Austin is four weeks old today! Hard to believe he's that old already. He has really grown--he is noticeably heavier when we pick him up, and he is close to growing out of some of his clothes. I think his eating and sleeping habits are getting a bit more predictable, although he is still a very sleepy baby. He is, of course, just as cute as ever.

We took Austin to church for the first time last Sunday. It was wonderful to participate in corporate worship again after a few weeks' absence. I only heard half of the sermon because I spent some time in the nursing moms' room (where, incidentally, I made lots of new friends) but the pastor was preaching on suffering and he said something that has really stuck with me: no matter what trials we may face in the future, there will be grace. Now I know that being a new mom is hardly on par with David's or Jesus' suffering (both discussed in the sermon) but the promise of unending grace available to me has really helped me through the tougher parts of mommyhood in the last few days. When Austin is wide awake at 11PM after an hour of rocking/walking/shushing and I'm really, really sleepy...there will be grace. When Austin poops and pees on the changing table for the third diaper change in a row...there will be grace. God is so good.

We celebrated Austin's four week milestone by giving him a bottle for the first time. I am going to a bridal shower this Saturday so we decided this was a good time to try the bottle so we would know if Austin can hang out with his daddy while I'm gone. He took the bottle like a pro but came right back to the breast at his next feeding. Good for him! I am pretty excited about this because Austin's Gran Becky is coming next week and she has offered to babysit so Zach and I can go on a date--now we will not be limited to the little time between feedings!


We've started giving Austin short periods of tummy time...when he actually wakes up enough! I just thought he was awfully adorable yesterday and had to grab the camera.