G'n'R Out West

Yikes, already?  I can’t even believe it.  Why do they have to grow up? 

Sleep:
Sleeping is awesome.  He sleeps in a play pen next to our bed for the first part of the night.  I put him in there around 11.  He usually makes it until 1:30, and then he stays with us the rest of the night.  He typically eats at 1:30, 4ish, 6ish.  He often doesn’t wake up for the day until around 8…unless his sister isn’t doing good listening…then he gets up around 6:30…sigh.

He usually has a few good naps during the day.  I can tell he is tired because he cries.  It is pretty much the only time he cries.  Sometimes he will nap independently, but he just loves snuggling, so he gets the best sleeps when we are together. 

Eating:
Things have been great finally.  No latching issues, no mastitis, it is wonderful….except he is now into biting.  I must find a way to break him of this habit before the teeth emerge!

Bottle feeding is something Simon has still never seen.  After the mastitis I got a little gun shy to mess around with my supply.  I don’t know if we’ll bother at this point, since soon enough he’ll be eating solids and so if I do need to get some time away we can tide him over with some food.   

Hair:
It is getting longer, it is still pretty short and non-existent.  It is a very light brown from what we can tell. 

Eyes:
His eyes got really light this month.  They’ve been quite dark since birth, but this month they changed.  Seems odd to me that they got lighter.  Anyway, they are grayish.

Personality:
So so so relaxed.  He shoots off loves smiles to all members of his family.  More often when he is nursing, but fairly often in general.  Apart from that he is rather serious.  Mostly he just sits back and takes it all in.  He has been known to get very frustrated with toys as of late.  Now that his hands suddenly work he has high expectations for them.

 He hates the carseat.  Half the time he falls asleep, the other half of the time he gives me feedback about how he feels about the car seat.  On more then one occasion Adelle has spent the entire car ride with her fingers in her ears.

The expression ‘cries at the drop of a hat’ applies to Simon in the evenings.  He can be very sensitive.  It makes for interesting dinners.  Adelle is usually all wound up since Greg is just getting home and the last few nights she’s been doing lots of excited yelling at supper.  It upsets Simon.  He gets these slow motion little frowns, then pouts and finally cries.  He really does sad well.

Simon did finally laugh this month.  My dad got him to laugh for the first time.  My dad is funny…we are not.  We can be funny enough to get a smile, but a laugh is like pulling teeth.  I think I’ve had him laugh a handful of times.   And those times I only just got him for a few seconds before I was too boring to even be acknowledged.  To increase your chances of getting a laugh, Simon must be just freshly changed, with naked legs.  You tickle the legs while giving him your best facial expressions.  It is exhausting!  His laugh is almost silent.

 He loves to suck and bite.  Your hands are better then his.  He it getting really good at grabbing my hands and getting them in his mouth.  What a smartie pants.

 Stuff that happened this month:
- he started to watch me walk around the room, and can get upset when I leave
- he went swimming for the first time, and loved it
- he laughed for the first time
- he started playing with the toys on his swing
- he liked a bath for the first time…but can’t be lying down.

Big smiles are hard to come by, and so they are super special.

On Saturday we were pretty sure that spring had arrived…
 

But by Sunday morning and after 15cm of snow, no matter how much we wished it was spring…it sure didn’t feel like it anymore!
 

Adelle has been a real hoot theses days.  She has started doing things just to make us laugh.  On Thursday I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and she came in and said to me in a totally straight face ‘I’m ready for bed’…only she was wearing my pjs and not hers.  She looked ridiculous.  Then Friday morning she riped up a piece of kleenex and stuck two small pieces onto the bottom of her nose…then looked right at me all serious and said ‘good morning’.  That one ended a little less funny.  She quickly rolled up one of those pieces and then shoved it up her nose.  At first she thought that was funny too until she realized she couldn’t get it out.  30 minutes later and one good sneeze and all was well.  However, it was a LONG 30 minutes!

Simon is doing fabulous.  He is growing up so much these days.  His reactions are so much more varried then they used to be.  It is so fun to watch him now.  More often then not he is happy.  He loves to follow me around the room, and has started to get a little uneasy when I can’t be found.  He has really started to figure out his hands and they have become much more useful for putting and keeping things in his mouth.

And elephants…sometimes there are elephants. Our house has become overrun with creatures large and small. Many of the little ones Adelle lets in. But I’m not sure where the big ones come from.

Adelle is really into pretending these days. She is always finding imaginary cats and dogs lounging around our house. Yesterday she told me she was going to let in a cat (while I was nursing and so stuck in a chair). She had me a bit worried when after opening the front door, she reported that the cat had run into the kitchen and then she took off in pursuit….thankfully, it was just pretend!

The large animals tend to be rather ferocious and have been known to attack. However, we are told they respond to whistle blows. Adelle is always blowing whistles to clear rooms and protect us. Luckily for us, and our eardrums, these imaginary animals respond to imaginary whistles.

I love pretending.

Adelle loves pretending, but she also loves her brother, he mostly loves her…but as can be seen below, at times he isn’t quite sure what to think of her.

We took Simon swimming for the first time today.  It was so great.  He was initially shocked by the idea of the pool, but quickly warmed up to it and started enjoying it.  Hopefully he’ll continue to enjoy it.  His favorite thing to do in the water is to be picked up out of the water and then dropped back in.  He also enjoys watching water spray around him, although, if any hits him he sputters and gasps for air as if he thinks he is drowning… 

Ever since Adelle has been in unparented swimming lessons she has gotten to great in the water.  She is so confident and when she does stumble and go under she is able to get up by herself and she finds it hilarious.  Today she was even willingly putting her head under water and coming up giggling.  I have visions of being able to take them both swimming by myself.  I’m not quite there yet, but it would be fun to be able to do it during the week instead of only swimming on the weekends.

