Months 3 and 4

Everyone told us that when Silas turned 3 months old we would turn a corner and he wouldn't be so difficult.  Well....we didn't find that to be true.  He would make a liar out of us and be totally chill when we were out and about or with friends and family, but he was still fussy a lot of the time.  It went from stomach issues to napping/sleeping issues.  Not being able to soothe and calm your baby is possible the most frustrating thing ever.  However, during these months Silas became so much more fun when he wasn't fussing.  He started smiling and talking a lot more.  He started interacting more and playing with his toys.  He was introduced to his favorite thing ever...his jumparoo!

Silas continued to grow in these months too.  He was 18lbs at his 4 month check up! I think he was 26 inches too.  He LOVES to eat and gets excited/anxious/impatient when he knows you're making a bottle.  The wheels come off when he sees it. ha! At 3 and 4 months he was still eating about 6 times a day.  He was sleeping through the night most nights, but it was right at Thanksgiving when we let him start crying it out...I think right after his 4 month check up.  Silas always cries when we lay him down to sleep, but we quit getting up with him in the middle of the night at 4 months.  It took 4-5 nights and he started sleeping through the night.  PTL!

We also took our first road trip during this time.  We surprised my brother for his 30th bday and spent the weekend with him and his fam in Austin.  This was such a sweet trip. Not only to I get to spend time with Brad and Sarah, but I got to meet my precious nephew, Liam.  He and Silas are two months apart in age.  We had a short but sweet trip. 

Silas was a Ninja turtle for his first Halloween.  :) We went to daddy's football game instead of trick or treating.

 

4 Months!

1st Road Trip - Austin, TX  -  Happy 30th Bubs!

 

Silas loved his first Thanksgiving.  He got to meet two of his great aunts for the first time.  Grauntie Georgie came from Texas and his Great Aunt Bonnie was here from Chicago.  

 



 

 

Singles Friday

How crazy is it that 9 couples have gotten married after meeting through Kelly's blog and SUYL singles???  I haven't ever participated until now. 

I'd like to introduce my younger sister, Lauren.  She is 22 and lives in Northwest Arkansas. 

Lauren is a high school teacher and she loves her students.  She has a fun personality with the perfect amount of sass. She loves babies and has been a rock star for years.  She is the perfect aunt to her two nephews!  She is the BEST sister and a faithful friend.  Lauren is an incredible cook too! 

 

We have a close family.  Our favorite time of the year is our annual beach trip. 

 

Lauren is a Christian and her faith is important to her.  She is looking for a Christian guy that will treat her like a lady.  Email me a cnrhoads@gmail.com for more info. 

Torticollis

We found out at Silas' two month check up that he had Torticollis.  I hadn't even heard of Torticollis until after I had Silas - from a friend that is a physical therapist.  When he was almost two months old I had her take a look at his neck.  She thought there might be some tightness so we asked about it at our 2 month well check.  The doc immediately referred us for a PT eval after seeing Silas. 

Torticollis:
Congenital torticollis is most often due to tightness in the muscle that connects the breastbone and the collarbone to the skull. (It's called the sternocleidomastoid muscle). This is called congenital muscular torticollis. This tightness might have developed because of the way your baby was positioned in the uterus (with the head tilted to one side) or because the muscles were damaged during delivery.
Babies with torticollis may also develop positional plagiocephaly (asymmetrical head shape) because they'll often sleep with their head turned to the side.

Basically Silas would always lean his head to the right and look to the left.  We started PT a two months and just finished (at 6 months).  We loved our PT, Lana.  She did a great job working with Silas and teaching me how to help to. Basically lots of tummy time and stretching.  Silas' is finally doing better and you can't even tell anymore.  His head has rounded out too. :)

You can really see it in these pictures.  We are thankful for good medical care and that we saw results almost immediately after starting PT. 

 

When the PT evaluated Silas she noticed some developmental delays as well.  She felt that Silas wasn't progressing developmentally because of the torticollis and his fussiness.  It was a huge blessing to get him caught up developmentally as we were working on his physical issues too.

Months 1 and 2

Month 1 seems like a blur now that we are getting used to a new normal.  We came home from the hospital and started learning how to parent this new baby boy.  He was so little and lost 9% of his birth weight. We had our work cut out for his as we had to feed him every 2 hours (including waking up at night).  Finally, at his 2 week check he was back up to birth weight plus some.   I can't remember all the specifics, but I do know at 5 weeks he was 9.2lbs and 23 inches.  He went from losing weight to gaining almost 2ozs a day.  It was also about this time that he graduated into size 1 diapers.  :)

Silas has been a cranky baby since about week two.  There was a long stretch of time where if he wasn't sleeping or eating he was pretty fussy.  I really wanted to know if we had a fussy baby or if there was something wrong with Silas that we could help.  He would curl his legs up, arch his back and scream.  We tried lots of solutions.... Zantac didn't work, cutting out dairy seemed to help a little bit, infant probiotics did seem to help his belly, but nothing completely cured him.  Thankfully around 6 weeks he started smiling and those smiles always encourage me.

