Our new family
And once again it’s time for another Abbott family update. We’ve had a busy time recently with family visiting, going to the Clark County fair (another post will be coming on that), celebrating our 5th anniversary (YAY US!), and dealing with a pretty bad infection.
Robbie came down with a nasty staph infection which started all over his head and was starting to creep down his torso. I called and talked with the very unhelpful nurse through the advice line on Sunday Aug. 16 and she was convinced (over the phone and even though I told her my mom is a nurse and thinks otherwise – mom was thinking impetigo) that he just had cradle cap and baby acne. We got him in to the doctor on Monday Aug. 17 and the doctor thought he had a reaction to something I ate (which I can’t figure out) which caused a flare up of eczema which he scratched and contaminated with staph that quickly spread. It spread way too quickly to be baby acne or cradle cap. The clincher for us was when I started getting the same rash Sunday evening on my breast where he had scratched me while breastfeeding. I don’t think baby acne can spread to another person. (Excuse the sarcasm) Anyway, mom was right and we’ve been on antibiotics since Monday 8/17. Mine cleared up quickly since it was so small an area. Unfortunately his was covering about 1/2 his body by Monday evening and about 2/3 by Tuesday. But slowly it started to go away. His scalp is back to normal except for some occasional cradle cap. His face is what showed it so bad and he’s still got rough red splotches all over his cheeks and chin but they are improving. At least he’s not contagious any more which makes it much easier to take care of both him and Josie at the same time. Steve stayed home for several days to help out and decrease the chance of giving it to someone else or bringing something new home while Robbie was fighting the staph.
Robbie's staph infection
Robbie now rolls from his tummy to his back (he started that at 7 weeks!) and from his back to his tummy (started that in this last week). He is definitely talkative and coos during much of his awake time. He has such a big grin that covers his whole face. It’s hard not to smile back at him when he’s smiling at you. Josie is as busy as can be. We had to buy her a toddler bed this week because we think she’s still a bit small for my twin bed (which is rather high off the ground) and she couldn’t be trusted in the convertible crib that my sister lent us. You take one of the sides off and it’s basically a toddler bed. But it still had the three sides to it with slats. She started getting her foot wedged between the mattress and the wall through the slats. That wasn’t too much of a problem. We just pulled her out and talked with her about not doing that. The problem came the last couple days when she got the lower portion of her leg up and over the back railing and wedged against the wall. I’m guessing she was trying to climb. Our fear was she would lose her balance and fall back on the bed before we got her out and she’d break a leg or hip, or that she would get stuck and push against the wall which would move the crib (it’s on wheels) and she’d fall forward behind the crib and land on her head. So we decided to just buy her a regular toddler bed and she loves it. It’s her “big girl bed” and as she says “it’s just my size!” She’s very interested in the alphabet so I’ve been working with her on flashcards and her little magna doodle to try to learn some of the letters. No real progress yet except that she’s interested. She does love to count though and can get up to 13 or 14 before missing a number on her way to 20. She has recently become enamored of some of the Disney princess movies like “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast”. And we finally watched the Tinkerbell movie which she loved. In fact today she asked for a “Tinkerbell ‘do” so I did my best to put her hair in a bun like Tinkerbell.
Josie's big girl bed and Tinkerbell 'do
We spent August 21, our 5th anniversary, at Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, OR. We spent the afternoon playing slots and a little 3 card poker. Neither of us had very good luck. Then we went to the Dave Koz/Brian Culbertson concert featuring Peabo Bryson. Except for sitting in front of speakers which made our ears hurt, it was an excellent concert. We enjoy jazz and throwing in Peabo Bryson, who did Disney theme songs to Beauty and the Beast (title song) with Celine Dion and Aladdin (A Whole New World) with Regina Belle, was a real treat for us. Of course, he didn’t sing either song, but we enjoyed his hits that he did sing. We came home that evening and then headed to Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and Spa on Saturday. My parents kept Josie for us and we took Robbie with us. The resort is up the gorge about 45 minutes from us. It was a nice little getaway. We had a natural hot spring hot tub on our balcony which made my skin so soft. We took a short hike to a view point on the river on Sunday and got some nice pictures. We were very close to Bonneville Dam so we were able to see it from our vantage point. It was a wonderful weekend.
Our anniversary at the resort
And just for fun, here are some pictures we had taken at Yuen Lui portrait studio before Robbie’s baptism. His gown is one that my grandmother bought while my mom’s family lived in the Phillippines around 1960. She hung onto it for years and was going to get rid of it about 10 years ago when mom decided to hold onto it. We’re glad she did. It’s all handmade and just beautiful.
Baptism gown from the Phillippines circa 1960
My Robbie
Robbie thinking
Sweet siblings
Baby feet
That’s all for now. I’ll be writing another post soon showing Josie meeting some animals at the Clark County fair in August. And keep your fingers crossed and send good thoughts to the Huskies this Saturday. They open their season against LSU Saturday night. We’re all hoping for a good showing!
GO DAWGS!! WOOF WOOF!!