For the first week, Shawn was taking care of all of Hunter's feeding and care. He's a wonderful father. He was a little nervous at first, since although he's dealt with a lot of babies, he's never had to work with one this small. However, he took to fatherhood like a duck to water; and it's now perfectly natural to him.

The positive part of this is that it really contributed to some daddy/baby bonding. The negative is that we now have to try to move Hunter to breastfeeding, which is challenging once an infant's been started on the bottle. See, with bottle feeding, all the kid has to do is chew on the nipple, and gravity provides instant gratification. With a breast, the baby needs to learn how to suck, and it actually takes work to get the milk flowing.

We've been working with a lactation specialist on different techniques to retrain Hunter using fingers, a dental irrigator, and today I got a nipple protector for the next transitional step.

After having been teaching Hunter over the past several days how to suck properly, I was feeling daring enough to try to breastfeed him directly. I lay on my side on the bed, my son lying facing me, as I gently tried to coax him to my breast.

Suddenly, he grabbed my nipple in his tiny (yet surprisingly firm) grip and spasmodically jammed it into his eye.

So help me, I'm still giggling convulsively.