Matthew is sick so Hava is babying the male portion of the house (which includes three fourths of these Kagles). Simon has been doing some new things. We'll try to get them down quickly before one of the Kagle men requires assistance.

Friday Simon went out with Hava's friends/coworkers to the newest Mountain View Starbucks and he started vocalizing LOUDLY. It sounds something like this "uuuhhhh uuuuhhhh aaaaa, uuuuuhhhhh uhhhhhh aaaaa"; a confusing sound which could easily be perceived as frustrated, happy, or sad and did we mention it is LOUD? Well, ever since Friday he has been "uuuhhhh uuuuhhhh aaaaa, uuuuuhhhhh uhhhhhh aaaaa"ing all over the place. We're not quite fond of this new development and are attempting to combat it by repeating "mamamama" and "dadadadada" -- Simon doesn't seem to notice. Also new, Simon now shakes a rattle for the first time, he scoots backwards a bit, and actually had mini bed-head the other day when he woke up from a nap (meaning he finally has enough hair for it to get slightly messed up).

And just to prove that we haven't forgotten about our first "baybee", here is Winslow at the Birdie B&B (his vacation while we were in Seattle). He looks a little cranky in this photo but it sounds like he had a good time and he does seem to be a little happier these days.

Simon Says: Happy Birthday to Oma and Cousin Dara!

(Hooray for Uncle Richard -- the server is fixed!)

Simon not only slept through the night last night, he slept past 5 am (formerly known as 6 am) for the first time! OK, he slept until 5:19 am which isn't much past 5 am but it is a start (and after a snack he went right down and slept until 7). Maybe it was the two walks he went on with his Dad yesterday? Was it getting caught in the rain? Whatever factors contributed, we'd like to replicate them for the next, oh, eighteen years or so.

Last night Hava gave in and put formula in Simon's rice cereal and in his peas instead of breast milk. She still pumped just as much but the pumped milk will be used today (that way, one of these days, there will be a surplus to freeze for emergency growth spurts). Hava has a mental allergy to feeding Simon formula. She plans to try the herb fenugreek to increase her milk supply so that she doesn't have to pump five times a day. It is recommended by her regular ol' health plan so she figures it can't be too wacky of an idea. We'll let you know if it works (even if you don't care).

On the moving to the UK front: Hava received a nice note back from the University of Leeds which basically said that they have to hire any qualified European applicants first but, on the off chance that they don't have any, Hava will be considered. Matthew and Hava are very excited about the prospect of living in the UK for a while. We wouldn't want to move Simon away from school or friends so now seems like the perfect time to go (if we ever are going to do it). And, if it were only a short term thing, we could probably pay our mortgage and rent. We love our townhouse - especially the nursery.

In a total fluke, Simon crawled for the first time last night. He was on the changing table and wanted to take a head dive off the pad so he rolled over, was able to hold himself up on his hands and knees for a brief moment and then marched one pace forward before Mom (who was watching intently) grabbed and saved him from his dangerous ways. Simon has absolutely no fear of heights or of falling. Wouldn't you think that might be a nice genetic thing to pass on? Speaking of genetics, we're now willing to admit that Simon's eyes are permanently deep light blue. Hava's eyes are dark brown and Matthew's eyes are blue with brown in the middle which may explain why we care. Both Matthew and Hava have many relatives with blue eyes so Simon is indeed our child -- he's just recessive.

Here is a picture of recessive Simon on the plane to Seattle (Hava loves this picture):

The server which hosts KagleAdventures is down but we'll write something in hopes that it will be repaired soon.

Simon has become quite the wiggle worm over the past few weeks. It is getting harder and harder to change his diapers with the constant rolling back and forth and foot grabbing. Now that he can reach his toes they are his newest and most fun toys. Grandmother and Grandfather came over for a visit yesterday and they were pretty fun toys too.

One of these weekends we really will start to baby proof the place but we'll probably do it in stages: first throwing out all of the cleaners, medicinal treatments, sharp objects, etc. that we never use, then taking care of electrical cords and outlets, followed by securing cupboards, the fireplace, and creating furniture stability, and finally making the stairs and toilets inaccessible. We're hoping to glean our baby proofing knowledge from you so please share the wealth.

