A Very Simon Christmas (Part 2)

Here's what you've been waiting for: more Simon Christmas pictures!

Family portrait in front of my parents' Christmas tree

Si with his great grandpa on Christmas Eve

Opening, er, eating his present from his grandparents on Christmas Eve

Simon was definitely more interested in the ribbons and bows (particularly putting them in his mouth) than he was the presents, but he did sort of get the hang of opening presents.

Here is Si's first stocking experience on Christmas morning:

Mmmm, tastey stocking present!

That's pretty much his Christmas experience at my parents' house... There's two more Christmas experiences left: Chase's parents' and with the Billingsleys!

A Very Simon Christmas (Part 1)

Simon got to hang out with some of his cousins last night at a shindig my parents had in his honor. They held (somewhat) still long enough for us to get some pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Here is a collage of that photo shoot (click to see bigger):

Rebecca, Lily, Simon, Addie & Jake.

And here's Simon holding his newest cousin, Jake:

Yeah, a baby holding a baby. I know, it's awesome.

And this morning we had a photo shoot of Simon sitting in my little rocking chair in front of my parents' Christmas tree:




After that, we headed off for Simon's very first Skyline experience:

I know this last picture is a little grainy, but I just had to post it anyway. He totally had a meltdown!

And there you have it, Part 1 of A Very Simon Christmas.

Winter Hat

I was inspired to make a winter hat for Simon. Here's how it turned out:

It's made of an old sweatshirt. I wrapped it around his head to measure, snipped, stitched, snipped, tied and snipped some more to make a winter hat with asplosions atop. Look at how cute he is!


And just for fun, here he is in a Santa hat:

On the Mend

Chase has been taking care of a couple sickies lately, and by "sickies" I mean Simon and me. It all started Thursday evening when we went out to get new phones. Simon had a bit of a runny nose, and it just got worse from there.

We first went to the AT&T kiosk at the mall, but the deals just weren't good enough. So it was off to Best Buy where we got our phones for free (with 2 year contract renewal). To get a deal at the mall kiosk, we'd have to sign up and pay for extra junk we don't use on our plan, but not at Best Buy. Then we ordered memory cards from Amazon.com.

Phones these days are crazy. I mean, I can edit video on my stinkin' phone! We went with the Sony Ericsson W580i. The big feature on this phone is that it's a walkman; you can listen to your own music or pick up FM radio on it. It's got all kinds of newfangled gadgetry!

Back to the sickliness... Simon slept the whole time we were at the mall and then woke up with a very runny nose while we were at Best Buy. He was very fussy by the time we got home and was all congested. When we finally got him to sleep, I could feel myself coming down with what he had; and when I got up with him overnight, I was sure I had it...

That was Thursday...

We were sick all day Friday (I ended up calling Simon's doctor Friday night when his fever reached 100.1), most of the day Saturday, some of the day Sunday and have had the remnants these last few days. Because he was so congested, Simon ended up sleeping in his carseat several nights. I have to say I am very thankful for the medical marvels that are acetaminophen and Aquaphor. Acetaminophen kept our fevers down and relieved my aching body while Aquaphor healed the dry skin around our noses as well as my chapped hands (from constantly washing them). Now if we could just get rid of the cough...

Bedtime has turned into quite the battle; Simon gets super upset every time we put him down. It doesn't matter if we put him down asleep, drowsy or completely awake. We can pat him, pet his head, hold his hand, pick him up and hug him, rock him or bounce him; once he touches that mattress, he unleashes all his fury. It got so bad last night that I thought my eardrum might bust again, so I got an earplug.

Today he just wanted to be held... constantly... and would unleash some of that fury if I put him down. I guess he got it all out because he actually went down in his crib quite easily (and early!) tonight.

I feel like I should make sure to mention some fun things Simon's been doing, too. He's now able to sit up and sometimes get himself back up when he falls over (if we put the Boppy behind him), he's becoming more mobile by rolling around, he gives Chase head massages and gives me kisses... sort of... when I put his mouth to my cheek. Oh, and Simon loves to touch the Christmas tree! He has about three specific branches he always gently grabs. He also enjoys listening and dancing to Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas.

Here's the tree Simon so enjoys touching:

Cup Attachment

It's true, babies prefer to play with things that are not toys to things that are toys. Case in point, Simon's favorite thing to play with (while it lasted) has been a red solo cup.


See? Look how happy he is! (And check out his sweet space jams!) Si cried like it was the end of the world if he dropped this cup. It lasted almost a week before it got a crack and we took it away. But now that he's a whopping seven months old, it's sippy cup time!

He loves this cup, too, and will also cry if he drops it.

Si has a great time drinking from and chewing on his sippy.

Ah, this is bliss for Si, both his thumb and sippy in his mouth at the same time!

He gets super excited for his sippy and has possibly developed an extreme attachment to it after only a few days of use. Some babies are attached to blankets, some to pacifiers and others to stuffed animals, but ours is attached to a sippy cup.

Yeah, our baby is seven months old! I can hardly believe it. Seems like I just got used to saying he was six months old and he had to go and get older on me. Other than drinking from a sippy, Simon's latest trick is sitting up independently. This sitting doesn't last very long before he falls over, but he's getting better and better!

No teeth have come through yet, but we suspect that will happen very soon. Let's just say sleeping isn't his forte right now...