Current Events

Just wanted to write a quick update to let everyone know how we're all doing. We've successfully moved to California - the trip down was very easy, to our relief - and are living in our new house, though our stuff hasn't arrived yet! The moving van should be here on Sunday or Monday, and we've got new couches coming on Tuesday. We're settling in well; I'm especially enjoying the nice weather and take a long walk with Theodore every day.

Theodore is a pretty happy, healthy baby these days. He has fully mastered smiling and gives lots of big, heartbreaker grins, while giggling and cooing. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet, but hopefully soon! He loves to spend part of each day and each evening lying on a blanket, kicking his legs, flailing his arms, and looking all over the place. When I hold him and he's awake, he loves to be held facing outwards so that he can see what's going on around him. He's so much more interested in the world, which is lots of fun! We do a lot of singing and walking around together, though he doesn't have any interest in toys as of yet.

He has really adjusted to the new house, and best of all, has started sleeping at night! He had a few really bad weeks, including one where he would take two to three hours to settle and then only sleep for forty-five minutes or an hour, but he started with four hour stretches, and now this past week has reliably done a five hour stretch and then another stretch for up to three hours. He even slept for seven and a half hours straight two nights ago! We are, of course, thrilled by this development. Bedtime is still a challenge, as he fights off sleep and gets very tired and cranky, but since he sleeps so well when he finally does fall asleep, we're pleased - and he's a happier baby for it too, I think!

Not too much else to report, so I'll end with a link to some photos that cover the time period from the last album until now, and two recent videos I posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

Medical and Moving Updates

Theodore turned 8 weeks old yesterday, and had a visit to the pediatrician. He weighed in at 9lbs, 3oz, which is pretty teeny-tiny for an 8 weeker, but a huge gain for him - three pounds on the nose in exactly five weeks! We are very happy, and so was the doctor. He is exclusively breastfed now so we definitely have feeding under control, and it's going well. He was given a clean bill of health and also given his first vaccinations - three shots! The poor guy was definitely not impressed, and spent yesterday very sad, sleepy, and absolutely glued to my arms. He seems to be feeling better today, thankfully.

He does have two other small health issues that I have not written about here previously. The first is quite minor - he has an umbilical hernia, which you may have been able to spot poking out from his shirt in some of the October photographs. This popped out a few weeks back, but is perfectly normal and causes him no distress. It's a little surprising to most people when they see it, as it is quite large and I admit, I had never seen one before so other people probably haven't either, but the pediatrician is not concerned, and unless it doesn't go away by the time he's two (and most do), he won't need any treatment or surgery for it. Billy and I have gotten completely used to it at this point, so hopefully it will become normal-looking to his other friends/family/caregivers as well!

The second issue is that, as some of you may know, but many probably do not, Theodore was born with an abnormality on his right foot. He has no toenails on that foot, the middle three toes are very short and somewhat webbed, and his big toe is a bit misshapen. He is also actually missing a toenail from the second toe of his left foot, but otherwise that foot is perfectly formed. We were told, after his birth, that it was a random abnormality and quite common, and he should be able to walk on it fine, but we were referred to plastics for a consultation, to see if they wanted to do any work on it.

Well, we met with a plastic surgeon at the children's hospital last Wednesday, and were given the great news that they felt he indeed has enough bone structure to be able to walk on it, and they did not recommend any surgery! He is almost for certain missing the top two bones in the three middle toes (they can only diagnose fully with an x-ray, but at this age bones aren't completely calcified so an x-ray isn't a good diagnostic tool yet), but it shouldn't cause issues. They did recommend that if, at 8 to 9 months when he's learning to walk he has any trouble, we should get referred to orthotics, where he may need corrective footwear or the like to help, but this isn't even for certain that it'll be necessary, and is thankfully much less invasive than surgery.

As his feet are still so little, it's very difficult to photograph and see the abnormality, though I've tried to show it a bit in the one below. I will admit that after he was born I was extremely worried about whether he would be able to walk, whether it was something I did that caused it, etc, but am now very relieved to hear that he should be fine, and it was merely something that happened in utero that they can't explain, but happens randomly. (There is a chance it could be genetic, as well, but they treat one abnormality as random and require two to consider any genetic link - and we are grateful he doesn't qualify for that!) We intend to treat it as normal for Teddy - and don't think it will impede or harm him in any way as he grows up.

awkward photo of his foot

On the health front, Billy and I got our H1N1 vaccinations this week - our first baby-free outing! Grandma Eileen was thrilled to babysit while we went to get the jab. Our arms still hurt but we were happy to be able to get vaccinated in the priority group, as Theodore is too young to get that vaccine. We have also both had truly rotten colds since coming back from California, but thankfully the worst Theodore got was a bit of a stuffy-sounding nose - a big relief, as a baby with a cold wouldn't be much fun for any of us.

Theodore also got to have a nice visit with his Auntie Suzie last week, who came up for a few days, and right now he is calm in the eye of the storm - the apartment is being packed on Thursday and the movers are here on Friday! We will be staying with Grandma Eileen for a few days and then are moving to California for good likely next Tuesday, so in a week. Life is certainly keeping us busy!