Baby Boy is 3 months old!

 

As Nana has correctly pointed out, I have not posted any photos of Simon turning three months. Somehow the time has flown and he is indeed, 3 months old. Not quite sure how this happened, but it has.  Simon now weighs in at a "healthy" 13lbs 13.5 oz.  He really likes his food. I am fighting to get him onto eating every four hours rather than every three. Let's face it, it is not like he needs the extra. I am counting the days until we can give him rice cereal as I am sure this will help!! So above is our chunky monkey on his three month "birthday".

 

Simon is a cheerful chap who is very partial to attention. He's pretty good at entertaining himself either in his bouncy chair or on his play mat, but would much rather play on those things with someone watching him.  He loves to smile, especially at his sister. He loves to watch Evie and Tori play.  He is a big time talker. Simon makes a LOT of letter sounds and sounds like "ma" and has a distinct English accent. If you don't believe me, google it. You can tell where babies are from just by listening to their baby sounds :-)  He likes to share a joke with whoever he might be talking to.  He grabs mainly with his right hand, likes to chew his left hand, and hates dummies. I can almost persuade him to take one particular one if he is feeling especially amenable.  Good boy goes to bed between 6-6:30pm and sleeps until 5am, when I wake him up.   Sadly, Simon has the same skill as his sister in puking up. He is usually wearing a soggy bib and washable clothing is highly recommended if holding him!! He can still poo for England.  And on that note, here are some photos.



 Daddy, Evie and Simon at Panera on Mothers Day. Cuteness all around.

 Evie meets an Iguana in San Angelo.  This is much cuter than the Burmese Python.

 Evie in her favored long dress.  Evie is not keen at all on the idea of wearing a school uniform in August. She asked for me to buy her the pink one. I think there is going to be even more trouble when I tell her they all have to wear the same shoes as well as the same dress and blouse! Auggie and I, however, are delighted by the prospect of having no early morning disagreements regarding Evie's wardrobe for the day.  More worrying is how we will make Evie wear the required socks. I have never known someone hate socks quite so much!

 This sums up Simon's opinion towards "tummy time".  He HATES it. He is perfectly capable of lifting up his head but doesn't like to.  He does, however, like to lift up his head while lying on his back.

 A randomly placed three month photo. We had fun taking these.

While I was expecting Simon I found a website that sells cute vests saying "born to kick for England". Grandad kindly ordered one for me and they sent the "born to ruck for England" one instead.  For any Americans watching, "ruck" is also something one would do in a rugby game.  Anyway, that explains the vest. This manly message goes so well with his frilly bonnet don't you think? Simon's looking more like a second row than a kicker these days anyway.

 And one final picture from our photo shoot. Sweet baby boy.

My maternity leave is over at the end of this week and poor Simon baby will be starting day care next week. I am certain I am more upset about it than he is.   He is only 5 minutes walk from my office though so I can go and feed/cuddle him every day he is there :-). 

And that's it for now. I will try not to be tardy with his 4 month post!

Two months old!

Poor Simon! He's not getting nearly so many blog posts as big sister did.  He is two months old already and I am not sure where the time has gone.  Here are a couple of efforts from our photoshoot. Simon was not keen to cooperate with me but I did get one smile! To be fair to him, it was right before bedtime so he was a bit tired. 

 

 

 Winking at the camera!

Simon and I have been having all kinds of fun. He met Grandad and Granny Judy last week, as well as more of his aunts and uncles and two cousins.  Unfortunately there has been some less fun stuff. Simon was having some terrible tummy pains, a nasty rash on his face, and a constantly stuffy nose.  So, I cut out dairy from my diet and it has made a huge difference.  So, it appears that he is allergic to milk protein and unfortunately that includes even trace amounts. So nothing fun to eat for me.  I am hoping to have my home diagnosis confirmed by the doctor when we see him on Wednesday.

Other than that, Simon is quite the smiler.  He also loves his bouncing chair and is liking his jungle mat more.  He's sleeping in his own room (yay!) and is a good sleeper. We had one night of 9 straight hours but I don't expect that to be repeated any time soon! He's in size three months clothes and today weighed in at 12lbs 3.5 oz.  He seems long to me too but I could be imagining it. His hair is still amazing :-)

I will post some photos of Evie next time and for now, I will hope that Simon can forgive his lack of blog posts.

xxx

Simon is one month old!

Time has gone WAAAAY too fast!

Here is little boy on his one month day. He was a right pickle all morning long and would not pose for any nice photos so this was as good as I could get. Monster. He looks like he's thinking very hard about messing up Mummy's photo ideas!

 

The rest of the photos are just a selection from the last month. In no particular order!

Still just a little boy in this one. He's since grown out of this outfit. A sad moment for Mummy and Daddy when we put away the newborn clothes.

