The Harvey Family: June {2014}

This month has been quite an adjustment period for everyone. We've gotten past the "sleep all day" newborn phase and have moved into the "crying unless being held" phase which makes it so much harder to do anything. I went crazy cleaning up and organizing the house after getting home from the hospital since I was finally off bed rest and it felt amazing getting things accomplished again. Now we're back in survival mode and it's frustrating to say the least. I have so many things I want to do but it is just not possible with 2 high needs children. Actually sitting down to write this has taken over a week.

Sleep has always been a priority for me so that is part of why this has taken me so long to write. When I was pregnant I was getting a good 9 hours of sleep each day which was wonderful, and now I'm lucky to get 6 at night and that isn't even in a straight spurt. Most nights I get a couple 2-3.5 hour spurts and some off and on sleep with a baby on my lap after 5am (after the last night feeding) and my body is just not made for that. I try and get Brett swaddled and in the rock n play for the first spurt of the night and that is when I get my best sleep, although I never know how long it is going to be. It is so nice being able to sleep on my back again though! I guess that's really my only option so that I don't ruin my milk production by accidentally rolling onto my stomach. I'm hoping we can get Brett onto more of a sleep schedule but naps have been random since Blake is so loud and when Brett gets over tired it is rough because he is so hard to calm down.

This month Blake:

has been saying okey dokey. At first he doesn't want to cooperate a lot of the time but if I tell him in a stern voice that he needs to do something he'll realize he can't fight it and gives in and says okey dokey.
went on Miralax for constipation. We were beside ourselves trying to get him to pass a bowel movment for over a month (yes probably TMI but parents talk about poop way more than non-parents). We tried Pedialax chewable tablets which are supposed to produce a bowel movement within 30 minutes to 6 hours and they weren't doing the trick. Blake has incredible control and would hold it for days on end (sometimes up to 5 days) and then he'd pass a painful and hard one at 11pm at night when he was too tired to fight it any longer, and the cycle would continue. Finally after 7 full days of getting 1/2 a cap of Miralax each day he pooped 3 times. Now that things have started moving and getting softer he's able to go every day on command. I'm not sure when he'll want to potty train but he can go in his diaper on command for now.
got a stomach bug and had a couple episodes of throwing up. It was weird that the 2 episodes were separated by 4 or 5 days and he had no other symptoms leading up to either. He got to "camp out" and sleep on the couch out in the living room with Daddy while the bedding got cleaned up.
has an evil laugh when he does things he's not supposed to. He likes to do mischievous things to get our attention when he's neglected for a minute or two because baby Brett needs something done. He'll turn light switches off or push buttons on electronics he's not supposed to and run away with his evil laugh as loud as he can. We've had to enforce time out more regularly this month so hopefully he will realize that there are consequences to his bad actions.
wants to do more things by himself. A lot of times I'm hesitant to let him do things because I'm afraid he'll make a mess or hurt himself but most things he does surprisingly well... it's hard to admit that he's already growing up so much! He picks up on things so quickly and then I realize how nice it is that he can do more things for himself.
loves playing in his bed and reading books in there. His bed is definitely his comfort zone and he feels safe in there so he's been wanting to stay in there and play during the day. Maybe he likes it because it is a constant and his life has been changing so much. He also likes to drape blankets over the top and and make it like a fort.
says please in sentences to get what he wants. We've been working on his manners and he'll do a good job remembering to use them if we keep on him, but it's a work in progress.
likes to use his pointer finger to read. Mimi taught him that you read left to right and top to bottom so he likes to have you hold his hand and let him point to the words as you read them. Sometimes he doesn't want you to hold his hand and he just points to the words as fast as possible.
loves brushing his teeth with toothpaste. Brushing his teeth has always been a battle but now he wants to brush his teeth all the time. We just put a tiny bit of the toothpaste that is ok to swallow and he loves it. Once we find a stool that is tall enough for him to reach the sink we'll have to start teaching him how to rinse and spit as well.
says "I love you too mommy" which just melts my heart. At least it did when he first started saying it. Now he says it after he does something he's not supposed to and wants to get some positive feedback from me after scolding him.
loves the Fancy song. He has to know the name of every song that is playing in the car but one of his favorites lately is the Fancy by Iggy Azalea. I guess it has a good beat but he asked me to play it on my phone one time and now anytime he sees my phone he asks me to play it. As part of him wanting to do everything on his own, I showed him how to get to it on YouTube and now he can do it himself. I believe the time has come where I'm going to have to password protect my phone...
Started liking apple juice finally so now he has to differentiate if he wants apple juice or his normal pear juice. For some reason he calls pear juice "parrot juice" which is pretty funny. We've tried to correct him but he just won't say it right. He is pretty stubborn on changing how he says things if he doesn't have any problems with how he's currently communicating.
has learned some cute sayings from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and now when he comes into our bedroom and turns on the air filter (like I've told him not to do numerous times) he runs out with his evil laugh and says "How's your good day Mom?" I think they ask if you're having a good day or how's your day but that's how he distracts you from his bad deed in an attempt to be adorable (which he does well). Other adorable phrases that he uses daily include "I saved the day!" and "That's a good question."

