Well actually we missed two months and now it is two and a half months. We were having a sad happy two months. The day Hugh turned two months old was the day he was admitted to the hospital. I took him to the doctor that morning after he had a fever and was screaming all night and there he tested positive for RSV and that (in addition to the large amount of crying in the doctors office I think) landed him in the hospital. The doctor didn't give me much choice so we went to the hospital and stayed there for three days. It was a rough three days of lots of fevers, lots of crying, and no sleep all while being stuck in the hospital. I cried the first day we were there. I don't mean I cried once I mean it was like constant tears. So Hugh didn't have to feel alone in that area. Everyone asked me Are you mom? Is this your first baby? No make up and puffy eyes don't make me look very mature. When we left I felt slightly more bonded to Hugh. That sounds dumb but I did! Hugh has proven to be a very expensive baby. In his short life he has already been to a plastic surgeon, a dermatologist, and a three day hospital stay. I suppose I will have another baby once I am done paying for this one! oy!
Hugh was born with an "extra digit" on his right hand. Jeremy was born with two and it is something that runs in his family. He had this removed when he was two weeks old. So that explains the plastic surgeon comment.
Hugh has a hemangioma on his forehead. This is a type of birthmark and it is the same kind that Rae has behind her ear and on her arm. Here is my grocery store answer that I say every time someone would ask me about Raes. "It is a hemangioma. It is a type of birth mark. It gets bigger before it ever gets smaller. It does not hurt them". There are treatment options to make them go away sooner but with Rae we didn't do anything and are just letting them go away eventually. A lot of times they don't go away completely and will be left with a smaller mark or scar where they once were. With Hughs being on his forehead and a more likely spot for scaring, I did some research and decided to take him to a dermatologist and ask for this topical prescription for it. It is not an aggressive treatment. It isn't an oral medicine, it is something I put right on it. It is suppose to help it stop growing and could take some redness away. It is good to start it early before it grows bigger. Some people it works really good and for others it doesn't do much. It doesn't have any known side effects so it is just something worth trying. I just started it a few days ago so we will see if it stops growing or if there is any change in the next month or so. But yes I have to explain what a hemangioma is to everyone who sees him (even nurses in the hospital who you would think know things) but when Rae was a baby before she had hair hers was a lot more noticeable so I am use to explaining it. So that explains the dermatologist comment.
This is gonna be a long post! One more health related thing before we get to the cute baby. Hugh has a dairy allergy so I have cut dairy out of my diet. So don't try and give me ice cream I am having a hard enough time not eating it! Just kidding, I am actually surprised how easy it is for me to cut out dairy (I am trying to avoid soy too). The doctor says that almost all babies with a dairy allergy grow out of it by the time they turn one. So I don't think this is going to be a life problem, just a temporary change for me, and by six months some babies can handle it better and I can try putting some dairy back in.
So today I tried to take his picture in the back yard with Rae. I was trying to recreate this picture
But in the backyard only it wasn't going well. Rae said "He's too heavy!" "He's too big!" and she couldn't hold him up like she did here. This age is hard to photograph! I lay him down and even though he is in the shade it is two bright and he can't open his eyes much, and his shirt is riding up his chin and I said oh well forget it and I just propped him up on the couch inside and he was soooooo cute.
Rae did not let me take pictures of just Hugh for long. She had to get in there :)
Hugh enjoys sucking on his fist, staring at the ceiling fan, and taking baths. He is smiling now but if you try too hard to get him to smile he just looks alarmed or annoyed. He likes it if you just talk to him and laugh at him. At two months he was 15 pounds and 3 ounces. Rae was ten pounds at two months so he is definitely a bigger baby. I am feeling annoyed at how fast he is growing out of his clothes. He has a long torso and his size 6 month onesies I got him are already feeling tight when I pull them down to snap them.
Now I am going to knock on wood right now and I don't know if this is because I have cut out the dairy or just him getting older or what but for the last three nights he has slept from 9-4. Just in case you are too tired for math that's seven hours. So you can definitely say we are doing better from when he was sick. He is now just congested but it doesn't seem to bother him. He also use to keep me up a lot because he was grunting and making so many noises but now he even sleeps quieter? Maybe the dairy maybe magic we will never know.
Rae has been the best big sister, She has gotten better and better with Hugh and I could not even have imagined her acting so good with him. She always wants him in the bath tub with her (I am aware it has something to do with the fact that she thinks under his chair is a house for her fish but that's okay). If I have him sleeping in his crib she says wheres my baby brother?? sounding so worried. She use to always try and put stuff in his hands to show him and I told her if she wants to show him something she has to put it right in front of his face, so now she will hold up her toys, a crayon, a picture, anything right in front of his face and tell him what it is. One day I put Hugh on his tummy and he starts to get fussy and Rae says "baby brothers sad!" and I say from the kitchen, "It's okay he just doesn't like being on his tummy" before I can stop her Rae says "help him!" and she grabs his shirt and flips him over to his back. She didn't hurt him it was just not quite gentle enough and he was scared and cried harder. Then the next time I put him on his tummy and he starts getting fussy Rae yells "help my baby brother mom!" and I say okay just a second and I am in the kitchen doing dishes and she comes over and smacks my leg and says angry "Help my baby brother!" So I think she loves him.
I feel like we were doing really good and then the universe smashed my head with a bat when Hugh got sick but now I think we are doing really good again. I know that this year is going to be rough and he will get sick a lot more but I am more prepared now and will put on a helmet. The first day we were in the hospital the doctor said "He is going to be okay, you are going to be okay and soon you will remember this and it will just be something that happened" and when she said that I thought what a simple thing to say? Of course everything one day will just be something that happened. But for some reason I think I might be telling myself that a few more times in my life haha
Well the days are long folks and so are my blog posts, happy two months baby Hugh!
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