3 weeks old

My precious and beautiful child is already three weeks old today.  I can hardly believe how fast time is flying by.  She is already such a joy to our lives and we can't really remember what life was like without her.  I find myself often just sitting and staring at her beautiful gray/blue/hazel eyes and the wonder that is found there.  She looks at everything so intently, in wonder and awe at what it might be, trying to take it all in as fully as possible.  She has not really every been a sleepy baby.  I don't mean that she doesn't sleep, she certainly does that, on a fantastic schedule none-the-less.  She is just very committed to whatever she is doing.  If she is eating, she it pretty focused on the task, if it is time for her to be awake, she does not want to miss a single second of the world she is just beginning to be a part of.  She has been such an easy baby for the most part. She put herself on a pretty good schedule while we were still in the hospital, she has been eating like a champ and had gained 12oz at her first week doctor's appointment.  Even the pediatrician was surprised and thought maybe the numbers were incorrect.  I assured him that I saw both scales when she was weighed and could confirm that she was 6lb 7oz when we left the hospital and she was 7lb 3oz when she was weighted at the ped office.

We have been so blessed in our first few weeks home with her.  My mom was able to be here for the first 10 days of her life and I am so grateful not only for her help around the house but that she was able to spend those precious days with her granddaughter.  Our church has been providing dinner for us every other day for the last week and will be continuing that for another week as well.  We have been so blessed by our church family in so many ways since we settled there a year ago.  They truly are the body of Christ, lived out as scripture commands, hands and feet: loving and serving one another.  They have been so welcoming, loving and supportive of us individually and as a family and we cannot say enough how grateful we are to be a part of the unique community that is Kenwood.  We have felt at home from the first Sunday we visited.

We have finally settled on a home for our little family and we are slated to close on it July 17th, pending everything goes well with the last few steps of our mortgage approval.  We are planning to move on the 13th so that we can have time to get settled and hopefully at least get the nursery painted before we move in.  I am so excited to have our own place, where we will be staying at least for a few years, and to be able to actually personalize my home!  I'm also looking forward to being able to put all of Alythia's things up in her room and decorate.  I have been looking at all of the things I have picked out for her, stacked in her crib or packed away in boxes for months.  I want it to all go in it's place and see if I can really make my vision a reality!  I am hoping to have her sleeping through the night in time to move into her own room but we will see how that goes.

Alythia has hit her first milestone today.  She has started on a growth spurt.  The last couple days she has been unusually fussy and has not wanted to sleep as much as she typically does but day she has started with needing to eat every two hours and having such a hard time being content.  It's so hard for a momma to see her little one crying and upset and not be able to do anything about it.  She gives me such pathetic little faces when she is upset and it breaks my heart!   I have begun to learn, fully for the first time, what it means to love unconditionally and love someone so much it hurts.  She has captivated my heart and I am overjoyed!

A few of my favorite pictures from this week

~Becky