Picture of the Day: 7/31/11

Saying goodbye to Grandpa Ken

Picture of the Day: 7/30/11

Simon dries off after his first real shower

Picture of the Day: 7/29/11

Being a very good boy for his grandparents while Mommy and Daddy are out on a date night

Picture of the Day: 7/27/11

Modeling his "Business Casual" look on the way to visit Daddy's work

Picture of the Day: 7/25/11

So excited for dinner at Machu Picchu with Grandma Cindy

Picture of the Day: 7/24/11

Our trashy rocker baby

Picture of the Day: 7/23/11

Good morning, everybody!

Grandma Patty Visit – Week of July 17th

Mom’s visit was really fast. Unfortunately it was a million degrees while she was here and that put a damper on everything we could do. We spent some good time napping (me and Simon) and plenty of time eating, and LOTS of time sweating. At the end of the visit I sadly started my breakout into hives so most of Thursday was spent trying to figure out how to get rid of them. Unfortunately the doctors we saw didn’t help as much as I would have liked. Alan brought me to the regular doctor on Friday and he not so helpfully diagnosed me with hives and gave me a couple things we could try but essentially told me that in 40% of cases a cause is never determined. The hive story will be continued in the Cindy/Ken visit post.

Sadly again, we didn't get many pictures. I learned when I was going back that I need to be way better about taking pictures with Simon and visitors!

Picture of the Day: 7/21/11

Deep thoughts at 5am

Picture of the Day: 7/20/11

Enjoying a wrap for lunch at Suvan's with Mom

Picture of the Day: 7/19/11

Sheik Simon

Grandpa Bart and Grandma Kiki Visit – week of July 10th

Dad and Kiki came to help out during week four of my recovery. It was a quick and relaxing visit with much time spent napping and the rest spent eating or feeding Simon. Simon and I still weren’t into too much of a groove so were slow about getting moving, but by the end of the week I was feeling much better and able to go out and walk around without much issue. We did get lots of pictures! Including one of Alan, Simon and me. I've included them after the jump.

My personal goal for the week was to get advice from Kiki on materials and some help on how to do an art project I wanted to do with Simon’s foot prints. We did our first foot prints at the end of the week and plan to do them every month for the first year. I’ll send post updates on month two so you can get a better ‘picture’ of them.

Picture of the Day: 7/15/11

So ready for lunch

Picture of the Day: 7/14/11

Napping in the car after a long day

Misc Simon Pictures

After two and half weeks off, I finally had to go back to work starting last Tuesday.  Work itself hasn't been too bad so far (it helps that it's relatively quiet here right now with lots of people on vacation) but it's been tough to be away from the family.  Simon changed so much just over the few weeks that I was home so I'm afraid that I'm going to miss something big while I'm gone.  Emily's been helping to make that a bit easier by sending me pictures every day or two so I can see how he's doing.  Since I know a few of you are also interested in seeing more of him, I'll post some of the pictures from the last week or two here.

July 5: Sleeping on the way home after a busy shopping trip to Target

Aunt Colleen Visit – week of July 3rd

Just after Fourth of July weekend Alan sadly had to go back to work and Colleen came to help me with day to day things since after a cesarean section you’re not supposed to lift anything heavier than the baby (mine was only 6 pounds!) and not supposed to drive or go up and down steps too much. That is quite the request if you’re home alone. As always, Colleen was amazing. She made sure Simon and I took plenty of naps and took care of the laundry, feeding me (I took care of feeding Simon) and all the little things that come up – like house cleaning and other random errands. She also made sure that I got just a little exercise every day so I got better quicker. In short, she was a great sister and a great aunt. She snuggled Simon and was swaying with him like a pro the first day. Who knew my sister was a natural with kids? Next time she comes hopefully it’ll be less work and more fun. We didn’t get nearly enough pictures with her and Simon. I’ve included a couple more after the jump.

Lisa, it's your birthday

Happy Birthday Lisa!  Sorry we can't be out there to celebrate with you, but here's a birthday song from your nephew...

Hungry, Sleepy, Focused

We've only had him for a few weeks but we're starting to really understand what Simon is trying to tell us with his limited communication skills. Being able to figure out what he needs or is thinking about makes it easier to keep him satisfied and happy as much as possible.  We can tell pretty easily if he's hungry or tired or dirty, and it's fun to watch him when he's in one of his brain-building Active/Quiet alert states.  The one that we are still having a little trouble with is knowing when he needs to be burped more, but we're getting there.

That's not a happy face

Videos of three of Simon's moods after the jump...

First Fourth

Simon spent his first 4th of July with his parents and his Aunt Colleen.  His little cord stump fell out the previous day so he was able to wear a onesie for the first time.  The timing was perfect since Colleen had made an American flag onesie for him at the baby shower a few weeks before.  That afternoon we all took a walk up to the house to see the construction progress (which I'll post on soon).  The girls were walking too slowly for us guys, so we decided to speed down the sidewalk and leave them behind.  Simon loves it when we do crazy bouncy driving in the stroller so he really enjoyed the ride.  Then we hung around outside the house waiting for the two girls to catch up, and Simon started getting hungry.  Nothing some more crazy stroller driving couldn't distract him from though...

He's knows there's a pretty good chance he won't get any food from chewing on my finger, but he's considering trying it anyway

Two videos from our 4th of July walk after the jump...

Due Date

This is the day.  Simon Emory Basque was due to join the world on July 3rd. Instead he came seventeen days ago. What a great seventeen days it has been. 

Tummy Time - July 2nd

The doctor told us the more tummy time the better and luckily Simon seems to enjoy it almost as much as we do. He just scoots around like a little worm when we help him out by giving him something solid to push off of. Already he is noticeably stronger than the first time we did tummy time a little under a week ago. This boy is growing so fast!

Pictures after the jump.