Somewhat boring medical updates and a few new pics!

The usual medical updates first. We had a followup dermatologist appointment at Children's Hospital on Tuesday. The timing was actually perfect because Ashton was having a minor eczema flareup and I wanted to make sure to get some prescription refills on his creams. In general he is doing great, except he clearly has a hard time being around our dog Tate. If I feed him on the couch (which is where Tate naps and sits to look out the window) Ashton's eyes get really red, watery, and itchy- he rubs and rubs them. Same thing when we are playing on his playmat - the playmat goes on the living room rug which clearly Tate walks on, rolls on, etc. So there has been an obvious connection and while I am mostly successful at keeping Tate out of the nursery, our condo is simply too small to keep Tate out of everywhere else; we only have one main living space and it makes no sense to put baby gates up everywhere and keep Tate confined to the kitchen. Not fair to Tate. On the other hand, it has been really difficult to watch Ashton suffer. I spoke with the dermatologist about this and she suggested finding someplace for Tate to go for a couple weeks to see how quickly and how fast Ashton's allergies cleared up, just to make sure it truly was a dog allergy (which he has tested positive for). This morning I was supposed to drive to VT and back as my dad had offered to watch Tate until New Year's. A) At 7 am this morning, I simply could not conceive of driving 3 hours each way and B) I got out Tate's little Christmas present last night - I wanted to wrap it and make sure to give it to my dad for Tate to open on Christmas and I just about lost it! I was like there is no way I can leave Tate up in VT, he's part of our family! Admittedly he's been in the (figurative) back seat since Ashton was born but I still make sure he gets a walk and park time every day that the weather cooperates. And after Ashton goes to bed every night he's right there with me on the couch to snuggle. It's like he knows that he has to be patient during the day and he has to survive on a few less ear scratches and belly rubs because I have my hands full with the baby. Awww Tate. So the good news is, Tate isn't going anywhere. The bad news is, I have to get some kind of air filter and figure out another way to keep Ashton comfortable. The other bad news is that I have just completely wasted your time by making you read that whole paragraph. Talk about an anticlimactic story. Sorry about that.
After we got home from Childrens I made myself a sandwich on the Joseph's wraps that I like to eat from time to time. I was reading the back of the bag ("Contains flax and omega 3's for a healthy heart!") and then skimmed down to the ingredients and stopped mid-chew: sesame flour. No wonder Ashton had been having an eczema flareup- I had eaten three of these in the past two days! Poor baby. I spit it out immediately and threw the rest out. How did I miss that? Sigh.
OH, and then lastly, when I begged the dermatologist to give me a prescription for something for his cradle cap, that it had become totally unmanageable and I've tried everything short of napalm, she goes, "Well, you could try to put the cream you have been using on his body on his scalp and see if it works." She said it like it was a throwaway, no big deal comment, and in ONE NIGHT it worked!! Like MELTED the cradle cap scales away,  you couldn't even tell it was ever there! I was totally amazed and completely annoyed at the same time- couldn't she have maybe suggested this six weeks ago?! Or couldn't my pediatrician have mentioned it? Or the allergist? I mean for pete's sake I've only been asking about this for, oh, almost Ashton's entire life. Who would have thought that the cream I have had this whole time would be the answer.
Let's see what else. Morning naps are going great, afternoon naps, not so much. I've been putting him to bed earlier, by 6:15 pm, because he's cranky. We have Auntie Katie's big holiday party on Saturday night so we'll see what happens when he misses bedtime, I'm a little nervous.

Okay cute picture time, Jason took this one this morning:

Jason wanted to try and capture how tiny Ashton was compared to the tree:

Ha ha gotta love his pink bumbo seat :)

And then some from him trying solids the other day (which by the way, we are holding off on. He hated it and there really is no reason to start this early so I'm going to give it another couple weeks).

Watching dad mix:

and looking a bit nervous...

Btw, if you click on this picture and open it up full size, you can see part of the yellowish cradle cap I've been talking about. It really got bad and it was less about how it looked and more about his discomfort, he rubbed his head back and forth all the time and now is almost completely bald in some spots from trying to itch it :( Also, his lymph nodes behind his ears/on the nape of his neck have been swollen so hopefully with the cradle cap gone and eczema under control they will shrink. 

Lastly, a bit off topic but saw this today and for other moms I think you'll get a laugh:

http://thefeministbreeder.com/massive-recall-of-2011-version-of-babies/

Not sure about the website name itself. Ignore that and just read the article, it's funny :)

I picked out an ice cream at the grocery the other day that has no egg in it. Right now I am going to go sit on the couch and eat it. Can't wait and can't think of anything else I'd rather do. Talk to you soon!