We're back!

The Simonial happiness bug has been spread to the Northwest. Here is how it works: Simon looks extra cute so that even the hardest looking strangers have to look and then he sticks out his tongue at them which (usually) makes them laugh. This happened over and over as we walked the streets of Seattle and through the airport terminals. He also made new friends while waiting for the flight; tongues are very useful that way.

A special entry by Simon (in Seattle)

Mom and Dad took us on another plane ride. This time we had the very last row of seats. It was loud and I liked it very much. People on the plane kept stopping by - sometimes even forming a line - to visit me and stop in the little room just across the way. Many people talked to me and smiled. I stuck my tongue out at the people to tell them I liked them.

When I woke up I was in a new place entirely! Auntie Laura was there; she is a pretty blonde and we walked around and looked at things together; it made me happy.

There are two little boys that live with Auntie Laura and Uncle Jon. Mom and Dad say they are my cousins. I like to watch them because they are small like me but they can move on their own.

Mom, Dad, and I got back in the car and drove for over an hour; turns out we were lost. I was very sad and then I was very angry. I do no like being in the car but as hard as I cried, Mom and Dad wouldn't let me out. Eventually we ended up at a really nice buildng across from what Mom called "the new Seattle Public Library." Some of Mom's friends and former coworkers were waiting: Alice, Tim, and Elena and Anne. They are so fun and cheered me up immediately. I really like Elena; she is pretty and small (but still bigger than me!). I'm not sure she shared my affection so I stuck my tounge out at her over and over just to let her know that she was making me happy.

Mom and Dad and I slept in this room that has big stripes on all of the furniture and walls. It is so cool. Guess what? A man came to our room and handed Dad a goldfish in a bowl. Her name is Susan.

It has been a downright awful week in this Kagle household. Things just don't seem to be going our way. Simon hit a growth spurt (or was just extra hungry) on Tuesday and though Hava now pumps five times a day (that's almost 2 hours of pumping), she can't keep up with his consumption. Matthew has 50 midterms to grade and Simon is completely not interested in letting that happen so his naps have been shorter but more frequent. After two weeks of sleeping between nine and ten and a half hours in a row, Simon is now having trouble sleeping (probably because of the growth spurt). Hava "organize it!" Kagle is having a hard time letting the laundry and dishes pile and watching the mess rise around her but there isn't much she can do to solve the problem with the exception of going into a brief cleaning frenzy just after Simon falls asleep and before she and Matthew pass out from exhaustion.

Perhaps because of all of these things and because it was her birthday, Hava nearly came to fisticuffs with a large male Republican on Tuesday because he had placed really obnoxious signs on their common property. For the last few days Hava has actually secretly daydreamed of whacking the very large man to the ground and relieving her stress on his offensive self. Then came the depressing realization that 51% of the population of our country thinks George Bush is doing a bang-up job and deserves another four years to carry on his stellar policies. (What happened to notion of "are you better off now than you were four years ago?") Simon actually let out a well timed scream from his crib at the same moment Matthew reported that Florida went to Bush. We just don't understand why anyone would think the economy is better (it isn't), there are more jobs (cuz, uh, there aren't), we are safer (people around the world hate us more than ever), we have better heath care (mine went up by over 50% this year), the educational system is flourishing (nope!), and all those dead babies - just like Simon - in Iraq deserved to die because even if he really didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein is EVIL and we needed to "smoke him out". So Hava has found the perfect two year term job in the UK and she will apply but she doesn't have much hope that they will want an American to fill the position.

New things for Simon (in case you're actually here for him and not for us): He prefers to feed himself bottles these days. He started sweet potatoes and actually didn't make the "why are you doing this to me" face after Hava mixed them with some rice cereal and milk. Matthew claims that he turns toward the laundry machine whenever you say the word "laundry". He continues to find things we do hysterically funny (faces, sounds, and movements). And though we had complaints last time we mentioned pooping, we're gonna do it again: he had two of the most foul poops imaginable yesterday. DIS-GUS-TING. He is becoming such a fun person and we like him very much.

Hava and Matthew are seriously considering a move to England for a few years. Know anything about moving two adults, a baby, and a small parrot to the UK? Have an opinion? We'd like to hear from you. The guestbook would be a great place for information (because it is lonely and perhaps we're not the only people who care).

