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!