11 months old!

Well, little Eli has had a rough month, that's for sure. In the beginning of December we noticed his cough (that he had had since the middle of October) was not going away. I squeezed him in at Caleb's 4 year appointment and his pediatrician thought it was either Asthma or RSV. He figured Asthma since Eli did not have a fever and seemed to feel OK in every other way. So he prescribed us an inhaler to use when his wheezing and coughing got bad. We used that for a day or two and couldn't really tell if it was making things better or not, then Eli took a turn for the worse! He got really lethargic and all he wanted to do was sleep. When he was awake he just cried and snuggled (I snuggled with him that week more than he's let me his entire life)!! I vacillated between taking back in (or taking him to urgent care/ER in the night time) and was just waiting to see if he pulled through. Finally, after several calls to the clinics after hours hot line, I decided to take him in on Sunday. Luckily, as I found out, our clinic is open for a few hours on Sundays which saved me tons of money and time! I took him in and we did a nebulizer treatment again. The Doctor also looked in his ear and determined that he had an ear infection, his first one ever. Then we went over to the hospital and had chest X-rays done to rule out pneumonia. Then we went and got his antibiotics. So after a really long hospital day, we still weren't sure what was going on with him. But we started the antibiotics and within a few days he was acting like he felt better. We finally got all of the results back from the doctor and it turns out that he didn't have pneumonia, but did have RSV! So scary times. By that point however he had taken a turn for the better and was acting more like his happy little self. It was interesting how much I missed the smiley chatty boy that he usually is, and now scary it was to have him so lethargic and miserable! Then sadly a few weeks later, he got another illness, right after Christmas. But this time he seems to have pulled through it and has been acting much happier the past few days.

As for development goes, I think the being sick really set us back. He's still about as mobile as he was last month. He is tolerating tummy time a bit more than last month and will hold his head up for longer than before. He also can reach far out for toys and support himself on his arms from sitting. He rocks back and forth when on his hands and knees for a few seconds and then flops back down on his belly. But still no crawling. He also just figured out how to roll from his back to his stomach, but he has to be really really really mad in order to do it. But at least he seems to be trying to do it more and we all know practice makes perfect.

As for feeding goes, no real gains have been made. He pretty much completely stopped eating when he was sick, enough I had to pump a few times to keep my milk supply up. Another concerning thing with being sick!! So I stopped giving him baby food since he either spit it up right away and then refused to eat it or would refuse to eat at all and would just cry and cry. I have started him on more chunky baby food and he is getting used to that. Plus I have been trying to give him lots of soft fruits cut up small, not pureed and now that he is better, he seems to be doing well with that. We haven't had any scary choking incidents lately which is good. I think he has figured out to use his teeth and gums if something is in his mouth with a texture. So hopefully that is some good improvement.

His sleep still could use some prayer. The boy has no schedule, as much as we try to have him on one. Some days he will sleep for 3 good naps during the day, and then other days, like today he won't take a nap at all. Even if we lay with him doesn't fall asleep. Then the night time is worse! He can cry for hours and hours. Nothing soothes him finally the three of us (Ryan, Caleb and I) sleep in our room and let Eli cry until he falls asleep. I have no idea what to do with the boy at night. We have put him up in the guest room a few times, where he naps and that seems to help, and we leave the light on. But we are not sure if that is a long term solution. So please be praying for his sleep patterns to improve. And also for wisdom for us to know how to handle this problem! We really need more sleep around here!

Also tomorrow Eli (and Caleb) have eye doctors appointments. Eli's is for his left eye that crosses. Please be praying that it turns out to be something easy to fix and that he doesn't have to have another surgery. It might just require a patch to strengthen that eye or maybe he'll need glasses. We really aren't sure what's going on. So please pray for that as well.

All in all we had a a good and busy first Christmas with our families and were really glad Eli got better in time to enjoy the celebrations! His favorite gift has been his angry bird (Caleb wanted one and I didn't want Eli to feel left out... good thing too since he loves that thing!). He is also starting to like Lego Duplos, but all he does is bang them together and make lots of noise with them in the box, but it keeps him entertained! He has also gotten better at reading stories with us and we got quite a few new books to read and he has been enjoying them. That's all for Eli for now. I'll try to update about his eye appointment later this week.