Newborn Magic #2 - The Rock and Play

We're back with some more newborn magic!

Before Amos was born, we had no idea what a Rock and Play was.  Luckily, we have close friends that braved the newborn world a year before us and introduced us to its magic (thanks Nyssa and Reid).  It is essentially a portable bassinet.

Some of its magical qualities include:

Rocking chair frame:  There were many nights, in the beginning, where I felt like Amos and I were up all night long rocking.  Luckily, with the Rock and Play (RnP), this meant I only had to be half awake, nudging the RnP back and forth to keep up the rocking sensation.  This also helps with that initial phase where newborns wake up as soon as you lay them down.  With the RnP, you just do a little rocking action and they are back asleep.

Inclined sling:  Neither of my boys liked lying flat on their backs at first (or ever, for Amos) so I'm thinking this may be the case for all newborns.  The RnP creates a little inclined pocket, perfect for a newborn who still wants to feel like they're in their Momma's tummy.  Silas has been out of his RnP for a little while, but while he's been congested, we moved him back into because  of the incline.

Fold-ability:  Similar to it's counterpart, the Pack and Play, the RnP can be folded up and tucked away for storage or traveling.  Unlike it's counterpart, it is easy to fold.  Press one button and the two sides fold together.  It really makes traveling with a little one easier because it provides a consistent bed.  Even though you are in a new place, the bed is the same.

All of the above equal perfect for a newborn and new mom.

My only caution would be to not keep them in it for TOO long.  We moved Amos over to his crib really early, so we didn't have any problems with converting.  However, Silas was alittle later and took a little longer to adjust to the crib (adjust= didn't sleep well).  At some point, they will be able to climb out of it, so its not a forever bed.

In my book, its definitely worth the purchase, even though you can only use it for a limited time.  During those first few months, you'll do anything to get your baby to sleep.

Silas John - Week 14

We've got some blurry hand action going on, but I couldn't pass up that smile!

We hit the 3 month mark this week, and magically his legs started working.  Silas had shown little, to no, interest in standing on his legs until this week.  Now, he's always pushing up on them.  So I brought out this big guy!

And he loves it!

Night time sleeping has been fantastic this week!  I'm starting to get used to 9 hours of glorious sleep again.  Even with a lingering cough, he hasn't woken in the night.  I normally do a dreamfeed around 9:30 and then he sleeps until almost 8!  However, naps have been a different story.  His first two naps of the day are pretty good ones, but the rest he normally wakes up before transitioning into deeper sleep.  I've been trying to wean him from the swaddle by leaving one arm out, so that might be the culprit.  We tried no swaddle one day and it was bad.  He's not ready to drop it yet.  I still fully swaddle him at night.

He'd been eating faster most of the week until these last two days.  Now he's seems to be slowly eating and wanting more even when were done.  He may be headed for or in a growth spurt.  We'll see.

Other than the exesaucer, he also spent some time in the bumbo and on his tummy.

Finger chewing has also started up.  I wish he would figure out the whole thumb-sucking thing.  He just can't keep them in while sleeping.

When he smiles, I feel like he thinks I'm the greatest person ever!  Pictures don't do it justice, so here is a quick movie clip.

Lastly, after cutting off Amos' hair this week, I think the boys' differences have become more pronounced.  Similar features, completely different layout!

Here's Amos at 14 weeks.  I think this was his chubbiest point.

Uh oh...

Oh a whim last night, we cut off Amos' hair.  The clippers were out.  What can I say?  I'd been thinking about giving a big boy hair cut for a little while, so it wasn't a complete whim, I guess!  His hair had gotten way to crazy for my liking.  My only regret... he looks far too old!

Silas John - Week 13

We move from newborn to baby this week.  Can't believe it happened so fast.  And, I kind of fell off the bandwagon with pictures this week.  I promise to do better.

I've been saying for a while now that Silas has been congested.  It finally progressed enough last weekend (Silas would cry if he was awake and not eat well, not to mention a terrible sounding cough) that we took him to the doctor's office on Monday.  Luckily it wasn't a serious cough aka moved to his chest, and this week, he's be on the mend.  He's gone back to eating longer and sleeping better.  He's still coughing quite a bit, but it doesn't seem to bother him like it did.

Due to being sick, he's sleeping in his rock and play which keeps him in a more elevated position.   He's started doing this interesting thing where he just makes the sucking motion with his lips like he's sucking his thumb, but he's only sucking air.  It seems to soothe him back to sleep if he's woken from coughing.  Once he's not swaddled, he may take after his brother and be a thumb sucker.

Speaking of sleep, after waking up at 5 am one morning and then 4 am the next, I heard him at 3 am the following day, and knew we were starting a terrible trend.  I decided it was time for a little cry it out.  So I took my pillow out to the couch - in order not to wake up Jason - and listened to Silas cry.  To my surprise, he cried for 15 minutes, then whimpered for 15 more minutes, then fell asleep.  He slept for 5 more hours and woke up at 8 am!?!?!?  And he's been sleeping 10 1/2 hours since then!

We've given up on the bottle for the time being.  We don't have anything coming up where he has to take a bottle so I'm hoping a little bit of rest from it will help him be ready to take it again.  I've got a lot of milk stored up, so I hope so.