Simon says: Happy Birthday Mom!

Today Simon will go with his parents to the polls; we're sure he hopes you will too.Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry. Vote Kerry.

Simon had a successful first Halloween. He had some friends over, pretended to be the Red Baron, walked with Mom, Dad, Calvin and his parents and Stan in the dark to an impressive Halloween display and then tried his second vegetable, carrots. Carrots, as it turns out, are even worse than peas. By the time dinner was over it was pretty late -- not even taking the time change into account. When tired, Simon either gets fussy or punchy. Last night he was punchy, so we recorded it.

Simon says: Happy Halloween! (Watch the space above for a photo of Simon in costume.)

Thursday night, after eating an entire baby bowl full of rice cereal and still wanting more, Hava and Matthew cracked open a jar of peas. He has now had peas three nights in a row and, we can safely say at this point, never wants to taste them again. Not only did we get to see the "oh this is gross" face but also the full body disgust shivers.

Here Hava is actually scooping the peas out of Simon's mouth because he wouldn't spit or swallow and his expression was too pathetic to keep up the torture.

He's still ALIVE!

Of course he is. In fact, as Hava predicted, Simon either didn't notice or didn't care that he was without his parents for two hours. We might have mentioned that Simon is a budding social butterfly and finds people (especially new people) fascinating; in fact, that wasn't an exaggeration. Alas, as we warned Lenore and Carl, Simon gets a little less friendly after 7 PM and, at exactly 7:01, he started to fuss and cry. (His internal clock is pretty impressive.) Mom and Dad arrived at 7:20 and he screamed all the way home until he could have his 7:30 comfort boob and off to sleep he went (for ten hours straight thank you very much).

Dinner was great. Simon, Lenore, and Carl had a good time (and we didn't even bug them once with a phone call). Happy happy.

Simon says: Happy Third Anniversary to Mom and Dad!

And then it happened, just like they said it would; Hava left Simon on his play blanket in the middle of the living room and when she returned not three minutes later, he was gone. We found him back up against the game console on the other side of the room. Simon demonstrated his technique a few minutes later; a combination of rolling over and over (sideways movement), scooting like an inchworm (front movement), and sticking his rear end up in the air and then "falling" to the side (diagonal movement). We haven't had time to baby proof anything! The inchworm movement leads us to believe we have at least a few weeks before actual crawling happens. He has the technique down but not the arm strength required to keep himself up.

Over the past two nights we've been pushing Simon's bedtime later (slowly adjusting to daylight savings time). As a result, last night, at his normal bath time he began shrieking with delirious delight at the bouncy chair. The night before he slept nine hours in a row and last night TEN hours in a row without any snack breaks! Hava still wakes up early; his lack of snacking causes pain, giving new meaning to "over the shoulder boulder holder."

But this is a very big day in other ways ...

The sifting through applications, interviewing, and background checks are over and tonight Simon will enjoy his first babysitters: (drum roll please) Lenore and Carl Jones.

Application for Professional Simonizing: Married, 33 years, Lenore and Carl have raised two fully functional, independent, intelligent, kind, and committed adults: Karen (24) and Matt (27). Matt has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (Grandparents' Kagle should like that) and his thesis was titled: "Temporal information and adaptive rationality." Karen has a degree from Boston College in Psychology which suits her well in her work as a bartender for Ceasars in Tahoe. Though both "kids" live in other states, they visit their parents several times a year (at least) which means, by our standards, that Lenore and Carl did something right. Oh, and last time Matt visited them (in Palo Alto) he decided to ride his bike home (to Austin, Texas) alone.

Lenore and Carl both work with Hava at RLG in managerial positions and bike to work together often wearing identical t-shirts. In their free time, Lenore is a member of the Palo Alto Library Commission and Carl is a soccer referee (sometimes even as far away as Alaska - he is on the far right). Lenore and Carl are the proud grandparents of four grand puppies.

Matthew and Hava will be going out to dinner. The original plan was to eat at Stoa but they called last night to cancel our reservation. As it turns out, the aren't open today because they are moving to a new location and the new location isn't ready. It is particularly amusing that they called to tell us they were closed but they hadn't planned to tell us they were no longer at the same location. In any case, we'll now be dining in Mountain View at Chez TJ.

