Anika's Smile

This picture doesn't really do her newest/first trick justice, but it's pretty tough to coax out a smile from behind a camera. In any case, she's been smiling for us since Saturday and it's fantastic. She's reduced us to blathering idiots, but apparently I'll do most anything to see her happy.

And that spot on her eyelid is her Infantile Hemangioma. As I wrote earlier, if it doesn't cause her eyelid to droop significantly, it will go away on it's own when she's about five. However, we are feeling as though her lid is beginning to droop a little, so she may have to have it removed. We're seeing a pediatric dermatologist tomorrow to possibly diagnose the skin condition she inherited from Dad anyhow, so I think we'll ask about this eye thing also.

In other news, over the weekend Andrew and I began to suspect that Anika has a Milk Protein Intolerance. I took her to the doctor on Monday and he suggested that I try eliminating both dairy and soy from my diet. Needless to say, I'm not wild about this, but Anika does appear to be a happier and less gassy baby already. Apparently this intolerance is not all that uncommon, and kids usually outgrow it by the time they're two, so it basically just makes my life difficult. In a few weeks I can start trying to add things back into my diet. I'm really hoping that I won't have to give up soy entirely, since it's the easiest alternative to dairy and soybean oil is in everything... We'll see how it goes.