When trying to come up with a name for my blog, I thought about what people say about my kids. For over three years I've repeatedly been told "I've never seen such beautiful big blue eyes." Given that all three of my kids have them, I thought it was a perfect fit.
Before they ever uttered a word, my kids spoke to me. Their eyes say a lot. In those first few weeks before they can see much of anything, they've sought out my face and turned towards my voice. Between three and four weeks they've seen my face and given me an adorable big grin. They've shined in pleasure when being talked to or played with and clouded over when they're sick or in pain. Those big bright eyes have been red and droopy when they're fighting sleep and darted back and forth when they're scared. It's amazing how much those big blue eyes can tell me.
Unfortunately with our newest addition, those beautiful blue eyes have shown signs of pain and panic all too much. Little W began to cry intensely shortly after we came home from the hospital. We had assumed he'd follow in the older kids' footsteps and have reflux, so we treated it early and some of the "reflux behaviors" quickly subsided. The screaming did not. We gave it a reasonable amount of time and decided there was more to it than the reflux. The panic and pain in those eyes was heartbreaking.
The pediatrician suggested eliminating dairy from my diet since he always seemed to have an upset stomach, runny nose, horrible baby acne, and eczema. After a Saturday night of six straight hours of screaming, I started my new diet. She told me it would take 7 to 10 days for the enzymes to be out of my system and an additional 7 to 10 days to get out of his. Slowly, but surely, things started to improve. The baby acne and eczema began to clear, he was less stiff, and the screaming almost completely went away. There are several other foods or spices that seem to bother him that I've taken out of my diet as well, but the dairy seems to have been the main culprit. Thank God we figured it out early. We felt so helpless and bad for the little guy. Once it all cleared out of his system he was a new baby.
The pain in those eyes returned a few weeks ago. He had caught a cold from his big brother and shortly after begun to scream when eating and being laid down. I suspected an ear infection and was right. It cleared with the round of antibiotics and a few days after he went off, he started showing signs again. The way he looked at me with those sad and cloudy eyes told me something was wrong. We're now onto ear infection number 2 in as many weeks. I'm hoping this isn't a sign of things to come. The poor little guy needs to catch a break!
As a mother, I've learned to look into those beautiful blue eyes to see if they're telling me something that I'm missing. My mom always said she could tell a lot of things by my eyes and now I'm finding the same in my own children. I guess she was just letting me in on a little secret long before I knew how powerful the eyes of a child really can be.
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