Our busy week!

Simon napping without his pacifier! So sleepy after a long day of playing.

Simon and I(Jenn) put together a nanny/baby playgroup at Little Beans Cafe yesterday. Little Beans is an indoor playspace with TONS of room to crawl and with every toy a 9 month old could ask for. This is Lucy, our new girlfriend. They are only 10 days apart so having someone our own size to play with was great fun. He was also very into sticking out his tongue yesterday.

Getting excited for lunch!!

I wanted to repost this photo from my computer in hopes that it would be better quality from my computer.

Simon showing off his standing at Family Grounds on this Tuesday.

Playing with Auntie Colleen's fun toys!

"Oh dear, he plays just like his dad!" -Emily :)

Big teeth!!!

Picture of the Day: 3/24/12

Who needs breakfast when there are cars!

Fun lunch

Having a fun Thursday lunch with Jenn and Auntie C.

Swingtime

The weather's been beautiful lately and it's been great to finally be able to play outside with Simon.  We have a bunch of parks within walking distance from our house that we've taken him to over the past week or two.  His favorite thing there is the swings - as soon as we put him in the seat he starts giggling because he knows what's coming next, and he has his open-mouthed amazed face on the whole time he's in the air.

Pics and videos after the jump...

Very Advanced

Simon and Alan were reading the paper over breakfast this weekend. Simon was looking at the used car section. He is so advanced for his age...

Standing on his own

Guess who can stand on his own? Alan!
Someone else too...

Sleeping: Butt in the air

I love Simon's "normal" sleeping pose: with his butt in the air and his arms tucked to his side. You know he is really tired when you are holding him and he puts his head against your chest and his arms by his sides and shuts his eyes - it is always really quick but so completely adorable and snuggly. He also always scoots to the top of the crib, which is also the side closest to the door. He will often wake up with bar marks on his little head or cheeks because he is so tight against the bars. It doesn't matter how low we start him at night or if we move him when he is sleeping, he just inchworms his way to the top of the crib against the bars. And he somehow usually ends up on top of his blankets.

9 Months

I took about 50 pictures this morning trying to get a good one to show off his Nine Months. 90% of the pictures are blurry, the rest you see below. He is super fast and when you call his name he crawls to you to take the phone/camera... (looks so tasty!) As a result, pictures of him not latched into a chair/stroller have become more difficult and less in focus.

Hot, Sunny, Beautiful Day

It is lovely here. 76 degrees right now, easily 80s in the sun and not a cloud in the sky. We sat in the backyard and had lunch. Simon had yogurt and greenbeans. Yum.

PS Sadly Jenn caught Simon's sickness and so stayed home today. So just me and baby.

80° in March!!

We had to fish out this outfit from the 'summer time' bin :) sooo cute!

Simon's sick week.

These are photos from last week and this week. At the park from yesterday , playing with Emily's knitted fish, sick cuddles, and the last is from this morning gently playing with my hair Haha. Sorry they are all sideways, my phone isn't the smartest.

Here he comes!

Simon is feeling so much better today. Here's a video of him crawling toward the camera/phone. He loves phones. He will come from across the room to see if he gets to play with a phone or a computer.

Foods Simon Eats (updated version)

At the request of an aunty, below you fill find a list of foods that Simon currently eats. He has also gotten the hang of the sippy cup, which has allowed him to start eating food that is a little dryer (like the bread). As you can see, he's gotten quite the repertoire now and is at about the point where we can give him most anything we think to make for him. He is happy to help us by putting anything and everything into his mouth. He hasn't had any bad reactions (knock on wood) and loves eating. We've taken him off the mid-day bottle for the most part, so he only nurses morning and night (bottles if I'm not around) and then solids the rest of the time.

For all of the things described as 'didn't like' below - we've learned that if you keep offering them to him he'll keep eating. He'll make a terrible face when he tastes it, but when you come back with another spoonful he'll open up for it again.

1. Sweet Potatoes and chicken pureed (loves it, even though it smells awful)
2. Baby Pot Roast (Doesn't really love it, needs extra carrots. It is a pure of beef, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, leeks)
3. Applesauce - home made and delicious. Good mixer too.
4. Pureed Pears - home made and delicious. Good mixer too. 
5. Baby oatmeal - usually mixed with pears or applesauce.
6. Grapes - halved, spits out the skins sometimes
7. Pineapple - frozen, mixed with apples and pears
8. Corn - just thawed out on their own
9. Peas - just thawed out on their own
10. Peaches - fresh and sliced small
11. Blueberries - fresh and sliced in half
12. Spinach, potato, tomato pure - New recipe made by Jenn yesterday and he Loves it!
13. Broccoli, apple, quinoa - didn't mind it
14. Butternut squash and apples pureed - best thing ever
15. Puffs, Puffs, Puffs, Puffs - best thing ever and have honed his hand-mouth coordination.
16. Banana Applesauce bread - I made it without sugar so he could have bread to sop up the medicine he's taking. He really enjoys smashing it, I think he likes eating it too. I hope so, I made a lot.
17. Tomato - little bit of raw, it was ok
18. Apricots pureed - too much work for us, he thought it was ok
19. Zucchini pureed - didn't love and reduced down to nothing
20. Scrambled egg - didn't love, but I think we'll try this again. Last time we tried it was early February.
21. Banana/Cantaloupe - yum.
22. Cauliflower - he loves this. I can no longer handle the awful smelling pee. It seeps into everything around. I think it causes him to pee three times as much too. Ugh. Shudder. It's been banned from the house.
23. Broccoli - he also enjoys this, but though it's not as pervasive as cauliflower it is still pretty bad. Also been banned.
24. Strawberry - whole. He gnawed on it a bit, mostly he just liked squishing it.
25. Banana - fresh pieces. He loves them, especially smashing into little bits. If he can get them into his hair and ears, all the better.
26. Chili - I made a pot of chili for us and gave Simon a few bites of it. He didn't seem to hate it but also did not love it. 
27. Yogurt - all kinds of flavors - he is a huge fan of anything remotely sweet. Doesn't love plain greek yogurt though, but that's an acquired taste for many adults.
28. A few to-go packages of organic baby food for traveling. There are tons of flavors he's tried and he seems to love every one of them.

