Simon: Ten Months

Weight:  Who knows... remember how I never knew how much I gained during pregnancy, well we don't really have a scale in the house, nor do I like stepping on one anyway... so it's a mystery.

He really wanted to lean over the chair and play with his jumparoo... silly boy

Height:  He seems so much taller, but don't have an official measurement.

Medical Issues:  Not that it's even a medical issue, the dry scalp is still an issue... we've tried many things and just cannot figure out the right recipe to get it to clear up for good.  Sometimes it's worse than other times.  Hopefully like lots of articles say it will go away on it's own in due time.

Kept waving at me/the phone... which is adorable but doesn't make the best picture

Checking out my work

Sleep:  I'll go with it's not super great, but it's not bad either... until the very end of the month he'd go to bed between 6:30 and 7 (now it's more like 7:30).  He usually gets up once around 1:30 or so, and then again around 5.  He'll take some bottle at those times.  He's usually up between 6:30 and 7:30.  (although I don't do morning routine except a couple of times a week).  Nap wise he take two solid naps a day at 9:30 and 1:30.  The morning nap is typically longer around 2 hours and the afternoon one is usually around 1.5 hours.  He will take a binky when sleeping.  We love our zippity-zip and Dan's aunt Julie made two additional suits which is incredibly helpful to have extras (we have some leaking incidents)

Pickle!

Clothes/Diapers (sizes):  He's still in size 3 diapers (I think he will be for awhile) and 9 month clothing.

Diet:  He drinks around 25oz of milk a day.  This month we moved up to three meals of solids.  Simon really enjoys eating so it's a natural progression.  He is funny when he doesn't like something will spit it out and won't open his mouth.  He did NOT like the little bits baby food (which has some chunks) but enjoys puffs, mum mum crackers, melts, pickles, crackers, bread, fruit, really so much.  He's not too picky (other than those little bits haha) and hope to keep increasing his table foods.  We also need to work on Simon taking a sippy cup.

Baby Gear Love:  Toys... this kid enjoys toys.  Dan bought him a ride on car earlier this week and he LOVES that... doesn't want to let him stop.  He likes his walk behind toy (although he doesn't actually walk behind it yet - but stands and pulls up.)  He likes banging toys together.  He likes his activity table.  Our Born Free bottles are still working great as is the Boon drying grass.  Love our video monitor.

Milestones/First:  Simon finally got two teeth at the beginning of this month (his two bottom front teeth).  They pretty much came in at the same time at the beginning of the month.  He's working on his third up top.  He's army crawling now... so all bets are off keeping him still.  He just is so much more mobile now, being able to get from the sitting position to his belly.  He can certainly get to where he wants to go by rolling, scooting, army crawling.  He can pull up!  Which is pretty fun to watch.  We dropped the crib mattress once he started even though he hasn't pulled up in there yet.  He can walk along furniture if he really wants to (doesn't do it a whole lot yet).  Dan got him to stand for like 15 seconds unassisted the other day which was pretty incredible to watch. 

Likes:  Playing, moving around, mommy and daddy, toys, dancing, standing, eating, being around people

Dislikes:  Teething, sleeping through the night, I'm grasping at straws here

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Simon has started to present some separation anxiety.  He ends up being fine after he's warmed up to a new place, but if went we get somewhere and we pass him off to someone else he gets a bit worried we are going to leave him and starts to cry.  Also when my mom watched him one night when we left she said he cried for awhile.

I usually put Simon to sleep.  Sometimes he decides he's not really tired and will start touching and playing with my face... at that point I know he's not going to sleep.  Also, when he does fall asleep in my arms when drinking his nighttime bottle he will cover his face with his arms... so cute.

He's quite the dare devil and will want to "jump" off the couch face first... dude you will not like doing that!

Reading to Simon is interesting - he mostly like to grab at the book and put them in his mouth.  I keep trying but mostly he wants to play.

I love watching Simon think through and examine things.  Sometimes I think he's really trying to figure out how things work.

He love standing next to furniture... he also really enjoys playing with cell phones and remote controls.

Sometimes when we feed him he will knock at the spoon thus dumping the baby food on his high chair tray (or himself) and then Simon will proceed to play with the food smearing it all around.

Simon loves playing with my necklace.  He likes when we dance around.

