Happy Halloween!

Simon's pumpkin

While at the apple orchard, we also got a Simon-sized pumpkin. I think he likes it!

Apple picking!

We all went to an apple orchard this afternoon! It was lots of fun and we got tons of apples. We took turns carrying Simon in the Baby Bjorn, which worked out great!

When we got home we made homemade applesauce. Good times!

To swaddle or not to swaddle...

When he first came home from the hospital, Simon was a boy who really liked to be swaddled. And he liked to be swaddled completely, including his arms. He was wrapped up like a burrito in his swaddle blanket, and he slept wonderfully. By late September, he was at the point where he was only waking once between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

August 2009

Then a few weeks ago, he started waking up more often in the night. I attributed this to a 3-month growth spurt, as he was hungry each time he got up. But within the last week, he's started waking up even more often, when it was clear that he wasn't even hungry. And each time he woke up, he'd have wrestled his arms out of the swaddle blanket. He was wriggling his way out, and then it seems he didn't know what to do with his suddenly free arms, so he'd just flail them until he woke himself up. It all came to a head on Wednesday night, when he woke up FIVE TIMES during the night.

So last night, we left his arms outside the swaddle blanket, determined to just let him get used to his arms being free. He was exhausted when we put him to bed at 7:00, but he still fussed on and off for the first hour - he'd cry for a few seconds, then fall back to sleep for a few minutes, then cry for a few seconds, then fall back to sleep again. But then he slept until almost midnight! And after I nursed him and put him down again, he slept until almost 5!

Tonight we put him to bed again with his arms outside the blanket. This photo was taken just a moment ago:

October 23, 2009

He's completely on his side. I tried rolling him on to his back, which is how babies are supposed to sleep nowadays, but he squirmed and rolled right back on to his side. Well, if it helps him sleep, I won't be complaining!

More playin'

Here is Simon playing in his play gym, where he managed to grab hold of some of the dangling rings. He didn't let go and seemed quite interested in them!

Playtime from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

I am also amazed by how much bigger he is getting. We'll be moving up to the 3-6 month clothes soon!

Hands in the mouth

Simon has become even more fond of putting his hands in his mouth. Sometimes he'll even lie there in his Baby Einstein and suck on his hands, just looking at his toys:

But sometimes, he now will grab hold of the toys and hang on to them for a while. Or bring them to his mouth!

Back to work

It's been a busy few days, as I started back at work yesterday. (We had Monday off for Columbus Day.) So far, it's been okay, though I miss Simon terribly. It's sad to say good-bye in the mornings and I count the hours all day until I get home.

It has been made easier, however, as nanny T has been sending photos of Simon during the day! Three from yesterday and one from today are below. They have totally made my days at work!

Tummy time 2.0

Simon has gotten SO much better at Tummy Time. He's a lot happier about it too! He used to only tolerate it for a few short minutes, and then he'd just scream. But now that he's better at holding himself up for a while, he'll stay there pretty happily! He especially likes propping himself up and looking at his reflection in his mirror.

Here is some video as well!

Tummy Time 2.0 from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

The final details

This week, the last of my maternity leave, has been all about getting ready to go back to work. Part of that has been having two half days with our new nanny, my friend and her baby. We did one half day at each house, so that everyone could get familiar with the surroundings, where everything is, etc. It was great to spend time with the nanny and see her interact with the kids so much - I knew I liked her, but I feel even more comfortable after having these two days. She really is a natural with kids and I think she's going to do a wonderful job caring for the boys.

One thing we did today was test out the new twin stroller we bought! We got a Snap-N-Go that can fit both carseats. Here it is in action, with baby I in the front and Simon in the back:

We also tested out both carseats in nanny T's car:

Everything appears to be ready to go!

Bumbo!

Simon is holding his head up well enough now that he's able to sit in his Bumbo seat! I have been SO excited to finally use our Bumbo - many friends of mine have had them and really loved them, so I couldn't wait for Simon to get to sit in his. I think he likes it!

Major milestone!