Hava's new favorite photo:

She calls it: "Oh no, there are two!"

Simon stopped by Mom's work yesterday for a squeeze, a snack, and some socialization and he sat up on a table all by himself for roughly five minutes! His hands were holding up his upper body and he was staring at a carved Chinese "ball" that spins. When the trance of the spinning ball was broken he started to lean. Pretty soon he'll be sitting on his own trance or no.

Last weekend we weren't able to take Simon to the pumpkin patch because of the rain so we used yesterday's break in the storm as a pumpkin finding opportunity. Simon found the geese, the turkeys and the train somewhat interesting but this year it was still mostly entertainment for Mom and Dad. We all went home and had some form of rice. Dad can't feed Simon because, for some reason, Simon thinks it is so funny to have Dad give him a spoonful of food that he laughs and it all comes streaming out. Dad is pretty funny (and not just funny looking).

Simon says: Congratulations to Bill and Robin!

Maybe it was just the infant car seat that Simon couldn't tolerate. The three of us went to the wedding of Bill and Robin yesterday (an hour away) and he slept soundly in the convertible car seat the entire time (both ways - in addition to his regular naps). But, in general, Simon has been sleeping really well; for the past week he has been asleep by 8 and awake promptly at 6. He wakes once during the night for a 20 minute feeding and then falls right back to sleep. If he can figure out daylight savings time this weekend we'll be all set.

New things for Simon: With rice cereal now in his diet his poops have turned from runny clear yellow to runny opaque yellow. He poops three or four times a day instead of TEN. He finds his feet entertaining enough to keep him occupied for quite some time and he likes to watch his hula hands dance through the air.

Today we are going to the pumpkin patch (after swim class) to get Simon his second pumpkin. He had one last year only no one "got it" because he was still a secret. Do ya get it now?

Matthew pumpkin with small green Winslow pumpkin on his shoulder and Hava pumpkin and Simon pumpkin (attached with umbilical twine). Simon pumpkin has one of each of his parents' pumpkin's eyes and a combination of their mouths.

Hallelujah! Simon is finally starting to find toys interesting. Given two balls, a tennis ball and a much larger "wiggly giggly" ball, he will drop the tennis ball and try to hold (and chew) the "wiggly giggly" ball. His favorite toy seems to be "Freddie the Firefly" (fun to chew) followed by the balls and anything that creates ultra annoying music. He still prefers people to toys - especially strangers who smile and coo.

The banana baby is now almost entirely in 6-9 month clothes with the exception of pants (his legs are short) and PJs. For some reason, though 3-6 month sleepers barely fit, 6-9 month sleepers are still WAY to long.

*update* We ordered a Prius for lunch today. Below MSRP. Our color choices: 1. blue, 2. silver, 3. green. Wait time: 4 to 6 months.

Simon's new hair is coming in fast. It is very light in color but not quite blonde, not quite brown, and not quite auburn; it might be called strawberry light brown with blonde highlights. His eyes are still light blue.

In other news, Simon has decided recently that sucking one thumb just isn't good enough so he sucks both at the same time. And he awoke this morning after a nine hour stretch of sleep.

Last night we doubled the amount of rice cereal and cut the milk in half so that it actually looked like baby food. He ate all of it and was still hungry; tonight we'll make even more (the doctor said he is supposed to turn away when he is done and we haven't seen that happen yet). It appears that skinny little Simon is just a really big eater. Simon now drinks an almost full 8 oz. bottle four times a day (between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM). Hava has to add another pumping session to her schedule and double the time of each session just to keep up.

This morning Matthew is having the convertible car seat professionally installed because Hava has spent way too much time and said way too many bad words trying to get it in the back seat of his car. Hava's car is still in the shop (the fuel pump died). The new Prius is still just a gleam in the eye of its manufacturer in Japan. Just FYI, Hava called places that claimed to have Prius' available and indeed they are LYING! But they'd be happy to order one. In Montana there is only a waiting list eight long and it STILL takes five months. We're going with our local Sunnyvale or Redwood City dealerships who offer MSRP (or slightly below) and we'll stick to the trite philosophy that "good things come to those who wait."

