And Baby Makes Four!

Well, life has been a whirlwind since Owen was born 7 weeks ago. Two under two is tough, what else can I say?

Owen is taking after his hefty brother Drew. He weighs 13.5 pounds, has no neck, and has big, chubby cheeks. Unfortunately, he has acid reflux, and we’re having him tested this month by a GI specialist to see if he has GERD. We just changed his Rx antacid to Prevacid, and it seems to be helping a bit more than his first Rx. Fingers crossed we get the reflux under control soon, because he’s having a very hard time with feeds (although he is somehow still huge). He almost never cries, other than while he’s trying to eat, which just makes me sad for him.

Little man also has partial hearing loss (40 decibels of loss in both ears). A normal speaking volume is 40-50 decibels, so he can hear speech, but not loudly enough to learn how to talk without amplification. So he gets fitted for pediatric hearing aids tomorrow, and I have no idea how I’ll keep them on his tiny little ears. I actually bought toupee tape yesterday, which I have been told is helpful to keep hearing aids on. They will be really important for Owen’s speech and brain development over the next few years, but his hearing loss is moderate enough that he could take them off once in a while as an adult and function just fine. His diagnosis was really good news to us, because he failed his newborn hearing screenings 4 times at the hospital, and we were afraid he could be deaf. I pictured myself going to night school to learn sign language and everything, so in comparison, dealing with moderate hearing loss seems pretty manageable.

We were also afraid Owen’s hearing loss could have been caused by a virus I might have caught while pregnant, called Cytomegalovirus (CMV). I just had my blood tested, and we got the results yesterday – negative! That’s a huge relief, because CMV babies have a host of health problems in addition to hearing loss. Now that we can rule out CMV, we can hopefully rule out all of those other issues, and just focus on hearing.

Drew is at such a funny stage of talking. He is now informing me when he needs a diaper change. Today he said, “Poopies. Diaper. Help. Mama. Stinkies.” He gets a little jealous when I’m nursing Owen, and says “Mama, no-no baby. Down. Books. Lap. Please.” The way he says “please” is so cute, and he is so serious when he says it, like what he’s asking for is a matter of life or death! Especially when he is asking for cookies or juice.

He has slapped Owen before, and is sometimes too rough when he grabs his toes, fingers, etc. Mostly, the problem is he wants to give too much affection. Right now he has a double ear infection, a cough and a drippy nose, and wants to get all up in Owen’s grill with hugs and kisses. So far O is healthy, and I want to keep it that way! So Drew gets his feelings hurt and acts offended when I ask him not to touch. And he TOTALLY has my temper. It’s so funny when he gets frustrated and acts out, because I feel like I’m looking in a mirror!

And of course, we think he’s a genius. He loves learning letters, and can name every letter in the alphabet. He doesn’t know them in order, or anything. But he points out letters on signs and in books all the time. I’m not a flash-card/baby Einstein mom or anything, but I’m glad he has shown so much interest in reading at only 22 mos.