Hello?? (23 weeks, 2 days)

Sprout has missed you! We have been on posting hiatus, so I hope this is reaching someone. Anyone there? It wasn't entirely an intentional hiatus and I even promised the New York chapter of the "aboutsprout" fan club I would post last week. Oops. I keep trying to tell Sprout that he needs to get to posting, but he has not yet reached the milestone of typing yet.

Where have we been? What have we been doing? Mainly just day to day stuff...just very slowly. I find myself uncertain about where all the time goes. I have enough time to pay bills, but not to balance the checkbook. I have finally have taken the time to prepare some meals for the first time in a year, but not enough to wash dishes. Also, I have done all the laundry, but have not put any of it away. You see the pattern, right?

Zeke is now over five months old. He loves rolling around and hanging out in his exersaucer. He is absolutely delighted by people imitating an oinking pig. This was discovered by his grandmother who came for a visit a two weekends ago and went with us on Zeke's first shopping spree at an outlet mall on the Georgia's tax free shopping weekend. I guarantee that Zeke now has more stuffed animals than any child needs, if such a thing is possible. Zeke has also pet the dog and today one of the cats. He also can hold his bottle, though he is not quite ready to feed himself.

Speaking of which, we still haven't tried giving the Sprout any solid food. We're still planning on waiting until at least six months, so it continues to just be breastmilk for the baby. I'm really proud that we have been able to do this and follow the AAP recommendations for feeding. We set a goal for our child's care and have been able to meet it. Outside of 10 mL of formula at the hospital on his third day in the world (when the baby nurses convinced me we should be worried about jaundice and Zeke's weight loss), Zeke has been exclusively breastfed. It's certainly been a team effort and it has been an effort between eliminating dairy, pumping at work and at night after Sprout goes to sleep. In fact, I'm really proud of all that we have been doing. Aaron has been getting by on no sleep -- taking care of Zeke during the day and working at night -- and I have been at work for over three months. It hasn't been easy, but Zeke makes it worth it!

I still have a few more busy weeks planned, but I hope that three weeks won't go by like this again!