Hunter's 6 month check-up

Hunter turned six months old on January 11th. He went back to the dermatologist in the first week of January because his eczema still hadn't cleared up. We were given a new prescription for yet another lotion (his 3rd different one) and instructions to lube him up with the prescription lotion in the morning and before bed and to apply Vaseline all over his body at each diaper change. So basically we always have a greasy, Vaseline-smelling baby on our hands. However, the third time must have been a charm, because we seem to finally have cleared up his skin!
The following week I took Hunter to his 6 month check-up with his pediatrician. He now weighs 14 lbs 7 oz (10th percentile) and is 26 1/4 inches long (50th percentile). He is generally healthy and is developmentally on track.

The conditions of eczema, allergies, and asthma are all related to each other. Since Peyton had eczema when he was a baby and is practically asthmatic, the fact that Hunter also has eczema was troubling to the pediatrician. About a month ago, we had a blood test done on Hunter to determine what, if anything, he is allergic to. Turns out that he is severely allergic to peanuts. Due to this allergy, we now need to carry an EpiPen with us at all times in case he comes into contact with peanuts and has a severe reaction, such as anaphylactic shock (which is when the airways close up and he wouldn't be able to breathe). It is pretty scary for me to think about that happening. Hunter is also allergic to dogs, eggs, milk, and soy. He is less allergic to soy than milk, so we had to switch him to soy formula as opposed to the milk-based regular formula that he was on. This switch has also seemed to help keep his eczema from flaring up. The pediatrician said that at some point in the future, Hunter will be set up with an allergist. He will undergo further testing periodically to determine how his allergies are changing. He may possibly grow out of the allergies to milk and eggs, but the peanut allergy is definitely here to stay. I feel so bad for Hunter! But Kyle and I are just happy that we had this test done now, rather than feeding Hunter peanuts later in life and having him have a terrible reaction to it that we weren't expecting. It'll take some lifestyle changes and we need to be careful and monitor the foods around us more to make sure that Hunter is safe, but he is worth it!

On a positive note, Hunter was finally given the go-ahead to eat some rice cereal. We tried to give it to him once before (without approval... bad parents!) and he wasn't a fan. Kyle fed him the cereal this time and he still didn't seem to enjoy it, as you can see from the pictures. However, his daycare teacher was able to get him to eat it for the rest of the week, so hopefully it is growing on him. Once Hunter masters eating the rice, we can begin to s-l-o-w-l-y introduce him to vegetables and fruits, but we have to be very careful because there is no test for allergies to these foods, so we have to monitor him carefully between new foods to check for reactions.

"No thanks, Daddy. This stuff is horrible!"

Time sure does fly. It is hard to believe that in less than only six more months, Hunter will be turning one year old.