Five Weeks On

I can't believe it's been five weeks since I updated my blog! While most of that time has been consumed changing diapers, making formula, and getting the little man to sleep, the time still goes by so fast. On the 10th we celebrated him being a month old and he's changed so much already. He continues to amaze us with his consistency as he wakes up at nearly the same time each night to feed. In the next couple weeks he may very well go without the middle of the night feeding, but we'll have to see how he feels about that!

We did have to take the boy to the doctor's office today for a follow up from an appointment last week. While every baby spits up from time to time, he seemed to be doing it quite frequently and in large amounts. I was hesitant to call the doctor since I didn't want to become one of "those parents" who call with every little thing. However, our pediatrician had told us to bring him in if he was spitting up more than an ounce and I could tell my wife was getting concerned. He was arching his back and sometimes even crying as he was eating, although he was clearly hungry. Turns out she was right and we probably should have brought him in right away as he was diagnosed with acid reflux.

Since the diagnosis and with the assistance of two newborn sized doses of Zantac a day, he's eating like an absolute champ! The NP we saw last week said in the past many babies were just labeled as "colic-ee" or "spitters," but he clearly had been in some discomfort and can now treat the problem. Today his pediatrician checked him out and was very pleased with his growth. He's now up to 9 pounds and 2 ounces, up from 8 pounds and 12 ounces just last week! Even with his growth, however, we put pants on him size 0-3 and he looks like MC Hammer!

I also took the first video with the camcorder today (I had taken some low quality videos with my digital still camera) and we have a ton of pictures of him up on the website. Some folks may wonder why I waited so long to get out the camcorder, but for awhile there he wasn't really moving very much even when he was awake! So, the still pictures pretty much told the story. Last week my parents came back for a short visit, but they often have to make due with the pictures we put up on the web. Their other grandchild lives very close to their home, so it's a definite change which I'm sure is difficult.

Overall I have been successful at keeping the picture taking to an acceptable level. Yes, we want shots of him as he gets bigger, but I also want to avoiding having a camera glued to my face whenever he makes the slightest movment! I'm trying to just spend time reading, talking, or singing to him and simply enjoying the moment. We do have the occasional thought, "We didn't take any pictures of him today!" But we have plenty of shots and we have so much fun with him. I'm definitely as happy as I've ever been hanging out with my wife, son, and loyal cat by my side.