Pictures from Grandpa Tom

My dad sent the photos from his camera, that were taken during his trip here. A few are a little blurry but they're super-cute, so I'm posting them anyway!

With a very excited Grandpa Tom:

Again with Grandpa:

This is the funny face he makes right before he poops - what you can't see is his tongue sticking out slightly:

After a bath with Daddy:

Closeup - too cute!

Tummy time

Here's another video, this one of Simon during some tummy time yesterday! It includes lots of squeaky noises, one pretty big scream, a switch of head position from one side to the other, and his favorite tummy time activity - sucking on his fingers.

Tummy time from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Victory is mine!

Simon has this adorable way of waking up that I really wanted to capture on video. He sleeps swaddled up in one of his swaddle blankets, with his arms down. (We've found that he wakes himself up otherwise.) When he does wake up, we loosen the swaddle, and he usually shoots his arms straight over his head and does this huge full-body stretch. We call it the "Victory is Mine!" stretch, which you'll appreciate if you've ever watched "Family Guy."

This was my attempt to capture it on video, but he seemed a bit perplexed by the camera in his face and didn't really do the stretch justice. But it's still pretty cute! (I still don't know how he managed to loosen one shoulder during this nap - he's quite the little Houdini.)

Victory is mine! from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

A great day

Simon and I had a great day today! He slept for a few hours after his early-morning bottle from Daddy (who has taking one of the middle-of-the-night feedings by giving him a bottle of pumped milk each night, which has been great!), and took not one but TWO great naps during the day. I even got about an hour nap in while he slept during the afternoon, which was wonderful! Simon has been more of a cat-napper during the day up until now, so hopefully this continues!

Then, it was finally nice enough out that we could take a walk around the neighborhood. The weather has been so HOT and sticky lately that it's been nearly impossible to do anything outside - we were cooped up in the apartment with the air conditioners on for my dad's entire visit, which was too bad. I'd had all these grand plans of going for walks around the neighborhood and taking Simon to the park, but we weren't able to do any of that. But today it was beautiful outside!

A little while after we got back, Daddy came home from work and we all had dinner. The boys are now getting some quality time together, which they both love in the evenings!

Photo from our walk, where Simon clearly looks skeptical of my "driving" skills:

new pictures

A few new photos!

First, Simon in his crib, looking up at his mobile. Note the lack of the oxygen - he was in the middle of his two-hour block without it:

Next, during some tummy time this morning. He's definitely working on figuring out how to get his fingers in his mouth to suck on them, whenever he finds his hand near his face:

Also this morning, hanging out in the swing:

And yesterday, when Daddy was reading him a story!

Video!

I took this video of Simon playing in his activity gym this morning. Don't know if it was intentional, but he definitely kept hitting the toy repeatedly and seemed to enjoy it! I also love his little collared outfit - the "golf onesie", as we call it. It came from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim, and is definitely still a little big for him. So we'll get some more use out of it!

Play time! from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

One month

Simon turned one month old yesterday! With everything that's happened, this past month has seemed like a lifetime. But we couldn't be happier or more proud of our little boy!

Things are continuing to go well at home. I hesitate to say that we've settled in to a "routine," because nothing about caring for a newborn seems to be routine. Simon is sleeping fairly well for us at night - in the beginning he was reliably giving us two 3-4 hour stretches, followed by a 1-2 hour sleep, which was fantastic! But the last two nights have not been nearly so nice - we're getting a few 2-hour stretches, where he is awake for more than an hour in between. Oh well - it was nice while it lasted, and the "routine" will most likely change in a few days anyway.

My dad has been here for the past week, which has been really wonderful. He's kept Simon entertained, changed many a diaper, and even been pooped on twice in one day! He also babysat yesterday for a few hours while I got together for lunch with a very good friend to discuss nanny-sharing. (More on that later.)

Other observations on Simon:
1) He does NOT like having a wet or dirty diaper.
2) He much prefers sleeping while curled up on someone's chest (preferably daddy's) to any other place.
3) Swaddling well is absolutely necessary for good sleep.
4) Smiles are a regular occurrence, but most are reserved for the living room ceiling fan.
5) He makes a certain face when he is getting ready for a big poop - it's hilarious! We caught it on Dad's camera this evening - will post it when he sends me the pictures!

In other news, Simon's appointment with his pulmonologist went very well on Friday. He was 8 lb. 10 oz.! They also did a 15-minute test where they took him off of the oxygen and measured his oxygen saturations. He did wonderfully! So we got the go-ahead to start weaning him from the oxygen. It starts with four days of taking him off the oxygen for an hour each day. So far he's done great, with his saturations never dipping below 95%. (He needs to stay above 90%.) He has one more day of that, and then we will up it to two one-hour stretches a day. We'll keep you posted!

A few photos:

The preferred sleeping position

How cute is this face????

Grandpa Tom is a little excited about getting to spend time with Simon