Dan bought him a ride on car and he loves riding on that and going fast.  When we stop pushing him he fusses.  He also loves all the animals - of course he wants to grab them, so we try to stress gentle, he'll learn, but so far they are great with Simon too... except maybe Quina who Simon loves to look at, but we don't let him get too close since she will bite.

Here's the thing - we know when Simon is upset since he will start fussing (not crying) and we know what it means but to other people he's so "polite".  It's amazing that all he does to other people.

The fact of the matter is we have a laid back baby.  He goes with the flow and can pretty easily be distracted.  He's such a sweetheart and we love him so much.  He brings us so much joy!

Weekend in Review - #1

First a couple of notes (not that you care... but I wanted to address it):

1. Yes, I've done "Weekend in Review" posts before and labeling this #1 in the title, but wanted to start numbering them and going back and counting what I've done previously just seems like a waste of time - so I'm starting with #1 now.
2. Again, I know I was doing these in the past and stopped... but I wanted to start doing it again, nothing about this weekend was particularly special or exciting as a reason to start with THIS WEEKEND in particular... but gotta start somewhere!

Last week was my long, 5-day workweek and those always feel long, but I made it through and was so happy for the weekend... although I did come home pretty tired!


That afternoon came home and played with Simon, then fed him dinner.  I also did a fair amount of cleaning - bathroom, kitchen, dusting, and some decluttering.  I played more with Simon and he ended up going to bed pretty early around 6:30.  By 7 I was just able to relax and unwind.  Dan ordered a pizza (Feraro's) and I took a shower.  Caleb ended up coming over and we watched some Billy on the Street until I decided to clean up and head to bed at a reasonable hour. 


Saturday morning was my morning to get up with Simon.  We got up around 7:30 and played for awhile and then I fed him breakfast and we played some more.  Simon went down for a nap and ended up going down for a nap as well.  When I woke up we played with Simon and then I went out and got lunch (Fazoli's for Dan and Lion's Choice for me).  I got back and fed Simon lunch and ate my lunch.  Hung out for awhile and then Simon went down for his nap.  I did laundry and cross-stitched while he was sleeping.  He got up around 3 and we played together and I started to get ready to go to Susan's party.


We were ready to leave by 5 and headed up to Susan's.  We stopped at Rockler along the way so Dan could buy some wood... or something.  We got to Susan's and hung out there... there were so many kids and once Simon settled in I think he really enjoyed watching all the kids and people.  We stayed until about 8 (Simon is such a trooper b/c he's normally in bed before 7) and then headed home.  Simon went right to bed (not always the case) and I stayed up awhile watching TV and then finally headed to bed.


I got to sleep in Sunday morning and then got up.  Ran out and grabbed breakfast and then hung out with Simon until it was time for his morning nap.  My mom and grandma picked me up and we headed out to the outlet mall for me to spend a coupon I had (I bought way too much but whatever).  Then we had lunch/brunch at Mimi's Café.  Afterwards we went to Ladue Nails and got manicures...well me and my grandma did.  Her first salon manicure!  It was a fun experience.  Then they dropped me off back at home around 3.

Getting manis (took FOREVER to get my old polish off)

Our nails

Around 4 we packed up the car and headed over to Amanda and Lou's for dinner (they cooked us a nice dinner of steak, potatoes, breaded green beans and Red Lobster biscuits).  Then we headed over to Dan's grandparent's house to celebrate his grandpa's birthday.  They had homemade ice cream with toppings.  The kids played and Simon especially loved the tractor.  He again was such a trooper and lasted until 8 (although he was pretty cranky on the way home.)  We got home and I put Simon to bed and then took a shower.  I stayed up for awhile watching TV and went to bed.  The weekends are always too short, but we did a lot and had fun!

Grandpa showing the kids his new model plane

Simon loving the tractor

Crazy kids!

Simon: Nine Months

Weight:  He's 19.2 pounds which is slightly below average.

Height:  He's 29.5 inches long, which is slightly above average.

Medical Issues:  Thankfully Simon is one healthy dude!  Our biggest issue with him is dry scalp... but hopefully that starts to resolves himself.  As I think I mentioned in the last post Simon finished taking his medicine this month we went back to the cardiologist to get a Holter monitor.  He wore the monitor for 24 hours and it recorded his heart during that time.  They reviewed how it went and everything looks great!  Unless we have an issue, he will go back to the cardiologist in a year for a follow up.  I'm so happy this heart issue was able to be resolved so easily and isn't a lifelong issue.  We are very grateful of that.

