A little lost...

It seems my baby has decided he doesn't like solid foods. He has all but stopped eating them - I have tried all different temperatures, textures, flavors (of fruits AND veggies plus cereals), colors, delivery methods, times of day, before nursing and after nursing, but alas, he will only have one or two bites - as if humoring me - before his little mouth shuts down as tight as a steel trap. He will gladly nibble on the little star crunchies that are made for babies *they dissolve easily in their mouths*. We may just skip solids entirely and go straight to table foods, although he isn't ready for that quite yet. In the meantime, I continue to try at least twice to three times a day and sometimes more. And he does LOVE his water, from his sippy cup, a straw, any way he can get it.

But, last night, he still seemed hungry after nursing him before bed, and I was clearly 'empty', so I took him back downstairs to see if he might eat something...after failing with applesauce, I decided to try him on a bottle of formula - thinking that he would likely refuse it or spit it out. Was I ever wrong, he took right to it - gulped down the whole three ounces. I was shocked, amazed, but most of all thrilled and hopeful - that we would get a long stretch of sleep on his now full stomach....well, no such luck, he was awake by 2am, but after a quick nursing session, he was back down until 5am and ditto then until 8:30am, so all in all it was one of our better nights (I am pretty darn happy if we are only up twice per night and get to sleep late!).

I had been thinking about supplementing him on some formula but was too intimidated by the whole thing - and any of you who have ever used formula are laughing at me right about now and thinking how easy it is, but for me, it seems like alot of work and alot of rules to remember when all I have done to date with both boys is feed as needed without any equipment or rules or spoilage, mixing, burping cloths, bibs, bottles, nipples, etc. I have decided now to start feeding him some formula on a regular basis after he has nursed or in between feedings and after I have offered solids...and now I have to figure out, do I need sterilized water, bottled water, tap water, and do I heat it and then mix or mix and then heat, and how do I heat properly, do I heat at all, how long can a bottle stay out, how long can it stay in the fridge, when I go out, do I have to take it in a cooler bag and then heat it or just leave it in my bag at room temp until I need it or do I mix it on the go? I am SO LOST! I know we will figure it out - and in the meantime, thank goodness I still have some of the ready-to-feed bottles from the hospital - those are pretty easy to use.

Now that I think back, Ethan would eat his solids pretty well, but he went to table foods earlier than most and clearly preferred them. These days, Ethan mainly exists on carbs, especially french fries - oh and sugar when we let him, he loves his M'ies *M&Ms* and his pops *lolipops*. Which reminds me of a funny story from a couple months ago...we were at the doctors office and Ethan was bored and ready to go and being a little fussy, so like any good mother, I bribed him, I asked him if he wanted a pop and he immediately stopped fussing and said YES, and the lady at the office laughed and made some comment based on the fact that she thought I meant a pop - like a spanking and that he was so thrilled to be getting one...

On to an quick update, it is rainy, cold, and generally icky here this weekend, and it isn't really nice to take both boys out in it, but we did go out this morning to visit my grandmother. For those of you who don't know, my grandmother is in a rehab facility since Christmas when she broke her leg (after just recovering from a broken hip). So, we met my mom and aunts for an early lunch and headed over there (it is in Powder Springs). It is so pathetic there, has me convinced that I don't want to grow too old - but what is the alternative??

Now we are home, but we have dinner plans with Grandy and Oupa *David's Parents*. Just found out that Alan is coming to town next weekend for his birthday - so we have dinner plans with him on Saturday...David also has class next Friday and Saturday; he is downstairs even as I type working on his Marketing paper. He has a big take-home test coming up the first weekend in March, and it is going to be tough because he can only work on it for about half the days that they are giving them to do it since his company is having their big annual 'kick-off' event to end one fiscal year and begin the next. Still not completely clear on where David will be in terms of his position/role with the current re-org; it will be a relief to know - I am just hoping and praying that it won't mean alot more travel!

Oh, have a photo to share and then I am off to finish some thank-you notes....the boys and I went for a long walk one day this past week (several days actually) as the weather was so nice (so nice in fact that we have trees in bloom around here as if it were April or May not February - guess they can't tell the difference)...anyways, both boys enjoyed it so much that they fell asleep. They were in the double jog stroller that our former neighbors, the Stoffles, gave us. I couldn't resist taking a photo...here it is: