Yum, rice cereal!!

Well, I'm not sure if yum is the right word for the faces Simon made, but he certainly wasn't unhappy with the rice cereal. Here are a few shots of his first try, also check out the video we took: http://www.youtube.com/user/lmrwinstanley#p/a/u/2/sxkJYk0nxfI

We are taking it very slow. If he likes, it, great. If not, we'll put it away for a week or two. As the doctor told us, this isn't his nutrition, it's just practice. And it should be fun, so that what we're doing!

4 Months Old

Simon turned 4 months old the day after Christmas. And as always, above is his 4 month picture with Peeks the Puppy.

We had a well-child visit at the pediatrician and the doctor actually said we have a perfect baby! I mean, I already knew that, but still, it's nice to hear :)

Anyway, Simon's stats are: weight is 16 lbs 11 oz (85% percentile), height is 26.5" (90th percentile) and head circumference is in the 50th percentile. Apparently his growth is right on target, as are his developmental milestones. He giggled when the doctor checked his belly and kept grabbing at the stethoscope, I guess he was showing off some of his newly acquired skills! The doctor also said that because he's doing so well and since we have no allergies in the family, that we should go ahead and give him a try with solids! So of course we got some rice cereal that night...stay tuned for how that went!

Christmas!

We got back from our whirlwind tour of NJ on Saturday and I'm just getting around to uploading our pictures and writing this post. Let's see...

Before we left, we got a big box of gifts for all of us from Nana and Papa in Georgia--it was a great way to start the Christmas week! Thanks for the fun presents for all of us, particularly the Ergo carrier and the adorable stuffed crocodile!

Simon turned out to be a pretty good little traveler, although with our 3 suitcases and 6 carry-ons for 6 days I don't think I can say the same for me and Matt. Anyway, we spent the first few days at Grandpa's, visited GG, welcomed Aunt Karyn and helped decorate the tree.

Then it was off to Grandma and Papa's for a few days. We got to introduce Simon to lots of family and friends while we were there----Natasha Jones and her beautiful daughters Molly and Sadie came to visit, as did Cathy Anzuini and Sam, Dave and David Bunting. It was great to see David again--we met him when he was only about 5 weeks old, and now he's a crawling, sitting, solids-eating little boy!

We also got to go to Celeste and Pete Gray's house for dinner with the whole Gray, Ruggiero, Gilpin, Horowitz, Renehan and Winstanley crew. That was great--Liam, Nora and Henry are all such sweet kids and we got to show off little Simon some more.

Then of course came Christmas eve...as is tradition, we had Karen and Mark Welland and Sarah Horowitz join us for a great dinner, and Karyn's boyfriend Neville was able to be there too. After dinner we opened a bunch of presents, got some sleep and jumped right back in on Christmas morning. Santa was good to us: some of our favorites included a growth chart and rocking chair for Simon that Grandma had painted to match his nursery and a milestones calendar from Aunt Karyn that matches Simon's baby book.

After we got our million bags together, we headed back to Grandpa's for the big Secret Santa event. Making it extra special this year was the fact that it was the first Christmas for both Simon and Emerson, Amy and Nick's almost 3-month old daughter. Everyone passed the babies around all day and they were remarkably well-behaved considering the chaos of 20 adults cooing over them. We got so many great gifts from the family--new toys, clothes and some special ornaments for next year's tree. And the best part was introducing Simon to so many aunts, uncles and cousins.

That evening we exchanged gifts with Grandpa and Laura, and Simon continued to make out very well. In addition to his next car seat that Grandpa is buying for him, we continued to add to his wardrobe and I even got very a special gift--a charm bracelet with his birthstone that was a combined gift from my dad and Matt.

After all the excitement, we headed back to the airport on Saturday and flew home. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling great, but Simon was a champ and slept for almost the entire flight.

So, thanks to everyone who made this a very special first Christmas. We love you and it was a great holiday!

Check out our Shutterfly site for lots of pictures of the trip!

http://teamwinstanley.shutterfly.com/202

Official 3 months picture

We are taking Simon's picture at each month mark with one of his stuffed animals, Peekskill (or Peeks) the puppy. Since this one was so similar to the holiday card picture we sent, I waited to post it...so here it is--Mr Smileypants, sitting up with support.

