Often, it may seem that we new parents make having a newborn sound rosy and perfect. OK, we really do think Simon is pretty perfect but, just in case you're thinking about running out and getting your own Simon, we feel the need to tell you about a few less-than-ideal Simon habits:

1. Simon will no longer take a pinky, he won't take a binky unless he is 98.5% asleep, and he is still not very good at getting his thumb. Simon must suck on something to get to sleep. Can you guess what the only other option available is? If you've guessed "Mom", A+ on the Simon test so far! This is pretty bad as it keeps Mom up many many hours when she isn't actually needed and, starting tomorrow, Matthew is likely to have trouble getting Simon to nap. We really do think he will have the thumb thing down soon but his hands are still pretty elusive things.

2. Simon nurses for between one and two hours every time he wakes up in the night. Right now he goes to sleep between 9 and 10 pm and is sleeping in three to four hour chunks. Hava wakes up for work at 6 am -- do the math to find out why this is not ideal.

3. Simon falls asleep while nursing. He doesn't burp when he is sleeping and putting him down without burping him causes him to spit up. Spitting up causes him to wake up. Waking him slightly to burp him gets him to burp but the burp wakes him up. This is why getting him down in the middle of the night often takes two hours.

4. Apparently, rolling over from back to front is rare for a two month old. It isn't odd for Simon at all once you know about his little personality. Simon is bored. He wants to move and he wants to move away from where ever he is. Put him on his stomach and he tries to crawl away (given some traction for his feet, he actually does scoot away). Here is a key to Simon's boredom time tolerance. Are you a new person? Add five minutes. Are you wearing an interesting, high contrast shirt? Add five minutes. Are you showing him something new? Add five minutes. Sitting down with Simon is nearly impossible for Mom and Dad because they don't often have any of the previous qualifications. Walking outside works well as long as we walk somewhere that we haven't walked before. In summary, keeping Simon entertained is a challenge.

5. Try as we might, toys are just not that interesting to our little Simon. Even his beloved bouncy chair with music and lights is now out of favor. The only two things Simon hasn't tired of is music (the Buffy the Vampire Musical CD is his ultimate favorite -- but you have to sing it -- and he hates "The Producers") and he loves being rolled over and over and over on the floor.

New things for Simon: he can blow raspberries in response to a blown raspberry (he's not very good at the lip movement but he makes the sound and blows the bubbles), he rubs his eyes when he is tired, and he says "hi". "Aye" is his favorite sound, we don't actually think he is meaning to say "hi" but it sounds a lot like "hi" which is pretty funny.

Posted by kagledom at 06:00 PM | Permalink

What a day. Hava, Matthew, and Simon orchestrated a "dry run" of their future schedule (kinks and all - Hava slept in too long and the power was out so 8 batteries had to be found for the pump). Amazingly, Hava still made it to work on time. Unfortunately, because she was biking, she missed the big event - Simon rolled over (intentionally) for the first time. On the positive side, Matthew was filming him at the time so Hava saw it when she returned. He's been rolling over back to front ever since (and will likely have front to back very soon).

As a reward for his new skills, he was taken to the doctor for his two month checkup. Simon is 11.3 pounds (exactly average for boys his age) and he is 24.5 inches long making him taller than 90% of babies out there (hence the reason he is thin and growing out of his clothes).

Simon's shots were more painful for Hava; maybe she should have taken baby tylenol too.

Posted by kagledom at 05:52 PM | Permalink

Just a quick note to say that Simon desperately apologizes for his Mom's lack of response to email over the past two months. If Hava hasn't emailed you, it isn't because she doesn't plan to; she has your emails in her inbox right now. The guilt is awful. All email will be responded to next week when there isn't a Simon where there is a computer.

Posted by kagledom at 05:50 PM | Permalink

It's a busy week in the Kagle house. Hava, regrettably, returns to work on Monday so we are in high gear trying to prepare ourselves. Today we purchased a bike so Hava can ride to work (because there is no way Hava will be making it to the gym on a regular basis and she desperately wants to get back to her pre-pregnancy shape), a rack for the bike (to carry the pump), and a laptop backpack so she can carry her work each day (after working from home a half hour in the early mornings while feeding Simon). Last night Hava tested getting up at 6 am after five hours of very interrupted sleep (not intentionally). Life will be something like this for working Hava: Simon and Hava will nurse at 6:00 am, Hava will pump before she leaves at 8 am and ride her bike five miles to work with the pump, pumping supplies, lunch, change of clothes, and laptop in tow. Hava has reserved a private conference room to pump in at 10 am and 2:30 pm. She will be home by 5:30 pm to nurse Simon before his bath, story, and bedtime ritual which starts at 8 pm. Fridays Hava will be working from home, all other times, Matthew will be primarily in charge. We hope this works out for all of us. Besides the lack of sleep for Hava and the camelesque nature of her ride to work, we think it sounds completely reasonable.

In other news, Simon met Matthew's good friend Elaine (we're keeping up his social skills) and he seems to finally be getting a little pudgy. His two-month appointment is this Thursday complete with vaccinations. We're not going to tell him about that last part in advance but we may surprise him with something other than milk -- baby tylenol. Oh, it should also be mentioned in ALL CAPS (except we won't lest you think we are yelling) that Simon has successfully put himself to sleep a few times this week by sucking his thumb!

Posted by kagledom at 05:49 PM | Permalink

Simon has learned how to spit. Spit, as opposed to spit-up, is drool expelled at high velocities completely voluntarily. We suggest all visitors bring at least one change of clothes per hour of Simonizing.

Posted by kagledom at 05:48 PM | Permalink

Happy two month birthday to Simon!

New things for Simon in the past week: he found a smiling baby in the mirror and was mesmerized by its cuteness, he started to chuckle while awake, he had so much fun with Grammy that he forgot to nap all day long (and then spent the majority of the next 24 hours asleep), and he ended his three day growth spurt (thank goodness).

Posted by kagledom at 05:47 PM | Permalink

Simon is still eating relatively non-stop but he has come up with something new: he grabs a fistful of his shirt and yanks himself to the right or to the left while rolling to his side; it appears as though he is forcefully flinging his body back and forth (he really really wants to roll over).

In further news, at some point in the past two weeks we stopped needing to help Simon steady his head.

Posted by kagledom at 05:45 PM | Permalink

Simon won't stop eating. When he comes up for air, maybe he'll have time to do something interesting.

Posted by kagledom at 05:44 PM | Permalink

Simon's hair is turning into little puffs of fuzz and falling out. Seems like he might end up like Mom -- bald for the majority of babyhood.

Sunday we removed all of the 0-3 month clothes from Simon's bureau and started him on 3-6. Amazingly, he fits into 3-6 really well (except holding up his pants - he's pretty thin in the waist); perhaps we waited a couple of weeks to long to make the switch? In any case, Simon seems pleased to have his entire wardrobe shift over night. Hava wishes she could be so lucky. In other news, over the past two days Simon has been completely content to look at, grab and swat things on his play mat; he no longer needs a parent to keep him involved.

Simon had a friendly weekend including a visit from Dennis on Friday and Jen and Curtis on Saturday. He's becoming a regular socialite.

Posted by kagledom at 05:43 PM | Permalink

Breakthrough! Simon grabbed a toy this morning, yanked at it for a while, and put it in his mouth. Self entertainment is just around the corner.

During Simon's weekly outing with his friends at RLG, he proved that you don't have to be blonde or female to get a big grin -- he handed them out to everyone. Maybe he was in a good mood from the nearly six hours of sleep (in a row) last night. Of course everything comes at a price and the price for continued sleep was keeping Mom and Dad up until past midnight and finally only falling asleep in bed with them.

Posted by kagledom at 05:42 PM | Permalink

Pyloric Stenosis - something Simon doesn't have *whew*

Simon taught his Mom and Dad the difference between vomit and spit-up. Dad didn't really experience the difference the first time so he had to repeat himself and then Dad understood but didn't seem to really appreciate it so he showed Dad - right in the kisser! (good thing Dad didn't have his mouth open). Simon is very good natured about all of this projectile vomiting but the advice nurse thought it wise that he be brought in. Dr. K told Mom and Dad to expect a lot of screaming while she checked for a blockage in his stomach. The screaming never came. In fact, Simon was all smiles once she finished. Official diagnosis: "What a good natured baby!" Oh, and the vomiting? "Probably gas."

In other news, Simon found his feet yesterday and watched them move close and then away and then close and then away for ages (20 minutes of focus on one thing counts as ages for a seven week old). He only notices his feet when he is in a seated position with Mom or Dad. It is a good thing he is being held; he tries to dive-bomb his toes to get a closer look.

Congestion? No more! Thanks to the cool mist humidifier (and possibly the new hepa filter vacuum).

Posted by kagledom at 05:40 PM | Permalink

Simon is seven weeks old!

Simon and his parents had a sleepless night and Hava isn't feeling so hot. A real update will be added just as soon as we are fully functional.

Posted by kagledom at 05:33 PM | Permalink

More useful Simon lingo:
Visiting the Elephant - getting a diaper change (see nursery images for why)
Curdish Refugees - the little curds that constantly escape from Simon's mouth

Simon has only flashed his wide-mouthed gummy grin at two people besides mom and dad -- both were attractive women with longish blond hair. We wonder if this means anything. Today, Simon had lunch out with friends Mike and Cindi. Mike was particularly fascinating to look at; again with the long blondish hair thing.

In other news, Simon has made peace with the binkie and will occasionally give in to artificial non-pinky pacification. (He hasn't made any further strides on getting his thumb away from his fist -- almost as if he has given up hope.) Simon is getting really good at the standing thing; Dad thinks he will be standing before he can roll over.

Sleeping has been a little odd since Simon broke the five hour mark. He now falls asleep at 9 pm instead of 10:30 BUT he wakes up at 10 pm and won't fall asleep again until midnight. He then wakes up at 4:30 or 5 and can't fall asleep again until 7 by which time Hava and Matthew are awake.

Update from an earlier news story: Hava now actually enjoys nursing Simon. This happened about two weeks ago once it stopped hurting and he stopped eating constantly.

Posted by kagledom at 05:27 PM | Permalink