4 weeks old?!

Four weeks ago today, Marlin joined the world and it's hard to believe how much he has changed already!  Parents always talk about how fast their children grow, but really at this age, it is truly amazing how exponential the growth is.  His face and hands have really filled out and he's already fitting in some of the clothes that a couple weeks ago looked as though they'd be huge on him for months.  And I can already tell the differences in his strength - he really holds his head up for much longer and has some real strength when he pushes his legs. 

Other than his four week birthday, today marked his last day of family visitors for awhile.  My parents left this morning, after a week long visit from my dad and nearly five weeks of my mom being here, who was a huge help as we navigated this first month of parenting, which has been tougher than I could have imagined...and blessed in ways I could only imagine.  Last week, we also had Ryan's mom, his sister and her family visiting for Marlin's baptism, which was last Sunday.  Rosemary had dug out some of Ryan's newborn clothes that Marlin donned for his special day. 

All dressed up for the occasion!

Getting some love from two of his cousins!

I was hoping to get more pictures and updates included here, but my blog posts these days will have to be shorter than usual, otherwise they probably won't happen.  And since Marlin's sleeping soundly right now, I should really be doing the same. 

(P.S.  No, I haven't forgotten about the little contest...Most of you have probably read through the guesses and figured out the winner, but I promise I'll post on that soon!)