Blake - Week 17

It has been a rough week for Blake. His little tummy has been super upset and he has been spitting up a ton (frequency and amount). He has also just had more of a sad and pouty demeanor which is heartbreaking. Of course our first thought is that it is his diet and acid reflux so we're doing what we can to try and eliminate anything from his diet that he could be allergic to. He doesn't seem to be running a temperature so food seems like the next thing to try and figure out... we just wish he could tell us what is wrong. =( We switched him over to Similac Alimentum to try and remove all traces of dairy from his formula in addition to me cutting out all dairy and soy from my diet once again. The morning before we started this he was as happy as could be and smiley all day (except while eating the yucky smelling formula), so it's really hard to know if it is food related. Man being a parent is frustrating... you just want to take their pain away. Now that we've seen what a happy boy Blake can be we just expect him to be happy on demand and maybe that's just not the case.


His 4 month birthday is coming next week along with his 4 month doctor visit.


This week, Blake:

• rolled over! As you all know, he hates being on his belly so I had him on his back and was rolling him onto his belly then onto his back before he would get too upset. I did this with hopes he would get used to the feel of it and want to do it on his own. Well, one day later I had him on his back again and rolled him halfway onto his side and he took it the rest of the way and rolled onto his belly. He realized what was happening and wanted to get out of that situation as quickly as possible so he pushed himself back onto his back. Chris was in the other room so I had him come watch and Blake did it a second time (with a little help) but then it quickly turned into bedtime as the fussing got too loud to continue. Now when he's on his back on the gymini he turns his head to the side and starts squirming so he can try and roll over again. He was SO proud of himself the first time he did it!
• has been sleeping like a champ at night. As long as it doesn't get too warm in his room he's been sleeping 10+ hours.
• got better with the Bumbo seat since he is getting used to being in that position. Instead of fussing that he's sitting and feeling uncomfortable, he'll just eat his hands and look around. He's holding his head up a lot more on his own while he's in there.
• has had really dry skin, mostly on his legs and forehead. We've been using baby lotion which makes him smell all girly. He used to like when I put it on his legs since it was like a baby massage but now he just seems to get fussy and kick around. 
• stuck pretty well to his nighttime routine. We start the process of getting ready for bed around 8. Get a fresh diaper, hang out on the love seat for a little play time with the lights down low, get PJs on, read a book or two, nurse a little until he gets drowsy, then walk around with him until he's asleep and tuck him into bed. He typically is in bed between 9-9:15 which gives me enough time to get ready and get in bed by 10 and grab a quick 6 hrs sleep to get up and pump at 4am so I can have his breakfast ready when he gets up. He eats 7oz for breakfast these days which is almost to the top of his bottle (Platex 8oz Nurser).
• ate over 30oz of food each day for the most part. In order to get this much food in him during his awake hours, he has to eat large feedings and he even had an 11oz feeding one day this week. Poor guy, I think he wants to keep eating because of his acid reflux so we're going to try and start him on Zantac so hopefully he'll feel better and won't feel the need to keep eating to coat his throat.
• went on his first big boy stroller ride. Instead of using the infant carrier where he faces backward, he's finally strong enough to sit up in the stroller and face forward. He seemed to be much less cranky during our walk. It's nicer that he isn't cramped in a hot little ball and he can actually see where we're going instead of closing his eyes since it's too bright to look upward. I think he still looked at his feet for most of the trip but he seemed to enjoy it. He is very interested in looking at new things so this was great for him.
• continues to be vocal and talks a lot with his baby babble language.
• has been grabbing onto toys and holding onto them, especially with both hands. He'll grab onto his gymini toys and almost pull the thing over. He even figured out how grab the pull handle of the Panda toy and have it play noise, all by himself!
• still loves to eat his hands. Straight fingers will disappear all the way into his mouth and sometimes fingers from both hands end up in there at the same time.
• wore a bib most of the week because he's either spitting up or drooling most of the time still.
• started taking Zantac for acid reflux and so far so good. He was in a much better mood and seemed overall happier for most of the day. He still has the silent spit up where it goes into his mouth and he swallows it again, but it doesn't seem to cause him as much pain. Hopefully this was the answer (and I'm sorry it took so long for us to actually start taking it). Poor baby boy.
• did tummy time after starting his Zantac and he was all smiles for a good 5 minute session. Hopefully we can get him to do it more often and for longer stretches now.

Week 17 Pics:

First trip around the block in the big boy stroller!

Pulling on his Panda toy and making it play noise.

He grows and changes so much each week.

In action reaching to grab his toys.

Intense concentration.

And a little of the real side of parenting a baby. He was getting all excited and kicking around so I thought I might catch a smile... instead this is what I caught. It was too funny not to share.

We got a lot of smiles in the Bumbo this week. Sorry there are so many!

Grabbing his panda with both hands.

A different angle of the munchkin, who is looking more like a little boy.

I took this with the point and shoot after story time last weekend.

Videos:

Rolling over! 

Grabbing onto his panda toy and pulling the handle.

Bumbo time.