8 months (and a few days...)

We did not write an update on Loki's 8Th month birthday June 18Th. Life is busy, as usual of course. Lots of fun and lots of work. Opa Ruud has been with us for 1.5 week. He left a few minutes ago to travel around the area for a week in our Volkswagen Camper Van. Hope he'll see lots of seals and squirrles, I think that will make his day(s). Especially since there is not much wild life here in downtown Oakland. Although things do get wild here of course. Hey, we live in the big city now. Uhm? People in San Francisco may dispute that. Anyway, we're liking our new place and have fun walking around the lake, checking out downtown and nearby hortus botanicus (botanical garden) with an amazing collection of palm tress, and of course we have explored our gym, pool and hot tub, not in that order by the way.

About father's day..... I wish I could say I had arranged an amazing day for dad and Opa, but the fact is that Loki's lack of sleep and eating over the past days took up most of my time. We did have a very wonderful brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, took a walk in the hortus botanicus and of course there were lots of cuddles from Loki, card with foot prints and a gift for each. Oh, and dad got to sleep in a little. The morning hours were unfortunately canceled out by a late night due to a fun party dad attended. However, I do feel dad made mother's day really special and somehow the energy on my part was missing in action a tiny bit. Maybe next year when all of us have more sleep father's day will be more spectacular. I'll try, because it goes without saying that he really, REALLY deserves lots of honoring for his amazing new role as papa of Loki. He has been incredibly supportive and devoted from the moment I ended up on bed rest. There has, and still is, a lot of slack he picks up without any complaints and seeing him with Loki is so wonderful. I always wanted children, but never had a very clear idea about what kind of a father my husband/partner would be. I am very touched about how sweet, relaxed, calm and fun of a dad my better half is. I am sure Loki will grow up feeling the same support and love that I feel!!

Of course, it was also very fun to celebrate father's day with my own dad around. That has not happened in many, many years. It was especially fun to give my own dad a gift and card from Loki. When it comes down to it, I am just very cheesy.

Opa Ruud has helped a lot with the unpacking of boxes and hanging up of decorations and such. The house is slowly looking like we actually live here, and that feels good. Loki is adjusting, although he has had another spell of sleepless eatless episodes, the little stinker. He obviously does not want us to get too comfortable with whatever state he is in. He'll make sure we keep on our toes. Guess we asked for that by naming him Loki. What's in the name?

We saw his GI Dr. at UCSF on Thursday the 18th. Nothing major came up although it was very helpful. He is gaining weight, yet very slowly. When his wonderful new Dr. saw him she was actually surprised to see how good and healthy he looks. Based on his weight she was expecting a skinny little fella, but he looks pretty chunky for his size. Nevertheless, he is very small and not gaining weight as rapid as preferred. So a new diet is part of the approach, in addition to an extra ml a day of his reflux meds. His diet includes a tea spoon of organic canola oil with every spoon fed meal. We are now allowed to give avocado as well. Some days Loki eats all his tasty oil/breast milk/prune/cereal etc. mixes as if it is the best thing ever. Other days, like the past three, he fusses, spits out the food and takes up to an hour to eat a decent size meal. Pretty much behaving like an actual baby I guess. Unfortunately he just does not have that extra fat to play with. For now no extra tests as the Dr. did not think it would change her approach, and she did not want Loki to develop more aversions in and around his mouth. We will see her again in two months, unless Loki refuses to gain the minimal amount of approximately 11 ounces in 6 weeks. We'll see.....

Good news though, he can take his pacifier again without gagging. This is a major accomplishment and helps us a great deal getting and keeping our little prince asleep. Which, unfortunately, has not been easy over the past days either. Although I have to give him credit for the fact that he just fell asleep when I put him on our bed to get set up for our sleep routine. I turn around to get the big ball we use to rock him to sleep, and when I came back he was sucking away on his pacifier eyes shut. Wow, that has not happened in approximately three months! Of course I should have taken the opportunity to get some sleep in myself, but I really felt obligated to finally write this update. It has been too long already.

Photos will follow soon!