This evening during Simon's tummy time, he was doing really well, picking his head up really high. And then without warning, he gave an almighty lurch, and rolled over on to his back! I really thought it was a fluke at first, and sure enough, I put him back on his tummy, and he proceeded to just hang out and suck on his fingers for a while. But then he propped himself back up, and did it again! So I ran for the camera, and managed to catch the event on video!

Rolling over! from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

My mom tells me that I first rolled over at about 14 weeks. So for Simon to be doing it at 11.5 weeks is pretty impressive!

Simon's new toy

We got Simon a mirror toy, which can stand up on its own on the floor, or be strapped to the bars of his crib. Here he is playing with it!

Mirror from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Chins

Simon's double chin is becoming more and more prominent, and his cheeks are also getting quite chubby!

This is not the greatest photo (I took it myself while holding him), but it really shows off the chins:

Yep, we're definitely chubbing him up! We're very proud of our boy for doing so much growing.

Project: Nanny Share

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I was meeting with a friend to discuss nanny sharing. Well, it's official - we've hired a nanny to take care of Simon.

Because of all of Simon's health issues when he was first born, we can no longer put him in daycare this year. Kids in daycare get all kinds of colds, just because they're exposed to so many other kids all day long, putting their mouths on toys that some other kid just had in his/her mouth, etc. And for Simon, even a simple cold would be really rough on him. His lungs are now healthy enough for him to breathe well without any extra oxygen. But a respiratory infection would be very difficult.

So when Simon came home from the hospital, we started trying to figure out what on earth to do. Would one of us stop working? Would we both try to shift our schedules such that one of us could be home in the morning, and one in the afternoon? Could one of us work weekends? Thankfully the solution allows us to both continue in our jobs.

I have a wonderful friend here in the Boston area, whom I've known since we were 11 years old. We were best buddies in the 6th and 7th grades back in Minnesota, but then she and her family moved away. Long story short, we fell in and out of touch over the years, until she found me on Facebook earlier this year. It turned out we were both in Boston, and both expecting little boys! We had such fun catching up, sharing pregnancy stories, doing prenatal yoga classes together, etc. Her son is just 3 weeks older than Simon, and is absolutely adorable!

We'd briefly discussed nanny-sharing before the boys were born, but both decided on daycare. We were even going to use the same daycare center. But after all of Simon's health issues, we decided to look in to it again. It wasn't going to be THAT much more expensive than daycare, and my friend decided she'd also prefer a nanny to daycare this year, given what is expected to be a pretty awful flu season.

So we started interviewing nanny candidates. With four of us involved (us and our spouses), it wasn't terribly straightforward, with all of us having different opinions about one person or another. Then there was the tax issue - we found a candidate that we liked, who said she was willing to pay taxes instead of being paid under the table. (This is very important to us - I know lots of people pay their nannies off the books, but we're going to do this legally.) But then when we were getting ready to sign a contract, she backed out on it, saying she preferred to be paid cash. Gah.

But finally we found someone. We really like her and hope it all works out. She is a mom herself, and has nanny experience with triplets, so I'm sure she'll be able to handle two boys about the same age. We're going to alternate homes - one month at our house, and one month at my friend's house. The nanny will start next week - for the first week we'll just have two half-days with both of us mommies, the nanny and the boys all together, one day at our house and one at theirs. Then the nanny start full time the following week, when I go back to work.

Part of me is dreading going back to work. I know I will be a mess and will miss Simon all day. But... and I feel guilty saying this... part of me is looking forward to it. My brain kind of feels like mush, and it will be nice to stretch it out and have some intellectual stimulation again. I've enjoyed every minute of these weeks home with Simon, but balance is good. I guess every working mother must go through this internal debate. Fortunately all of the people I work closely with have young kids, and they know what it's like. The job is also reasonably flexible, so if I'm having a bad day and want to come home early, I can do that, as long as I log on after Simon goes to bed to finish things up. So hopefully things will work out.

Speaking of Simon going to bed... he's slept from 8:30 p.m. - 4:30 a.m. two nights in a row. Fingers crossed that this pattern will stick around!