 

 Purely to show the red hair. It is magnificent.

Hanging out in his boppy which is inevitably covered in elephants.  I don't think Simon was so sure that the boppy is such a good thing. I think he will get used to is. In fact, he will have to get used to it as Mummy has things to be getting on with!

 Evie silliness. She's snuggling up to Daddy in La Madeleine. I don't want Evie to feel left out if she ever goes back and reads this blog. So here she is on a horsey at Memorial City Mall. Lots of fun.

 Totally out of order as promised . . . This one is from the NNGH Ladies Lunch at Royal Oaks Country club on Simon's one month day. He looks nice and peaceful which he was NOT for most of the event.  He had to be removed during the Scottish Country dancing for screaming too loudly. 

 And cuddling Daddy also on his month day.

Showing his personality on these two.  He was actually mid conversation with Auntie Christine and I finally managed to get some good shots of him. Common belief is that Simon sleeps ALL the time. This proves that occasionally he shows us his pretty blue eyes.

 Another one where is his just a little boy. We love this outfit too bit it is also too small now :-( sniff sniff.

 

Wearing some cute clothes that Auntie Jana bought. She has excellent taste.

 And finally, one more from his month day.  He looks like he might be conducting Shostakovich in his dreams. Probably his 5th symphony.  Even if he's not quite that advanced yet, it is still cute.

So, what has baby boy been up to? Last time we weighted him he was 9lbs 5oz which is exactly 2 pounds over his birth weight. Well done chunky.  He likes to watch you which you talk to him, and is especially fascinated by singing.  He eats a LOT and honestly, could poo for England and the US combined. We can barely keep up with his pooing. He does, however, allow us (usually - touch wood) to sleep fairly well at night as he will sleep (generally) 3-4 hours between feeds and a couple of times has done 5 hours.  Now that I have expressed that in writing he will be up every hour tonight . .  .
Simon spends a lot more time awake now and is enjoying his bouncer - especially the toys on it that he can grab at. Simon is very cuddly and pukes way less than his sister so far thank goodness.  He is an expert at weeing and pooing on his parents.

And what's going on with Evie? Sweet girl got into Duchesne Academy and will start there in August. We are really chuffed with her as it is a very competitive entry and she must have done very well on her interview and play date.  I can't wait to see her in her cute school uniform.  She is also doing very well with her writing - her favorite thing to write is a food shopping list. Perhaps she's trying to tell us something?

That's it for now. I will try to be better about posting more photos of the babies!!

Jane xxx

Simon!

 

As all of you know, Simon Kenneth arrived on Wednesday February 19th, at 9:54 am, weighing in at 7lbs 5oz and 20.75 inches tall.  The talk of the OR though was his amazing red hair.  So cute.  I have attached some photos in no particular order because I can't be bothered to try and reorder them!

Here he is! a few minutes old, and not happy by the looks of things!

 Meeting big sister for the first time!

Randomly placed photo of Evie getting ready to do some gardening. This was today - the day we came home. I think she's excited about Simon but a little disappointed that he doesn't do much.
 Showing off his red hair.

 Snuggling up with Mummy. You can see his little birthmark on this one.

 More red!

 At home in his moses basket.

 

And two photos with Daddy!

I will post more as I get them.  He's been a sweet baby so far if a bit lazy - I have to wake him up to eat.  But at least the time between that we get to sleep!

Jane xxx

Skate princess and 37 weeks

Evening!

There has not been much to catch up on recently which is why the blog has been a bit quiet.  But I thought I'd share this photo of Evie in one of her new skating outfits. There was a used equipment sale at the rink and we picked up this adorable dress (with matching scrunchie of course) which is fleece lined so baby girl doesn't freeze! Here she is after a couple of hours skating with Daddy!

 

 

 

As for baby boy, we got to see him today. Evie came with us as she wanted to see her brother. She was really good and thankfully the doctor's office was running uncharacteristically on time.  Since I hit 37 weeks today, it is time for a baby update!

Weight Gain:  26 pounds or so. Holding steady!

How big is baby? According to the scan lady nowhere near as big as Evie was! 6lbs 2 oz- head to bottom just over 19 inches. That puts him just over 7 pounds for estimated birth weight. So much for feeling bigger than Evie! 

Maternity Clothes? oh yea. Feel like a blimp most days and my favourite dress is now too short. Sadness. 

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep? Still really good. I think snoogle might be one of the best inventions ever in the history of the universe.

Best Moment of the week? the scan today and seeing Evie's happy little face.  Also looking forward to dinner with Auggie on Saturday night :-)

Movement? Poor baby is running out of space. He is stretching a lot but not dancing like he used to. His preferred spot to stretch is on my right side, right above my hip. This looks very peculiar.

