First of all a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Liadi!!! We love you and wish you lots of health (we don’t want to ever again be scared for your well being)!!!

Here is Liadi with Ilyusha about a month ago

Last night Ilyusha gave me the greatest gift at this point in time – SLEEP!  As always he had his 11 p.m. feed and didn’t wake up. Then he woke up around 2:30 a.m. but after I gave him his pacifier a few times, he only showed that he was hungry (by his hungry cry which I know already and can distinguish) after 3 p.m. Which was already 4 hours between feeds. Great! Then he woke up around 5:30 a.m. and I was a bit tired so could only play the pacifier game for 15 minutes and started feeding him at 5:45 a.m.  That was only a bit over 2 hours (since after the previous feed, I changed him and it took a bit of time for Ilyusha to fall asleep).  At 5:45 a.m. Ilyusha didn’t eat well, and after I changed him he fell asleep at around 6:05 a.m. I was prepared for an hour max of sleep as he is usually awake between 7 -7:30 a.m. Imagine my surprise when I opened my eyes and it was 8:26 a.m. on my alarm clock. What??? I saw on the monitor that he was sleeping peacefully, and got up to check on him. It did seem like he was breathing. Thank G-d! I woke up Yurka to keep a watch on him and headed to the shower.  Ilyusha didn’t wake up until I was out of the shower at 8:45 a.m. which means he slept for additional 3 hours and 45 minutes. Yei!!! I so hope that it will be a daily occurrence, but I know that I am not that lucky.

We had to get ready and out of the house pretty quickly as Julia was celebrating Liadi’s birthday in the morning (they were off to sunny Mexico in the afternoon). When we got to Julia’s house there were many people there already. Of course, after having such a nice sleep he was fully awake and alert. Daddy and I did take turns eating and holding him, but it seemed like he was enjoying the party.  Ilyusha was trying to take some attention away from Liadi as everyone wanted to hold him. First it was Mali (Suzka’s husband), then both aunties, Julia and Alla, grandpa Edward and Mo too. After I fed him, we were hoping to put him to sleep in his stroller bassinet but he wouldn’t stay there, so I carried him in my arms and he had a nice nap for almost an hour, while daddy was talking to Ygal.

Here is Ariella with Yurka

And me with Ilyusha after most of the guests left and we were waiting for daddy to finish yapping. Ilyusha was falling asleep for his nap.

After the party we barely had any time left before our 2 month check up with Dr. Berzen.  The good thing was that it was a holiday so we were put into an examination room right away.

The stats:

Weight: 6.290 kg    at birth 3.760 kg

Height: 60.5 cm     at birth 53 cm

First we talked about shots. At this point in time we told Dr. Berzen that we are not doing any shots. Although after the appointment Yura and I made a decision regarding shots and mostly is to follow Dr. Sears recommended schedule.

When Dr. Berzen saw our stats he asked me if I am feeding Ilyusha steroids LOL!  He is a big boy. He said that Ilyusha had very broad shoulders and have very good stance. Dr. B also commented on how good Ilyusha’s fixation was as he was staring right at Dr. Berzen without blinking.

We had a list of questions and continued with those:

1) I was wondering if we have to put Ilyusha on his side as his head was getting flat at the back from sleeping straight. Dr. B explained that it is normal and the head would round a bit when he starts sitting. He also said that in China kids were put on their backs to sleep for centuries and that’s why Chinese have a bit flat heads. Western countries were putting kids to sleep on their stomachs and that’s why the heads were round, but now as we put the kids to sleep on their backs, slightly flat head would be the norm.

2) We also asked about his tongue. Dr. B said that since it doesn’t bother him right now, he doesn’t recommend to do anything. If later one it will be a speech impairment, it can be quickly clipped with a laser.

3) I was concerned that Ilyusha is spitting up milk from time to time (I know it is normal), but the question was whether I should feed him more if he spits it up.  Dr. B said that there is no need, if he spits it up, he had enought. I told him that Ilyusha started to feed for less time, and now is on average at 8 minutes (usually 5 min intensely and then just sucks for a few minutes more). Dr. B said that this is because I got very efficient with let down i.e. as soon as he starts sucking he gets lots of milk. Dr. B did say how much on average per minute, but I don’t remember. I did notice that Ilyusha also started choking more while feeding, and I guess this is the reason. Dr. B also said that while feeding milk can go into his nose and it sounds like he is stuffed up. It does! I was worried Ilyusha was getting sick as a few time he was sniffling when I was feeding him.

4) I also asked if it was ok that Ilyusha only has 30-45min naps unless we are out for a walk in a stroller, and Dr. B said that it was ok. He said that Ilyusha will sleep as much as he needs to.

5) Yurka was wondering regarding shampoo.  Every time he washes Ilyusha’s head, Ilyusha starts crying, so we were wondering if we needed to change his shampoo.  Dr. B said that it is not the shampoo. Ilyusha just doesn’t like washing his head (which is common). Since Ilyusha has dry skin on his head, Dr. B suggested washing him with Head&Shoulders (I don’t know about that, but we are thinking of switching to a different brand of shampoo, when the one we have is done).

6) After everything that was going on with Liadi, I was wondering about Ilyusha and whether we would be able to figure out in time that he is in danger. Dr. B said that the wheezing that one gets with this viral croup is something that we would not miss, but he assured us that what happened to Liadi was very uncommon – it was only his second case in 30 years of practice. He told us to remember the two life threatening situations –  (1) is when the baby can’t breath or wheezing as with viral croup, and (2) is when the baby is having seizures.  If something like that happens, we should go to the hospital right away, just to make sure that everything is ok, and if it is nothing – well, we just wasted our time, but the baby is safe.

7) The last issue we talked about was about seating. Yurka and I look at so many toys that Ilyusha has that require him sitting and we can’t wait when he can start playing with them. So we asked Dr. B for markers for when we can start sitting Ilyusha. Dr. B said that we can already start as Ilyusha is a strong baby. I told Dr. B that I thought it was not recommended for babies to sit early as their spines can collapse or something. Dr. B said that the problem was not from babies sitting but that their bones were not strong. He said that if I am giving Ilyusha vitamin D as he prescribed, there should be absolutely no problem with Ilyusha sitting, as vitamin D makes the bones strong. Plus, we should start sitting him up so that the muscles needed for him to sit and hold his head are actually starting to develop. Yei!

As soon as we got home, we tried it out.  Here is Ilyusha in his bamboo seat: