Cameron, first quarter of 2010

Oh, there has been SO much going on with Mr. Cameron. We went to a dermatologist for his eczema, and got a new cream that seems to work better for him. It's mostly gone from his head now, but that sure hasn't stopped him from scratching! Although some of the scratching for a while was in and around his ears, which leads to the next malady....

I may have posted that at his 6-month well-care checkup, they found an ear infection that was apparently pretty bad that we had no clue about. So, he started on antibiotics and we kept going back for check-ups monthly. Well, at the next one, they found TWO ear infections, so we tried another antibiotic. Next check-up, same thing. We got a referral for an ear, nose and throat specialist after that one. We went to Dr. Dickey and he strongly recommended ear tubes, which I agreed to immediately. The alternative was yet another antibiotic, but I was over copays and such at this point and wanted to cut to the chase. We had to have him fast the night before, and they put him under for the procedure, but it took all of 20 minutes and after a very fussy baby fully woke, everything was pretty good after that.

I should note that Cameron has actually been very good-natured through all of this stuff. Overall I would say he's always been a fairly happy baby. But we have seen a change for the better since the tubes. He sleeps longer at night, and the scratching around the ears is gone.

So, now for the scariest sickness, which actually happened before the tubes and for which I have a picture to illustrate. A couple of days after his check-up (presumably in reaction to his shots), Cam spiked a fever of 105.6 twice ( a day or two apart), and his skin got all blotchy, like this:
(You will notice, still a pretty happy baby!). Well, I had never seen a temp that high, and I kind of freaked, but I also don't call a doctor unless I'm pretty much dying, so I went to our pediatrician's website first. It said not to come in unless the fever didn't come down with tylenol. So we did that and baths and it came down. At the next appointment (to check on the ear infection), we told the doctor what had happened, and he said it was almost definitely Roseola, a form of Measles! Sheesh, how much can this baby get?? Anyway, I'm glad it passed pretty much without incident and he'll certainly never have that one again!

Other than all of this, he's just been growing away. Now that I'm finally home with him a bit, he's consistently taking 2 naps a day and pretty happy otherwise. He's starting to eat more solid foods and only nurses a couple of times a day. He has just discovered sippy cups, and Ritz crackers, which he loves! I still just love to look at him and marvel that he's here at all. And yet, as he grows, I'm starting to dare hope I can have another one! Crazy how that works :)