Sleep:  Oh sleep... Simon isn't sleeping through the night sadly, but some nights are better than others.  There was a period of time towards the end of the month where he was waking up quite a bit and only wanting a bottle to calm back down.  Usually I make a bottle for nighttime and we keep it out to give him throughout the night.  I think he needs it to calm down.  In hindsight it was probably teething why he was waking up more.  He did sleep well for my mom while we were out of town though.  In more light news, dude rolls around the crib quite a bit... he's all over that thing.  He sleep a lot on his belly and side but sometimes on his back too, but not as much anymore.  He will start on one end of the crib and end up on the other.  You never know where you'll end up finding him.  I've noticed he will sometimes sleep with his butt up in the air too which is funny and cute.  Dan and I alternate nights to get up with him.  And then on the weekends whoever gets up with him at night gets to sleep in in the morning.  I think it's a fair way to split the work.

Clothes/Diapers (size):  He's mostly in 6/9 month clothes and size 3 diapers

Diet:  Simon likes to eat.  We've been trying to give him more table foods.  I don't want to forget, but can't remember if this actually happened this month but I gave Simon a pickle and he loved it!  We do mostly purees but I try to give him other things too.  He likes mum mum crackers (which he can hold and eat).  He isn't doing great with feeding himself yet, he can pick up the food and he knows it goes in his mouth, but he doesn't know the releasing it from his hand part.  Most things we give him he eats and seems to like... like frozen yogurt for sure, but only a couple things I've given him that he didn't like.  The most note worthy is we went to Chevy's and I gave him a bite of the corn cake/mash thing they have and he cried... haha.

Baby Gear Love:  Toys are a big hit, he loves this stand toy that Amy gave us.  He likes the monkey suction cup toy.  He loves Sophie.  He likes balls and really love remotes and phones.  He loves toys in general and anything he can put in his month.  We still love the Zipadee Zip sack.  The LeapFrog dog - Scout is great, he likes when it talks to him, but we use it for bedtime music a lot.  Jumparoo works sometimes.  He uses his binky mostly at bedtime.  Any toys he can bang together.

Milestones/Firsts:  The biggest first would be his first night spent away from both of us at someone else's house (putting aside all that time in the hospital).  He spent the whole weekend with my mom while Dan and I went to Rachel's wedding and did wonderfully.  He's scooting more on the follow.  He's talking more and I heard him say mama for the first time... of course I'm not naïve enough to think that he was referring to me, but he said it clear as day!  Geez, I need to start writing this stuff down.  He's gotten in a pool for the first time... small pool but still.  Learned how to wave and then stopped doing it by the next day.  We tried our a sippy cup. I think he liked it.

Likes:  toys, his parents, banging things, bouncing, get lifted up and 'shake'ed, standing up, the dogs, watching Quina, the cats, blowing on his belly, eating

Dislikes:  Being tired and/or hungry, being set up when he doesn't want to, teething, when he gets tired he starts kicking things which is funny

Things I don't want to forget:  Simon is such a happy guy, really the only time he fusses is if he's hungry or tired or teething... we really lucked out with how easy of a baby he is.  Watching Simon and Vail interact is so much fun.  A story about them - they were sitting on the table together playing with toys (remotes) and Simon would notice Vail was playing with one and would drop what he was playing with and stole what she was playing with.  She would just pick up what he discarded.  Then he'd see her playing with something new and steal it back - so funny!  He also stole her binky a couple of times.  Babies!  Simon is becoming more active.  He may not crawl, but loves climbing over us while we sit on the floor or couch.  He likes playing with our faces/ears and my necklace a lot.

He loves to eat real food.  We've been letting him try lots of things.

No matter how fussy he is, letting Simon play with our phones or a remote control will distract him.

He will kick things when he's tired.  He also really likes spinning things on toys.

Wants to put everything in his mouth and when it's attached to something or too big to get into his mouth it's pretty funny watching him try.  We've found him sucking on a table or the grocery cart handle.. gross.  He likes to put his hands in our mouths too.

Dan has made the comment "he doesn't even know how to cry" before... and that's true, he just doesn't actually cry very often.  Dan called him Ding Dong a lot and lately Baby Ba-Ba

Simon's Holter monitor

Simon is such a joy to be around.  He's so easy going and happy.  We have the best baby!!