The Harvey Family: Blake

This week Blake officially turned 1 month old! Time sure feels like it's flying but a lot has happened in the past month. We've gone from late term premie lethargy to acting like a full term baby... growth spurt hunger stints, crying, and all! We're looking forward to the next milestones including his smiles, holding his head up, and rolling over.

This week, Blake:

is starting to do better with tummy time. He still won't play for more than 5 minutes but he's doing better with holding his head up. Sadly, the neck muscles on the back are much stronger than the front so he can lift his head up but it slams back down. Same when I'm holding him in the burping position on my chest... he'll just throw his head back without notice and can't stabilize it yet. He does better with "modified tummy time" which happens when I burp him and he's starting to be able to hold his head straight up with his body is upright.
started taking his Vitamin D drops since the doctor said that breastfed babies need this one supplement. It's in a dropper and when he cries I just squirt in 1/4 of the dose and he gets distracted from crying and smacks his lips and seems to enjoy the flavor. We do this a couple times a day to get in the full dose. =)
has started staying awake more each day. Sometimes it's super late or super early that he decides he needs to be awake, but hopefully we'll transition it to being during regular "daytime" hours. We try and keep the house dark during sleep hours to help convince him that it is time to actually be asleep during that time.
is doing better with breastfeeding now that we're just doing that during the days. He is becoming much more efficient and actually building up my milk supply, yay! I was so worried that I wasn't going to be able to produce enough milk for him, but I'm happy to say things are moving in the right direction. We still feed him a couple bottles at night (and I pump) so we know how much he's getting and hope that he'll sleep for longer periods of time.
has started following objects. We hold one of his toys in front of him and he follows it with his eyes and even turns his head when it leaves his field of vision. His neck strength for turning seems to be improving and we're hoping that torticollis will soon be a thing of the past. We're thinking his head leans to one side is because his head isn't even in the back and one side sticks out a little more so it forces his head to fall to the side we thought he favored. Hopefully as his neck strength continues to grow he'll be able to hold his head where he wants and he'll be able to flatten the side of his head that sticks out a little more than the rest.
sees faces and loves to study them. We have our fair share of staring contests... I haven't kept score though. =)
is still acting like a hungry hungry hippo during his main food times which are early in the morning and late at night. It does seem like he's been going through a growth spurt since he is taking up more room on his changing table than he used to. Either he hits his head on the top or he kicks the new diaper off the bottom with his long legs. Our next trip to the doctor is next week, so we'll have more official measurements then.
is gaining a lot of leg strength. When I put him on my lap with his head at my knees he likes to push off my belly and almost shoots his head beyond my knees if I don't catch him.

1 Month Pics:

Our handsome little man. He's more cooperative when he's sleeping.

Thank you Aunt Maggie and Uncle Mike for the adorable month-by-month ties!

Why do you have me propped up on this chair mom?

I'm going to just flail my arms.

And stick out my tongue. This is why my new nickname is the "little lizard".

Back to sleep, in a more comfy position. (I just love this adorable face!)

Let's try this one more time mom.

So little in the big ol' chair.

So far the long toes, super wrinkles, and flat feet all point to the fact that these are from the Gessner side of the family. =)

Yes I know he needs his nails cut. I attempted to file them after this photoshoot. I just love little baby hands!

A couple quick shots during tummy time on the floor.

Success, even if it was for a short moment. =)

He is just so adorable when he takes his bottle, he curls his little hands into fists and holds them up near his chest. He'll even hold a burp cloth up there if we put it there after he's in position. =)