The Harvey Family: December {2014}

The boys are starting to interact and it is so fun to watch! Blake seems to really like the attention that Brett gives him and wants Brett to pick at him any chance he gets. Brett likes to pull his hair and surprisingly Blake seems to like it so he keeps getting in a position where Brett can reach it. Not my favorite thing to allow, but it's cute that Blake laughs at it and Brett is happy whenever Blake is happy and smiling back at him.

This month Brett:

started crawling! For a couple weeks he worked on getting his knees under him and then rolling over and over in my lap. Then he figured out how to do log rolls to get somewhere but that wasn't good enough so he didn't do that for too long. He finally started doing a real army crawl a couple days before his 7 month birthday. Blake's race cars are the best motivation to get him flying across the floor... those and electronics (phones or remote controls).
can't be left in the rock 'n play. This mainly gets used for giving him medicine and that's about it. I can't leave him in there for one second with my back turned or he'll roll over onto his tummy and try and pull himself out and onto the floor. He is just like his brother in that he can't hold still and sit for any amount of time. He's always moving and squirming.
tried carrots, apples,, green beans, and peaches. He doesn't seem to like food as much as we expected. He'll only sit in his high chair without being strapped in, but with the tray. At first he'd only eat as much as you could shovel into his mouth in just a few minutes but he's starting to get more into it and he'll eat a whole stage 1 food in the morning and one at night. The rice cereal seems to have been a problem with him so we aren't feeding that to him right now.
thew up in the car, twice. I can't figure out if it was him being sick, carsick, or if it was the rice cereal that I had given him before each of those car rides (2 separate weeks). His skin also looked worse after eating the rice cereal, so we're thinking that he most likely has a problem with something in it. Perhaps one of the vitamins that is added?
started high pitched screaming. When he his unhappy with something he will let you know by screaming at the top of his lungs and it makes your ears ring for quite a while afterwards. If he gets overtired, watch out!
has been taking 3 naps a day for the most part. If he gets a good night's sleep he'll take his morning nap about 2 hours after he wakes up. Then in the early afternoon he's been taking a 1.5-2.5 hour nap. Then right around dinner time he takes his evening nap and I usually wear him in the Ergo carrier for this one so I can make and eat dinner while he naps away.
loves grabbing hair. What is it about babies and having such sticky fingers? He loves to grab at my hair and pulls out handfuls at a time. He also loves grabbing Blake's hair when he can get his fingers on it and he has pulled out quite a bit of Blake's hair too.
started banging things. He loves banging his toys on the table or his exersaucer or even just banging them together. I think it started with the shaking motion for his rattles and then it extended to objects that don't rattle so he decided to start hitting them on things to make noise. He also enjoys dropping things on the floor to see what kind of noise they're going to make.
has been trying to stand a lot. He loves to pull up on things but doesn't quite have enough strength to keep from falling sideways so you have to be there with him so he doesn't crash when he falls down. He started by pulling himself up in his little baby bathtub and now he loves pulling up on my clothes so he's standing in front of me while I'm sitting on the floor. He's also starting to enjoy the little music tables that Blake used to play with. He has started cruising a bit now so he's getting better at catching himself when he starts to fall sideways.
started blowing raspberries while nursing. He thinks this is hilarious! When he's done eating he'll stay latched on and start humming or blowing raspberries and it made me laugh when he first started doing it, so he responded with a big ol' grin and a laugh of his own. Now before he starts it he'll give me a big smile and then start. I think he's going to have quite a sense of humor.
will give you the Heisman to the throat while holding him. He gets a lot of time in his exersaucers so he's used to standing and spinning around to play with all the toys, so when you hold him I guess he thinks he can still spin around and do 360s which makes it quite difficult to keep him in your arms. Once he realizes he can't get anywhere he'll start to push off of you and he seems to think he can get a good push off of my throat.
likes his thumb in his mouth. I don't think he likes to suck on it as much as just chew on it a bit.
hasn't been sleeping any better at night. He still only poops 1x a week and I'm not sure if this is just his new normal and it's ok, or if it really bothers him to be backed up and that's why he wakes up every few hours at night and squirms around and has trouble settling back down. Just recently now that he's been eating more veggies, he's been pooping a little more frequently but I have yet to figure out what is causing it.
loves splashing in the bath. I'll pour a cup of water in front of him so the stream is within reach and he will try and touch or hold the water, and when he can't get it he'll splash and laugh. I made a big deal about him getting me all wet and he laughs even harder.
was an abusive breastfeeder. He still likes to grab my chin, stick his fingers in my nose, and has even started hitting me in the chest and pulling any hair he can reach.
was worn a ton in the baby carrier. He has gone though a separation anxiety stage it seems so I have to wear him around the house and when we're out and about. I wear him outward facing when I'm at home and making food or picking up around the house, and I wear him inward facing when we're out on a shopping trip or sometimes around the house if it's nap time so he can nap while I work. His almost 19 pounds are so much heavier when he's facing outward though!
kisses with an open mouth. He likes to do "the vampire" as I call it where he grabs my ears and opens his mouth real wide and will either start trying to suck on my chin or chest or even my mouth (I guess he sees Daddy kissing me?) and he thinks he's being so cute and sweet and he'll start laughing. Sometimes he does this when he's hungry but it's more directed at my chest.
sat in the shopping cart for the first time. I normally carry him in the carrier but he started getting really stir crazy in there so I put him in the cart and he loved it! At least for a while. There are so many more new things to look at and play with when you're sitting in the cart. Of course I can only do it when I don't have Blake at the store too.

