Summertime...and the Living is Crazy

Hi everybody, sorry it's been a while. Summer is here and Oscar seems to love the hot weather as much as his mommy. We've been to the pool the last 2 weekends and I think I'm gonna take him again today. It's too hot to bring Otto along with, so David happily stays home with him. David's not one for the heat and humidity, so it works out well.

Otto is officially 2 months old and had his 2 month checkup and vaccines this week.

We learned when Otto was 5 weeks old that he most likely had a milk protein allergy. It's hard to do extensive testing when he's so young, but he's had several tests done to confirm this and I've been going dairy free for almost a month now to see if Otto's symptoms improve--and they seem to be improving.

It's not the same thing as lactose intolerance, he was having a reaction to the protein in cow's milk that I was eating/drinking and Otto was ingesting through my breast milk. They make special formulas for babies with this type of allergy, but I'd really like to continue breast feeding for at least another couple months.

It's very likely Otto will grow out of this allergy, I'm just thankful to know how to treat him and thankful that we live in a society so accommodating to people with allergies. Since I've been dairy free, I've been amazed at how many dairy substitutes I've been able to find. I've also been impressed with how many restaurants and food products readily have the allergen info/ingredients readily available.


This week we'll start physical therapy for Otto's torticollis. Torticollis is basically when babies tilt their heads to the same side all the time. It's not so much struggle to get him to look from side to side, it's a struggle to get him to stop tilting his head so that his chin isn't resting on his collarbone. The doctor says it has to do with the way he was positioned while he was in the womb.

We've been propping him with blankets and working with him, but now it's time to bring a specialist in who can give us some tips and exercises. The doctor isn't concerned, so we hope to see results quickly.

The hardest part about the torticollis is Otto rests most comfortably with his head in a certain position and I'm constantly having to move his head during his naptime, which wakes him up and makes him cranky.

At night, I just say "screw it" and let him sleep the way he wants to. Afterall, I need to get some sleep, too. (no judgments, please)

Below is Otto's new Amby Baby Hammock Motion Bed. A friend recommended this bed because it's specially designed for babies with colic and acid reflux, both of which Otto also has. I know, can you believe it? We never realized what a walk in the park Oscar was--until now.

The Amby keeps his head elevated (for the reflux) and rocks him when he stirs. It seems to be working pretty well. (Fingers crossed)

I'm looking forward to the day when Otto can roll over by himself, because being on his tummy

usually relieves any discomfort there. Here we are supposed to be doing our tummy time exercises, but Otto wants to nap instead. So I let him. (No judgments, please)

Otto is starting to really smile at us. I love this!

Now for the Oscar portion of the blog...

Oscar loves an audience. Whenever he does something he deems praise worthy, all must give praise.

Oscar learned the word "cold" from my mom. He now likes to say it all the time.

Check this out, Oscar's friend, Noah, came over to play. They decided to use one of Oscar's toy storage containers (a giant cow) as a tunnel. These guys play rough.

Noah and Oscar are only 2 weeks a part. Noah's mom, Karen, is a good friend and neighbor. We were fortunate enough to go through our pregnancies together and maternity leave together. Now our boys go to the same daycare, it makes me emotional to just think about how we used to dream about our boys playing together--and now that day is here.

Here's a video of Oscar behaving badly. Why sit on the couch when you can run across it?

Oscar can say "banana, " although it sounds like "uh-nana." He's always liked bananas, but now that Elmo also likes them, Oscar LOVES them and must have one at every meal.

Lastly, here's a video of Oscar playing with our crazy dogs. Enjoy!