Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

As promised, a video of how Charlie's coiff is styled after bathtime.

Update

Charlie is over his croup but after a trip to the doctor this morning we found out he now has an ear infection. Poor guy! Hasn't even started day care yet and already getting sick. He will be on an antibiotic for the next 10 days to clear it up.
We had a good meeting with Dr. Leyva-Vega this week about Charlie's reflux. She wants us to keep doing what we are doing. Giving him his Prevacid twice a day, trying to keep him upright at least 30 minutes after meals, sticking with the Alimentum formula and would like to see us back in 6 weeks. We learned that all babies reflux because their digestive systems are not fully developed but it just doesn't bother all babies. We also learned that as Charlie gets bigger, begins eating solid foods, is upright more (i.e. walking) this will all help ease his pain until he will no longer need any medication.

In case anyone was worried that Charlie had lost his trademark hair - don't be alarmed, he's still rocking it as only he can!

3 Months Old

Charlie is three months old today! He decided to celebrate by getting croup this week. Though it's been a tough week with very little sleep for all of us he is starting to get better. Today for the first time in days he was able to take naps swaddled in his crib. The last few days he was too congested to sleep on his back so we had to hold him upright all day and night in his glider. Though he is still hoarse and a little congested his cough is gone, he is starting to eat more and have more energy again.
We still have issues with Charlie's eating and acid reflux. The Alimentum which seemed to fix all the problems back in January has proved not to be a magic bullet. We then started him on Prevacid and have seen some progress, but things are still not quite right. Tuesday afternoon Jim and I will be taking Charlie to a pediatric gastro specialist out of Hackensack and hopefully they will have some insight for us. Until then we just deal with the erratic feedings, spitting up, crying while eating and hope he outgrows it soon!

Party Time

Sunday we had a great time down in Westfield, NJ visiting Jim's cousins and Aunt Carolyn. It was Charlie's first time meeting all of them, too bad he was a little cranky!

Morton's Steakhouse

Charlie had his first fancy dinner on Saturday night when he went to Morton's steakhouse for dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Janet, mom and dad. It was a little too much stimulation for him so most of the time he got walked around the mall. He's all decked out in his "Charlie" onesie from Michelle and Allen and his hand-knit sweater from Rhoda for his big night on the town. Happy Valentine's Day from your little love-bug, Charlie!!

Talking and Smiling

Charlie is doing lots of talking (well kind of) and smiling these days. Here are a few cute videos we took this past week.

In this last one he takes a break from his bottle to give Nana a big grin!

New Pictures

 Charlie's favorite sleeping position. We have no idea how he can breathe!

Cracking up with mommy on his blanket!

 Snuggling with his best buddy.

Tummy Time

Charlie is working those neck muscles during some tummy time!

Superbowl

Charlie was really into his first Superbowl as you can see from his attire, if not his expression.

It's All Relative

We have been thinking that Charlie has gotten awfully big. Especially when we look at the photos of the week he was born. He has outgrown his 3-6 month onesies even though he's only 11 weeks old. But when I saw this photo and realized Poppop's hand is 50% the size of Charlie's entire body I realized he is still a pretty tiny baby!

Learned Something New

While it might not be an important life skill we think thumb-sucking is pretty darn cute!

Anyone Hungry?

...how about a knuckle sandwich?

Meeting More Family

This weekend Aunt Linda, Uncle John, Katy, Patrick, Liam and Baby Madeline all flew in from Chicago. Charlie got to meet them for the first time. He also got to meet Mommom (his great-grandma)! Madeline must have had a secret talk with Charlie about sleeping through the night because both Saturday and Sunday he went 8.5 hours between feedings! Unfortunately once Madeline flew back home, she took Charlie's magical sleeping powers with her. Last night he was back to 4.5 hours. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!