G'n'R Out West

So old…I am having a hard time believing it.  So huge next to his new baby cousin.

This month has flown by.  Greg has been out of town a little bit, and we’ve been in Ottawa waiting for the newest cousin to arrive…so Greg has missed lots which isn’t any fun. Simon has been changing by leaps and bounds and has really hit the point where so much changes every day.  Greg could hardly believe how much had changed in just the two weeks we were in Ottawa.

Sleep:
Yeah, whatever, he sleeps from 7:30 until 6:30…usually wakes 2-3 times to eat.  Sometimes I make him hang out with Greg instead of eat…he doesn’t really like doing that.  We are in negotiations with him in regards to nursing less at night.  So far he seems to feel very strongly about the issue…we will continue to discuss.

He napped quite well while we were in Ottawa, mostly in the car, or in the wrap.  Usually naps were twice a day for around 30 min – 45 min.   At least he is flexible and will nap on the run.  He sleeps best if I carry him, the independent naps are typically quite short.  I do enjoy carrying him for naps…but my back can’t handle it too often, so I try to put him down whenever I can. 

Eating:
We hit a bit of a bump in the road.  Simon had been pretty much exclusively eating regular food.  But on our trip to Ottawa he got a bit sick and stopped eating.  He mostly seems to like mushy food now, which is odd, given he didn’t like it before.  Not sure why.  But at least he is eating.  He was also introduced to bread this month.  It is now officially his favorite food. If he had the choice he’d eat nothing but bread, not unlike his Mum.

Getting Around:
Simon is the boss of walking.  He still seems to fall a lot, and regardless of when or where or how he falls, he always manages to bump his head.  It usually makes him very sad and defeated. He always has a bruise or bump on his little noggin these days.

Hair:
Light brown, getting longer, We’ve started to think about getting him a hair cut…but we aren’t quite there yet.

Eyes:
Browny green.

Language:
He does the milk sign…it means he wants something.  We really haven’t done enough sign language with  him to get anywhere.  I should get on that…just need to find the time….and perhaps get an extra hand.

I think the biggest change we’ve seen in Simon this month is how vocal he is.  He used to say very little, now he  talks all the time.   He is working really hard at trying to say words. He likes to say ‘cat’, ‘hi’, ‘boo’, ‘go’, ‘Adelle’.  He has some associations with some of the words he says.  When he’s interested he also imitates sounds we make. The other day I said ‘lets go’ and he quickly repeated it. Pretty funny.

Personality:
He loves animals. He chased my brother’s cat around pretty much non stop on our trip. Poor cat.  He also is very passionate about stuffed animals and some of the dolls in the house.  He will walk over to them, snatch them up and then give them a snuggle and carry them around. Pretty cute.

He can get a bit shy with new people. Although, he is often really interested in random men. My brother is his favorite person ever, but there have been others that he’s been affectionate with.

Sometimes only I will do, he can get pretty angry if I hand him off to somebody when I need to get something done…or just need a little break.

He has been known to wave, but hasn’t totally figured it out. Currently, he is really into pointing and yelling. He also loves to sing. If anybody is singing, he usually joins in, he often dances too.

Stuff that happened this month:
- he met his new baby cousin
- he learned lots of new words
- he fell in love with his uncle Al

- he learned the joy of tormenting cats

- he officially has 6 teeth 4 on top and 2 on bottom

Always with the tongue.

Well, we went to Ottawa with the intention (and hope) that we would be able to welcome a new baby into the family.  Luckily for us little baby Pippi (Hippy according to Adelle) obliged.  So thoughtful, really.  Already I love her.  She didn’t specifically tell me, but I’m pretty sure she loves me too.
 

It was a beautiful birth and I am so honoured to have been there for it.  It was so beautiful to see the experience, from that perspective.  I know it was such hard work for my sister, I am in awe.  I suppose birth is just one of those things that will always amaze me.

Adelle thinks Pippi is great, but mostly she is so busy with the older kids she hasn’t had time for more than a few quick snuggles.  Simon only noticed her after 3 or 4 days.  He thought she was pretty interesting, but he was also highly distracted by the older cousins.  The older cousins just adore their baby sister.  She is really sweet.

We had the most wonderful time in Ottawa.  We stayed with my brother, his fiance Amy, and their roommate Scott (or squat, as Adelle calls him).  We’ve never stayed with my brother before so that was really fun.  They have two cats who likely will need therapy after two weeks with our kids…but my goodness did Adelle and Simon ever have a good time with them.  

Simon and Alec are best friends.  They have this really neat connection.  He could be so fussy and unsettled in my arms, then reach out for my brother and just snuggle right in and be completely at peace.  It was really beautiful to see.  Simon’s middle name is after my brother, that choice seems so fitting when you see them together.

I think Adelle was on cloud nine the entire trip.  Each morning she’d jump out of bed and beg to run in and wake up Amy and Alec.  There was nothing more fun then snuggling in bed with her uncle and aunt.  It was a great way to start each day.  Since my brother was at my sister’s birth as well, Amy actually had a sleepover with Adelle so that Al and I could be with my sister.  Adelle was over the moon to find Amy next to her when she woke up the next morning.  It is so wonderful to be around our extended family…and so hard to leave.

Adelle really looks up to Lily and loves to follow her around.

Adelle and Chi-Chi play well together…but she often thinks that she is the boss…

Our flight home was unfortunately very eventful.  Adelle reacted to something she ate and had an anaphylactic reaction.  She is ok, and there was no impact on her breathing at any time.  At first she had a stomach ache and an irritated GI tract, we went to the bathroom, and upon our return she had a VERY swollen eye.  Then two swollen eyes and finally she told me that she thought a moose bit her tongue.  Since I hadn’t seen any moose on the flight we decided it was time to page for a doctor.  Luckily there was one.  I am sure Adelle would have been fine without one, however, I needed the reassurance.  It was very scary.  To add impact to injury…Simon also completely freaked out during the event.  So basically I had two screaming kids on my lap in the airplane with a doctor trying to convince Adelle to swallow an adult benadryl.  There was some talk about landing the plane prematurely.  But soon it was clear she wasn’t getting any worse, and after not too long the swelling started to come down. 

The paramedics met us once we landed and offered to transport her to the hospital.  We decided she was ok to drive with us and forgo any additional trauma.  We had a long wait in the hospital, and Adelle was such a trooper.  However, by the time the doctor finally examined her she was sleeping…she didn’t even wake up when they pried her mouth open to see her tongue.  Poor thing, she was just exhausted.

We are now in a state of stress trying to figure out what she might have eaten and what restrictions are appropriate for her diet.  We can’t think of anything unusual she ate that day.  So frustrating.  We have a suspicion it is sesame seeds as they are a common allergen, my sister is allergic to them, and without even realizing she might have had issue with them I offered her some after she’d had the reaction and she declined.  In retrospect it makes me wonder if eating them in the first place made her sick.

Anyway, we will be checking in with our family doc in the morning, and hopefully we will start figuring this out.  In the mean time we have a little pencil case with her epi-pen and some benadryl.  Good times.

Some people think it is exciting to have a baby walking at 10 months.  This is not the case for Simon.  Although he certainly can walk, I think he has the balance and co-ordination of the average 10 month old.  So he falls – A LOT.  This high volume of falling has led to a bloody mouth at least once a week.  Once we even went to the dentist because he had such a disturbing bruise on his gum and a ripped frenum on his upper gum. 

Last night he had a real doozy.  He fell and started screaming, I ran over and noticed he had a mouth full of blood.  He cried for a while, but for him this wasn’t an unfamiliar scenario so we never really thought much of it.   He was up from 10pm until 1:30 either screaming or on the verge of screaming.  He kept trying to nurse, but just couldn’t latch..eventually he managed to nurse at 1:30.  This morning he didn’t eat breakfast, and then I noticed the cut on his tongue…so sad.

Poor Simon, it sure can suck to be a baby!

Greg’s cousin Keith was up for a few days and whether he wanted it or not, he was top entertainment for the kids.  They both loved having him around.  He did all sorts of foolish things with them and therefore won them over.

Feels like we’ve been busy lately…but I can’t quite remember what exactly we’ve been so busy doing.  The kids and I will be off soon on a 2 week adventure to ottawa.  My sister is having a baby!!!  And hopefully we’ll get to be there for the big event!!! 

To the new baby: please wait until we get to ottawa, but don’t wait too long because I think my sister is getting a little tired of being pregnant.  That is all baby…see you soon.