*update* And then, because she was running late for work, Hava drove this morning and, because she was already having a bad day, her car (which has never ever caused trouble before) died on a freeway overpass at a light in morning rush hour traffic. Apparently it had heard that Matthew was planning to buy Hava a Prius for her birthday. (It was towed.)

Simon says: Happy birthday Uncle Jon!

So when you say to Matthew how much fun he must be having and he gives you a mini lecture on the state of the Kagle household, please know that he is most likely thinking of nights like last night ... Simon went to sleep as usual at 8 PM after having two full nursing sessions and rice cereal between 6 and 8 PM (in other words, he wasn't hungry). He woke up at 11:30, nursed for 10 minutes, woke up at 12, nursed for 20 minutes, woke up at 12:30, came into bed with us and couldn't be charmed to sleep until 1:30 AM. Hava and Matthew, terrified that he would wake up again, got stuck in uncomfortable positions and didn't dare rectify the situation and fall asleep until 2:30 AM. Simon woke up again at 5. So, "are you having fun yet?" isn't really a fair question to ask on most days when we've had little sleep and somehow have to manage our jobs and being ultra cheerful, enthusiastic, and energetic for Simon.

Fine, yes, apologies for the attempted deception; we DO think Simon is about the greatest thing since iTunes (which is really great) so we probably do brag quite a bit. There are of course a few things we don't brag about: Simon's sleep habits and the amount of spit-up which leaves his little body each day. One day, when he stops spitting and sleeps for eight hours in a row seven days in a row, we might brag about those things too.

So last night we gave Simon his first taste of "solid" food. Since it was only one tablespoon of powdered rice cereal to five tablespoons breast milk, it really wasn't that solid at all. Alas Simon got the hang of the spoon mighty quickly; the problem seemed to be that Mom couldn't shovel it in fast enough (he actually grabbed Mom's hand and forced the spoon to his mouth several times). Simon, frustrated by this new slow release food program, started to cry so we finished the meal with the old fashioned boob method. For the following two hours he spit up pretty much everything he consumed.

As a reminder, we are constantly adding photos to the monthly ofoto album. Click on "Current Photos" and then "view" below the picture in the new window. Just ignore the sign-in form on the right hand side of the page. All albums are linked from the "Multimedia Library" page. New photos are placed at the bottom of the album so be sure to scroll.

*update* We don't like to brag so we'll keep this short. Suffice it to say, Simon is a natural swimmer and he loved every minute of his time in the pool.

Simon says: Happy Birthday to Auntie Laura! (I hope to meet you soon.)

Yesterday, while swinging merrily along, Simon found that feet can be fun and maybe even a little tasty. Check out the month-five photo album to see him in [still life] action. Also, "the fist" has now turned into the "hula hand" as he gently caresses the air using very Hawaiian-like waves and twists. His tongue is even getting into the action these days as he attempts to figure out if blowing spit bubbles is better with or without a pointy tip sticking out of his mouth. Tongues are also good for licking toys, the floor, parents, and everything else within reach. We don't call him Slimin for nothin' (OK, we don't actually call him "Slimin'" much -- The Simonial Underunit suits him better).

In sad news, we must report that some of Simon's cuter 3-6 month outfits are going into "the pile" and Hava was incorrect about maximum infant car seat heights; 26 inches is the max and our little banana is 26.25. Guess what we're buying this weekend? (Cue the convertible car seat/two door car macarena.) We're also likely to pick up a high-chair so we can start the family-around-the-dinner-table dining experience with our soon to be rice cereal eater. Finally, last night was the second night Matthew wasn't home for bed-time since Simon noticed his absence. Everything seemed normal; Simon nursed, fell asleep, but before Hava could move him from the boppy pillow to the crib, he woke up with an eardrum shattering scream and was inconsolable for a few minutes. Matthew doubts that this experience was about him. Hava thinks that, even though Simon can't talk, she distinctly heard him yell "I want my Dad and I want him NOW." This may be a very long fall quarter.

Simon is four months old today. Can you believe it has been four months already? We sure can. In fact, these past four months have felt like years. What was life like before Simon?