Also, if you missed it, we started cloth diapers this week!  I had been given so many diapers, that I was just putting it off, but all the disposable diaper explosions reminded me why I like cloth so much.  We haven't had one since.  Silas doesn't seem to mind the change at all.  And with him being the second child to use the diapers, it's like we're diapering for free!! And I love FREE!

His skin has really cleared up this week.  I don't know if its just due to the magical 3 month move from newborn to baby, or what.  But he had several dry patches on his arms and legs that are gone for now and I only occasionally have to put stuff on his face.  Also, his cradle cap seems to be gone.  Three months is really a game changer.

He's much more vocal this week.  He'll talk to his hands, hanging toys, Amos or anyone who's holding him.  I'll hear him and think he's getting fussy, but look and see him smiling really big, just carrying on. He makes an actually cooing noise when he talks too.  They are so precious.  I think he carries on more than Amos did at that age.  Amos was much more interested in all things physical - rolling, sitting or standing.  Silas could care less about mastering those at this point.

Amos loves Silas.  I know because Amos loves to give him kisses.  He loves to tell Silas bye when Silas goes down for naps, and he loves when Silas "waves" back.  He asks where Silas is when he wakes up from his naps.  He is more willing to share his toys with him.  He'll sing him a song or read him a book.  If I want to get Amos to do something, (i.e. jump) I'll ask him to show Silas how to jump and he's much more apt to do it then if he were just doing it for me.  He's already a good BIG brother!

Speaking of Amos, here he was at 13 weeks!

And so it begins...

...diapering two little boys with cloth!

I waited a little longer with Silas to put him into cloth, but now I don't know why.  He just looks so cute in them.  Cloth makes diapering a little more fun.

 I don't think much is going to change with two.  I'll just have to do laundry a little more often.  Right now, I've divvied up my diaper stash between the two boys.  They each have about the same amount but of different kinds (Amos-Bumgenius AIO and the Best Bottom covers, Silas- Grovia AIO and the Flip covers).  I think this will make laundry a little easier to keep track of.  Plus, I won't have to mess with setting the covers to different sizes each time.

If you want a little more of the reasoning behind my choice of diapers, check out this post. And I mention a little bit more in this one.

We have converted!

A little over a week ago, last Sunday to exact, we converted Amos' crib into his big boy toddler bed.  He was in there while we were doing it and it literally took only 10  minutes.  He promptly crawled in and smiled.

As I suspected, that night presented no problems.  He crawled in bed.  Checked out how far it was the the ground and fell asleep.  The first weeks of naps were a little different story.  He would fall asleep just fine, but if he woke early, he would crawl out and play.  Then return to his bed and lie down.  He'd repeat this several times before his normally nap time was over.  I think he's only fallen out of it once and had no problem crawling back in after it happened.

We're on the look out for another toddler bed because we would like to pass the nice crib on to Silas.  His crib has been great, but its missing a few parts and I don't want to chance it once he starts moving around.

It's fun being able to crawl into bed with Amos and read a book, or give him more kisses!

Silas John - Week 12

Well, this post is coming in a little late.  Somebody has been sick all week!  It's no fun to hear a 2 1/2 month old coughing.  And we're not talking about a small cough every now and again.  It's a full out rough cough and it happens a lot.  Less when he sleeps, which is nice.  He started the week with mild congestion and by Saturday refused to eat or be consoled.  Luckily, he still slept Saturday night.  Sunday night was a different story!

Speaking of sleep, even in the midst of all the sickness, Silas was officially sleeping through the night - 9+ hours.  However, last night that was not the case.  I'm hoping its only due to sickness.

We're still working the swaddle.  If he's not ready to drop it soon, we'll have to get a bigger size.  I'd rather be done with it.

Up until Saturday, you wouldn't have known Silas was sick.  He was still very happy during his wake time and sleeping very well.  He's got a pretty laid back disposition.  This week we had all kinds of smiles and Silas started noticing his own hands.

His face has cleared up all together.  I'm now only have to put cream on his face every other day or so and that's only a preventative measure!  He's got a nice bald ring around his head.  Lucky for him, his thick top hair is long enough to cover most of his baldness.  He remains our hairy little man.

No luck on the bottle front, so instead, Silas got to attend his first wedding.  Amos stayed home with Grandma, Grandpa and Granny, while Silas and I headed to Miami, OK for the marriage of Jon and Rachel Reed!  It was beautiful and he slept through almost the entire thing, reception included.

At the beginning of the week, Silas cut his eating time in half.  All of the sudden he no longer wanted to eat on both sides or for very long.  Now that I know he was getting sick, I wonder if he will go back to his longer eatings, or if he just got more efficient at eating and no longer needs to eat as long.  The shorter eating sessions have been nice.  It leaves more wake time for play!

We saw the doctor this morning.  It sure leaves peace of mind knowing that the cough isn't moving into his chest.  The doctor said to use saline drops every hour and use his eye medicine twice a day.  Also, keep him in an upright position.  He also prescribed an antibiotic incase he continues to get worse.  (He even wrote me a prescription because I think Silas gave his stuff to me) I love our doctor and nurses!

MEMORY LANE

Week 1

Week 2

 Week 3

Week 4 

Week 5 

Week 6 

Week 7 

Week 8 

Week 9 

Week 10 

Week 11

And here's Amos at 12 weeks old: