The Harvey Family: Blake

The past few weeks I have been SO THIRSTY. My friend Kara told me that breastfeeding made you drink a ton of water and I didn't understand. Now I carry water with me wherever I go because I'm pretty much thirsty constantly. Chris is a good hubby and makes sure I have my glass of water whenever I nurse Blake too.

This week, Blake:

had to have a steam shower treatment before bed just about every night. He can be dead asleep on you and as soon as he gets put down in the crib and gets horizontal (it's actually not quite horizontal since we lifted one side of the crib up at an incline) he starts rubbing his face and crying since he can't breathe perfectly. Poor boy... I wish we could solve it for him. The nose drops and bulb syringe just don't seem to do the trick... in fact they make it worse since he gets so worked up trying to fight it off.
went to see an allergist. He pointed out the fact that Blake's eczema gets worse the more he scratches it so the goal is to keep the itching under control and that should help his breakouts. The key to keeping the itching away is the biggest thing to figure out since we're not sure what the cause is. We do want to try using more organic cleaning products in the house since most of the ones we use now have tons of chemicals anyway which can be harsh to anyone's skin. He also suggested we use Benadryl or Zyrtec to help with Blake's nose. Unfortunately, we think a decongestant is really what he needs to calm the sinus inflammation, not an antihistamine.
tried sweet potatoes again and this time didn't have a reaction on his face (we think it could've just been from wiping his face off afterward). He didn't really like them the first night. The second night he ate them but wasn't exactly leaning in for more, and the third night he was pretty much used to them and ate them no problem. I think once he tries other foods he won't want to go back to these, but it's just the first new flavor he's really ever tasted since I don't think rice cereal has a flavor of it's own.
hasn't been taking his evening nap so he's exhausted by 7:30 and getting him ready for bed that early proves challenging most evenings. Then he falls asleep nursing around 7:45 and seems to think that is his evening nap and then wakes up when I try and put him down 15-20 mins later. He's been going to sleep for the night with Mimi's help (thank you so much for letting me sleep!) after taking him in for a steam shower treatment around 10:30.
continued to get really good at rolling over, at least from front to back. He doesn't always protest tummy time now since he knows he can just roll over to get out of it. Figuring out where to put that bottom arm is the tough part. He's getting really close to rolling back to front on his own (again with that arm in the way). He gets on his side really easily but just doesn't seem too motivated to roll all the way over. He likes doing the back bridge pose a lot where he'll be on his back and stick his belly way up in the air.
loves his reflection in the mirror. It is a good way to distract him from being upset, just face the mirror together and sing to him, haha.
started getting ticklish. When I pat him dry after his bath he gets the giggles and squirms around when I pat his belly. It is adorable!
tried squash and he liked it even better than sweet potatoes. He was actually looking foward to more instead of just reluctantly opening his mouth like he did with the sweet potatoes. I'm thinking we'll keep with the veggies for a while since I have a feeling once he starts on the fruits he won't want to go back. We'll see though, he likes his food. =)
has been eating less milk this week. I'm a little closer to being able to produce enough for him, but at the same time he doesn't seem to want to sleep as late when he eats less throughout the day.
tried pears and loved them even more than the veggies (to be expected) but still seems to love his rice cereal the best.
started on Zyrtec for his nose and it seems to have helped his breathing but he still doesn't want to go to sleep and we're not sure if it's because he's afraid of waking up congested or if he's gotten to the stage where he just doesn't want to miss anything so he fights going to sleep. If we're in the house, nap time is a fight just about every time. He's over the swing for the most part and can pretty much flail his way out of it if we don't buckle him up tight in there. If I take him on a trip somewhere he seems to be pretty good about taking a nap in the car or stroller if we're out at a store or the mall just walking around.