Picture update

Here are some long overdue pictures :)

Lunch with my parents 

Pulling himself up already

Snow for the first time

Haha so sad!! Was smiling 10 seconds before I took this picture.

<3

Long overdue update!

It's been quite a while since my last update. The last week of CVICU (end of January and beginning of February) was terrible; I caught a nasty virus which I'm pretty sure was the flu, Simon also was sick and throwing up every night around the same time, and Jeff also got sick sometime after I finally started feeling better. I actually ended up taking two consecutive days off work while on the CVICU rotation. This is in the context of me never taking a single sick day my entire residency prior to this. I always managed to drag myself to work no matter what, but it was just so awful...so glad that week is over, even now, as I'm writing about it! Also, the week after I recovered from the flu I got a regular cold (probably from Simon/daycare) and I just felt generally deconditioned for some time after that. Getting old and not sleeping enough sucks. As a consequence of all that illness (and during the week with the flu I had no appetite and lost almost 5 pounds) my milk supply took a huge hit and has still not quite returned to what it was before. Simon's appetite has also been quite good, so it's been difficult to keep up. Luckily he is eating a lot of solids now so at least he's not 100% dependent on milk anymore.

Speaking of Simon, he just amazes me every day with how quickly he's learning to do things and how fast he's growing. This is a list of what he does now:

• crawls with his stomach off the floor (and consequently is very fast)
• goes from crawling to sitting up with ease
• pulls himself to standing in his crib (we had to lower his pack n play and crib due to an unfortunate incident where he stood up and then fell out of his pack n play...that was not the best moment of parenting)
• is eating solid chunks of food now, and can pick it up himself and shove it in his mouth (doesn't always make it there, but he's getting better :))
• babbles "ba ba ba" 
• holds his bottle by himself for feeds (has actually been doing this for a while now)
• is basically a big troublemaker now anytime we put him on the floor -- pulls opens drawers, picks up stuff and sticks it in his mouth, makes a mess

I'm probably forgetting stuff now since it's late and I'm pretty tired, but yeah...I love watching him figure things out. Sometimes I just look at him and can't believe that there is a little person there and he is my son! And he's so cute! I can't get over his cuteness :)

He's also getting really big. My mom just got him some clothing which is sized for 9 months, and he has almost outgrown them already (after wearing each outfit only a handful of times...yikes). I'm curious to see how much he weighs at his next appointment. He's maybe slightly chubbier than a month ago, but he's so active I don't think he'll ever be a super fat baby. He is very strong, though. And he is very curious - he actually makes some of the other babies in his class cry because he likes to pull their hair and/or touch their face. O__o

I will post some pictures from my phone when I get the chance. Until next time!

Updates

It's been busy and I've been forgetting to update. I also started my CVICU rotation so there is a lot going on with work and nailing down job stuff so those are my excuses :)

Simon's been doing well since his little illness with hand foot mouth. After that week his appetite seemed to just go through the roof and he started eating a ton of solids. I don't know how they get him to eat so much stuff at daycare, when he's at home we can't get him to eat that much...anyway he is really loving the fruit purees esp anything with apple or pear in it. Sometimes I have to try different purees with him - the other night he was actually quite hungry but refused to eat this butternut squash mix but gobbled down apple/pear/blueberry. Overall he's an enthusiastic eater, though :). It's pretty fun being able to feed him foods that I make for him. 

His 6 month checkup went well. His growth took a small dive at his endocrinologist appt so we upped his meds a bit and now he seems to be back on track. Sounds like she still wants us to push his weight gain a bit more and add olive oil to his purees (sounds gross to me). 

The biggest change with Simon is now he is so observant and interactive. It's really a lot of fun right now. He sits up by himself really well, can crawl now (!!) by dragging himself on his tummy, recognizes faces (always gives me a heart melting smile when I come home). I love it. It really seems like he knows who I am and he's such a happy little guy (except when it's time to nap and then he cries a little bit before passing out). He likes to play with all his toys and he loves the TV remote and my cell phone. 

Hand foot mouth disease

Simon broke out in a nasty rash all over his entire body Monday and got sent home from daycare. We had to bring him to urgent care because they wanted a dr's note to ok him going back. (In retrospect, total waste of time and money.) The ped at urgent care thought it was a viral rash, and he didn't have a fever so she ok'd him going back yesterday. He was fine only to be sent home again due to blisters on his hands and feet! :( so annoying. I know HFM is highly contagious but he's actually acting pretty normally except for a slightly lower appetite. Oh well. Lesson learned, I guess. Hopefully he doesn't get worse and can go back soon.

Finally, some pictures

Stuck in the OR so I might as well post the pictures I meant to post a week ago. Oops...

Obsessed with this bell from Isabel (ha ha)

With great grandma for the first time

Lunching 

Meeting Kayla for the first time! She's 4 days older than Simon :)

Sporting his Santa gear. :)

In the car on the drive home. Keeping him entertained with my water bottle.

My cousins Joyce and Grace and our three boys :)

Playing with a toy airplane he got for Christmas.