hi from sami

hi i’m sami. i have a friend. he’s a bear called thembile. i don’t have many other friends as my doc says i’m not aloud out of the howse yet. but today i krawled into the ka while momi and dadi weren’t luking and went to PAAAAARRRRRTYYYY!!! my unkal bari said something about jesus being born. and dadi had a smokie thing in the pool called a seegar wot unkal bari brought back from from hiss holyday in kubar. i had to stay in anotha room the hole day to stop the cherms finding me (and dadi’s seegar smoke).

i way 3.8 kilograms. i’d like to no wot a keelogram is. all i no is it’s a lot.

momi has been feeding me such yumi milk for the last 2 weeks. it has been difficult not to grow. i luv my momi (and dadi and big brotha matt). i luv you too. thank you for luking after me and my momi and dadi and brotha ova the last few months. it has been a difficult time. the nurses and docs in the hostipal were very nice to me. they stayed awake the whole time. i miss them. why do momi and dadi want to sleep?

dadi is teeching me to tipe.

luv sami

pee ess: momi and dadi long legs and my big brotha matt say hapi krismis to you all

4 months old!

A lifetime. That's what we hope to put between our son's birth experience and us.

Sam has been hard at work on his milk machine for the past 10 days. Not a bottle in sight! Big up for mom and the boy! He's certainly gaining weight for it - the scale tipped at 3460 grams on Wednesday last week.

There was a mixed visit to the paed last week. The good news: his head growth rate has returned to normal. The bad: he thinks all the discomfort that Sam has after feeding are related to an intolerance of something in Mich's milk. After working so hard (and succeeding) at breastfeeding for the past couple of months this was very frustrating news for us.

We're now looking for anything, and I mean anything, that will help rev up a gluten-, wheat- , dairy- and any other tasty food-free diet. Adding a daily regimen of porridge and rice to the quarantine still in place makes it feel a lot like a prison round here. Thankfully fruit is still on the menu. I steal a bite of a chocolate once Mich has gone to bed!

That's about the news for now. Ah yes - another big milestone - tomorrow we return the hired breastpump!

The Matt mirror

Matt has a knack of capturing the moment... Here he is, dressed in full medical regalia administering vital mooties to his Baby Sam. Not at all far off what we do a good deal of the time.

Other Baby Sam continues breastfeeding with gusto! Mich down at the mo with a stomach bug - a mystery as to how she got this! Rapid healing needed.

3220 grams!

Young Samuel managed a full day on the boob yesterday! And put on weight in the process - if scales are to be believed then it was 60grams. An awesome answer to the last prayer request. Thank you.

Sam had his second out-of-hospital checkup this week which was generally showing that he is making good progress. Paul was slightly worried that his head is growing just faster than the maximum rate for someone his age. This could imply that his the initial brain haemorrage he had is still having an effect or that the haemorrage is continuing. However the fact that he remains alert and his fontanel (the gap in every baby's skull that closes up over time) soft and undistended would suggest that this is not happening. Given that, he is happy to wait until the next checkup in two weeks' time to see if the growth rate continues at the same pace. If it does then we'll do another brain scan. Not something we are keen for. Please pray for protection for this little guy's brain.

The quarantine is still in place. Mich's cabin fever is thankfully still at manageable levels - every now and then she escapes to water the plants! With some time off work for me approaching she is looking forward to a bit more of that.