Happy day

Troy and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary in pretty low-key fashion today. As is usual on the weekends, Troy got up with Simon early in the morning, fed him a bottle, and I got to sleep in until around 8:30. (I am so grateful to Troy for letting me sleep in on the weekends... it really does make things easier on me!) We had a Reynolds family favorite breakfast, known to my family as Egg Hot Dish. (Troy thinks that is just way too "Minnesotan," so he calls it "Cheesy Ham and Egg Bake.") Then we went to church - Troy dropped Simon and me off early before going to park the car, so I sat in the Gordon chapel for a while. I hadn't been there two minutes when the first of several people I'd never met came up to me, introduced themselves, and asked how Simon was doing. The compassion and generosity of the Old South community will never cease to amaze me.

Simon did well during the service - he started getting a little noisy during the sermon, so I took him out, but he immediately fell asleep upon leaving, so I was able to go back in for the end. He was such a good boy today, and we were even able to attend the leadership lunch after the service. He was awake for a good portion of it, but was content to just sit on my lap and look around!

This afternoon we mostly just got stuff done around the house - laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. As I said, a pretty low-key day. Then we got sushi take-out for dinner. So good!

We've been working hard to gradually move Simon's bedtime earlier, and I was thrilled tonight when we got him down at 8:15. Though right after I started writing this post, he woke up and started fussing. I was able to settle him back down relatively quickly, though. Does this still count as getting him to bed at 8:15? I'm not sure.

No post would be complete without photos. The first is actually a forgotten picture from the "A day in pictures" series... playing in his Baby Einstein gym:

The second is Simon having tummy time on a very special blanket. It was made by a very dear family friend, Bethany Schuler, for my sister when she was a baby. Mom saved it all this time and passed it on to us. We will always cherish this keepsake and remember Bethany each time we see it!

Talking

Simon has been cooing and "talking" for a few weeks now, but he's really picked up in the last few days. Here he is sitting on my lap after we'd been "talking" for a while. Of course, he was smiling a lot more through it earlier in the afternoon, but by the time I thought to pick up the camera, the smiles were gone. But you get the general idea!

Talking from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

A day in pictures, part 2

After our walk, Simon might sit on my lap:

while we read some stories:

Then often he'll sit in his bouncy seat in the kitchen while I start getting things ready for dinner. At this point in the day he might be a little bit cranky, so how much I get done depends on his mood!

Then Daddy gets home from work! He is always so excited to see his little boy:

After dinner, it's bath time:

And then Simon gets his bedtime "snack" and it's off to bed. He's most often sleeping for pretty long stretches at night now (we've had several nights where he'll sleep 6-7 hours before waking, and one where he slept for 9 hours!) We hope it continues!

A day in pictures, part 1

Simon's day usually starts pretty slowly. Daddy gets up with him and gives him a bottle early in the morning (around 5), then puts him back to bed and gets himself ready to go to work. After another hour or two of sleep, Simon will get up for a short while. After breakfast round 2, usually he will consent to nap for about half an hour:

That half hour nap is when Mommy scarfs down some breakfast, showers, makes the bed, and perhaps starts some laundry and/or puts away some dishes.

When Simon wakes up, he's usually in a pretty good mood. Often he will hang out with me in our bedroom, gazing up at the ceiling fan while I fold laundry:

Then we might have some tummy time, which he is getting extremely good at!

In the afternoons when it is nice out, we try to get out for a walk, so Simon can get some fresh air and Mommy can make some vitamin D. This doubles as Simon's early afternoon nap:

(Rest assured, I kept him shaded when I wasn't taking a picture of him.)

Part 2 to come!

More visitors

This weekend, Simon was visited by his Grandma Barb, Grandpa Jim, and Great-Grandma Minnie! It was a great day today especially, complete with a trip to Old South (where he got to hear Mommy play handbells), followed by lunch at the Barking Crab and then a trolley tour of Boston. Simon was a real trooper throughout the whole day!

