The Harvey Family: September {2014}

I've officially reached the 4 month shedding period and I am losing so much hair it's amazing I have any left. We find it wrapped around fingers and toes and all over our clothes... I'm ready for this phase to end. At least I got a haircut at the end of the month and it seems to have slowed the shedding down a little bit. It was the first time I'd gotten it cut in almost a year so it was definitely time.

It was another month of eating the same meals everyday but it seems like Brett's tummy has been a lot better. He really only poops 1 or 2 times a day and we seem to have found a baseline for that at least. That doesn't mean he's happy all the time, but it's one less reason for him to fuss. The biggest problem with his this month has been his sleep. He freaks out if we try and get him to sleep without being held so we've been holding his for naps and then he sleeps with me in the bed at night. I'm SO ready for this phase to be over since I don't get any time to hang out with Chris anymore since I head to bed with Brett around 8pm every night. He'll normally go 4 hours for the first stretch before needing to eat, and then another 2 hours or so before wanting to eat again. After that, he wakes himself up every 30 minutes to an hour with all his wiggling and gas.

In other news, my brother just graduated from basic training in Fort Jackson, SC as his first step to joining the West Virginia army reserves. He was one of the oldest in his company and he even was awarded as the best rifle shooter in his company. We're so proud of him! Now he's spending a couple more months attending officer training in Fort Benning, GA and he graduates in December.

Here he is in uniform with my sister in law, Maggie, at his graduation.

This month Brett:

coos a lot and loves to have conversations with you talking back to him. He actually started this last month. His coos have started to get louder and he has many different pitches.
has found his voice and it can be very high pitched. Sometimes he doesn't even expect a response because he isn't making eye contact, but he'll just make a loud pitched noise over and over for minutes.
has been drooling a lot and blowing bubbles. He's teething really hard and needs a burp cloth or a bib on a lot of the time or his shirt gets soaked from all the drool. He has his hand in there a lot of the time too and he chomps down on it hard. I've given his my knuckle a few times and he's really got some strength behind that bite. When we were at his 4 month doc visit he actually drew a little blood he was biting his hand so hard. The doc said he didn't have any teeth close to erupting though.
tried a third formula, PurAmino, and it didn't exactly go smoothly. It went pretty much like the Neocate in that he took it fairly well but he was extra fussy for the 24 hours or so after he had it and got better after it cleared his system. The GI doctor told us it could take up to a week for his system to start accepting it.
can stand while we hold his hands. He has really strong legs and his core is getting a lot stronger and he likes to stand (and dance) while you hold his hands.
has been really fussy and will only sleep while being held. He won't nap in his swing anymore and he won't sleep in the rock n play or swing at night so we have to hold him 24/7. We rock him to sleep in the rocking chair for his naps right now and I have to nurse him to sleep at night. It is exhausting and we're not sure how long this phase is going to last. It seems like he is in pain and that's why he's having trouble relaxing. He isn't showing many signs of being able to self soothe. He has started making calming noises as he rocks to sleep in the rocking chair but that's about it. He's fallen asleep in the car 2 times and 1 time he cried himself to sleep after being over tired (poor boy).
moved up to size 3 diapers. He has some really big thighs and the size 2s just weren't big enough to fit all the way around. They also have lowered his chances of blowouts. He doesn't have them too often thankfully but this makes it even better. He only has one more size to go up before he and Blake are wearing the same size.
has been in 9 month clothing and above. Again, I don't know what babies are meant for clothing sizing but Brett has been on the same path that Blake was and he is in mostly 12 month clothes now. His pajamas are up to 18 month... but he just wears long sleeved onesies for now since he sleeps with me.
has really shown a lot of personality. It seems like he is going to be quite the joker since he loves to laugh. If anyone smiles at him and he's not over tired or hungry he'll smile right back. He is really engaging with his eyes and loves to interact with people.
finally started liking the Ergo carrier and will take naps in it. Thank goodness since he wants to be held all the time. This at least allows me to be able to carry him while he sleeps so I'm not stuck in the rocking chair thinking about all the things that have to be done around the house. I can do almost everything except dishes. I can eat, but it's not much fun trying to strain my neck to make sure the plate that I have over his head doesn't actually touch his head and wake him up.
has an increased attention span on the gymini. His main goal on here is to get the hanging toys in his mouth. He's started to notice the mirror too and loves looking at himself. All faces seem to make him smile (even the stuffed bear that we had sitting next to his changing pad one day, lol).
will pull himself straight to a stand off the changing pad. After I finish changing his diaper, I let him grab my thumbs and he grabs on and instead of going up to the sitting position, he makes his body like a plank and will stand all the way up to his feet. Then once he's up he tries to pull my fingers into his mouth, of course.
started nursing a lot faster. As long as he isn't distracted (mainly by his brother, "The Entertainer") he can eat pretty quickly which isn't as fun if I'm trying to nurse him to sleep, haha. It is nice if I need him to eat so we can get out of the house though.
started feeling my face with his hands. He's only done this a few times but I think he's checking to see if there is anything sticking out that he can get in his mouth... the nose seems to be the best candidate.
has gotten much better at taking medicine from the syringe. Instead of spitting the medicine back out immediately, he's gotten a lot more proficient at actually swallowing the medicine and using his tongue to do it. Maybe this means he's getting closer to being ready for solid foods, although his doctor said it might be wise to wait until 6 months when his gut is more mature since he has so many tummy issues as is.
is starting to sit up better. He's got a lot more front to back control when in the sitting position now and if he wants to he can stabilize in this direction. He's started noticing his feet and toes though and that makes him want to fall forward. He can't control himself side to side yet but we'll get there.
found his feet. On the changing table he likes to feel around and he found his toes recently. He likes to hold onto them while I'm changing his diaper and that certainly doesn't make it any easier to get the new diaper on... in addition to the rolling and squirming.
likes to sleep with his face buried. He takes his naps mostly with someone holding him in the rocking chair and he likes to have his face buried in a burp cloth that is over your shoulder. I'm not sure why he likes this since he already has a hard enough time breathing normally.
became ticklish. He laughs when I tickle his belly. Hopefully I'll catch it on video soon.
went to the doctor for his 4 month checkup and weighed in at 16 lb (77%) was 25" long (50% - but I'm not sure he got a good mark) and head circumference of 16.75" (74%).The doctor said he is very engaging and he was laughing and smiling a lot and making the doctor laugh.

