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

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 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

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

The Sign of Simon: i. (forehead mark)

Simon is allergic to the world outside the womb. Shortly after he was born he started sneezing and his first night was plagued by a runny nose. Now Hava must suction out his goobers a few times a day so he can breathe and eat at the same time. This makes him VERY angry. Matthew bought Simon a humidifier today to help alleviate night time stuffiness. Apparently these allergies are because of his newness. They should get better as he gets use to whatever it is that irritates his nose. Until then, he does a great impression of a little piggy.

In less interesting and more disgusting news, Hava and Simon are working to get his green explosions back to yellow. We have a hind-milk fore-milk problem which just means he is getting too much 2% and not enough half-and-half. Oddly enough, there is just too much 2% available in front of the half-and-half at the dairy. Hind-milk makes poops yellow, less explosive, and it makes them happen less often. We're also trying Pampers instead of Huggies to try to keep all of his clothes from turning green (as well as our clothes, his bedding, and the couch); so far so good.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Last night Simon slept in the crib (11 pm - 2 am, 2:45 am - 6 am, 6:45 am - 8 am) and it was gooooood.

Credit for this sleeping magic is due to Matthew's pinky (used several times during the night), Hava's ability not to respond to fussing, and lullaby CDs Simon was given before his birth.

Why is this important? As his pediatrician mentioned, there is a scent that gets passed from mother to baby and/or from baby to mother which causes them to wake up and feed. Waking before he is really hungry means less sleep for both Hava and Simon.

It is also nice for Hava and Matthew to spend time without Simon -- even if they are asleep.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

There are two people in the world besides Simon: the human who has milk and the human who bounces him up in the air. They are different people; they even smell different and deserve different smiles. Milk human is warm and snuggly; bounce human is fun to play with.

Simon vocalizes a bit more these days with "ahhhh" and "aaaa" and "uh". He gets to sleep by 10:30 pm but is sleeping for four hours, feeding for one, sleeping for two hours, feeding for one, wanting to play for one, sleeping for three hours.

During the day there are about two two-hour stretches without feeding. The rest of the time Simon is pretty much eating every hour or every half hour. Hava can't predict when a two hour stretch will occur which makes doing anything outside the house mighty difficult (Simon has nursed in some of the Bay Area's finest parking lots). Sitting still 80% of the day isn't fun. Hava is completely devoted to nursing Simon but, so far, if she were totally honest with you, she would say that nursing really sucks (no pun intended). Playing the role of "Dad" seems like SUCH a better option.

Hava hears that he'll eat less frequently when he gets older.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon is going through what is officially known as a "growth spurt". For the past two days he has eaten non-stop from around 5 pm to 2 am. Hava didn't get any sleep that first night and was very cranky yesterday. Last night she knew what was coming and was mentally prepared for the Simonator's voracious hunger. Sadly, he went in for his weighing yesterday and had gained very very little over the past week. Look here next week for stories of the overfed baby (before his next appointment).

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon, also known as Breast feeding Boy! has gained back almost all of the weight he lost after his birth. Nurses at Kaiser think this is miraculous. Hava knows how miraculous it isn't (effort + lack of sleep = healthy baby). Simon hasn't allowed his parents a good night of sleep since his last bottle (of breast milk) last Sunday. This is probably just a coincidence since the nurses proved to Hava and Matthew how much more milk he gets out than the pump in the same period of time (they weighed him before and after a feeding). Alas, Hava and Matthew have joined the legions of sleepless new parents everywhere.

New things for Simon: he focuses on patterns and watches mobiles, he sucks his thumb (when he can get it in his mouth), he has a heck of a lot of dirty diapers, he passes gas like a frat boy, and his hair appears to be lightening in color and his eyes are much more blue than they were before (though we're still not sure they won't turn brown). Simon has now spent time with both sets of grandparents who are appropriately smitten.

Alas, we are now between pooping and feeding (about 40 minutes) so it is time for Hava and Matthew to nap.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

One of Murphy's Laws states: "When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly." Simon Lucas (not to compare him with the stove or anything) started latching like a pro two hours before the lactation consultant arrived. She did provide some helpful information but must have thought Hava was a nut for thinking her baby had a latch issue. *SIGH*

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Thank you very much for your opinions and advice. After careful consideration, Hava made a date with the La Leche League tomorrow morning and a private lactation consultant will be visiting tomorrow afternoon. Watch out Simon, here come two boobs! (It is amazing how fast Hava's inhibitions about boobs left.)
Simon had his first stroller walk around Mountain View this afternoon. In true Simon fashion, he slept the entire time. Simon wakes up a few hours each day and spends this time investigating his surroundings and his parents. We feel very lucky to have an infant that is so easy to take care of. We actually have to wake HIM up during the night to eat. Matthew thinks this is because of his insistence that Hava eat salmon or trout each week during the third trimester (we saw a study once that supported this theory).

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon slept for nearly 24 hours after his birth. Lactation nurses trying to wake him for feedings decided that he would eventually be interested in food and, low and behold, he started to get hungry around dinner time on day two. Unfortunately, because he remained a sleepy baby, he didn't get enough food and by day three he was awake but inconsolable (especially during night one at home during which Hava and Matthew even called the advice nurse because he just wouldn't stop crying). Day three he was weighed and he had lost 1.5 pounds! Simon was put on a strict feeding schedule and by night four (last night) Hava and Matthew and Simon were up every 2.5 hours to pump milk and feed him from a bottle. Today he only wants a bottle and not the boob, alas he gained a half pound over night! The new decision in the Kagle house is whether to continue using the bottle and pumping milk out of Hava or to continue trying to make Simon miserable (and Hava frustrated) by attempting to force him to latch and drink from tubes and a syringe. Hava would welcome advice on this matter. Is there any evidence that feeding breast milk from a bottle is less healthy than feeding from a breast? Hava loves the pump and Simon loves the bottle but Hava wants to do the best thing for Simon.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink