Your 2-month-old's Development: Week 1

Into complex designs
At this point, your baby will begin to move beyond his early preferences for bright or two-toned objects toward more detailed and complicated designs, colors, and shapes. Show your baby — and let him touch — a wider variety of objects. Good choices include plastic cookie cutters, soft balls, and stuffed animals.

Hear ye, hear ye
Your baby can differentiate familiar voices from other sounds and is becoming a better listener. He also can show you that he's in tune with his environment. Notice how he looks to see where certain noises are coming from.

An ongoing conversation (although still one-sided!) can help your baby develop his sense of place. He may even watch your mouth as you talk, fascinated by how it all works.

Note: If you have any doubt about your baby's hearing, don't hesitate to mention your concerns to your healthcare provider. Even though your baby's hearing may have already been tested, new problems can arise.

A helping hand
The chaotic first months are over and your baby's schedule is probably becoming more predictable. If you and your partner are raising your baby, it's important for both of you to get a chance to care for and bond with your baby. Make sure whichever one of you is not the primary caretaker gets regular time alone with your little one, for bathing him, changing him, and just getting tuned into his needs.

If you're a single parent, try to find another adult, such as a grandparent or an aunt, to spend time with your baby. This will give your child an opportunity to bond with other loving adults, and give you a welcome break from the hard work of being a parent to a young child.

Sources: Baby Center

My Little Man at Two Months

Gavin turned another month older yesterday. Ambilis talaga ng oras.

His baby clothes won't fit him anymore since he can now wear his 3-6 months clothes. Being the OC mom, I've actually segregated his clothes by size knowing that he would easily outgrow them. We call him "Little Man" since we keep dressing him up with jeans, polo shirts and jackets. Well, we really don't have that much options when it comes to boy's clothing so we try to make the most of it.

Anyway, my Little Man can now respond - by smiling - when we call his name or talk to him. I've noticed that he's starting to like Cookie Monster. He'd stay quiet whenever he sees Cookie Monster on TV when watching Sesame Street. He's also fond of watching Hercules (the Disney movie). He would behave and just sit in his bouncer without bothering me whenever they show the movie on the Disney Channel. Lalaki nga siya.

He can now turn around in the bed so I normally wouldn't leave him by himself unless he's in the crib. Just the other day, we left him for a few minutes in my sister's bed while we had dinner and when I came to check on him, he actually moved farther away from where we left him. It scared me to even think that if not for my constant worries he might have fallen off the bed.

Gavin already started drinking his milk mixed with rice cereals and he seems to be liking it since he had less spits recently. Though his milk intake went down a couple of notch, I know he's getting enough to eat with every bottle, thanks to the rice cereals. Well, the downside to this change is the undeniable stench of his poop. I always have to hold my breath everytime I change his diaper.

Honestly, I always thought that Gavin's a small baby compared to Jenna. But with all the other babies I've seen in the hospital during our well-baby appointment, Gavin seems pretty big for his age. He may not have those chubby cheeks and nakakagigil thighs like Jenna, but his long legs and torso make up for it. He really is heavy, I feel like my back's gonna break whenever I use the Snugli.

I can't wait to see more changes in Gavin as the months go by. I'm actually excited for him to start saying my name. I'm just so glad I'm able to witness the growing years of my little man despite the ups and downs in Mommy's life.

Mommy's Little Man

Gavin standing up, with Mommy in the background

"I feel like I'm in my Daddy's work clothes"

Gavin's Scheduled Vaccination and Updates

We just got back from Gavin's pedia. He had his second round of vaccination. Surprisingly, my baby barely cried even after three injections pierced his skin. I was thinking, probably he got used to the feeling of needle pains after his ordeal in the hospital last week. The doctor told me to just give him Tylenol if he gets a fever.

The little boy weighed almost 12 pounds and grew an inch and a half longer. His pedia said that he seemed to have recovered already from his hospitalization. He was smiling and activily kicking while being examined by the doctor. He was even grabbing on to the doctor's coat when she was checking his back.