This month Brett:

has had his eyes open a lot more. It took a few weeks but now he has a lot of awake time during the days. Sometimes when we can't get him to sleep (because his big brother is making too much noise) he gets too much awake time and he has a very hard time settling down and requires the swaddle and a lot of carrying and bouncing to get him to relax.
is kind of figuring out day night reversal. He has been sleeping 8-4ish and waking around 1am (but this varies) and then after his 4am feeding he works on pooping for the next few hours. Sleep during that time isn't good for either of us since he won't sleep unless he's on me and he readjusts constantly. Hopefully he'll get on more of a schedule soon and I'm really hoping we'll be able to get him to sleep in his crib like he's supposed to.
has been an eating machine and is gaining weight like a champ. At his 2 week doctor appointment he weighed 8 lb 1 oz and at his 1 month (5 weeks) he weighed 11 lb 1 oz. The doctor thought all his eating might be contributing to his acid reflux but it's hard to know when he's hungry and when he isn't since he roots a lot, but at least he is starting to take a paci! He definitely went through a 2 week growth spurt of wanting to cluster feed in the mornings and evenings but at the end of the month he has settled down into more of an every 3 hour eating routine unless he falls asleep before getting full and then he'll eat more frequently. His longest stretch was one night where he went 6 hours between feedings when he fell asleep at 7pm and went to sleep about an hour later and didn't wake up for 5 hours. That was my first 4 hour stretch of sleep (without a baby on me) in a while and it was amazing.
has had a lot of tummy troubles but we aren't sure if specific foods are to blame. At the beginning of the month he didn't do well with broccoli, oranges, or pinto beans. Since he seems to be in pain when he poops I decided to go on a food elimination diet to see if it would help him. I cut out all the main food allergens (dairy, soy, corn, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts) to see if it would help him. After a couple days he seemed to be doing worse (maybe it was the oatmeal I added to my diet?) so I went back to normal to see if maybe he just needs time for his gut to mature. He passes a lot of gas in the early morning hours and keeps us all awake so it just seemed like food could be to blame.
had his cord fell off at 2.5 weeks. The doctor said it was starting to get stinky at his 2 week checkup so I started putting rubbing alcohol on it to help it not smell and it fell off a couple days later. That is good because he outgrew newborn diapers (with the nice little belly button cutout) a few days later.
moved up to size 1 diapers at 3.5 weeks when he weighed 10lb and we couldn't get them around his chunky legs anymore. We had to use up the pack and not have a ton of leftovers like a lot of people!
is outgrowing lots of clothes already. Since he is already over 11 lb he has outgrown a ton of baby clothes. It is kind of nice to have a pile of clothes that we know we won't need to use anymore. It will be nice to purge the house of old clothes starting soon!
rolled over at 3.5 weeks. I started doing tummy time once his cord fell off and he didn't like it much. I propped him up on his elbows a little to see if that would help get him started and make it easier to hold up his head and he ended up wiggling enough to roll over. He did it a few more times but that was it. He hates tummy time now that we think he has GERD and I mainly use it as a way for him to pass gas since all the straining helps push it out.
has lots of gas. It is normally the worst around 4-5am and he'll work it out for hours and be fussy and unsettled. We were hoping the food elimination diet would help but it didn't seem to the few days we tried it. Maybe it's just an immature gut and the next thing we'll try is Gripe Water since a lot of people have had success with it.
might have light blue eyes? His eyes were standard baby steel blue when he was born but they've gotten a lot lighter than Blake's ever did so maybe he'll end up with light blue eyes or some other light color (green?).
is starting to like the swing. If he is tired and it is quiet enough and he has been carried enough to get him close to falling asleep, the swing is starting to be a place he can nap. This is going to be such an important thing once Mimi is gone so hopefully he continues to like it.
started Zantac for acid reflux around 5.5 weeks and it seems to be helping a little. He doesn't cry as much when he burps and yawns and he's even been sleeping better. Hopefully we can figure out what else is making him so fussy and making it impossible to set him down without crying.

Pics:

Blakers reading in his rocking chair (which I wish I could use more for the baby).

Using his pointer finger to read.

Playing in his bed.

I think his eyes are turning a hint of green.

"Take a picture of my left foot Mommy." (Yes he knows his left and right better than I do.)

Brett's first sponge bath next to the warm window.

Sunning and trying to get that yellow face and eyes to go away.

He's quite the chunky monkey.

Blake's bed fort. He loves his blue blanket that I crocheted for him and has to wear it every night and for every nap (which is lovely for our AC bill now that it's crazy hot outside).