We have officially transitioned him to 3-6 month clothing, so he is only 1 month behind in clothing, which really doesn't matter. As for his adjusted age, Steve and I are still seeing him progress as if he were 11 weeks, not his actual age of 17 weeks. That is definitely the hardest part to deal with, not because we are worried that he is behind, but we felt like he was so "stagnant" with what he was doing for such a long period of time, it seemed as though time never moved. But, we can certainly see changes now. Jack, when he is feeling well, is a very happy, delightful baby to be around. He has a very low key personality and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to be around people. He enjoys being talked to and the attention, so his time at the babysitter's house is enjoyable for him. He flashes beautiful, charming smiles at us, even at 3 or 4 A.M. when we have to feed him. We are certainly blessed. Hopefully, this will continue as he gets older and feels better.... :)
Last weekend we finally had Jack baptized in our church, St. Margaret of York. It was beautiful. Jack let out a nice little prayer of his own when he was baptized. He was baptized in the hospital when he was born because at that time we were told that he was struggling. We wanted to make sure that God was there with him at all times, and he certainly has been! We were blessed to have all of our family here for the baptism, which made it even more special.
We had his 4 month check up yesterday afternoon. It went well, as we expected. We asked many, many questions, as our Dr. always expects from us, and we continue to move forward. Typically, at this age babies are able to eat rice cereal or start thinking about introducing solid foods. Since Jack isn't "acting" like a typical 4 month old, we are postponing this for a couple of months. She expects that we will be able to determine if he is ready for solid foods at his 6 month check up. However, we are going to begin to put a very small amount of rice cereal in his evening bottle, to start. The hope is that this will help his reflux. Unfortunately our little guy is still greatly affected by his acid reflux. Yesterday she did tell us that since his reflux is so severe, we probably won't see much of an improvement, if any until after his 6 month mark. We just feel terrible for Jack, because when he is having issues, you can tell how uncomfortable and painful it is for him. If only we could take the pain away from him. We discussed everything.....from his diapers to his bottles to his smiles and head control. Since he doesn't have complete head control, we have to continue to work on that. The horrible part of this is that we cannot put Jack on his tummy very often because it causes him to spit up ALL of what is in his belly and it's uncomfortable for him, so we do lots of standing with him, along with him laying on our chest to help him lift his head. I can honestly say that this is something that I have stressed myself out about, but with practice and time, he will get it. STUPID REFLUX! We discussed increasing his meds, but the Dr. doesn't want to increase it because of the age that he is and he is already taking the equivalent of 1 adult tablet each day. We continue to pray each day that it gets easier for him.
As for his weight, he weighed in at 12 pounds, 11.5 ounces. He was 24.75 inches long. His weight puts him in the 11th percentile, his height a whopping 44th percentile and his head circumference is 27th percentile. She seemed very satisfied with his growth, especially with how bad his reflux is. We continue to feed him Nutramigen....yes, a formula that NEVER has coupons, never goes on sale, and is so costly that we spend more money to feed him than we do ourselves. But.....we can say that it makes him happier....and IT IS ALL WORTH IT! Unfortunately, that is all we knew with Madeline, so at least our kids are consistent and require the same food... ;) !!
Madeline continues to be the BEST big sister one could ever ask for. Not a day goes by that she doesn't comment on her little brother, how much she loves him and how cute he is. Steve and I are so thankful that she is open to him, loves him and has yet to show us any signs of jealousy. He certainly requires alot of attention, but she always finds a way to make it work for all of us. She sure is a special little girl! As for being little, she is still pretty tiny, weighs close to 37 pounds (on a good day), and lost her front tooth!!!!
Until next time, we'll keep praying for Jack, his friends at Children's Hospital and all the kids in this world.
