Crisco baby

Two things..

First, Brayden has a possible diagnosis for his skin. The dermatologist is treating him for atopic eczema. The reason that it looks so bad and puffy and gross is because it's possibly infected. She swabbed his skin and they're doing whatever tests they have to do to find out if there is infection. If there is, then we will have to put him on medication. I hope there is not, but the yellowish scabs indicate that it is.

Here is what I know about eczema. The cause is unknown. It is an inflammation of the skin that is accompanied by itching. Atopic eczema in infants is usually thought to be traceable to sensitivity to milk or some other allergic reaction, although it may not be that at all. Most infants grow out of it and may only have a few "flair ups" here and there throughout their childhood (this is good news). About 5% of the U.S. population have this condition. Still.. I almost cried. Hormones. Poor little Brayden.

Treatment? Grease that baby up with every ointment and grease (quite literally) that you can find!! Literally. She gave us an antibiotic ointment to help with any infection, and a hydro-cortizone cream for itching and inflammation. And the last thing... CRISCO. That's right. The kind that you use in the kitchen. We could also use aquaphor (which we have one tube of - thank you Kristen!), but it is $8 for one little tube!! We will be going through that stuff like crazy, so the cheaper alternative is Crisco.

There's a very specific grease-tastic routine that I won't bore you with..but let's just say it's a little bit of a pain in the butt. Brayden will be hanging out in his plain old white onsies all day unless we are going somewhere, otherwise there will be grease everywhere. Regardless, we will do anything to make him better. After two weeks we will check back in with the dermatologist and go from there. I should get the lab results in two days.

Second thing.. Brayden rolled to his side!! As soon as we got back home from the doctor's today, I layed him down on his play mat and he grabbed his feet and rolled to his side! And then he did it like five more times! I don't know if I'm ready for that. If I wake up in the middle of the night and see him lying on his belly I think I will panic at first. A side note about that, we finally got the monitor charger in the mail so I will be able to sleep in our room again!

Pictures following.

This is a photo of Brayden's forearm.


It's kind of hard to tell and it's a grainy photo, but this is him all greased up, happy as a clam.


And here he is right after he rolled to his side!!