Olivia is four weeks old

Our little Olivia is definitely changing each and every day... We can't believe another week has gone by, and she is now one week older.. Four weeks old - what a big girl!! This week went by really fast because we were preparing for Tyler and Amber's wedding and there was a lot to do! Olivia came along to try and help out, but I do think she ended up being more of a distraction than she was any help ;-)

The following are things we've noticed in the last week:

• She sleeps through the night without a swaddle now... she sleeps with her arms over her head which is really cute, because both her dad and I sleep that way. However, I feel bad because she gets a little chilly - we've got little mits we put on her now to help with it..
• Her little noises and grunts and squaks are now even more frequent and a little louder even... also she does them a lot more throughout the night - which can be a little much!
• We measured her today at the farm and she is 23.5 inches long - that is three inches in one month - no wonder she has to sleep so much - that's a lot of growing!
• Her neck strength improves with each day. She is now in much more control and a lot less bobbing.
• We introduced the bottle to her on the evening of Wednesday, 11 August. I was so scared about all of it, that I only let dad give her an ounce and then I went back to nursing her cause I was afraid she'd forget how to nurse. Now I don't have to worry anymore, because she was successful with the transition and she took bottles for her regular feedings almost all day on Saturday and through Saturday night. She definitely missed nursing by Sunday morning, which I thought was sooo sweet!
• Her alert time comes with really, really open wide eyes - she is really checking things out now!

This weekend Ben's mom, Grandma Rella came to help out with Olivia. I can't imagine having done it without her help - it was soooo nice! We were able to have a nice mix of enjoying the wedding without worrying about her and having her there to introduce her to people! Grandma Rella even volunteered to have Olivia's cradle in her room for Saturday night - wow - was that ever nice! I got six hours of sleep straight - so cool!! Though I did wake up on my own at six hours, because my milk was reminding me of my motherly duties ;-)

This weekend we got to enjoy our first dance as a family. It was an emotional moment for me to enjoy that first moment at my sister's wedding! Our first dance was Alison Krauss' "When you say nothing at all" and then it was immediately followed by Garth Brook's "The Dance". Ben and Olivia are the best dance partners and I love that I get to keep them for life!