This month Blake:

had a camp out with Daddy in the living room one night. They made a tent out of baby gates and some sheets and Blake got to sleep on some of the couch cushions on the floor. He apparently slept pretty well once he got in a good position.
has been increasing his race car collection and had to take inventory before every nap and at night. He gets a new race car for good behavior and his collection has been growing pretty quickly. He is also quite a good procrastinator so as part of his sleep routine he would go on a rampage until he found all his race cars. When Papa was down visiting, Blake got a bunch of new race cars and other automobiles so now there are too many to keep up with so the inventory keeping has gone by the wayside. He does however like to put all the cars in a basket and bring them from room to room with him. When he's in the living room he'll pour them all over the couch and there's hardly enough room to sit.
has had really rough skin and his eczema has been worse than ever. We think it might be the large amount of Sunbutter that he's been eating. He's gone through a stage of eating 2-3 Sunbutter sandwiches each day and that is when this all seemed to get worse. The side of the container says that the sunflower seeds are roasted on the same equipment as soy so we're thinking that might be part of the problem.
has been using really advanced sentences. He hears new words and phrases for the first time and he'll use them correctly in context soon after. For example, he stepped on a crayon and it broke in two, after a minute of trying to press it back together he looked at Chris and said "It's no use, I can't get it back together."
can get on and off the big bed and likes to do so over and over. He's finally started using his arm muscles to help pull himself up onto the bed. He's been able to get down off the bed for a while now but recently he figured out how to grip the sheet and pull himself back up.
likes to line up all his race cars. He is pretty specific about it too, they all have to be in a straight line and facing the same direction. Now I just have to teach him how to put them in rainbow order and my OCD will be content.
brings toys and music to Brett when he's crying. He is really starting to embrace his role as a big brother and I know he's looking forward to when he can play with Brett. For now he's mainly looking forward to when Brett starts walking so we can get out the baby gate again... yea I'm not sure why either.
went through a week or so where he was obsessed with the tv show Tumble Leaf (on Amazon Prime). It's a super cute show where they figure out how things work and he's learned a couple activities from it like flaslight shadows and a balloon rocket.
still says the funniest things. A few that I jotted down include: "I can't do the dishes, I'm not tall enough." I told him I didn't want Magic - Rude to be my song anymore because I had heard it too many times and he said "no, you heard it three many times." He calls his Ferrari race cars "Pafarris".