Finally Healthy

It's taken a while but for the moment Luke is infection free. His attitude has improved immensely, he no longer clings to Mom's leg, and is running around the house with Alyce. His appetite is has also returned as much as it can be.

Luke doesn't really eat a whole lot anymore. He isn't cranky either. We are trying to use desert as the carrot to get him to eat but it doesn't have much effect. We can be eating ice cream right in front of him and he could care less. Also we can't use ice cream to keep him in his seat either. You'd figure as little as he eats he would be skinny as a rail but in fact he is perfect.  Quite the change from the past.

Playing is Hard Work

The crew enjoying some juice after playing hard outside. Note Luke is drinking his sippy cup upside down.

Luke has come really far in his transition from bottles to cups.  We started the transition around his first birthday and now he is only taking a bottle at bed time.  He seems to prefer bottles to cups, but I think that is because he gets one and only bottle at bed time and it has warm formula rather than cold milk.  I'd say that Luke is partial to getting brain freezes as because when he takes a long drink from his cup, he makes a face, waits a few seconds, and then jumps back in.  I'm guessing waiting for the brain freeze to pass.

Even though we are moving to cups I still prefer bottles.  He isn't the world's cleanest eater when he uses a cup.  Tons of liquid run down his chin and onto his clothing.  He doesn't seem to mind but I don't want his shirt all wet when we are about to leave the house.  Bottles on the other hand never spill a drop.

Solid Food: Part 3

In the last installment in the solid food chronicles I would like to report that Luke is figured out food.  Tonight after dinner I mixed up another batch of oatmeal and formula.  Upon sitting back at the table Luke knew exactly what was in store.  He was looking directly at me with his mouth wide open.  I put a spoonful of goo on the spoon and went in for a deposit.  Luke with mouth open waited for me and closed his lips around the spoon.  Pulling the spoon out it was empty and so was Luke's mouth; he had already swallowed.

Dinner for him continued much easier than any other before it.  Luke was totally into eating and was looking forward to each bite.  He was almost too interested in the food because he kept grabbing at the spoon and was getting more oatmeal on his hands than in his mouth.  I ended up having to pin down his arms for every spoonful.

Pictures From Vacation

Mom has sent some pictures of the kids from San Antonio.  It seems like they are getting a long without me. 

Taking a closer look at the pictures of :Luke and I think he is losing weight or at least growing into it.  In the picture where he is propped on the couch he looks like a normal baby rather than a Butterball Turkey.  As per the reports from Mom, Luke's appetite is reduced at times.  One morning for his first feeding he would only eat 4 oz and be done where he usually eats 6 then needs another 2 a half an hour later.

Not So Hungry

Luke's food intake is starting to slow.  He used to eat 4 oz at a shot then an hour later want 4 more.  Now he can eat 6 oz and last around 3 hours until he wants 6 more.  Even better than that he is now drinking out of level 2 nipples now so that cuts his feeding times in half.  He is a bit messier when he eats but it is a small price to pay for speed. 

If anyone out there cares we feed Luke out of Dr. Brown's bottles.  We are a big fan of these but don't have anything to base it upon.  We started using them with Alyce and weren't going to change for Luke.  The design is pretty smart to cut down on air with the only downfall is that there are a lot of pieces to clean.  Anytime we fed Alyce and Luke we typically get one burp and they are done.  We still have to fight to get Luke to burp but in a few weeks he will be belching with the best of them.

New Formula

We are making a change with Luke's formula. We are going to try using soy based formula for the next few days. We are doing this because after each feeding Luke is getting gassy, agitated, and spitting up even if we use gas drops. We are taking a guess that his digestive system is having trouble with the lactose based formula.

So far things have been working out well. Luke is more calm after each feeding and his gas and spitting up have been minimized. Soy based formula does have some downsides; it has a weird smell that gives bad breath for a while after each bottle and it isn't very pretty when it comes out the other end. It is a small price to pay if his eating is less problematic.

Another interesting thing about Luke's eating is that at times he can't be satisfied. Over the weekend on two occasions Luke couldn't get enough to eat. For Mother's Day out at Grandma's house Luke ate 10 oz of formula in 4 hours when he should have just had 6. Perhaps we are not feeding him enough as we thought that feeding him too much in a single sitting could lead to him getting an overly full belly and spitting up. As of right now we feed him 4 oz. then have to feed him another 1 about a half hour later. This doesn't sound so bad except that it takes 20 minutes to feed him the first 4 so feeding in total takes around an hour. Three hours after the start of the whole process he is hungry again leaving Mom and I only two hours to get anything else accomplished.

One Of Those Nights

So last night was one of those nights. Every parent has them. They are the nights that if you tell people the story they ask "Why should we have kids?".

During the evening after Alyce was in bed Mom had just finished feeding Luke and she was settling down for a quiet evening. Luke had other plans. Luke decided that the full belly he had didn't agree with him. He thought it better to give the formula back to Mom rather than keep it all to himself. In the process of being a good sharer he covered himself, mom, and a throw pillow in formula.

After that event we got him cleaned up and all was well with the world, for a while... Later in the evening I was feeding Luke. The milk was going down just fine. Not even a complaint from his side. As I was walking over to change his diaper before going to bed he decided to share dinner with me too.

So here we are putting Luke in outfit #3 for the day. Three isn't where it ended either. Luke didn't like his third outfit during a late night feeding and promptly wetted all over it while Mom was changing his diaper.

For a 24 hour period Luke tore through four outfits, numerous wipes, and Mom's and Dad's patience. Looking back on it a day later it is quite hilarious. Every parent has this story. It is a medal only earned in the trenches of parenting.

Food Intake On The Rise

Luke's food intake is really starting to increase. Last weekend he jumped from drinking 2 oz. a feeding to 3 oz. Then this weekend he jumped from 3 to 4 oz. He isn't taking in 4 oz. every feeding, but 3.5 oz. is pretty common.

During the day Luke is a pretty good eater. He drinks his bottles fairly quickly and doesn't have any spit up issues. One thing that is kind of interesting is that we don't always get burps out of Luke. I'm not really sure what we can chalk that up to. We use Dr. Brown's bottles and we give Luke infant gas drops. Perhaps one of those two things could be it.

During the night Luke is another story. While he still doesn't spit up or have gas he doesn't eat all that well during the night. He makes these little squeaks with every breath and at times can be really loud about it. I find that if I sit him up he tends to do better.