Organization

Ok, I've linked, updated, shared and posted my heart out and you can now link to all of our pictures and videos right over there on the right side of the page, under "more team winstanley"

Sick of us yet?

:)

Simon's first Christmas gift!

We gave Simon his first gift tonight, a Taggies blanket. It's just a small square fleece blanket with lots of different "tags" attached in different colors and textures. The tags are supposed to be fun for babies to rub and play with. Simon's first reaction to the gift was to pull out the tissue paper from the gift bag and put it in his mouth. He'll be getting lots more stuff from us and all of the grandparents, but it was fun to give him his very first gift tonight! More Christmas pictures to follow after the holiday!

Is it possible?

I don't want to jinx us, but Simon has skipped his middle of the night feeding for the past 3 nights. Night one he slept for 11 straight hours, then 9 the next night and 9 1/2 last night. Last night he did need some comforting a couple of times--it was his first day at the new house with the nanny and the other baby, so I think the whole day was a little off for him. But Matt just rocked him for a few minutes and he went right back to sleep. Fingers are crossed, big time. Only time will tell if this is for real or just a sleepy week.

Torticollis

Simon has something called Torticollis, which basically means his neck muscles are unevenly developed. He tends to tilt his head when lying down (see first picture) and turn his head to the left when upright (see second picture). We were referred to physical therapy yesterday, and we were glad to hear that his is a mild case. We do need start with therapeutic exercises at home, lots of tummy time and monthly PT visits. So while the little head tilt is awfully cute, I guess it's not ideal!

Baby Friends!

We are part of a group called PEPS: Program for Early Parent Support. We signed up before Simon was born, and once he was here we were assigned to a group by geography and age of the babies. It's a 12 week program and we're on week 10 I believe, so every Thursday night we get together at one of our houses and talk about the week. There are 7 families, and we got really lucky that our kids are all really close in age, no more than 3 weeks apart I think. And all the parents are getting along well too--we have started a babysitting coop using poker chips as currency and we are planning to continue meeting after the official 12 weeks is up. Matt and I feel lucky that we have had the opportunity to meet some new people in the area and hopefully we can all remain friends as our kids grow up! check out all the cuties at last week's meeting.

Belated 3 months old post

Simon turned 3 months old on Thanksgiving, and celebrated with an (unnecessary) trip to the Children's Hospital ER. It seems like he's been dealing with some reflux issues, and feeding time has become a challenge for all of us.

But aside from that, Simon is healthy and happy, and is weighing in at 15 pounds! Here are a couple of recent pictures--his official 3-month picture with Peeks the puppy will have to wait since it's also the picture we are using on our Christmas cards, and what fun would it be if everyone had already seen it?

Happy 3 months Simon!

BFF Max

Simon has a built-in best friend, Max, who is the son of our good friends Amber and Richard. Max was born on 6/14/09, so he's a little over 2 months older than Simon. While that actually means a lot in terms of developmental differences now, before long they will be able to experience a lot together!

We got together this past weekend and for the first time, the babies kind of acknowledged each other. Okay, there was a bit more interest on Max's part, Simon was busy smiling at Amber. But they are going to be very cute together!

New Trick

Simon is now able to sit up with support, check him out in his Bumbo.

Giggles!!!

There is officially nothing cuter than baby giggles. See this video for proof.

Back to work

Well, this is week 2 of work since having the baby, and I've already kind of cheated since week 1 was Thanksgiving. It's been harder than I thought it would be. Not that I didn't expect to be sad, but the gut-wrenching feeling that I get when I leave Simon in the mornings is more acute than I expected. Even during maternity leave I figured I would be okay with the balance, but for the first time I kind of feel like I should be at home with him. Unfortunately, that's just not an option, financially, so I'm trying to get used to the back and forth. I have my digital frame scrolling through pictures on my desk and I know Simon is safe at home.

