Happy Boy

Things are going well in the Karsnick household.  We are finally starting to have a happy baby, which means happy parents.  :)  Caleb was colicky from when he was about 5 weeks old until he was 12 weeks old.  He also had acid reflux during this time.  Poor baby!  He's becoming much happier, both from a combination from some medicine we give him and also since he's just getting older and growing out of the fussiness.  We started Caleb on medicine for acid reflux a few weeks ago and that made some improvements in how fussy he was.  Poor little guy would cry whenever we laid him down after he ate, because he would spit-up and then have stomach acid in his throat.  He was still excessively crying even with the reflux meds; however, so we knew that there was still something wrong with him.  

I did some research and found out that there have been clinical studies showing that some babies with colic actually have an imbalance of digestive bacteria in their stomachs.  There are probiotic drops that have been proven to help this.  We started giving Caleb these drops a week ago...and 2 days in, he was such a different baby and sooooo much happier.  I'm sooooooo relieved to finally have him seem like he's happy and not in pain.  It's amazing how much happier he's been! 

Also, I'm now back at work.  My first day at work and Caleb's first day at daycare was last Wednesday.  He's doing a great job at daycare...except he's not napping that well.  I'm sure it's because of the change in environment and the noise.  He comes home and is so tired.  Hopefully he adjusts soon, because now when we get him home he has to nap so we don't get to spend a lot of time with him at night.  It's been hard for me to be back at work.  I really miss spending time with Caleb!  

Here is a picture of Caleb at 3 months old.  He's changed so much!

 Cutie pie

Mom & Caleb just hanging out.  I love that he's resting his arm on my shoulder.  :)

Great-Grandma Lowe and my dad visited last weekend.  It was fun spending time with them!  

Here's Caleb doing some tummy time.  He loves that tummy time puts his hands in perfect position to suck on them.  

Last, here's a video of Caleb "talking".  He loves to talk!  He even takes his hands out of his mouth for a second to show us some smiles too.  :)

Physical Therapy

At Caleb's 2 month doctor's appointment, Patrick and I mentioned to the doctor that Caleb always looks to his right side and we think he's starting to get a flat spot on the side of his head because of this.  The doctor thought that Caleb would benefit from going to see a physical therapist.  We visited the physical therapist on Thursday afternoon and Caleb was diagnosed with torticollis & plagiocephaly.  Torticollis means that Caleb has a muscular imbalance in the muscles of the neck.  In Caleb's case, his muscles in the right side of his neck are very tight and the muscles in the left side of his neck are weak.  These tight muscles cause Caleb to hold his head consistently to the right side, causing a flat spot (aka, plagiocephaly).

The physical therapist gave us some stretches that will loosen up the muscles on the right side of Caleb's neck.  Patrick and I have also both been instructed to always hold Caleb on our right arm, so that he's forced to look left.  Basically in everything we do we're supposed to encourage Caleb to look left.  The physical therapist explained that right now Caleb doesn't even realize that he has a left side!  So we're working to correct this, otherwise there go our dreams of having an all-star MLB pitcher.  :)

We also have an appointment with the physical therapist each week, for the next 3 weeks to help us with the stretches.  After that, we'll continue going to therapy as much as Caleb needs it.  Once his muscles are better, we'll hope that the flat spot will correct itself.  However, if his head shape doesn't improve by the time Caleb is 4-5 months old they will recommend that he wear a helmet.  The helmet would have to be worn for 23 hours a day for about 1-2 months.  We're hoping that these stretches help out!!!

Here are some pictures from the last week.  You'll see in these photos that Caleb prefers to look right: :)

In his Tiger's gear!!!  Daddy got to go to the game....Caleb stayed home.  :)

Many of you know that Caleb loves his baths!!!  Here he is lounging in the tub.

In his UCF gear, for the first game this season.
Don't tell anyone...but he pooped in his outfit before the game started.
Maybe he's not a UCF fan?  :)