Baby Mug Shots

This week has been the first one I've had to deal with a less than perfectly healthy baby. A week ago, Liam got a slight cough, and had that for a few days. Then Monday he started sounding snotty when he breathed. Saline drops and the humidifier have been our best friends since then. He's not any worse, but it hasn't gone away yet, either. Thankfully he hasn't had a fever at all and is acting and eating normally, except when his nose gets too snotty for him to breathe well while drinking. Will and I have also been somewhat sickly this week as well, Will much more so than me. It's like my body knows it can't be sick and pitiful right now. Plus, I haven't been sick at all since last November, so I kind of forgot what to do to take care of myself when a cold comes up. I've kept him home all week (except for the event described below), which means we missed Mom's Connection and International Friends.

Monday, I took Liam to his evaluation to get a DOC band (wrongly referred to by myself as a "helmet). They took photos of his head from every angle and determined that he has moderate to severe plagiocephaly (flat head), and that he will need a band to correct it. They don't treat mild cases of it. Anyway, I was told it was mostly caused by his position in utero. He turned head down and engaged early on, and that caused the flattening on the back of his head. Once out in the world, his head continued growing that way instead of rounding out. He got the flattening on the left back side of his head because he favored turning his head to the left while sleeping the first couple of months. I never knew I needed to make sure we switched the way he faced each night, otherwise I would have done that. Since he was 2 months old, and the flatness was brought to our attention, we made sure he slept with his head facing right, and that did help to not make the flattening worse than it is. He does have some slight asymmetry on his face and one ear is slightly lower than the other, but you have to really be looking for those things to see them. The therapist said he should only have to wear the band for 6-8 weeks since we're starting very young and his isn't THAT bad. It is covered out of network by my insurance. However, my out of network deductible is the same as the total amount for the band, so we still have to pay for the whole thing, and it is not cheap. We're talking thousands of dollars here. Money we don't have. But we can pay it off in monthly payments, so I'm hoping we find the money each month somehow. Hopefully he can be fitted for the band in the next week or so. It takes up to two weeks for the band to come back. Thankfully, they just do a 3D scan of his head to get the right fit instead of a plaster mold like they used to have to do. If he gets it in the next few weeks, I'm hoping it will be off for good by Christmas!

These are a couple of the pictures they took of him. They're poor quality because I just scanned in the paper they were printed on.

Don't they look like baby mug shots!? So you can obviously see his flat head on the side shot, but he looks pretty normal from the front. Cute face! He was mesmerized by the toy the photographer was waving in front of him. He did so well at his evaluation and was smiling and even giggling for all the ladies. Talk about a flirt. When the therapist was talking to me and not looking at him, Liam kept making noises to get her attention.

And that's been our week.

Who Does Liam Look Like?

These first two pictures are of Will and me when we were around 6 months old. Who does Liam favor more?

Baby Will

Baby Jennifer

And here are pictures of us around a year and a half old. I wonder who he'll favor more then? I had curly hair at that point!

Time to Break out the High Chair

Liam had his four month appointment today, and he is a healthy little baby! He is also a big boy.

His 4 month stats:
Length: 26 3/4 inches (97th percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds, 13 ounces (90th percentile)
Head: 16 1/2 inches (40th percentile)

Since his 2 month appointment, he grew 2 3/4 inches and  gained 4 pounds, 6 ounces. (I think he got Will's height and my weight...ha!) His head is 1 1/2 inches bigger.

Speaking of his head...it's official. Liam will get a helmet to correct his flat head. Since he was two months old we've been trying to correct the flat spot on the left side of his head with positioning and more tummy time. I don't think it's gotten any worse, but it hasn't gotten better either. Hopefully he'll have an evaluation for the helmet in the next few weeks. Supposedly, the earlier they start wearing it, the faster it works. I'm fine with him having a helmet. He'll have to wear it a few short months and then he'll have a nicely shaped head forever. Good trade off in my opinion.

The pediatrician said we could start him on rice cereal and even some real foods now. He said to start with yellow and orange vegetables. I'm hoping to give him a little bit of rice tonight and maybe start solids in a week or so. Maybe it'll make him start sleeping through the night again!

He also got his pentacel vaccine. He screamed for a second and then smiled at the nurse. He smiled at everyone! No adverse reaction so far.

All in all, perfect check-up. The doctor was impressed with his strength and his standing up ability. Go Liam!

And just because I think this post needs a picture...

A Third of a Year

Happy Four Months to Liam today! Time flies when you're having fun, and he has become a lot of fun.

His four month check up won't be until next week, so I don't have his official stats yet. I started volunteering teaching ESL at church on Wednesday mornings, and had to reschedule today's appointment because of that.

At four months, he has become an excellent tummy-timer, but does eventually start protesting. He is pushing up all the way on his arms some now and kicking those legs. I don't think it will be too long before he accidentally rolls himself over. He will occasionally roll over from his back to his front, but he usually prefers to roll up on his side and stay there...and nom on toys. Speaking of nomming on toys...teething has come upon him, and it is no fun. No fun at all. He went from sleeping 8-9 hours at night to waking up screeching every 2.5 to 3 hours during the night. And then of course, there's the random crying out in pain throughout the day.  Thankfully, it doesn't happen every day. And last night, he slept from 10 pm until 5:30 am, woke up and ate, and went back to sleep until almost 8 am. Maybe there is hope after all! So far frozen pacifiers rubbed over his gums and biting on my finger wrapped in a cold, wet washcloth have helped. We've also used teething tablets, and I've found they work better if I dissolve it in water and rub it on his gums with a q-tip. I've ordered an amber teething necklace, and I'm really hoping that will help a lot. He also has a Sophie the Giraffe teething toy. This is just the beginning of our teething adventure!

Liam is a strong baby; he always has been. He's really good at standing and putting weight on his legs. We love to pull him from a laying on his back position to standing up by holding his hands. I'm hoping to get an exersaucer or maybe one he can jump with soon. I think he would like that. I work with him on sitting up just holding on to his hands. His body is still a little wobbly, but he has excellent head control. One of his favorite things to do now is arch his back up. He has almost flung himself out of his bouncy seat doing that. I'm hoping to phase out the bouncy seat soon. Perhaps we'll start using the Bumbo more.

He's also a happy baby (when his mouth isn't hurting). He loves to give us big grins and he's giggling more and more.You wouldn't know it by looking at pictures of him, though, because he still stops smiling as soon as he sees the camera!

This rattle ball is not good for nomming, but I will try.

I love my Sophie!

Look at those cheeks! And the flat head...gonna talk to the pedi about a helmet at his appointment.

Drooling on daddy.

Yeah, I'm four months old..so what?

I can't believe that camera is in my face yet again.

I am amused.

Liam Giggling

 

Caught this little video on my phone yesterday, which explains the sideways-ness. Liam adores Will, and in this video, he's doing whatever it takes to keep him giggling. So cute!