The Hill Family Saga: Declan's 1 Month Update

So I am going to go about Declan’s monthly journal a little different simply because I think I need structure to help me remember what to write about now that I have two sweet little ones. J I found this on another blog I follow and I am going to see how it works.

1 month pic in his going home outfit

Weight: 12lbs

Height: 23inches

Clothing: He can still wear his going home outfit which is a newborn, but it is Circo brand which tends to run big. He is starting to push the limits of his 0-3 month onsies, but rompers and pants 0-3 still fit great. I have a feeling he is going to be just as hard as his big sister with keeping up with clothing sizes, lol.

Diapers: We didn’t start using cloth diapers until he was almost out of the diapers they sent us home with from the hospital. We decided ahead of time we would use those to simply adjust to life with 2, lol. I finally got tired of leaks with the disposables (thankfully most of which were all over Ben) and switched to our newborn cloth as we phased out of the disposables. We used a few newborn all-in-ones and pockets that were either free or gifts, 2 OS fuzzibunz and 2 OS rumparooz on the smallest setting, but the majority of our newborn stash consisted of osocozy prefolds and Thirsties covers. These got us through just shy of 3 weeks and then I simply decided I was tired of dealing with prefolds (not hard, I just knew I had better to come with my bumgenius dipes J). We tried the OS bumgenius diapers and they worked perfect since he was already 10+ lbs by then. We have been using them ever since and haven’t had a leak yet!

His first cloth diaper (Thirsties wrap with osocozy prefold)

Posing with big sister in his first bumgenius OS diaper

Eating: I am nursing him exclusively and plan to do so until at least 6 months and then we will take his cues for eating from there. He has been just like his sister and hasn’t been nursing as much as the typical newborn from the get-go. At most he nursed 8 times a 24 hour period, but a typical day was more like 7 times. He would rather sleep than eat most days, lol. Thankfully he has been gaining weight (almost 3.5lbs since birth!) like a champ so I don’t have any worries about him getting enough. J We let him pretty much set his own schedule, which the exception that I would wake him up to eat during the day to make sure he was getting enough and not getting his days and nights mixed up. A typical feeding schedule was 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 12 or 1am, 4 or 5am, and then back up at 8am again. One fun thing to note is that he already joins us for dinner most nights. He chills in his bouncy seat while we eat. J

He may not want to eat very often, but he sure isn't starving, lol

Friendships: This is probably a silly one to talk about now, but since he has been born we have kept him home or outdoors so we haven’t really seen many people other than family. He adores his big sister and in face she was the first person he smiled at (on July 3^rd, 2weeks 1 day old). He already adores her and the feeling is definitely mutual because she can’t some loving on him and telling him (and us) that she loves him. They are going to be buddies I am sure! I am sure he loves his Mommy and Daddy too, but that is a given. J

Tummy time with Mommy

Posing with big sister

This melts my heart

First bath together

Snuggles

She is such a good big sister to him

Daddy snuggles

My loves

Mobility: He has excellent head control and loves to look around. He has been close to rolling over his bottom half, but I think it’s going to take a while for the arms and head to join. Since he is a big fan of tummy time, he doesn’t seem to mind just chilling out on his tummy so there isn’t much motivation for rolling. He isn’t a huge fan of lying on his back, so I would imagine rolling from back to front will come later since he doesn’t get a lot of opportunity to chill that way.

Super baby!

Sleeping: Like I said earlier, he loves his sleep, especially swaddled with hands by his face. He typically gets between 14 and 16 hours of sleep total in a 24hour period (not including the cat naps I have to wake him up from when he is sleeping). His average time awake is about 45 minutes to an hour and a half, most of which is filled with eating. We try follow the eat-wake-sleep pattern (except at night) so he usually eats and then takes anywhere from a 45 minute to 2 hour nap. Sometimes he ends up with 2 cat naps between feedings instead of one long nap, but that’s by his choice so it works. At night I was waking him up at 5 hours per doctor’s orders because that is what they recommend until 1 or 2 months old, but I honestly got tired of that so I began letting him go 6 closer to the end of the month. So he typically does his long stretch after his 8pm feeding and then the next two cycles are anywhere from 3 to 4.5hours apart. I am so thankful for another baby that likes to sleep at night and even more thankful that Declan likes naps more than his sister ever did!

He even sleeps in the carrier, woohoo!

sleeping with Mamaw

Daddy's chest is the perfect bed

tuckered out on his way home from the waterfront

I was patting his back on the couch and next thing I know he passed out

First time wasn't a fluke....this is how we go out with Alethea in the evenings. :-)

Love this!

Occasionally he is okay with sleeping in the car....as long as it's moving

:-)

Do I have to wake up?

This is what he thinks of being woken up to eat, lol

Playtime: This is pretty basic at this point. We try to give him tummy time at least one time a day. It’s harder to get tummy time accomplished more than with an active toddler around so he ends up being carried around or put in the bouncy seat to chill for a few minutes while Alethea and I play or get things done around the house. He loves to sit up in our laps or on the couch and be talked to, but he is still pretty stoic. We only see smiles out of him periodically. Alethea loves to play with him and pretend he is a baby doll (which we let happen to the extent that both parties are still enjoying it, lol).

tummy time

Playtime for Alethea or Declan?...

Baby joined him on the mat, lol

Teeth: None yet, thankfully!

Random: He was born with two toenails that we thought were going to be ingrown and we confirmed that they were at a follow up appointment. Thankfully, they are slowly healing themselves. His cord stump fell off 7 days after birth and so he had his first bath at 8 days old.