6 Weeks!

Happy 6 weeks to Asa! :) We have made it half way through those first 12 you always hear about. :) They have been challenging at times (I read in one book that around 6 weeks is often the peak of fussing, and would agree with that, but in Asa's case, it's probably due to his sensitive tummy), but rewarding always. :)

Asa can now hold some toys, coo in response to you cooing at him, still smiles in response to smiles (and smiled at himself in a mirror today):), calms when Matt and I pick him up, tracks well as you move things across his field of vision, and is working on holding his head up during tummy time. It's hard work as evidenced by this photo!

This is hard work!

Also, we are having tummy trouble again. I did not fully understand the difference between lactose intolerance and babies having trouble digesting cow's milk protein. So I thought lactose-free items might still be okay and had some lactaid milk (oh, milk, how I've missed you!). BIG MISTAKE. We are back at square one as it has to work back out of my system and his. He's very fussy again--and it's the kind of cries where you can tell he's in pain because his tummy hurts or is full of air he can't get out. His poor little hiney is getting irritated, and let's just say his dirty diapers reflect that his tummy is not happy with mommy's tainted milk right now! Yesterday was so sad. He was nursing away so happy and comforted to be cuddling, then after a few minutes, when the milk presumably really hit his stomach, he yanked off screaming and arching his back. I felt so bad! He's also been spitting up--which I know is normal--but he hadn't until I had milk. Poor little guy. So I'm being UBER careful now to phase out even more dairy than I did before (no butter or margarine). I am hoping one of the grocery stores around here will have some dairy-free alternatives (I heard there is rice milk based ice cream and butter). And I will be cooking with rice milk. I realized I used the lactaid milk in some instant potatoes for a dinner recipe the other day, too. And I used it to make tomato soup for lunch--all before I realized it's not okay either!

So, no dairy (which is worth it for Asa, but feels so restricting), no onion, no heavy garlic, and I'm still doing no nuts. I'm torn on that one because there are so many things I would love to eat that I can't because of the dairy, so it's hard not to have nuts either. I would love a piece of peanut butter toast, a PB sandwich, or PB crackers. Great breakfast, lunch, and snack options. So I'm tempted to make a trade with myself--no dairy, but yes nuts. But then I read that him having such a sensitivity to milk might make it more likely for him to develop other allergies, and that was my reason for avoiding nuts all along--Matt and I have eczema, I have asthma (both risk factors), I am allergic to some tree nuts, and one of our nieces is HIGHLY allergic to peanuts. I'm going to ask our new pediatrician at his 2 month appt. what she thinks.

In other news, we downloaded a vacuum cleaner sound find from iTunes, and it often does the trick at sleepy times for Asa! At the very least, it calms him when he's crying, and it puts him to sleep lots of the time. :) We're hoping it will have a soothing effect on car rides, too!

Stay tuned soon for Asa's 6 weeks pictures. :) And thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support!