A week and a half ago we discovered that Levi had thrush. Now, I was aware of what thrush was but I had never before dealt with it because Caleb was able to make it through babyhood without ever coming down with this illness. Sadly, Levi was not so lucky. Last Tuesday Levi stopped nursing and just started screaming. This was my first look into the horribleness that is thrush. Thankfully, I discovered that he would take bottles, so I started the horrible routine of pumping and giving him bottles regularly throughout the day. Meanwhile, we treated the thrush with Gentian Violet, an alternative to antibiotics that turned his mouth purple (and subsequently his face as well because he would smear it everywhere): Unfortunately, despite our attempts the infection continued to spread. By Thursday afternoon Levi stopped eating completely. Thanks to my dr. sister, we were finally able to discover that we could get him to eat by shooting 1mL of milk into his mouth at a time with a syringe. What a beating this process was, but it helped us escape hospitalization for dehydration (just by a few hours).

Because of the thrush, we definitely had a few days of unpleasantness as my poor baby was in pain, without a full tummy, and with a purple face. (Unfortunately this coincided when Nana (Scott's mom) was visiting Levi for the first time.)

Here is a glimpse at some of the different happy faces that we typically see on our sweet boy.
If you look closely, you can see a dimple in Levi's right cheek. This is a great picture to show both of Levi's dimples! (I LOVE THEM!) And his great big grin.

Labels: Levi

That's right folks, Levi is 4 weeks old tomorrow and I've been a huge slacker in uploading photos (and many of you have made sure to point this out to me). But never fear... I am here to please.

Caleb has adapted very well to Levi's existence. He LOVES to help with Levi during diaper changes, when he's crying, and during bath time. One morning I was getting ready for the day so I asked Caleb to entertain Levi. I walked in the room to see this: Caleb was reading to Levi and forcing Levi to turn his head to see the book. Caleb had also gotten out some of Levi's toys and was taking Levi's hand and helping him play with them. So cute but pictures did not do it justice!
We've also had lots of excitement this past week. First, Stephanie came to visit. Okay, technically she didn't come to visit us but rather used us for a free meal and free place to stay on her way through to a wedding. But since we've gone through Stephanie withdrawals due to not seeing her ever after a year and a half of seeing her all the time in England, we'll take what we can get. Anyhow, she got to meet Levi for the first time (and re-meet Caleb, who is much bigger than the last time she saw him!)
Last Friday, we took a family outing to the Rangers game. It was a great evening, except for the annoying kids sitting behind me who insisted on kicking the back of my chair all evening, despite my repeated requests for them to stop. We would have moved but it was seriously the most packed Rangers game I've ever seen. Both of the boys did great, though we had two very tired little boys by the time we left during the 7th inning.
And just a few more pictures of my boys for the fans. I'll try to get an update on Levi soon (maybe tomorrow?).