This month Blake:

is back to sounding like an exotic bird or a whiny puppy. I think he's trying to get the attention that Brett gets when he makes those loud sounds. He also loves doing it while Brett is sleeping which is really annoying since it tends to wake him up.
loves jumping on the bed. Blake has always loved his 1-on-1 attention and this is no exception. He wants a grown up to help hold him while he jumps and play games with him like spinning while holding him or doing the "tornado" as he calls it where Daddy will hug him around the upper body and twirl him around so his legs go flying out to the side and then he lands back on the bed.
loves playing outside with squirt guns. This is just an excuse to get to use the hose outside I think. He loves playing with water and this allows him to get water all over the driveway.
has been doing sweet things for Brett. He'll bring him toys, let him grab his hair or clothes, and laughs when Brett gets excited. He also has been engaging in a jumping game with Brett (while in the exersaucer) where he'll tell Brett to jump and once he starts jumping, Blake will jump on the floor next to him and they'll both jump and laugh and it's so stinkin cute!
still loves his apple juice and sunbutter and jelly sandwiches. This kid would probably live on these if we'd let him.
started trying new foods again. He's had a few of these before but then he started refusing to eat them. He's started eating apples, grapes, and hamburgers again which is a nice addition to his picky eating menu.
is still fighting the whole potty routine and I still have to make him go poop every other day. We clearly haven't found the right motivation to get him to use the potty. I wish he could eat M&Ms or some other candy but he hasn't done well with dairy in the past so I'm not sure what other options we should try with him. He is perfectly capable of going, he is just too lazy to deal with it.
is really into nursery rhymes. We pretty much have the nursery rhyme CD going at all times in the car and he'll remind you to turn it on if it somehow ends up on the radio (I haven't listened to the radio in over a month).
wants the baby gate back in the hall. We told him a long time ago that once Brett starts walking that we can put the baby gate back up in the hallway and every time we mention that Brett is getting closer to walking, he has to point out that he's getting closer to getting his "gate back up". I'm not actually sure we'll need the gate there or not but man is he excited about it for some reason.
loved the show "How It's Made". Of course from an early age he's always wanted to know how things work, so this show is right up his alley. He seems to be much more interested in the items that he actually recognizes.

Pics:

These were the best ones out of our first attempt at family pictures.

We took some pics of Mimi and the boys too since she hasn't had any taken with them since Brett was born. Here are a few favorites.

And our attempt at both boys.

Blake leaving Brett in the dust.

Brett starting to make progress in the walker.

Brothers.

Studying his zoo... and those cheeks!

We have a picture of Blake with this same face, haha.

Hello cutie pie!

Our advent calendar or countdown to Christmas. I thought felt would be fun but it turns out that it isn't quite sticky enough so it kept falling off the mirror.