Updates and Explosions

Loki, daddy and I (mommy) were sleeping in on Sunday morning. Sleeping in basically means hanging out in bed with some coffee, bread and the little guy happily looking around. Just being lazy is so lovely. Dad was playing a fun game with Loki, where Loki was being rocked back and forth on dad's bare stomach while daddy would enthusiastically exclaim "wheeeeee, wheeeee." Both men were enjoying the game until it was time to hand the little guy back to me for food. Dad moved his hands up and noticed a dark brown, wet, warm and oozing substance sticking to his hands. YIKES!!!

Loki had not been able to poop on his own for a while. Around 5:00 am I massaged his belly, put a warm pack on it and went back to bed after some milk. Well, dad's enjoyable game obviously helped Loki with his regularity. BIG TIME!!!

For those who dare, here is a picture! click here.

This past Monday Loki had a renal ultrasound after which he was seen by his Urologist Dr. Baskin. The very good news from this visit is that Loki's kidney looks like a normal and healthy one. We won't have to come back for another year!!!!

Since Friday Loki is also drinking a bit better. It's with ups and downs and I (mom) am very nervous about being too excited, but he did gain 2 ounces (60 grams) between Thursday and Tuesday. Hopefully this Friday we'll see even more ounces packed on to his tiny body. Loki really enjoys drinking from the breast, but still has many episodes of arching back, most likely due to reflux, and crying. The bottle is less and less interesting to him and causes gagging. We can not give him much fortified milk this way, but we are hopeful he is still improving his titty tricks.

Loki gave a fantastic performance during his early intervention session today. He showed the very early signs of deliberately causing an action. Barbara, our wonderful E.I. seemed as excited as I was. It is so fun to see my own baby work through the skills that I have helped others with for so long. He pushed a button with his hand, then actually listened to the music he caused and did it again. Of course he does not have an understanding of cause and effect yet, but we could almost see his brain cells multiply. He is just amazing to me. Our genius even made a little table toy swirl around purposefully. He payed attention to toys he did not even seem to notice last week, tracking and remaining focused for very impressive lengths of time (like, more than a few seconds).

Anywho, just being a proud, doting mommy! In our pediatrician's words "delicious baby."

p.s. the cards are almost all written and we've started sending some out. Please be patient! Especially Dutchies. Yours will be sent by my mom, Oma, when she gets back to NL. She is BTW rocking our household as I feed our dude more or less non-stop. We will most likely not eat anymore after she leaves. Nor will we have toilet paper, somebody to pick up the phone, buy soy decaf latte or sew new pillow cases. The floors will be dusty and dirty, the couch covered in cat hair, and the dishes piling up. Oh well........

(Despite what is listed below, this was written by Mom)