8 Months

Luke is 8 months old today! To mark this milestone they moved him up to the next class at daycare. He's still with infants, but he's with the older ones now. I remember the teachers commenting about how tiny he was when he first started. Boy how the time is flying!

We've had a busy couple of weeks, moving from doctor's appointment to doctor's appointment, but he finally seems to be on the up and up. He got his tubes last week and he's been doing well since then. He has a follow up with the ENT next week to check on them. He's really into the solid food and gets so excited when he sees the bowl and spoon of food coming toward him. He also gets very talkative. We started giving him a couple of mixed foods and there's almost nothing he doesn't seem to enjoy.

He's so close to sitting up on his own, it's got to be any day now. He can do it pretty well, just needs a little support when he starts to wobble. He's really becoming entertaining. Between his funny sounds, constant tongue sticking out and the rotating of his ankles (this must be a Ferro trait because his big cousin Elise does this too) he keeps us laughing these days. One of the funniest things he does is "trot" on the jumperoo. He jumps up and down, but just on one foot and the other touches down every once in a while. It's hysterical! I think all babies are like this but he is very curious, always wanting to see what's going on over there. He's always reaching out for his feet and is almost obsessive about grabbing them. It's funny to see him do this while he's drinking from a bottle, it's like he can't help himself!

Ears, continued

Luke ended up getting three shots of antibiotics to try to kick the ear infection. We thought they were working because he was feeling better towards the end of last week. But, his fever returned with the weekend and we saw him pulling at his ear. His runny nose was back too. When I called the doctor she wanted to see him and when she did she said the ear infections were back. So, she referred us to an ENT and luckily we were able to get in a couple of days later. They did a hearing test and found that it was being affected because of the fluid in his ears. The good news was the ENT said his ears were not infected at the time, but they were still full of fluid and it could turn into an infection very quickly. He recommended tubes because his ears weren't draining on their own. The longer the fluid stays in the greater effect it has on his hearing, language comprehension and ultimately his speech. So he's getting the tubes early on Tuesday morning. The procedure is supposed to be very quick and he should be back to his normal self the same day. He won't be able to eat after midnight the night before so hopefully he'll fall asleep in the car on the way there.

All in all this week was much better than the last few. He's been feeling better since the ENT appointment and we're seeing some of the happy playful baby we've been missing. He's making real progress trying to sit up and it won't be long before he's able to do it unsupported. Today we're going to lower the mattress in the crib because Brad caught him pulling on the top of the bumper. He's been rolling from his back to his stomach and vice versa for a while, but he's just started to roll continuously. We had several close calls on the bed this week so he's going to have to hang out in the bouncer in the mornings when we're getting ready. Another new trick he's doing is sticking out his curled tongue.

He just figured out he can jump in the jumperoo.

Super Bug

So Luke has the super bug, the very stubborn drug resistant bacteria hanging out in his ears. He seemed to be recovering last week - the cough was getting better, the antibiotic rash and thrush disappeared and he seemed to be peppier. Then on Friday afternoon Brad got the call to pick him up from daycare. He vomited everywhere and it turned out he had a fever when we checked his temp. So as soon as my dad arrived from Houston that evening we were off to the doctor's office. Again, thank goodness his doctor is open after hours. The doctor who saw him said his ear looked good and she thought he might have some type of little virus causing the fever and vomiting. Just keep taking the Tylenol to manage the fever, but he should be fine. So we gave him more Tylenol and the fever came and went over the weekend.

Saturday was a day of Code BROWN (to borrow the Walden phrase) like we've never seen before. Something bad was inside of that child! So many baths, so much laundry. Lucikly it was over that night. When Sunday rolled around we thought he was back to normal, but that night he had a fever again and not much of an appetite. This morning he woke up with a fever even higher than last night so it was a good thing we were going in for his ear check appointment. When the doctor checked his ear she found that the infection was not gone, in fact, both ears were now infected! So he had to get a heavy duty shot of antibiotics with a second one tomorrow. If this doesn't get the super bug the doctor wants to start talking about tubes. Tubes! So say a prayer that the third antibiotic's a charm and there are no tubes in Luke's future. So today we're at home while he tries to get better.

And for a bit of good news he's now kiddopotamus free and sleeps unswaddled. Is this cute or what?