I went back to work right as he turned 6 weeks old.  It was overwhelming, but I'm so thankful I get to bring him with me to work.  He started daycare 2day/week when he was 10 weeks old.  It's hard dropping him off and trusting others to care for him, but it also creates a good balance for my work schedule. 

At his 2 month check up he got all his shots and handled them like a champ.  He weighed 13.2lbs and was 24 inches long.  It was also around 2 months when he started sleeping for longer stretches at night.  He isn't super consistent, but he usually sleeps form 10pm-5am.  Sometimes we get up for a feeding at 3 and then he'll sleep until 7:30.  We LOVE The nights when he makes it from 10-6 or later. :) We also switched to size 2 diapers at about 2 months.

Silas continues to fill our hearts with love and joy. I love watching him grow and develop.  His smiles and coos/grunts are the best!

Silas Matthew Rhoads

We welcomed our son into the world on July 9, 2013 at 2:14am.  It was a wild series of events leading up to his birth.  I found out at 36.5 weeks pregnant that I had high blood pressure.  After additional tests my doc called on Friday July 5th to inform me I needed to be induced.  I was 37 weeks on the 5th and the risks of having high BP outweighed the risks of having Silas early.  We checked into the hospital on July 7th at 5pm to start cervadil.  The morning of the 8th we started Pitocin.  After almost 12 hours on Pitocin I was still at a 2.  I was almost at the max dosage (34 units/hr) when I decided to get an epidural.  That is when things started moving in the right direction.  I felt good and my body was finally responding to the meds.  At 1:30 my BP alarm went off because the printer was out of paper.  The RN checked me while she was in there and surprisingly I was ready to push.  I started pushing at 1:40 and Silas was delivered at 2:14am on 7/9/13.  It was the coolest experience.  I always thought I would be terrified to actually birth a baby.  However, when the time came I was so excited and ready to meet him.  He was a little guy weighing it at 6lbs 6oz.  He had some breathing issues at first, but rebounded quickly.  We spent some time with him and then let family in to meet him.  They had all just gone home to go to bed only to get a call to come back up to the hospital.  We really didn't think he would arrive until the next day. :)  We were able to get a few hours of sleep before going to see him in the nursery the next morning.  The day was filled with lots of cuddles and lots of visitors. 

We had to stay in the hospital a few days.  My blood pressure was high and Silas had low blood sugar because he was feeding great.  We ended up going home on Thursday and then checking back in on Friday.  Silas was jaundice and had to do light therapy.  We were finally home for good on Saturday.  We were so thankful to be home and healthy. 

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Baby boy less than a day old. 

 Ready to go home...screaming baby. :)

Finally at home....looking pretty tired.  If only we had realized how nice it was to have nurses helping us 24/7. ha!

Soaking up some sunlight with dad

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brad



Aunt Liz

Aunt Sissy

Mimi and Pappy

Yaya and Pappoo

Uncle Luke, Aunt Morgan, Loren and Hunter

Grannie and her new grandson and grand-dog

 

 

We are so blessed with LOTS of family that love Silas.  

Parenthood! (written in Feb or March of 2013)

That's right! Nick and I are about 20 weeks away from becoming parents.  It is hard to explain the mixture of emotions and feelings we are experiencing right now.  It has always been my dream to be a mom and I couldn't be more excited for my dream to come true.  Nick on the other hand is excited and anxious about becoming a dad.  We're both beginning to realize how different life will be with a baby.  So we're going to spend the next few months preparing for this little one and enjoying our freedom and sleep. :)

We just found out we're having a baby boy! We both thought it was a girl so when we found out it was a boy we were a little surprised.  However, we both love the idea of our oldest child being a boy.  I felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday (3/5/13).  We have our 20 week diagnostic ultrasound on Friday.  I've had LOTS of ultrasounds at work and 1 at the my doctor's office. It is AMAZING to see our little boy bouncing around and seeing his little heartbeat.  I'm not really anxious about the diagnostic ultrasound, but I'm ready to make sure our baby boy is healthy.

The first few months of this pregnancy were exhausting...I felt tired and sick most of the time.  I'm finally feeling better (still tired) but not near as nauseous.  It feels good to have 1/2 of this pregnancy behind us! We've felt so loved and supported by our family and friends every step of the way.  We're so thankful for the prayers, food/meals, and gifts from all these special people.  It is safe to say this baby is LOVED!

Go Hogs Go!

Labor Day weekend was the first Razorback game.  Nick and I don't have tickets, but we did tailgate with the Cashion's and the Rainwater's...thanks guys!  It was so fun to see the Bell's and the Rainwater's.  We had fun catching up and getting ready to cheer on the Hogs!

The boys at their old house...325!

Sisters!

We went back to my parents house to watch the game...It was so fun to get some quality family time with Brad and Sarah in town.

My cousin Claire moved up here for school.  It is so fun to see her on a regular basis.  Plus we get to see her whole fam when they come up for games.  We love the Greg Ashby family!

 We watched the 2nd razorback game with Brian and Jessica.  No pics, but it was fun to cook and hang out together while watching the game.  We have to mooch off friends and family until we get cable again.