Success

Success on two fronts today:

#1: Jackson performed his first trick today: rolled from his tummy to his back! I laid him on a blanket on the floor on his tummy and went to change Duncan's diaper. When I returned he was on his back. I thought I may have miscalculated his position before, so I flipped him back on his belly for observation. Sure enough, I saw it with my own two eyes - 3 MORE TIMES! It wasn't just a fluke!

#2: Duncan drank like a champ today when we tried nursing. He acted like he'd been doing it for years... so natural! You should see them both going at the same time. It's so amazing! I am a lucky girl to have both breast feeding again.

Breast Milk BACK IN THE PICTURE!

The appointment with Dr. Boyle, Duncan's GI doctor, went well yesterday. He is comfortable with the idea of reintroducing breast milk to Duncan 2 times per day and using that other formula the other feedings. The idea is to both ease Duncan in to a new substance in his tummy and also to gradually increase my milk supply so both boys get what they need. Eventually, if all goes well and no icky blood in Duncan's stools, we'll work our way up to feeding him exclusively with breast milk. YEY!

This afternoon is the first trial run. I am OFF dairy products while Duncan is breast feeding, so I needed to wait a day to get yesterday's cereal out of my system. Duncan has only attempted nursing once when he was about a month old. The other milk he received from me was pumped and eaten through a bottle. So we'll see how well he likes THE REAL DEAL. Hope he knows what to do!

3 months and growing!

It's hard to believe, but Duncan and Jackson are three months old! Wow. Not a day goes by, as all my mother friends explained to me would happen, that I don't LOVE the particular stage they are in. It's both excitingto see what's in store for the next day and sad to know the present stage will end soon.

The newest things: They both coo like crazy. They both give those gummy grins when you act like a fool in front of them. They both have particular pacifiers that they enjoy greatly. They both still LOVE being swaddled. They both can make it about 6 hours at night before waking up starved (sure beats 3 hours, but we're working on 8!!!).

Duncan is big on jamming his knuckles in his mouth - both when he is hungry and when he is not. He fights daytime sleep like it's the enemy, not wanting to miss much (still sleeping well at night though). He is a cuddly son of a gun, sometimes resisting a nap until someone agrees to allow their shoulder to be his pillow. He always had one hand up near his face (kinda like when he was attempting to jam himself down the birth canal that way - that is, until Dr. Paul "manipulated" his position. Thank GOD for the epidurral!).

Jackson holds his head up like it's his job (Duncan still working in that area). He always positions his eyebrows like he is bearing the weight of the world - so pensive and concerned. He just began yesterday the start of a belly giggle - not just a coo but an all out chuckle. He is pretty self satisfying, cool to hang out by himself and watch his surroundings. He LOVES sleep and could nap on a rock if you laid him there. When laid on his back, you'd think he were practicing to be a cyclist with his legs going round and round. As you can tell, I'm in love.


In other news, tomorrow is a big day for Duncan - his GI doc meets with us to discuss what is next for his diet. Currently, he is still drinking that specialized formula, Neocate. Our prayer is that Dr. Boyle will recommend reintroducing breast milk in hopes that either A) he outgrew what we think was a food allergy (obtained through my breast milk) or B) we can whittle away at my diet until we determine what the allergy specifically is and I will avoid those foods. Both Scott and I are eager for him to get breast milk again. The Neocate smells and seemingly tastes disgusting. Duncan sucks away at the start of his bottle, but eventually makes faces to indicate his disgust. But we also are pulling for the change, because the Neocate is a royal PAIN to prepare (require sterile water) and bottle duty gets old too. Wouldn't it be great to breast feed them at the SAME time?!?!?! Talk about efficiency! With all my new spare time obtained from consolidating to one instead of two separate feedings, I might decide to run for congress, or plant a rose garden, or actually START their baby books.

Enjoy the below bear shots. Isn't the progression neat? The shots are taken at 1 , 2 and 3 months.

















Duncan

Jackson