Despite all my efforts of frequently changing his diaper, Gavin was still inflicted by diaper rashes. Good thing I'm already ahead of the game and got myself a tube of multi-purpose Desitin two weeks ago. He also developed rashes in the scalp, also known as "cradle cap". I know that Gavin doesn't seemed to be bothered by it but I still wanted to resolve it before the rashes start to itch and irritate him. She said that the simplest way to treat cradle cap is to massage olive oil in the scalp, leave it for a few minutes then gently brush the loose skin with a soft comb. She also advised me not to use baby shampoo with fragrance such as Johnson & Johnson's.

Other than these small nuisance, the doctor said that Gavin's perfectly fine. Gavin can now also have rice cereals added in his milk. With the vitamins, iron supplements and his feeding intake, I'm sure he'll be gaining more weight by his next appointment, two months from now. He's been drinking more milk thus gaining weight despite not being breastfed.

I feel a bit relieved that Gavin has been sleeping longer at night. The weather's starting to change and the nights are getting colder and Gavin's seem to be adjusting pretty well. But I still have to make sure that I keep him warm by bedtime by layering his clothes. The only downside of this is that it takes forever for me to change his diaper, waking him up in the process. And because he now sleeps in his crib, he gets to use his own comforter instead of sharing with me. But I still prefer the wearable blankets just to prevent him from kicking the blanket off himself.

I've already started daycare hunting. Though I want to be with Gavin 24/7, there's expenses to think about, forcing me to go back to work as soon as I can. I've decided to find a daycare preferrably walking distance from where we live to minimize exposure time going back home, especially when it starts snowing. I'm sure I'll be feeling terrible once I leave Gavin in the care of other people but its for the best. He'll be needing a lot of things in the future which involves money - and those things don't grow in trees.

I'm planning to bring Gavin in the studio to have his picture taken one of these days. I'm just trying to figure when's the best day to have him all dressed up without worrying about rain. I even got him this Tigger outfit/bodysuit for his portrait. I just hope he'd smile and won't start acting up. He's quite a fussy baby sometimes.

Aside from our doctor's visit, nothing really eventful happened today. It's cold outside and I feel more comfortable if we stayed indoors unless its necessary. Gavin and I would just snuggle in bed the rest of the day or just until I finish up with my book.

Mommy's Big Boy

Gavin Being Discharged

Gavin's finally home.

We were discharge from the hospital late last night (around 7pm) with a clean bill of health. His temperature since last night was about 98 and he's slowly becoming his active self again.

His final diagnosis was a viral infection and his antibiotic treatment was just for precautionary measures while they were waiting for the test results. There's nothing much they could do unless he gets the fever again but I should make sure that he's dehydrated at the same time.

I had a fit with the intern taking care of Gavin's discharge papers. Having being informed at 12 noon that we could go home, I waited for 6 more hours before all the papers were ready. It was frustrating since it was starting to rain pretty bad, my sister was upset that I had the housekeys (so she had to drop by the hospital) and it was getting late already. If I didn't start bothering the nurses every 10 minutes, they wouldn't even start working on his papers. When the intern finally signed the papers, he thanked me for being patient. But I was already in a bad mood, so I didn't thank him back and left. Paghintayin ka ba naman ng 6 na oras, kung di ka ba naman mapikon, diba?

Aside from the RSV (read previous entry), his blood test showed that he is anemic - which is not normal for kids his age, given that the formula he drinks has iron. So they gave me iron supplements and multivitamins, as well as acetaminophen in case his fever comes back. They told me to check his temperature right away if he feels warm, give him tylenol and a spongebath if its 100.4 and below and only bring Gavin back to the ER if his temperature remains the same despite the medicine and bath or if it reaches 100.6. Honestly, I don't care if his temperature is 100.4 or lower - as soon as he has a fever, I won't hesitate to bring him to the ER.

