Monday, November 23, 2009

Two Weeks Old!

Dear Ziggy,

It's hard to believe you are already two weeks old today, and yet it's almost impossible to imagine life without you! You are such a good, calm, sweet baby. You sleep a lot, both during the day and at night, waking up every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 hours at night to feed, but luckily so far you fall back to sleep quickly at night. You feed really well (I love breastfeeding you!), although it still sometimes takes you a couple of tries to latch effectively, and are gaining weight at an astonishing pace! Last Monday at your one week checkup you were 7 lbs 5 oz, so you'd already surpassed your birth weight, and today at your weight check you were 8 lbs 3.8 oz, almost a pound above your birth weight!

Last week you became fussier after your Baba left to go back to Albuquerque, and at first I thought you were responding to his absence, but then your grandma figured out that you must be reacting to the bean and vegetable soup she made. When I stopped eating the soup, your fussiness, gas, and straining during bowel movements improved, so it looks like no more beans for me for a while!

Unfortunately you also developed some diaper rash this week, which makes changing you more of an ordeal since you cry whenever we wipe your bottom. It breaks my heart to see you in pain, and I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better right away. We've been trying to keep your bottom bare and diaperless as much as possible during the day, rinsing your bottom off after each poop and then blotting you dry rather than wiping, and applying Desitin and Aquaphor creams at night. Today the doctor also prescribed an antifungal cream to use if the diaper rash doesn't improve in 2-3 days, so hopefully we will get it cleared up soon.

When you're awake you are very alert and love to look around, make funny faces, and wave your little arms and kick your little legs. You are surprisingly strong for such a little guy. You also seem to really like music, especially Jazz, Classical, and Reggae. You make such adorable little sounds and sighs, and sometimes you sneeze and hiccup, which is just too cute. You started smiling in your sleep when you were one week old, and now you even smile sometimes when you're awake. I know these aren't considered "real" smiles yet, but they sure are cute and a great preview of what's to come! I look forward to the day when you give me a big social smile for real!

I love you so much, little one! You give my life meaning and purpose. Taking care of you is a full time job, but it is so worth it, and I couldn't ask for a better way to fill my days. Right now there is nothing I would rather do than take care of you and watch you grow and develop into a little person. You are the love of my life!

Love,
Your Mama

2 comments:

Allison said...

Found your blog through a college friend. I was trained as a midwife and just wanted to pass on that if the "diaper rash" is a red ring around the anus, it's actually a food allergy. Dr. Sears is a good resource for this. I've seen in many, many times. Usually the culprit is an acidic fruit (esp. strawberries or tomatoes) or dairy or eggs. Desitin is petroleum based and will only aggravate the problem. It's pretty hurtful stuff.

VAF said...

Hi Allison,

Thanks for your advice. The diaper rash does not look like a red ring, and luckily it is starting to clear up. The problem started when we used these very rough paper liners in his cloth diapers--they rubbed his poor little bottom. I'll keep the info about the food allergies in mind for the future. Thanks!