Smiling!!

Will smiled and cooed for the first time yesterday!!!! What a way to completely melt my heart. Grandma was here to witness it, and Ellis got home in time to catch the fun before Will fell back asleep. Ellis and I have since tried to capture his smile, but haven't done a great job yet. These pictures come close though. There is a sparkle in Will's eyes that weren't there before! This weekend has been full of kisses, playing with toys and rattles, and making funny faces and noises.

Will had continued to do poorly last week so, on Friday, the pediatrician had us give him Pedialite for about 12 hours to clean his system. Then, Saturday morning we began feeding him Neocate formula. Amazingly, by noon he was already tons and tons better!! He has not grunted in pain since! The inconsolable crying and colic behavior of the past week is almost gone. I am so happy that we know what his problem was before and don't have to see a GI or anything to figure it out.

Early Saturday afternoon, Will was alert and playful for the first time in almost a week and a half. I laid him down in his activity gym and he cooed at the toys to my utter astonishment. Then, he smiled at me when I made funny faces and noises at him. It was such a wonderful moment.

Will continues to do really well with the formula and I can't wait to give the good report to his doctor tomorrow morning. I am hoping to be able to start breastfeeding him again tomorrow. I am not a fan of formula - it smells bad, its messy, and Will spits it up everywhere. Plus, you have to deal with all these bottles. Much easier to nurse Will when he is hungry, especially at night!

I have not eaten dairy since last Monday, although it is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Not eating dairy means cutting out a lot more than just milk and cheese. There are about 15 ingredients that come from milk, and one of them is in just about any processed item at the store. It makes eating out extremely difficult too. Some of my cereal had a milk ingredient in it, many foods that say they are "non-dairy" aren't really (just lactose-free). Lots of places use milk, even though you wouldn't know it. My favorite fast food - Chick Fil A drags the chicken in milk so that is out for a while. Just about every dessert item is out for me - try to find one made without milk or butter - and that includes just about all chocolates. Kellymom.com has been an enormous wealth of information for me to learn how to read ingredient labels, etc. I have become one of those who takes 3 minutes to buy a product because I have to read everything. However, some surprises have been soy milk creamer and rice dream ice-cream (yum!). Rice milk really isn't so bad. Anyway, I will do this as long as I can - I really do miss nursing Will and am not ready to give that up yet. (Plus, did I mention I hate formula and late night feedings?)

Although we have seen significant improvement this weekend, things are still a little shaky in our household. Will does not like to be put down at all, which means someone must hold him at all times. (Reason why I don't blog often or respond to email like I used to.) This definitely restricts my ability to go anywhere with him. We haven't gone anywhere together since he was about 3 weeks old. Grandma has been enormously helpful by coming over a few hours each day so that I can get things done around the house or just take a break. She watched Will all afternoon so Ellis and I could get out of the house for a much needed break. So a huge THANK YOU to Grandma.

Oh! And we are such proud parents. Y'all - Will has amazing head control for a 5 1/2 week old. He can hold it steady and look around. He can push himself up, shakily, on his forearms. He can hold his head up just shy of 90 degrees on his own. And, when you pull him up by his hands when he is laying down, he can keep his head in line with his body - something I understand does not usually come until a baby is 4 months old. All of this wears him out though and he can't do it long - but he is getting stronger and stronger.