4 Months on Saturday!

We are home today as baby girl got her 4 month shots yesterday and is running a slight fever and fussing today. I was so proud of how well she did getting the shots, though! 4 sticks in her tiny thighs, and she only cried for a minute or so. She even gave the nurse a tentative smile afterwards! Either she is very forgetful or very forgiving. I'm hoping it's the latter :)

As of yesterday, Amy Grace was 23.5 inches long and 10 lbs 3 oz. We are supplementing with formula now as multiple trips to a lactation consultant and various strategies to get her weight up indicated that I have too low of a supply. Since we have added in the formula, she has started to fill out but is still a beautifully petite little girl :) I don't care how much she weighs as long as she is getting enough. However, I hope she's not planning to get into a wresting match with Michael, the boy at daycare who is a week younger than her and about twice her size! I still struggle with the fact that I don't believe that formula is part of God's design for us, but I have to accept that for whatever reason, we need to use it. I'm just thankful for the breast milk that I am able to give her.

She gets more and more alert and in tune with her surroundings every day! She recognizes me and Brent and will watch us from across the room. She smiles and coos a lot, and knows how to ham it up when she meets someone. She has started to reach out and intentionally touch and grab things. (Lately she has been quite fascinated by my hair and the breast pump tubing. I think she might be jealous of the pump :)). Best of all, she has begun to settle into a routine and is sleeping much more soundly than she used to. All of a sudden, she started falling asleep around 7 or 8 o' clock. At first we would lay her down in her carseat or bouncer and keep her with us until we went to bed, and then brought her back in the bed with us after she ate around 2 am. Then, we started putting her carseat/bouncer in the crib and turning the monitor on. Now, we lay her down in the crib (with the help of a sleep positioner that elevates her head and keeps her secure) and enjoy the rest of the evening until she wakes to eat. She isn't sleeping through the night, but I don't expect her to at this age. Simply having her sleep by herself has been a nice break for us, and I'm glad we didn't try to force it when she was a newborn. It is neat to see her grow up and mature a little bit :)