More later, but for now, a photo of the four generations!

My new favorite Simon photo

We have a very happy boy!

2-month appointment

While Simon will officially be 2 months old tomorrow, we had his 2-month appointment with his pediatrician yesterday. The vital stats:

10 lb. 13 oz. (25th percentile)

22 1/4 inches (25th percentile)

I said to the doctor upon hearing the percentiles, "Oh, so he is small." And the doctor said, "No, he's perfectly proportioned!" It's perhaps not surprising that Simon is a little on the smaller side, given everything he went through. (He was on IV nutrition only for ten days after birth.) But overall, the pediatrician was enormously pleased with his progress and said that Simon is doing everything a 2-month-old baby should do. Hooray!

Of course, the other part of a 2-month appointment is the first immunizations. I was nervous because I know that babies often are fussy afterward. The shots themselves went fine - of course he didn't like them, but he recovered quickly. But he was pretty unhappy for the rest of the day, sleeping on and off and absolutely needing to be held all the time. Thank goodness for infant Tylenol, and for Grandma Karen who spent nearly all afternoon and evening holding him! And today he seems to be feeling much better.

We already miss Grandma Karen, who left this morning after an absolutely wonderful week. Once again, she cooked, cleaned, folded laundry, made sure I was eating enough and drinking enough water, and spent lots and lots of fun time with Simon. Below - a photo on a walk by the Charles River on Sunday. Thanks for everything, Grandma!

New photos

We had a great weekend. Saturday it was cold and rainy, so we didn't do much. But Sunday was beautiful out and the four of us went out for a lovely walk by the Charles River in Waltham. (Photos on Mom's camera, so will post later.) Today, Troy was back at work, but Mom and Simon and I got to go for another long walk, this time around our neighborhood.

Tomorrow is Simon's 2-month well baby checkup, at which he will receive his first round of a number of immunizations. I know that babies are often pretty cranky after these shots, but I'm hoping Simon will be okay. It will be Grandma Karen's last day here, so our fingers are crossed that he'll be in a reasonably good mood.

New pictures! First, the three generations:

Next, our cute lil' sailor (note he even has a pacifier with sailboats on it!):

Simon still prefers sleeping in someone's arms to any other place:

Finally, a picture with Grandma Karen and the BEAUTIFUL blanket that Simon's great-grandmother Peggy made for him. Grandma Karen finished it by embroidering his name on it. We love it!

Give peas a chance

Simon is starting to wear more of the 0-3 month clothes now -- the onesies fit him well, but the pants are all still huge. This is one of the cutest outfits we have, so I had to take a picture of him in it! The pants say "sweet pea" all over them. :)

Most of the clothes we have are hand-me-downs that we got from Sarah and Evan (thank you! It makes me so happy to "re-use", especially when he grows out of things so fast!) There are so many cute outfits, but this became one of my favorites from the first moment I saw it. Glad we got a picture of him in it when he's smiling!

A visit from Grandma Karen

Yesterday, Grandma Karen arrived for a week-long visit! Both Grandma and Simon are having lots of fun together already!


I love the expression in the last photo. It's as if he's saying, "Check it out - I've got Grandma wrapped around my little finger already! Oh yeah."

Sleepy time

Have I mentioned that while Simon sleeps pretty well for us at night, he is a terrible napper during the day? I always thought that babies slept for long stretches during the day, and thought I'd at least have ample time to do things like dishes and laundry while he napped. Plus perhaps get in a nap myself. But Simon is definitely still very much a "cat-napper." There will be times during the day when he'll fall asleep, but then as soon as you transfer him to his crib or Pack-n-Play, he wakes up within five minutes.

Two places he seems to sleep quite well though - Daddy's chest and Mommy's shoulder. From this morning:

I should note that Troy was NOT actually asleep there - he was just posing for the photo. :) Simon, however, was out cold.

