The Mad Scientist and The dirty "C" Word

Leo has recently been dubbed the "Mad Scientist" and here is why:

From Leo 2nd month

From Leo 2nd month

His hair continues to grow longer each week and really only has 2 styles; comb-over and what I call the mad scientist look. Everywhere we go people are constantly commenting on his funny hair. If his personality ends up matching his funny, crazy hair we are certainly in for it!!! We have a new camera now, so I'll try to catch some better pictures of his funny do.

Now for the dirty "C" word...Colic. Leo does have a touch of Colic, but it is no where near as bad as it could be. Luckily, we were steered towards a good book early on and it has been a life saver (Dr. Karp's "Happiest Baby on the Block"). His techniques work like a charm on Leo. Contributing to Leo's over all fussiness has been his tummy issues too. The medicine for his GERD kicked in after about two weeks. Leo doesn't throw his head back in pain when he burps anymore, but that issue got replaced with another one; the "2 ounce freak out".

Like clock work, 2 ounces into a bottle Leo gets incredibly fussy. We can change his diaper, try to help him move some gas out, burp him and swaddle him, but nothing works consistently. After he calms down and takes a break he will finally finish the bottle. Then, last Thursday I noticed blood in Leo's poop. The pediatrician confirmed what we were afraid of, Leo has a Cow's Milk Protein Allergy. (Charlie had a milk allergy as a child so we weren't terribly surprised). So what now? Well, we immediately switched Leo over to a hypoallergenic formula with no milk protein. It also contains some probiotics to help heal his digestive tract. In the mean time I had to cut ALL dairy from my diet and dump my breast milk for a week. (So freaking heartbreaking to dump it down the drain, not to mention everything I have pumped and frozen that is now no good). After a week of no dairy for me I'll be able to let Leo have breast milk again, and we will probably supplement with formula as well. So far, removing dairy from his diet has helped further with the fussiness. Cutting dairy has been a challenge!! No milk, no cheese, no butter, no yogurt...the baby weight will be off in no time!! (I've lost about 4-5 pounds in the first week of my new diet!).

Aside from the fussy eating, Leo is still an absolute joy. He is starting to coo like crazy and makes the sweetest little noises I have ever heard in my life. We purchased a play mat for him and he loves it. (Tiny Love Kick n Play) He will lay there staring at the hanging animals and even bats at them with his hands. His favorite one right now is the purple hippo; he just stares and stares at it. He loves tummy time and is holding his head up more and more each day. I do have to watch him when he is on his tummy though, he is quite a scooter. I left him to play on his tummy for just a minute the other day while I was cooking dinner. When I came in the living room to check on him he had scooted himself half way off his mat. We might have an early crawler on our hands! :)

I'll post more pictures as soon as possible!