Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Henry weighed 15 lbs 7.5 ozs today. He did quite a bit of napping. Grandpa came in the morning. Henry played with Grandpa for awhile, but then crashed in his swing. Jeff and I took Henry out on a mid-day walk. It was a beautiful day outside. When we tried to feed him, Henry decided that he was bored with his rice cereal. So we decided to give him some pear puree mixed in the cereal to spice things up a bit. When the pear puree/rice cereal mixture first touched his tongue, he made the funniest face. The taste definitely took him by surprise. He overcame the initial surprise and decided to finish the bowl.

Jeff observed Henry do a full push up on his arms. It was the highest that Henry's pushed up yet. Henry also did a little log rolling. He rolled from his back to his stomach. And then returned to his back. He is frequently moving off his mat now. It is apparent that we are going to need to vacuum the carpets much more often now (once a week just isn't going to cut it now that he's becoming much more mobile).

Overall, his breast milk intake is still low, but it is much, much better than yesterday. He drank a little over 22.5 ounces breast milk and then had a little bit of formula. After our evening walk, I fed Henry a bottle of breast milk. He drank over 4 ozs rather quickly and he wanted more, but we hadn't defrosted the reserves yet. I gave him an additional 50 mls (about 1.67 ounces) of Nestle Good Start. That's the formula that's made of whey. The casein is taken out to promote faster gastric emptying, like breast milk. Before we gave it to him, Jeff and I tried it. Neither of us liked it, but the taste is A LOT better than Neocate. It still had a slight metallic taste to it. We also had cans of Similac Isomil Advanced and Enfamil EnfaCare LIPIL in the pantry. We tried to use these brands as fortifiers back in August, but Henry ended up being allergic to the dairy and soy in them. We have additional cans of both. We decided to give them both a try, just to see if there is such a thing as a decent tasting baby formula. We are aware, of course, that baby taste buds are different from adult taste buds. Still, I can't imagine any creature on this earth enjoying the taste of something metallic. Ick. The Similac Isomil Advanced is a soy formula. It was the only one that didn't have that slight metallic taste. It kind of tasted like how raw potatoes smell when you peel them.

I'm going to do what I can to prevent Henry from drinking formula, because it really is not pleasant stuff. But my body just isn't producing enough, despite me pumping every three hours and drinking "Mother's Milk" tea that is supposed to help milk production. I'm having what Cuyler refers to as "mommy guilt." There's no question in my mind that breast milk is much better than formula. It aides in the immune system. It transmits the Omega-3 fatty acids to the baby. Although formulas have DHA and ERA (fatty acids) added, I have read some studies which contend that the Omega-3s that are added to formulas are not readily absorbed by babies' bodies. Omega-3s are important for brain development. Breast milk aids in myelination, which basically means providing a protective coating of the neural pathways. The pumping is wearing me out, but I'm going to hold out until August.

Jeff got a hold of one of the references for the nanny candidates. This is for candidate two. The reference gave a glowing recommendation, making candidate two look very promising. Jeff is going to call the other references again tomorrow. I'm going to find a private investigation firm to run a pre-employment background check on whichever job candidate we choose. I informed the job candidates about this at their interviews.

Grandma and Grandpa brought dinner over tonight. They got to watch me feed Henry his evening meal of rice cereal and pears. Henry had seconds. My mom commented that Henry is no longer looking like a tiny baby. He has changed so much.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Henry exhibited another step in his development. Yesterday morning, Jeff was feeding him. He and I were about to switch places, so that he could take the dogs out for their walk. It was cold, so Henry and I were staying inside. As I approached Henry, he stretched out both of his arms to me (the "pick me up" sign). Definitely a sign that he's becoming a big boy. Over the last week or two, it seemed like he is beginning to understand that Henry is his name. When I call his name, he turns to look at me.