Oliver and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Sixth Month

Oliver is six months already!  He's growing to be quite the handsome young man, if I do say so for my very unbiased self!  It hasn't been as bad as the title sounds, I just thought that the play on an old story sort of fit for the randomness that has been happening during his sixth month.  Before you worry too much, he's just fine, and has hardly noticed anything.  Mostly his poor parents have just been worried.

At his appointment on the 11th I mentioned that he'd had the sniffles and a little cough.  Now, if you know me I almost ALWAYS have the sniffles and a little cough, and it's no big deal.  Well, poor Oliver had a bad enough ear infection that the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, Amoxicillin.  She said that she doesn't always prescribe it for ear infections, but this one was so one-sided and bad enough that she thought it would be best, especially since he'd had the symptoms for awhile.  He'd had similar symptoms at his 4 month appointment, but no ear infection in sight, so she agreed that she probably wouldn't have called the doctor either.

So I picked up the prescription that evening (Thursday) and we gave him his first dose.  He loved the pink medicine and liked to help us with the administration.  On Monday he got diarrhea and a really bad diaper rash.  The nurse on-call told me that those are common side effects to Amoxicillin and to try using Desitin for the diaper rash, and mix it with anti-fungal if it doesn't go away.  I bought the anti-fungal, but luckily we haven't had to use it.  The rash went up his back a little, but I just figured that was from the million times that his diaper leaked up his back.  On Friday his rash started spreading up his torso a little, and especially yesterday it was all over his torso, even where diarrhea had never touched.  Today when he woke up he had huge red spots with white raised bumps.  His last dose of the medication was this morning, so it's hard to believe that it would be an allergic reaction, but the rash got pretty scary.  I called the nurse on-call again and she said that it's probably just a side-effect to the Amoxicillin.  I used to love that wonderful pink juice that made me feel all better in just a couple of days!  I never remember having to go through this.  Maybe I did, but luckily I don't remember.

Our poor little rashy boy has actually been amazingly happy throughout.  He has been waking up more during the night wanting food, but I figure that's because he's trying to stay hydrated after all of the diarrhea. 

In other good news, here's what he's been up to lately.

6 months

16 lbs 4.2 oz

26.5" long

44 cm head circumference

(left click on pictures to see them bigger)

Bathtime Fun

Rolls over to sleep on his belly.

Always searches for Momma and gives her this look of excitement.

Loves snuggling with Daddy to go to bed.

Rolls all over the place getting into everything.

Loves catching his toes and trying to eat them

Can almost sit by himself, and loves to be pulled to sitting and standing.

Loves lights and music, and rolling rattles.

Smiles and giggles like crazy, while sticking his tongue out.

Always has a wet chin from spitting/drooling/biting his lip.

Is never in the same position for 5 seconds straight.

Loves bath time, especially splashing and his rubber ducky!

Gives these sweet smiles to everyone.

Plays car rides with Daddy. (note the diaper box)

Looks adorably grown up.

Loves kisses from Momma.

And his first tooth popped out today!  (note its absence in the photo above)

Oliver's personality has been showing up more and more.  He loves watching Momma and Daddy eat, but doesn't much like rice cereal or carrots (which could have been part of his reaction).  I gave him some banana yesterday after he kept grabbing at mine and he couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough! He still laughs like crazy when we wave a blanket over his face, but now he laughs when we bah like sheep, eat crackers (he likes the crunch sound), and sometimes just when we laugh at him.  He also loves it when we hold him upside down, and sometimes just wants to be held so that he can look around upside down.  I guess right side up has gotten boring. 

 

Peace Out!