4 Months and Growing so Fast!

JUST 2 WEEKS OLD IN PICTURE ABOVE!

Grace is 4 months old and each month seems to fly by-  she has grown so much!  Below is a glimpse of the last month with our sweet baby!

We had a free photo session with a photographer this month.  We didn't really like how the pictures turned out, but we took a few of our own below.  Hoping to get some good professional pictures soon!

We even coordinated our outfits for the photo shoot- too bad we didn't like how they turned out!

My loves

I really like the following picture because it captures so much of Grace's bedtime routine.  We hang up her little fish mobile as she sucks on her hands and kicks her legs and we read her a story from "The Jesus Storybook Bible" (our favorite kids Bible by far).  Grace loves her routine and knows what to expect, and she goes to sleep really well at night.  Usually she falls asleep around 7 (give or take 30 minutes.  Andy gives her a bottle around 10pm (aka dream feed- basically she is still asleep while she takes this bottle), and she sleeps the rest of the night! I don't have to feed her again until 7am the next morning!  I think that she has become a really good sleeper. Since 2 months we have had several nights where she slept the whole way through, but it wasn't a regular thing.  She would often wake up around 3 or 4am and wouldn't be able to settle herself so I would have to get up and give her the pacifier, which sometimes would lead to me having to put it back in her mouth every hour or so- not fun!  We have worked hard to break this habit, and now at 4 months she is consistently able to settle herself back to sleep when she wakes up, and she is regularly sleeping through the night!  We still have her in our room but we plan to move her to her room this weekend- I'm really sad to see her go but I'm ready to not wake up when she stirs!  I think it is also time to move her out of her bassinet, though she does still fit because she is pretty petite!

Bedtime routine

Abby Wachter and Grace.  We love having the Wachter family here in NZ, and I am really thankful to have someone from back home alongside us as our little baby grows.  And the Wachter kids love Grace and Grace loves them!

Students in Navs have also had fun watching Grace grow, and have even done a little bit of babysitting for us.  We really want to do ministry in a way that people can know and be a part of our whole family!

Below is a picture of Grace on Halloween.  Everyone said it was very American of me to dress up my baby, but I couldn't resist.  And I'll be honest, I purely did it for my own enjoyment!  I decided about 2 hours before students were coming over that I really wanted some pictures of her in a costume on her first Halloween, and somehow I pulled this together.  I'll do a post soon featuring more of her in her costume and how I did it, but here is a taste until then!

Grace the Owl 

I adore this face- it is so her!

Another cool thing we got to do this month was take Grace to her first infant swimming lesson- for free! She really seemed to enjoy the water (though at times she was way more interested in getting her hands in her mouth- her new favorite hobby).  She didn't cry a bit and she even handled her face going in the water really well.  Maybe we will have a water baby, which would be great living in a place surrounded by the ocean!  After lessons she was in a daze and slept for about 2 1/2 hours!

Love that Andy captured her  little smile in this one!

Grace loves her Daddy so much, and he is so good with her!  I am so thankful for him!

 My friend Mindi made me some adorable dresses for Grace, including a few Aggie ones!  Gotta start influencing them while their young  ;)

That's a glimpse of 4 months!  It would be so awesome if all the family and friends that I love so much back in the States could be a part of our baby's daily life, but I'm thankful for all the ways to stay connected like this blog.  Thanks for following and getting to know our sweet little girl!