What's new?

I cannot believe how much this amazing little boy has changed in the past week. He is getting more and more fun each day and is so interactive. He is spending a ton of time awake during the day, and still sleeps wonderful for us at night. He's tracking mom and dad more as we move around the rooms, and he especially likes to watch dad. He's discovered his face and likes to touch his cheeks and mouth and eyes, and will occasionally bat at his ears. Of course paranoid mom starts worrying it might be an ear infection, but I'm trying to keep my overreactions under control and I'm pretty sure he's just exploring. He continues to smile a ton and loves to tell us stories. He's saying his vowel sounds and occasionally adds in a consonant or two. He's giggling a ton, but we're still waiting for him to give us a big laugh and I think he's getting really close. He's also starting to move his arms and legs with more purpose, and just yesterday he was reaching for a toy. He loves to grab on to mom's hair, and apparently kicked dad's face to get him to wake up the other morning. He's still working on lifting his head up during tummy time, which he doesn't get much of because he hates it so much, and is doing wonderful with supported sitting. His neck is getting strong, and he has to be close to holding his head steady.

We did have a little hiccup this last week with his fluids and unfortunately mom had to torture him by putting the NG tube back down. Since they increased his amount at his last appointment he would alternate between good and bad days, but never have more than one bad day in a row, so I couldn't justify putting the tube down. Earlier in the week, however, he had two bad days in a row and I knew we need to make up for that fluid. We got the tube down without trouble, and after some comforting from dad we started trying to make up the missed fluid. This did not prove to be successful, since most of it he spit back up. After some investigation, mom decided that on the days Zach doesn't poop, he doesn't meet his goal, and on the days he does, meeting his goal is a breeze. He hadn't met his goal in several days, because he was constipated and the food had no where to go. After several calls to the pediatrician's office and Zach's dietician, we started him on a stool softener and kept the tube in for meds waiting for something to happen. We kept trying to make up the fluid in the NG tube, but having the tube in continued to make him spit up most of what we put down. Finally mom got frustrated and we went and bought suppositories at the store. Within 3 minutes we had poop. The next day after taking his meds well, we pulled the NG tube and he's now met his goal two days in a row. I think we'll continue the stool softener since the poor guy gets so dehydrated and to help him keep everything moving the way it's supposed to. After this whole adventure, he definitely is liking dad better than mom.

Sorry you had to sit through me talking about my Zee Bug's pooping schedule, but it'll be good for me to remember. He's getting cuter by the day, and we're having so much fun with him. We got him to stop having his whining fits by changing his formula, and he is such a good baby. We don't really have much to complain about.