The Harvey Family: May {2014}

Now that we have a new member of the family, we're going to change up the format of the blog just a little bit. It has been a while since I've posted, but to be honest, I haven't taken very many pictures this month since I was on bed rest for a few weeks. There were a few times where I really wanted to get up from the couch or bed and take pictures of Blake but I knew it was best for my and Brett's health to just stay put. I'll have to try my best to make up for it these coming months as I figure out how I'm going to handle both of these boys on my own.

This month Blake:

can reach the light switches and insists on turning them on and off all the time. This has been a recent thing that he knows will get him attention since it is super annoying and we have to have lights on in the kitchen while we're cooking.
sings the ABC song all the time. It's almost like his comfort thing when we tried to talk to him about the new baby that would be coming home soon. His way of ignoring that fact was to just start singing the ABC song so we would praise him and the attention would be back on himself.
has been spending most of his time with Mimi. She has been so amazing and helpful since Blake has so many needs, including preparing all his food (as well as mine while I was on bed rest). She has been so patient with him as he has had his world turned upside down, and we can't thank her enough!
can sing This Old Man. He has recently started singing more songs which is super cute. He's even started singing along with the Little Einsteins theme song. I can't tell yet if he'll be able to carry a tune but this is a good start. =)
still loves swings. He wants to go to the playground all the time, but as soon as he gets there he just wants to be pushed in the swing... so much for getting out some of his endless energy.
loves to watch Word Girl and Curious George on his Kindle. Word Girl seems to be targeted at a much older crowd (8-10 year olds?) since they introduce really advanced words (ie: villain, eery, supernatural) but he still seems pretty captivated by it. He also has been really into Curious George which is fun since I love the things he learns on that show, plus they add in some pretty cute humor for the adults who are stuck listening in.
did much better with meeting Brett than we expected. He always seems excited to come see Mommy and Baby Brett when we're in the other room. He has also become a good little helper when it is time to give the baby a sponge bath or put on his lotion. I find that he is much more cooperative when I give him a job to do as Mommy's helper. Let's hope we can keep finding things for him to help with so he doesn't end up hurting his baby brother out of neglect.
continues to be constipated. The doctor told us we could put him on Myralax but the container said for ages 17+ so we decided to go with Pedialax instead and have been giving him a chewable tablet when he hasn't had a bowel movement in 3+ days. They're supposed to produce a bowel movement within 6 hours but the only time he'll poop is around 11pm when he's too tired to hold it in any longer. We're fairly certain his body is telling him that he needs to go, he's just holding it since he crosses his legs and runs to sit down on his "comfy white pillow" when he feels the urge. On day 3 or 4 he typically has night sweats in his bed until he lets it out. He's been going 3-5 days between BMs which is not ideal so we have an appointment scheduled with a GI doctor to see if there is anything else we can do.
went to the doc for his 2 year checkup finally and weighed in at 27.6 lb and measured 36.25" tall... we're pretty sure this isn't accurate since we'd be getting somewhere between 35" and 36" when we'd measure him at home. At least his weight and height are going up now, since he had been pretty much the same weight for the past year and his height only recently started going up.
still says the funniest things. One that really made me laugh was when he told me to "stop going to the beat" while I was dancing the other day.
has to know the name of all the songs that come on the radio. Whether we're in the car or at MyGym or anywhere else that has music playing he asks "what name this song is?"
says "sure can" all the time. We'll ask him a question where the correct response is "yes" but he'll say "sure can". (ie: Me: Blake would you like some bacon for dinner? Blake: sure can!) Sometimes he uses it correctly but most of the time it is just thrown in to any response.
has figured out how to opens door handles. We've had to break out the child proof door handles so he can't just come on in to any room. Sadly, they're not very easy for me to use either.
got both his bottom canines in so now he has all his teeth except his 2 year molars. He is still drooling a ton, but I think he just likes to blow spit bubbles as his new coping mechanism for dealing with the new baby in the house and having his world flipped upside down.

This month Brett:

showed us how strong his neck muscles are. He has been lifting his head off my chest from day 1, which is so different than with Blake. He already does the dangerous move where he lifts it up with all his might and tries to throw his whole body backward. Hopefully this means he'll be able to hold his head up much earlier than Blake did.
surprised us with how great he has been doing with nursing. This is also something that was really nice to not have to stress about. Starting with his first feed, he's been great at latching and has a great eating rhythm. He seems to eat better at night (when he's more awake) but every day he gets a little better and even more hungry. He's been cluster feeding in the evenings up until midnight or so and then will let me get a few spurts of sleep where I have to wake him every couple hours. As long as I have him on my chest, he's been pretty good at letting me get a decent amount of sleep each night.
had a little jaundice but his numbers started going down so the doctors weren't worried. Before we left the hospital, he had a billi count of 6.5, then on day 4 we went back to the doctor for his weight check and had his billi tested again and it had jumped up to 15.1 which surprised everyone. The next day it had gone down to 14.5 which isn't great but it was moving in the right direction. The doctor said he wasn't concerned at all and to just keep feeding him as much as possible and get him indirect sunlight during the day. His face and eyes are still yellow but the rest of his body seems to be ok. The yellow had gotten down to his chest but doesn't seem to have extended past that. Hopefully at our 2 week appointment his weight will be good and the yellow will be down even more.
is a peeing and pooping machine. There is no question that this boy is well hydrated, he's already peed on me a few times during diaper change time. He has also been an overachiever in the poop department since day 1 as well. Hopefully this has been a good thing to help get all that billirubin out of the system.

Pics:

Such a stud.