Before we went home, the nurses complimenting on Gavin's outfits. They said that he was a well-dressed baby. Being the OC mom, I'm not comfortable seeing vomit/spit/milk residue on the kid's clothes. I kept changing him everytime he spits out his milk. On our first day in the hospital, Gavin was wearing a body suit since I knew he was cold and he was having the chills. But the nurses asked me to take him out of it and just leave him in his t-shirt and diaper. And they didn't want me to bundle him up in a blanket eventhough he was shivering. The doctor told that whenever Gavin shivers, he releases enough energy fight off the infection so I should restrain him too much. Seeing him half-naked on the bed was a bit uncomfortable so I constantly carried him just to warm him up. Fortunately, for next two days in the hospital, they allowed me to let him wear the clothes I want - at least di na mukhang yagit anak ko kahit nasa hospital siya.

Next week, aside from his vaccination schedule, I have to follow up with Gavin pediatrician - after being informed about his hospitalization. I'm thinking of switching doctors since his pedia didn't even bother to visit Gavin to check up on him - which means that she's not focused on his patients. I want a doctor who would show concerned with regards to my son's health by making the slightest effort to look at the patient's current state.

Well, I'm just glad Gavin's better although I noticed that he's not crying as loud as before - mejo paos siya after crying for a long time in the ER and everytime he gets pricked with needles - I can see that he's starting to recover - now that he's drinking more and smiling a lot. I would like to thank everybody for the prayers you gave for my little boy
Sidetracking #2: Pictures of Gavin while in the hospital:

DAY 1





With Horatio - when he and Jen visited


DAY 2





DAY 3







OUTSIDE OUR HOSPITAL ROOM'S WINDOW





The hospital has its own police station


The parking lot

Our Day in the Pediatric Care Unit

After two straight days in the hospital, I decided to leave Gavin for the night in order for me to recuperate from not sleeping for the last 24 hours. Though it was hard for me to leave him under the nurses' care, I just need a few hours to get back my strength in order for me to take care of him better - plus, I need to take a shower and a change of clothes.

The first day in the hospital was a blur. Gavin's temperature kept spiking up from 100 to 103. They kept giving him Tylenol and shots of antibiotic. He just slept the whole day, only waking up when the nurses were checking him. Since he was dehydrated when they admitted him and they couldn't put an IV on him, the doctors recommended that he starts drinking Pedialyte. Good thing that he liked it because if not, they would be forced to try to get a central line of him, even if it means poking him a number of times to find a vein. That afternoon, my friend Jen - who also happens to be Gavin's godmother - and her boyfriend Horatio visited Gavin and they brought me lunch - which I'm very grateful for - and I did appreciate the sushi and reserved some of it for dinner. Before the day ended, they told me that his tests were all inconclusive since they still couldn't figure out why he has the high fever despite the negative results. That night, when his fever reached 103.8, they decided to draw more blood since they're quite certain they could catch the bacteria - if there's any - while his fever was high. He didn't even cry when they took blood, probably because he was just too tired to do so.

Today, they gave him another shot of antibiotics, drew more blood and did a mucus test to see if there's any virus. They already ruled out ear infection, UTI and meningitis. I'm sure the doctors and the nurses are tired of hearing me ask "What's wrong with my son?" and all they could tell me is "We're still waiting for the cultures to come back". It's just frustrating to not know the cause of my son's sickness. But I'm happy that he's improving slowly. He's now drinking his milk, pooping regularly, breathing better and his temperature at one time lowered to 98.9 - although in the afternoon it raised to 101 again. He's still under observation so I still don't know when will he be discharge - but I'm hoping it would be tomorrow once the doctors get the final results of all his test.

I know he will be okay when I get there tomorrow morning. I felt it the moment I saw him smile at me - though briefly - this afternoon. I'm just hoping that he'd continue to improve during the night so that he could go home now.