And from this afternoon:

I love this picture. Simon falls asleep like this very often when I burp him after he eats. I think he'd stay asleep like that indefinitely, but no matter how sound asleep he is, he wakes up immediately upon being moved!

Feats of neck strength

Simon has been doing pretty well during his tummy time. He's getting better at picking his head up and smoothly switching it from one side to the other. But only when he feels like it - he definitely needs to be in the right mood.

So a few nights ago we decided to prop him up on the Boppy to see how he did. Initially we were VERY impressed:

He was really propping himself up and looking all around the room!

Then he clearly started to get tired:

And then had had QUITE enough, thankyouverymuch:

Family outing

This evening, we took Simon to Old South Church for the first time! We were so excited to have everyone there meet him, but we'd been nervous to do it, as we're still supposed to be avoiding "crowded indoor spaces" with lots of people. Even a simple cold would be a huge problem for Simon given all of his respiratory issues, so we have to be really careful. But today, they had decided to hold their regular Thursday evening jazz service outside, so we decided to take him! Diane took this photo of all three of us in front of the award-winning Old South gardens:

The entire Old South community has been so wonderfully supportive since Simon was born. Associate minister Quinn visited us in the hospital the day after Simon was born, and he returned the next day with Nancy (our senior minister) to perform a blessing for Simon. (The NICU nurses let us break the 2-visitor only rule and allowed all four of us to be there, for which we were extremely grateful.) The blessing was such a moving experience that gave us a great deal of comfort. Earl and Diane also came to visit us in the hospital, which was beyond wonderful for us as well. We also had dinner prepared for us, and received countless cards in the mail, many from people we haven't even met. And we received a beautiful prayer shawl fro the Old South knitting group! So it meant a lot to us to be able to finally bring Simon there to meet the people who have been praying so hard for his recovery. And it was so great for us to be there for the jazz worship again - it's such a unique and wonderful service. If you're ever in Boston on a Thursday evening, especially if you like jazz, you should check it out!!!

For his part, Simon did wonderfully, sleeping through the car ride there and then through the entire hour-long service. (This from a boy who normally refuses to nap longer than 45 minutes during the day.) He woke up just in time for us to leave, and then had a massive blowout in the car on the way home. And he realized he was very hungry. So there was quite a bit of screaming. Oh well... :)

Bath time

Simon's first bath, when he was still in the NICU, was quite the experience. Troy and I both participated, with nurse Debby closely supervising, and it went all right despite the fact that Simon hated absolutely every minute of it. It wasn't easy, but we felt like we'd be able to handle it when we were on our own.

Not so at first. Simon's first bath at home was traumatic for all involved. Again, it was a 2-person job, with Troy holding him while I tried to clean him. Once again, Simon absolutely hated it and screamed and flailed the whole time. And we were just not experienced enough to handle it well. We got through it with no major issues, but we were not happy with ourselves.

But what a difference a few weeks makes. Simon now only fusses a tiny bit when he first hits the water, and then is calm the whole time! And we've become comfortable enough with the process to tackle it on our own as well.

The first photo was when Troy gave him a bath yesterday, and the second is when I did earlier in the week. We still have to actually get in the tub to do it (the baby tub leaks from the bottom, so it's just easier that way), but it works quite well. He even sometimes appears to enjoy it! I'm somewhat relieved... there's a chance he'll be a swimmer after all!

A photo with Mommy

I said to Troy recently that we have almost no pictures of ME with Simon. This is mainly for two reasons - 1) I'm usually the one taking the pictures; and 2) if a photo were taken of me with Simon in the place we spend the vast majority of our time together, the photo would definitely be unsuitable for publication on this blog. :)

So I kindly requested that Troy take some pictures of me with Simon. This is the first - I was carrying Simon around the apartment facing forward, so he could look around. (He was fussing when being carried around any other way.) He proceeded to fall sound asleep!

Also note that the photo of Simon with me, and one other one as well, feature a lack of oxygen! He's off it more often than he's on it these days. Hopefully we'll be completely done soon!