Belly button in or out? Flat

What I miss?  I could really do with some champagne. And by some I mean a bottle.

 

And on that note, good night y'all

 

 

J xx

35 Weeks Update

Since I have not talked about him in a while, I thought baby boy deserved a post. I have also included a very grumpy looking photo from our 4D ultrasound session. He did not seem pleased to be disturbed.


So here we go. I had my 35 week appointment today and Dr. is so pleased with me I don't have to go back again for another two weeks. This is good news as getting to the doctors from work takes a lot of time.

Weight Gain:  26 pounds or so. Pretty pleased with that overall and at least I am not in trouble any more!!

How big is baby? 5.5 pounds- head to bottom just over 18 inches! This is an average of all the websites which seem to all say something different. We have not had a measurement scan yet so I don't know how big he actually is. Worryingly he feels bigger than Evie did.

Maternity Clothes? Mostly. I'm finding new and exciting ways to wear the same stuff over and over. Still no tents necessary thank goodness.

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep? Still really good.    

Best Moment of the week? We have almost finished the room!! We are just waiting for my chair to arrive and for our railway poster framing to be completed. Then aside from Auntie Jill's embroidery masterpiece we will be finished. 

Movement? Lots of kicking and squiggling around. Especially after I've eaten something tasty like the yummy chocolate cake work had for me today. I think it made a nice change for him from spinach and salmon.  

Belly button in or out? in

What I miss? Not all that much. I'm feeling very cheerful at the moment. Trying to enjoy every minute as we only have 4 weeks left!!!!!! 

 

That's all for now. I get a scan in 2 weeks to see how chunky he is and to confirm our delivery date :-) exciting exciting. xxx

 

Lots to catch up on!

After a flurry of activity, I've been useless again so Merry Christmas and happy 2014 to all 3 of my readers! We have had so much going on!! Here are some highlights - followed by photos! We also met beautiful baby Isla, Evie' new cousin. Pictures of her to come too!

 

1. Evie's Nutcracker show.  This was so cute.  Although she was only in 3 minutes of the 1 1/2 hour show, she was the star of course!! The standard was actually really good and all of us who are ice skating fans enjoyed sitting on the ice watching the sparkly outfits :-)

 

2. Evie's birthday party.  We waited until the weekend before Christmas for the epic party so that Sam could join us.  We went to Wonderwild which is a huge indoor play area that is fun for the children and for the Dads since the climbing frames and slides are big enough for everyone! It was so much fun and Evie got lots of lovely presents.

 

3. Christmas!!! So much fun :-)  Evie had a super duper time opening all of her presents and seeing what Santa had brought. She was relieved to see that there was no coal in her stocking.  We at lots of turkey masterfully prepared by Papa with all the appropriate trimmings (Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, parsnips, veggies, pigs in blankets etc etc) and of course figgy pudding. Lots of figgy pudding. Santa brought us all wines to there was plenty to go around. 

 

 

 

 

 

4. New Year!! This was also super fun. Especially for me, Grandad and Elisa who won the quiz :-) Evie wanted to be woken up for the fireworks but didn't look too cheerful about it when we got her up. I think she liked the pink ones though (surprise surprise).

 

5. 3D ultrasound.  This outing didn't start too well as the place I found online looked more than dodgy from the outside. It was a bit cheap and cheerful but did the job and we got to see baby boy who has very chubby cheeks - I will put a photo in a later post.  Like his sister, he was not big on cooperating with us but we won in the end and did see him stick out his tongue.

 

6. Baby's room!! We FINALLY got off our bottoms and did some work on the room. Pa helped Auggie put the bed up in the loft and Auggie and I sorted out the junk from the room and the closet.  It is looking very cute indeed especially now we have the dresser back from the refinishing man.  yay. We just need the new chair to finish it off.

 

7. AMAZING baby shower at Nana's house.  20 or so of us celebrated our upcoming arrival with raspberry champagne, cucumber sandwiches, mince pies, quality street and tasty cake.  We were given lots of beautiful presents and baby is now completely set up!! 

 

Ok - now what you really want. . . . . 

Evie with her flowers after the show. Very pleased with herself!

Evie and Sam have fun before her party!

Evie and the Nutcracker himself!!   Evie with baby's newly refinished dresser. I'm really excited about this as it looks perfect in his room. It will go SO well with the white leather chair.

 

 

 

 I bought these shoes for Evie a year ago. They are Cinderella shoes that light up. Fabulous no? Well, I put them in such a safe place that it has taken over a year to find them. Turns out that inside a pyrex dish is about the most safe place you can find. Anyway, as you can imagine, Evie loooooves these!!!

 Evie with the other gingerbreads and Mother Ginger during the show. So cute.

 Evie sporting her new skating dress we gave her for Christmas. We warned her it would be cold but of course Evie knows best. She did eventually give in and put on a coat.

And this is just funny. Blowing up balloons must be tiring

 Baby pictures in the next post!!

Ohh should also mention that Evie had her 4 year appointment. She is 94th percentile for height and 79th for weight and spent a good amount of the appointment correcting the doctor's speech. That's my girl!!

xxxxx

Brief Baby Update

Brrrr.It is COLD in Houston.  I am not maternity clothes prepared for this!!  We should have put the outside decorations out last weekend while it was nice. Live and learn.

Anyway, I had my 28 week baby appointment this week!! I'm now on every other week appointments so time will fly.  Baby kept moving away from the heartbeat monitor. Naughty boy.  This does not fill me with a huge amount of hope for the 3D ultrasound in January.  Aside from that, he is measuring pretty much on time and everything so far is going well.

Weight Gain:  Actually down 2 pounds with according to the good Dr. is fine because I am now in the normal range (hurray!!) So I'm officially no longer a heifer. At least until the Thanksgiving and birthday cake pounds hit.

How big is baby? 2.7 pounds- head to bottom just over 14 inches! Apparently he is basically just adding fat at this point. If only that were the goal for all of us.  

Maternity Clothes? Same as last time. Bump has grown so a few things no longer fit. I'm getting fairly bored with all my stuff now though

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep? Still good. Snoogle is doing his work.   

Best Moment of the week? Ultra kick practice in the evenings.

Movement? See above. He's very active at the moment. My whole tummy moves around - had forgotten from last time how creepy it is when that happens. He's actually putting on a good show as we speak.

Belly button in or out? in

What I miss? Currently, tasty food. Due to heifferness at the last appointment, I'm on a carb limited diet. This is incredibly dull as let's be honest, carbs are the good stuff. There is only so much excitement I can muster for salad.  I am keeping my carb intake to 50% of my daily food or less. Its REALLY HARD!!! Whine  whine whine. Wouldn't mind some wine either come to that.

Milestone:  We hired a painter!! Having been quoted an insanely high price by one guy and the next not bothering to call us back we finally got in touch with Nacho the painter who did some work for us at our old house. Baby will have a blue room on Friday!!! yay!

 

So that's it! Next appointment in two weeks. Should get the results from my glucose test soon too which hopefully I passed because if I remember correctly, the three hour test stinks.

 

Jane xxx

 

Birthday Cake, Santa, Skating etc.

 Ok, last one. Three posts in one night! This is what I get for leaving it a while. 

As you all know, Evie's birthday is on Tuesday.  Sadly, Nana will be away visiting Evie's new cousin, Baby Isla, in Tucson.  So, even though we will be having a party with her friends later in December, we decided to have a birthday party this afternoon.  It was a very exciting day all round. He's Evie anxiously waiting to see Santa.

 

 

Since Evie's dairy problem presents us with something of a cake problem, I usually make her cakes.  She had asked for a pink cake with lots of flowers on it. I think this just about fit the bill. I have a whole new respect for the strength my Grandad had to do lots of these cakes. I had "claw" hand by the end of it (should mention here that Auggie did offer to help but because I'm suborn I refused his help. Mistake). Anyway, Evie liked it and the cake didn't taste to bad either. And Auntie Jill, in case you were wondering, the ballerina on the cake is in fact the same one I used to have on my birthday cakes. I should also mention that there was a green jelly that Nana made.  

 Evie got some fantastic presents. As you can see, I am just as excited as her as it means I get to play with ponies.

 And huge kudos to Uncle Chris for the amazing dress!! Evie was SO excited. She can't wait to wear it.

 As I mentioned at the top, we saw Santa today.  Evie and Daddy are ready!! Both have been very good this year.

Sweet Evie asked very nicely for what she would like this year. Santa said he would do his best. he then mentioned that she has to keep being good. At that point Evie looked slightly less sure about the whole thing.  It was cute though. Not sure whether Lelly was given the opportunity to ask for anything.  I think had she the chance, a bath would be top of her list.

 

 And of course we spent some time skating.  Evie is getting better at going solo on the ice. She still favors holding Daddy's hand though.

And these are just some cute pictures. We found Lelly a new outfit in San Angelo. Evie was very excited. And last weekend we saw our lovely friends who are sadly leaving the US in January. Evie has known Lauren and Sarah her whole life and we will really miss them when they go home to Australia. A good reason to go and visit I think!

 

 

As for baby, he's kicking like CRAZY and squishing my breathing a bit because I'm carrying him so high. But otherwise he is well. I have an appointment this week with the glucose test (yikes). Hopefully since I have been tracking my carb intake on an I-phone app I don't be in quite so much trouble with my doctor! I will keep you posted :-)

 

 

Happy Sunday

Jane xxx