Previously, on Foods Simon Eats - and still does... (after the jump in an attempt to make this not the longest post ever)

Picture of the Day: 3/11/12

Even a sick baby has to go outside a little on our 65 degree Sunday. And he was feeling oh so much better, even if the little rattle was still there when he was breathing.

(PS This is the front yard.)

The Common Cold

Sadly Simon had his first encounter with one of the 200 viruses that can cause the common cold. On Wednesday he started getting a little sniffly and coughy and threw up after his morning breakfast - all over me. But the rest of the day was okay. On Thursday we had a reoccurrence of the morning vomit all over mom, but the sniffles got worse throughout the day. Stuffy enough to pull out NoseFrida the SnotSucker.

Now, NoseFrida was on our baby registry because Alan found it as one of the highest rated baby things out there. It literally allows you to suck baby snot out of a baby nose (there is a filter between the sucker and the suck-y, but it's pretty much a tube). When this went on the registry I with no hesitation said that that was going to be the dad's job since it sounds gross. After a few days of snot sucking, I have learned a couple things: 1) Simon hates snot sucking more than anything else in this world. It's the only thing that will make him hold a grudge. 2) Snot sucking works miracles and allows Simon to breath through his nose and therefore nurse, eat and generally not be a mouth breather. 3) It is almost as gross as you think it is.

The poor kid just got worse and worse through Thursday and on Friday morning, after yet another big vomit on mom, he threw up again later in the day. Most worrisome was that he just didn't seem to have an appetite. That was our straw and we made our first sick baby visit. Simon has been to the doctor a lot, but for regularly scheduled 'well baby' trips. This last minute entry was surprisingly painless to schedule and we got our regular doctor. Jenn and Simon met me and Alan at the doctors office just before 5 and we went in to find that not only did he have a serious cold, but he had an ear infection and it looked like his little ducts were still clogged. So the doctor started Simon on his first round of antibiotics.

Jenn had super kindly offered me and Alan a night out that Friday. So she went home with us and we all hoped that it would be a quick bedtime and then a night out for the parents. Bedtime routine of nursing was underway - I cleverly had a blanket there just incase we had another vomit-on-mom session. Luckily. After eating and a dose of antibiotics it all promptly came up directly on the blanket. Jenn took the little guy into the bathroom and held him over the sink where he continued to heave. With Alan and I hovering, he heaved and heaved and threw up about a gallon of snot that must have been festering in his belly. When he had time to breath, he reached for me and I of course took him to comfort him. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite done and had one little heave left - with a sneeze to add some power to the bile/mucus. All over my face. That has to be an entry requirement into some club?

Thankfully that was pretty much the end of the throwing up. He kept down the next dose of antibiotics and Tylenol to help him sleep and passed out around 8 o'clock - three hours past his bed time. Alan and I went out for dinner and I had a glass of wine and Alan had a beer. Much deserved.

Saturday we kept the meals small and starchy. If possible his nose was running more, but maybe it was just the increase in drool since he couldn't close his little mouth. Thankfully the diet change prevented any more vomiting, or maybe he just got it out of his system. He looked awful though, Colleen said it best: He looks like we feel when we're sick. His eyes would run tears, his nose drip snot, cheeks red and slightly chapped, mouth open and drooly, a terrible raspy rattle when he breathed and worst of all this empty, exhausted look in his eye.

By Sunday he was definitely better. His eyes cleared up, nose stuffy but not drippy and no longer needing that torture device to clear it out. Best of all he was eating normal portions again.

We didn't take any pictures of him really sick. Just trust us. He was pretty miserable. Though for as awful as he looked and felt, he was still a fantastic baby. He was way more snuggly but not really grouchy - unless we were sucking snot.

Sick Simon

Jenn took a picture on Friday. Doesn't he look pitiful?

Tired from reading!

Grocery shopping excitement!

Picture of the Day: 3/6/12

Despite his adorableness, poor little Simon has a cough.

Swinging!

We're taking advantage of this 65° march day!!

But mom and Jenn....

I want to watch Batman instead of napping!

Found his tounge!

Simon's new hat!!

My very first knitted project thanks to Emily! Green is Simon's color for sure :)

Picture of the Day: 3/1/12

When did he start looking like a little boy and not a baby?

Furry Little Brother

Simon met his furry little brother while we were in Arizona. Kiki was super patient with my nervousness and we took the meeting very slowly. There was a lot of somber staring from Simon while he tried to figure out why this baby had so much hair on his face. Frankie has had experience with babies... he knew that they have great potential to drop food so there was lots of sniffing (does he have food?, does he have food?). Frankie was even willing to do his tricks (shake!). Unfortunately as Simon got more comfortable he didn't start feeding Frankie, instead he wanted to touch that amazing beard. One tug was all it took and Frankie started giving Simon a buffer zone. Frankie was much much faster than Simon this trip. Next year there is going to be some serious fun had by those two - Simon will probably love feeding Frankie and I'm sure Frankie won't mind being on the receiving end of the food one bit. By then Simon will have learned that beards are not for pulling. Or any hair for that matter - dogs or mamas!

Thanks for taking all the pictures Kiki!

Serious staring. 

Simon: Can I touch the hair on his face?

Frankie: Shake? Food?