2 Months!

Today our little Noah had his 2 month check-up. He is now exactly 2 feet tall, weighing in at 11 pounds, 14 ounces. His weight gain has slowed down recently but he's still delightfully chunky with impressively large cheeks. His height is in the 87th percentile for his age, which is hard to notice most of the time because of how he tucks his legs up to his butt, even when you pick him up.

He also had his 2 month vaccinations today - three shots, one on the inside of one thigh and two on the other. We were prepared for some sad and serious wailing, but he actually didn't cry very much and took a pacifier, handling the whole thing like a champ. Since we've gotten him home, he's been a little more sleepy and fussy than usual -- poor little guy doesn't even know why he feels sick and can't connect the dots to realize that that recurrent pain in his legs is caused by his involuntary kicking. He doesn't even know he HAS legs. Still, he's had some good times today, batting at a toy and taking a nice bubble bath.

If he's sadly ignorant of his legs, he is even more so of his esophagus. Noah's got "Silent Reflux" - the stealthy and more painful cousin of Regular Reflux. Instead of spitting up the acid, it goes back down. So he gets to have his esophagus burned on the way up AND the way down. This explains the excessive salivation, hoarse voice, congestion and constant snorting and choking while trying to sleep (so it's NOT rabies after all!). The doctor thinks that wheat in Whitney's diet isn't likely to worsen reflux - that might just be giving him more gas (which he wasn't short on to begin with). Other than continuing to stay off dairy and other reflux culprits, our other course of action will be to eventually increase his dose of Zantac and maybe try Prevacid soon. If we can keep the acid reflux under control he won't get so congested and he'll have a lot less discomfort.

All the while he is just as sweet as can be. He delights us with his smiles, coos and (occasional) laughs. On Easter Sunday he started to get a little noisy in church so Whitney took him out to the foyer and as soon as they left the sanctuary he gave her a big smile and actually chuckled at her. Our little pagan is already finding ways to get out of church! Do Presbyterians get to have their babies re-baptized if the first one didn't take?

Speaking of people who aren't fans of immersion, Noah has become something of a Baptist. He suddenly LOVES bath time now. He wears a tentative but pleasant expression that occasionally gives way to full blown grins. Getting his diaper changed has also grown on him - we've discovered that he likes it when you fan his bum with a clean diaper before putting it on -- we try not to make him feel weird about it by reassuring him that "everyone loves a bum-fan." In general, we just love seeing him take in new things. Whenever we leave the house he is so wide eyed and curious about all the new things to see. What wonder must accompany his taking in of a world that he is unable to classify and mark off into "things." Pure awareness.

He's just a gift to behold - marveling at him makes me marvel at ourselves for the kind of love we are capable of and at the God revealed in that love!