We’ve had some fabulous weather here lately.  Some bright sunny snow melty days.  Adelle and I LOVE splashing in the puddles.  I think next time we go out I will try a bit harder to get her in her full splash suit..it was all fun and games for the first 45 minutes until she landed head first in a puddle.  She does love telling people how dirty she got though and how we had to rush home and throw her jacket in the laundry!

He is growing up so fast.  He is almost grown out of the 3-6 month clothes.  When my dad was visiting he put Simon in the exersaucer at playgroup and he loved it.  I wasn’t quite ready to admit he was old enough to go in it…but I guess I can’t deny it now!

 Sleep:
It has been a bit of a challenging month sleep wise.  Between getting mastitis and Simon having a bad cold we’ve not had great sleeps.  However, not great sleeps with Simon is still lots of sleeping.  Last night was simply fabulous, so hopefully things will get better. 

As always, he isn’t difficult at night, just the frequency of nursing can be onerous at times.  He still has never had any night time crying fits.  

Simon loves to sleep as close to me as humanly possible.  Usually tucked up into my armpit (doesn’t sound that pleasant to me!).  If I move over just the smallest little bit he scootches right up next to me, ensuring his head is completely buried.   He seems to sleep most of the evening (starting at around 8pm) and sleeps until close to 8am. 

I don’t put him down for naps with any schedule or frequency, but he has a few good naps every day, and is usually very grouchy before he falls asleep.  Sometimes he’ll sleep in his bassinet, but often he spends the good part of his nap on somebody’s lap, or in a wrap on my front while Adelle and I run around doing whatever it is we are up to.  

Eating:
He is still the world’s fastest eater.  I love it.  He generally nurses little in the mornings and early afternoon.  After dinner and until bedtime he typically is only interested in nursing.  Mostly he is hungry…but sometimes he just wants to be near me.  At the times he isn’t that hungry he will feed for a few seconds, then stop and look up at me with the largest smile.  It makes me feel very loved.  When he is feeling all this love, and not much hunger, he LOVES to bite.  This makes me feel a little less loved…but it is hard to stay mad long since he keeps shooting me such beautiful smiles.

During the night he sometimes has a few big feeds, sometimes has lots of little ones…he is always very close to his food source and I have gotten very used to sleeping in a position where I don’t always pay that much attention to what is going on. 

 We still have never tried a bottle.  Sometimes I think we should…but Adelle gave us such a fight and Simon is already half way to 6 months.  I found with Adelle once she hit 6 months, I was able to start sneaking away, as she could be held off from nursing with a little snack.  We shall see.     

Another mentionable related to eating is puking.  Simon could win a medal for quantity and frequency.  There appears to be no correlation between length of time from feed to puke.  It also doesn’t matter if I burp him.   Basically if you are holding him you are at risk of being drenched. 

Hair:
He has dirty blond hair that is quite even over his whole head at about a 1/2 inch in length.  He has developed that tell-tale bald spot right on the back of his head. 

Just like his sister he has what others have called a stork-bite just on the hairline at the back of his head.  Sometimes it is darker, sometimes it is hardly noticeable. 

Eyes:
Still a greyish-brown…darker than Adelle’s, but still changing.

Personality:
He is such a little joy.  Full of smiles.  He is quite independent.  Sometimes I’ll carry him around and he’ll start to fuss, and if I put him down he relaxes for a while.  This behavior seems so bizarre to me, but I guess some babies just need their space at times. 

He thinks being worn in the sling is ok, but much prefers to be snuggled right up against me in the wrap.  Most times he is more or less content doing whatever we want him to be doing.  Every now and again he fusses a bit.  It is rare that he gets really worked up unless we are stuffing him in the carseat.  Usually after the car is in motion he gives up and sleeps.  On rare occasions he has screamed for the entire drive. 

He is very much in love with his sister.  He especially loves it when she really jumps on him.  As a rule, if I am concerned for his safety, he is over the moon excited by his sister’s antics. 

He has recently moved from short bursts of cooing to complicated coo sentences.  I think he surprises himself at times with what he is capable of.  He doesn’t really talk all that often, so when he does all ears are listening. 

Simon has recently started to be aware of his hands.  He hasn’t noticed them perse but he has been known to use them.  I think he touched my face on purpose and a few times he has touched toys after intently staring at them…his ability to do things for himself is slowly developing. 

Stuff that happened this month:
- he started loving his sister. 
- he got a really bad cold…and won’t stop coughing!
- he started to talk in coo-sentences
- he started to really drool…maybe the start of teething?
- he threw up in my mouth…for the second time…I am much more careful when I kiss him now!
- he has just barely started to figure out touching…he hasn’t mastered it quite yet, but he is working on it!

 Growing up:

Frig.  It isn’t hard to get a smile out of the guy, but in terms of laughing he is a tough sell.  My dad had him laughing for a few minutes the other night.

I tried the whole next day…and nothing.  I wish I was as funny as Grandpa Gary.

My dad has gone home now and we are all sad.  We consoled ourselves in a really fun trip to the zoo this morning.  It was super fun until Greg and I decided it was time to go home…there were many tears.  But I guess it was all worth it!