Happy baby boy

Ethan has a rough few months, which probably also contributes to my blogging hiatus.  None of it has been a huge deal, but put together it's made him (and us) fairly miserable at times. 

First, he has reflux.  Initially it was of the "silent" variety - which meant he didn't actually spit up.  Instead we could hear him choke it back down, which could be an awful sound.  He was unhappy all of the time.  Never seemed content or settled.  He was slower to interact with us and to smile - but who could blame him?  He would cry during his bottles, arch his back, and wouldn't finish them.  For awhile we thought it was just gas but then realized it was reflux.  They started him on Zantac at first and while it initially helped, after about a week it got worse again.  Then we were switched to Prilosec.  Same deal - got better, then worse again.  We were on various formulas throughout this as well.  One week he just kept getting worse, and dropped about 10oz/day so the pediatrician referred us to a Pediatric GI Specialist.  We loved him.  He combined the two meds - he's on Prilosec in the am and Zantac at night.  He's also on another formula - Similac for Spit Up - which is basically Similac with rice cereal already in it.  That was on the Friday before Easter - by Saturday he was a different baby.  Started smiling, cooing, and interacting.  Yay!  His reflux seems to have turned into the kind where he actually spits up quite a bit now (we love bibs and burp cloths) but it doesn't seem to bother him.  You can just refer to him as the "happy spitter" now.  :)

However, throughout all this we've also been battling ear infections.  (And also one week of an infected penis - seriously, couldn't he catch a break?!)  His first EI was at his 1 month appointment.  We're fairly certain that one actually went away.  Shortly before his 2 month appt was the week of the infected penis.  While on antibiotic for that, he developed EI #2.  Here's where we're not sure if they ever really went away, or got slightly better and then worse again.  It's basically been constant since then - he's been on 5 rounds of various antibiotics.  Our last ear recheck, when it was still "raging" won us a trip to the ENT.  That was last week - and this morning he had tubes surgery!  In the 7 hours since then, he's been so different.  When they brought him back to us after the surgery (exactly 32 min after he left) he was already grinning.  Talking more, making different sounds, laughing, enjoying tummy time... I'm so hopeful that this will finally turn the corner for him.  He was such a trooper throughout it all - I think he's going to be so amazingly happy now that he's (hopefully) pain free.

Nap before surgery:

Happy baby after surgery!