My, how time flies...

As of yesterday, my baby girl is 4 weeks old.  I am not going to lie and say it has been a breeze, because it hasn't.  It has been hard work.  It is trying.  I don't remember the last time I slept longer than 4 hours at once.  I change dirty diapers all day.  I get spit up down my shoulder and burps in my face.  I am startled awake every 2 - 4 hours by screams of a hungry baby.  On top of all that, I am still not making enough milk to exclusively breast feed her.  It has been a trying time for the last 4 weeks.

Now that I have said all of that let me say that it has also been such a blessed time.  It has been a great time of me having to just throw my hands up and really trust God.  I don't know how to be a good parent.  I did not get a manual or classes on how to care for an infant.  So I have to trust that God has given me the instincts to always do what is best for her.  I worry about spoiling her but then I think about our relationship with God.  He does not let us "cry it out" very long before He scoops us up in His arms and cuddles us.  I am trying to just learn from how He loves me.  I know I am going to do things differently than some parents.  But I also know that God is going to parent Isabella through me.  If this is the case, then He will be giving her just what she needs.  God has already been blessing me with such a measure of patience.  When Isabella decides not to sleep from her 11 o'clock feeding until after 4:30am and I am still willing to hold her and love on her, I see patience in me that I never knew was there.  If I love her this much, I can't fathom the love that God has for me!  I mean, she has done nothing that has made me wish things were different.  Nothing that made me regret having her.  Nothing that made me angry.  And this is just talking about her crying uncontrollably for hours.  I have done much worse and yet God still sees past that and loves me anyway.  Amazing...

Ok, so the update on Isabella.  She is getting bigger.  People are starting to say she looks like Byron.  That is cool since before everyone just thought she looked like me and my dad.  She is much more calm now that she is eating more.  I can even change her diaper most of the time and she will just lay and look around.  She eats quite a bit.  If I pump and get 2 oz, she will still take 2 - 4 more oz!  I stop in between each 2 oz and wait for her to show signs of hunger.  She is growing out of her newborn diapers.  I see her every day so I have not noticed the growth very much.  Byron looked at her today and kept saying how big she was getting though.  I think we have the swaddling down to a science now.  We have also figured out that she likes to be rocked in the glider.  Things are going great and we continue to be blessed.

As a family update...
We signed a contract to buy a house in Suffolk, VA.  It is a new built house and will be done in January or February.  We got a great deal on it and feel like it was the right move for our family.  It is awesome when God opens doors for you.