We are doing a nanny share with another family who has a daughter almost the exact same age as Simon. They live nearby and we are alternating care at our homes weekly. The nice thing is that we needed to start 2 weeks before them, so Simon and the nanny, Lisa, are getting to know each other these 2 weeks before the other little girl starts next week. And every Monday will just be Simon, so that will make the start of each week a little easier for us!

Our birth Story

In honor of Simon's 2 month birthday and the relaunch of this blog, here's our birth story:

Having been diagnosed with pregnancy-induced hypertension and on bed rest since week 37, my doctor thought it was best to deliver me by induction soon after I passed my due date. The induction was set for 8/25 and I headed in at 6PM to get started. I took a pill to help with dilation and mild contractions started pretty quickly. After 4 hours I had progressed to about 2 cm from 1 and up to about 80-90% effaced, which was just good enough not to do a second round of that medication. So I got about 2 hours of sleep and was woken up at 5:30AM on the 26th to get started on the pitocin. I had had mild but noticeable contractions throughout the night, so there were high hopes for just needing the pitocin to keep things moving along.

They started me very low and turned it up regularly, and some serious contractions started fairly fast. They were having a ton of trouble keeping the baby's heart rate on the monitor, so at about 10AM my dr broke my water and inserted a scalp lead. Over the next few hours the contractions were coming closer together and were more intense, so I got 2 consecutive doses of Fentanyl, which helped take the edge off a bit. A couple of hours later I was ready for an epidural with the pitocin having been turned up twice again. I was told to try to wait a bit longer and after several pretty painful exams and increasingly intense labor, I got my epidural when I was about 4-5 cm dilated.

Unfortunately, when my doctor checked me at about 4:30PM, she found out that I was still at 4-5 and the baby was still high. She said we would take 2 hours, get me up to a really high dose of pitocin and if those contractions didn’t get things moving she would recommend a c-section. So that's what we did--they cranked up the pitocin and we waited for a couple of hours. At 7PM, when I hadn’t made any more progress even with very strong, regular contractions, the decision was made to do the c-section. My doctor said that Simon was just too big for me, which is why he hadn’t even made it to -2 station. After that it was all a blur. We were the first in line for the OR and headed in around 8. Matt was there in his jumpsuit, I was completely numb from the neck down and it was just like in the movies--bright, cold, loud and fast. They had the little guy out at 8:13 PM and I was all sewn up by 8:30. While the c-section was scary, the team was great and the process from deciding to have the c-section to having the baby in my arms was incredibly fast!

After that it was all about Simon—8 lbs 2 oz, 20 ½ inches, apgars were 8 and 9. He was healthy, we were all happy, and he was the cutest sweetest thing I have ever seen. He was lucky enough to have his Grandma Choo-Choo, Papa and Aunt Karyn there to greet him, with many more well wishers on the phone from NJ and GA. We left the hospital 48 hours later and began our lives as a new family! Overall, the c-section threw us for a curve, it was an incredibly intense, scary and stressful experience, but considering that the reward was little Simon, it really all worked out for the best.

Welcome to the world beautiful Simon Russell Winstanley! We love you!

Simon turns 2 (months) today!

So it's been 2 months since little Simon joined the family. In some ways it feels like forever--in some ways it's been more tiring, frustrating, busy and life-changing than we ever expected. But in others it's flown by, and I already understand why people say it goes so fast. I feel like each second is so precious, and while I might be exhausted or reticent to change yet another diaper, I want to somehow record every second to make sure I don't forget anything.

I just took a look back at a few pictures from the last 2 months and I can't believe how different he already looks. And in terms of behavior and personality, it feels like he changes every second. He smiles constantly, loves to look at everything around him, loves to be touched and cuddled. We play on his playmat a lot, he loves to look up at himself in the mirror, and when he gets tired of that I will sing songs to him, which he really enjoys! I have a feeling he will begin giggling soon, and he's getting so good with keeping his head up!

So happy birthday sweet Simon! I can't imagine what we did before you were here!! I love you!

Giving it another try...

Now that sweet Simon is here, it feels like we might actually have news, pictures, etc to share regularly with friends and family. So here begins attempt 2 at keeping up a blog...I'm not going to officially spread the word that I'm doing this yet in case we suffer the same depressing failure at attempt 1.