A blanket of snow in winter

Winter
The earth is cold, hard, dead and frozen.
A blanket of beautiful snow covers the earth. How glorious and wonderful! But merely external as the ground beneath is still cold, hard, dead and frozen, revealed by the melting snow.
Our souls, dark and depraved; seeking after pleasures that only lead to pain or even death.
Religion, a blanket of good works and deeds that look so beautiful and wonderful. But merely external as the soul beneath is still dark and depraved, revealed with time.

New Blog

I have another blog that I write (with more updates) for the girls. It is at
http://siefkergirls.blogspot.com/

Our Girls - 2 months

So, we are 9 weeks into being parents of 2 wonderful blessings from above, and you ask, "how is it going?" Well, the answer to that changes from day to day, but most days are a challenge.

You see, our newest blessing has some challenges when it comes to eating - which turns out is a crucial part of being a happy baby. She coughs / gags a lot, has reflux, has had a few projectile vomits (boy, that's so fun to clean up), painful constipation -- and many nights where we have to hold her upright to sleep because she is gagging and choking with the reflux. We are waiting to see a pediatric gastro-enterologist (takes over a month to get into see them), so until then, we keep making adjustments to her diet and medicine(s).

What we have already tried with the baby:
Formulas
(1) Similac Advance
(2) Enfamil Gentlease
(3) Isomil
(4)
Nutramigen
Medicine
(1) Zantac
(2)
Omeprazole
Thickener:
(1) Similac AR
(2) Rice Cereal
(3) Oatmeal

Currently on:
Nutramigen w/ 1 tsp Oatmeal per 2 oz formula
Omeprazole
Sleeps in her crib (when she is not choking)
with an inclined mattress in a "Tucker Sling" (google it if you
don't know what it is - it is great).

Problems:
(1) Still has problems at night keeping the food down and not coming up and choking
her every 3rd or 4th night. This results in either Mom or Dad holding her upright in their arms all night.
(2) Still has problems eating and getting food down - sometimes it works great and other times she chokes / coughs, stops breathing, swallows at the same time she is breathing (you can hear it "get caught")

Hoping to get some relief soon. I would think by now she would know how to swallow from a bottle very well (9 weeks of practice).... Of course, I also thought she'd be sleeping through the night by now. Unpredictable, for sure!

The good news is that she is starting to coo and smile - even occassionally laugh. She is also - according to Mom & Dad - so beautiful! So her smiles with those big blue eyes are such a huge reward after trying to comfort her when she is so uncomfortable. Melts your heart. :)

Our poor eldest daughter is still waiting to figure out what the blessings to being a big sister are. Poor thing is being patient, but it is hard when the lil one needs so much attention.

Here are some pictures of our girls. Hoping to get some professional ones taken soon (whenever we can determine a non-fussy time for the baby)....

The birthday girl with some birthday cupcake in her mouth.

Squeaky clean out of the bath

Look at those tall sunflowers from the itty bitty seeds she planted with Daddy!

Enjoying an afternoon on the deck. She loves it outside!