old baby, Grandma and aloving Aunt. She tried to manuver her way out of the mud but nothing worked. So...she called Alisdair at work who came and rescued us!

Important Signs of Scotland

Throughout Emily and Grandma's travels they have discovered some very interesting signs in Scotland. Well maybe they were just interesting to them.... It's important to know that there is a Glenisla and that the Lord is coming to Judge everyone!?!?!

Glen Isla

We took a little drive to see the Scottish Countryside. We saw the River Isla, Blairgowrie (the world's highest hedges) and a beautiful waterfall (Reekie Linn Falls). It was also Charlie's first experience on a "lead". She wasn't quite sure what to think of it. She eventually got used to it and appeared to have enjoyed herself. We also went to Kirriemuir where we saw the Peter Pan statue, had some great carrot cake fairy cakes, ate lunch at a tea room just outside Glamis (castle where the Queen Mother was born), drove through Perth and finally made it home. Isla is learning the joy of roadtripping. She loves to sleep in the car (or pram).

A walk down the lane

Shortly after Grandma and Emily's arrival we all went for a nice walk through town. It was a little windy but Isla seemed to enjoy herself in the Pram with the blanket Great Grandma Maughan many moons ago for Kenna.

Grandma Maughan and Isla- March 17th

Isla meets Grandma for the first time! She is not quite sure what to think. Perhaps it's her singing or the fact that Grandma was suffering from Jet lag!

Isla and her sister

In honour of Madeleine, I dressed up Isla today in one of the beautiful dresses that a friend of Alisdair's gave us, and being winter, topped it off with a great cardigan that Granny Ella knitted for her...being so dressed up, I couldn't not take a picture and figured I might has well put Charlie in the shot as well!

Charlie wasn't too keen on sitting still, so this was the best shot we got.

My first taxidermy

This was Alisdair's great find at Bass Pro Shops when he went back for the SHOT (Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade Show) in Vegas in early February. It is above the changing table and although the books all say a new baby can only see a few inches, we all know better...she is quite fascinated with it and spends lots of time focusing on the wall as we change her diapers. (the flowered wall paper was our big "gamble" before she was born. The room was already done in pink and flowers and we did the other three walls yellow, not knowing if we were having a boy or girl...we left this wall and Alisdair had great plans of painting it over if we'd had a boy in the 24 hours I was still in the hospital.....lucky for him, we had Isla!)

Sleep

Here is Isla in her many layers....her top blanket from Alaska just says it all!

More Sleep stories

This is Isla in her Moses basket that is less than two feet from the side of our bed. We've never turned the heat on in the upstairs of our house since we moved in two years ago as it's incredibly well insulated and quite warm. Having a baby has made us reconsider this opinion and after one suggestion from the midwife on night two of having Isla home, when she didn't sleep very well, we've now taken to wrapping her up in her swaddling blankets, putting a hat on her and using about three other blankets. She is definitely snug! Although we still die from the heat as we've stopped opening the window for her sake!

EU advice is that "the safest place for a baby to sleep until they are 6 months old is in your room, but not your bed." I think we may have to move her to her own room much before that or invest in a serious air conditioner that can target just one side of the room!

Sleep - The greatest gift.....

Not that we are trying to jinx ourselves, but Isla is a fantastic little sleeper....She can easily sleep 4+ hours at a time and the midwife has told us to wake her up and feed her every 3 during the day (0therwise she'd sleep for up to 5 hours).

She's a great baby; happy and really only cries if she needs something....a nappy change, to be fed or a light to be shut off so she can sleep more...She also finds car rides with George Strait to be especially soothing.

Happy Families

Laura came to visit us, and she took this picture for us to share with you all....

The Bump

Now that Isla is almost 2 weeks old it is hard to remember how big "The Bump" really was... So a friend sent us this picture which was taken only a few days before Isla was born - Just to remind us and i thought you might like to see it too...

Mothering Sunday

In the UK, Sunday was mothering Sunday. Isla managed to order a nice card and bouquet of lillies for Kenna (brownie points galore for Dad!).

The First Walk in a Pram

Because the weather was unsually nice, sunny and not too windy, we decided to go on a walk. Isla managed to sleep throughout her first ride in the pram, not even wakign up as we bounced through the potholes on the lane.

Meeting big sister

Last night was a big night in the Troup household. We had our first babysitting - Granny Troup came up for dinner and stayed to look after Isla while Kenna went for a check-up at the hospital. Granny Troup also brought Charlie (pictured), Isla's hairy sister home with her. Charlie is an 8 week Border Terrier who had been staying at the farm while Kenna was having Isla. If everything keeps going well, the rest of the dogs will come home this weekend. Don't worry only the dogs sleep in shoe boxes, we have a proper bed for the baby!

Passport Pictures

As an impending world traveller, Isla has now applied for her first passport. Helpfully they let you take your own pictures, so no squirming around in a cold kiosk...