2 months!

Preston is 2 months old now! We had his doctor's appointment on the 19th. He is developing well...smiling and cooing and tracking things with his eyes. He is up to 12 lbs. 2 oz., and 21 3/4 inches long! He's come a long way from his little 6 lbs 9 oz!! It's hard to believe he's already so big. I took Preston to the doctor last week to discuss a possible milk sensitivity or allergy. We put him on some hypoallergenic formula and he has improved immensely! He's not on formula 100% of the time. I have been alternating with breast feeding, and pumping when I feed him formula. He'll slowly get to all formula. I have still been maintaining my dairy free diet. Let me tell you, it's sooo hard! I am starting to get the hang of it though...with only a couple small cheats, and a couple accidental dairy consumptions! I had to have a piece of chocolate...sorry! I have found substitutes for many of my normal foods. I found a margarine that does not have milk protein...and I finally caved and got a milk substitute! I missed my cereal too much! I did not do the soy thing though....YUCK! I decided to try rice milk instead...and it really isn't bad, surprisingly. I noticed that there is almond milk too...I wonder what that's like. There is still no substitute for cheese though, and I'm really missing it! The baby still has his moments of fussiness, but it has definitely improved! He isn't pooping every half hour or hour anymore...that's cut down to 1-2 times per day! Now if only I could get him to sleep longer than 2 hours at a time during the night!!! He's much more attentive now and loves to play. We can really get him smiling sometimes. I still have not been able to catch him smiling with the camera though! He is getting so close to laughing. Sometimes he'll let out a little noise with his smile. It's so sweet. Anyway, I'm not sure how long I can keep up with this diet and life style change, but for now it seems like it's working. The doctor says after a couple of weeks on the hypoallergenic formula (that is really expensive), we can try Preston on soy formula. The reason we didn't start with soy is that some babies are allergic to both milk and soy. So we will see if he gets bad again after the soy milk is started. It's been very emotional for me to think that I may have to give up breastfeeding. I feel like it's so important for babies to have that, and I feel like I'm failing him if I can't provide it. He's such a good eater too. It's frustrating. I will do what I have to to make my baby comfortable. It upsets me to think that if I eat the wrong thing, my baby suffers. I'd rather him be happy and healthy. That said, the baby is doing beautifully! He's an amazing little man!

I love this screaming picture...this is a face that he wears very often!