We're settling in.

Madeline is one month old! Well, she's 4 weeks old today, one calendar month old on Monday. We love her! We are so glad she's here, healthy and safe! At her 4-week appointment, she was doing well—head has grown almost an inch, length has grown almost two inches, and she weighs nearly 7.5 pounds! She does like to eat, there's no denying that. :-D

She is not one of those miraculously content babies; we hoped she was, during her first two weeks, when she was so good at crying for specific reasons, but she hit her two-week growth spurt and has had many more fussy times since then. She doesn't seem to have full-on colic (for which we are so thankful!!), but we do wonder if she has some reflux issues. She has been a pretty light sleeper since she came home, and she wakes up with heartbreaking "ouch"-sounding cries fairly often... I've been avoiding dairy for a little while to see if that helps, too. Poor girl!

In the meantime, though, she is doing better at staying asleep when we set her down, and at going to sleep without nursing (although that is still her favorite). She will only take a pacifier when she has no other options. :-) She does have up to 3- and 4-hour stretches of sleep at night, usually. Hooray!

She is already a pretty social girl; from the time she was tiny, she will stop nursing to watch my face for a minute or two. She can lie contentedly on her back or in the bouncer for a little while, and she lasts longer if she can see you and hear you, but before too long she needs to be picked up to go along with you. She wants to be able to look around—she doesn't like the baby carrier very well yet because she still needs the head support to be up, and she can't see! :-) We're going to keep working on it, though, because I have a feeling that that will be the best way for her to be with me and still let me get things done. (Besides, if she does have reflux, being upright will help her tummy feel better.)

Josh and I are tired, but doing okay. His sweet mom came to help us for two weeks; my sweet mom was hoping to come, but she hasn't been feeling well enough to make the trip. Oh, how much more we appreciate our moms, now that we're doing this ourselves! And we weren't exactly unappreciative before! :-)

Okay, I know what you're really here for. Go look at the pictures. :-)