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!

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!