Daniel went for his two month checkup today.  He enjoyed admiring himself in the mirror on the wall by the examination table.  He was 11 pounds 6 ounces and 22.75 inches.  He impressed everyone with his skills.  They said his development is really good.

Daniel’s little smiles are so quick they are really hard to catch in a picture.  We usually just get the tail end of them.  Here is Daniel having some happy time in the kitchen with Papa.  As you can see, he’s got really good head control.

Daniel has infant reflux.  This usually begins to manafest itself around 2 weeks of age.  We knew he had it because he would get very upset after eating.  Soon we could smell the acid on his breath.  We could tell from his crying that he was in pain.

So at three weeks of age, Daniel started on Zantac, and it has been both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing – the Zantac reduces the acid in his stomach so that his reflux doesn’t burn and hurt anymore.  He still has the reflux.  Because of the reflux we keep him upright for at least 20 to 30 minutes after feeding him.  We also feed him somewhat elevated.  We can’t lay him on his back until at least an hour after he eats or longer.  The reflux also causes him to choke easily, so we have to be careful feeding him.  We’ve had to change to premie nipples because the infant nipples flowed too quickly and tended to get him choked frequently.

The curse – there are several.  Since Zantac reduces stomach acid, it slows his whole system down.  He has stomach discomfort and gas because everything is just slow and backed up.  Zantac also probably makes him a bit edgy and nervous.  We also have to give him the Zantac twice a day, sometime between an hour and twenty minutes before he eats. That’s the part that resulted in this photo.  When I gave him the Zantac he decided it was time to eat and he had to wait twenty minutes.  He got really upset and is trying to comfort himself by sucking his thumb.

With some very close supervision from Papa, Daniel is having some sit up time in his Moses basket.

I don’t think Daniel knows it yet, but he has a guardian kitty.

After much effort and frustration, it became apparent that Daniel was most likely not going to nurse.  So a couple of weeks ago, we just decided to get realistic about it and just deal with it.  Up to this point we had been using a special bottle that is supposed to work more like nursing so that he wouldn’t forget how to (not that he ever really learned to in the first place).  We thought that this bottle might be contributing to his gas problems because he seemed to take a lot of air with it.  Once we started getting realistic about the nursing issue, we decided to switch to Dr. Brown’s Natural Flow bottles.  It was an amazing difference.  Daniel still gets gas, but not nearly to the magnitude as before.  I have learned to love Dr. Brown.

Here is Daniel having some of Mama’s finest in his Dr. Brown bottle.

Can you believe our little boy is eight weeks old today?  I certainly can’t believe it.  Here are some pictures that his Mimi took of him in the front yard.

Poppy got Daniel a new tub, so we had to try it out.  Check out the piggy belly.

After Daniel’s mid-afternoon meal, he can be a bit fussy.  Our new thing is to sit on the front porch or walk around in the front yard and wait for the mail.  Daniel enjoys the warmth, the breeze, looking at low hanging branches and listening to the birds.  All of these things are distracting and help him forget about fussing.

I just love Daniel’s little doggie PJs.  When he kicks his feet I say he’s walking the dogs.

Daniel looked through the deck door today at Sunny and Nymmie (two of our three kitties) who were getting some sun time.  Daniel grinned and talked to them.  We think he likes kitties.