Ciao, baby

Oops, I mean, Chow Baby: Since we last posted, Anne has been on the march when it comes to eating.

Over the weekend of May 8, she took three of four, 30cc feedings entirely from her bottle. That means she's at least trying to make a go of it with the "suck-swallow-breathe" thing needed to use a bottle full time.

All of this reminds me of when I learned swimming strokes as a kid; the instructors would say a stroke required a pattern of movement in the water - "pull, breathe, kick, glide" - and I'd spend days kicking around, gulping lots of water, thinking I might drown, and generally working at it. But after awhile, I'd get efficient, and stronger in swimming the stroke.

I feel like that's what's happening with Anne: she's working on the bottle, and she's inefficient with it, but she just needs a little time to get the hang of it. In the meantime, Anne's doing well on the "suck" portion of the equation - today, she had a thirty-minute session with the pacifier ("passie," in Sibley nurse parlance).

We'll keep you posted.

WEIGHT, WEIGHT - DON'T TELL ME! We've fielded lots of questions about the baby's weight. Hear ye, hear ye, the official total is: 3 pounds, 4 ounces, well above birth weight.

Clearly, eating is much on the minds of the doctors. Eating is also much on the mind of dad, who wrote this post while thinking of Listrani's*, the Italian joint around the corner from the hospital where we often lunch on one of their excellent pasta or salad dishes between baby feedings.

(Listrani's is not a corporate sponsor of this blog, and no babies were harmed in the writing of this post).