Long over-due update!

Things have been quite a mad house around here for most of the summer! Rhys is now almost 8 weeks old. Gavin will be turning 4 on the first of September. Things have been rough. Rhys is a somewhat fussy baby. For a few weeks he would cry and cry for no reason. We finally figured out that it was reflux. After consulting with the ped. and trying some meds and messing with the dosages he seems to be doing much better. He still has a very hard time sleeping alone. He would fall asleep and sleep in the pack-n-play or crib for the first three hours of the night, but after the first mid-night feeding he would not let me put him back down. He would only sleep if he was propped on my chest. So for the last 5-6 weeks I have been sleeping with a baby on my chest for 4-6 hours. Talk about a paranoid and desperately tired mommy! I was always frightened that he was going to roll off or I would hurt him if I fell asleep. So not only did I have the normal "interrupted" new newborn sleep, but I was waking every 15 minutes during those 2-3 hour blocks. UGH! Well after reading the "Happiest Baby on the Block" we decided to give swaddling another go. Only problem...Rhys was too big for any of the blankets we had. He did really well, but would break free after 2 hours. Yesterday we went and purchased a Kiddopotamus...greatest thing ever. We used it for a late afternoon nap right away. Well he slept like a champ IN HIS CRIB!! It was a record sleep session for a nap! So we had high hopes for the night. He had his last feeding at 10:30 and fell right to sleep...went straight down...and didn't wake up till 3:30! 5 glorious hours! Had that feeding and went straight back down! No propped mom! He slept again for 3 more hours had another feeding around 7ish and went back down for 2 hours! It was simply amazing! Now I need like 5 of these kiddopotamus things. I need to find somewhere that sells the large as Rhys is pretty snug in this one.


In Gavin news...he has been defiant and all around pain in the pa-tooty. After every strategy known to man we may be coming around. Gavin has struggled with Rhys' arrival and I think he maybe getting used to his brother and the new routines of the house. Only four more weeks and back to the grind so I am sure he will be back to his old self after he is back in pre-school full time. What is working in the mean time is a reward chart where he is being reinforced every two hours. We will keep that up and hope that it doesn't lose its novelty.