10 weeks

I haven't updated in a while, but Simon is now double digits -- that's right, 10 weeks old. He is getting so big too. He looks like he is going to outgrow his swing any day now.

He has some new tricks too. He is now smiling all the time, and he is beginning to reach for things, and GIGGLE!!! It's so great to hear. Right now he pretty much just giggles in his sleep, but in the last two days he has started to half way giggle when we're playing with him and any day now I know he's just going to start cracking up. He's really talkative now too. He loves to babble and coo. It's so sweet! He can also find his thumb consistently, so now he enjoys sucking on that instead of his whole hand.

He has been giving us a bit of a run for our money in the sleeping and eating department though. He sleeps very well at night, but does not like to nap during the day, which can be frustrating, but I'm hoping it's only a phase. He has starting eating more now too, but less often so it does work out, but he continues to be a bit of a pig. He's a growing boy though so that's ok.

We've been taking him out a lot more lately on the weekends and he is always so well behaved. We've never had a problem when we go out with him (knock on wood). We took him to the Frederick fair last weekend and this weekend we took him to first Saturday and out to dinner. He like to hang out in his stroller and smile at the little duck toy I have hanging from it. It's nice that we can go out and little more now and not worry about him.

Ben and I are both doing well. School is a little hectic for me because I have a lot of work to do. Ben still likes his job ok, I think he would like it more if it weren't for the commute and if he saw some long term growth in the position, but he does like the company.

Anyway, here are some pictures to enjoy...

Happy Birthday...

On the 27th Simon turned 5 weeks and Ben turned 26. Because we do have a 5 week old, it was a fairly low key birthday with Chipotle and a cake that turned out so bad we had to switch to ice cream. For the record, Angelfood cake is really hard to make. Anyway Happy Birthday to my birthday boys.



Simon is doing quite well. He had a doctor's appointment this past week and he now weighs 10 lbs. 13 oz. and is 22 in. long. I really can not believe how big he is getting. He went through a growth spurt this week. I can really tell how much he has changed just since last Sunday. It's so hard because there's a part of me that wants him to get bigger so he gets to a stage that is a little more fun, but I also want him to always stay little. Can't have it both ways though I guess.

He is sleeping in his crib now, which has been nice because I get a little more sleep when I'm not waking up every time he farts (which is often). He fought it a little at first, but after a little while he got used to it.

He smiles every once in a while now. Still pretty rare, but I know any day now he's going to start doing it more often. I'm pretty excited for that.

Other than that Ben and my anniversary is on Monday and we are very excited to celebrate next weekend when we have several willing babysitters here. We are also very excited to see Sunnie, Corie, and my parents. Should be a nice labor day weekend.

Here are some more pictures I took of Simon this week:















And here are my other babies staring at me while I am feeding Simon:

Belly Pictures up to 35 weeks : )

Back after a short hiatus

Sorry no post in a while. The whole sitting in front of a computer typing thing is a little painful these days because my back gets so sore. Anyway there isn't a whole lot new here. Ben gets back in a week! I am so so so excited about that. He's coming back at a good time too because it is getting a little bit more difficult for me to do some day to day stuff. Mostly because of my back, but pretty soon it will probably be harder as my waist continues to expand. I have noticed that bending over to shave my legs seems to be getting slightly uncomfortable, just in time for shorts season too. I'll try to post more later. Here are some pictures, including a 25 week belly picture:

Since I got a lovely text message reminder today to blog more, I am doing just that. There really isn't anything very interesting going on right now. I started school on Thursday, which was more exhausting than I was planning so I wound up calling in sick on Friday and sleeping until 2pm. I'm sure the rain didn't help that either. The rain around here is crazy right now. There are pictures of the flooding below.



In other news we have decided on two names for the baby. We aren't really sharing them. We're going to wait until he gets here to decide between the two. Neither of them were on our original list which is interesting, but I like both so we'll wait and see what he looks more like.

In other even bigger news, Jack is now no longer living with us. One of our neighbors came to see me about him. She has been letting him in her house and decided that she wanted to keep him since he could be inside more often there and would be safer. Well I broke down and have been crying for about 2 days because of this. Most people probably don't understand, but I think of my animals as my kids and Jack, with all his faults, was my first baby (while living on my own, so this would exclude Sera). Kathy, my neighbor, is very sweet and lives alone with her cat. I went over to see Jack and he seems completely relaxed there and really loves Kathy. She told me to think of this as him going off to college. I'll still get to see him, he just won't always be around. It really is for the best. I know a baby coming would stress him out and he did seem so comfortable there, it's still a little hard for me though. In the long run it really is for the best though.

First Baby Purchase

Since I now know I am having a little boy, I have made my first baby purchase! I couldn't pass it up at Kohl's because it was on sale and I had a gift card. I'll be honest when I go shopping and see baby stuff the first thing that catches my eye are all of the little dresses, but they have some really cute little boy clothes too, and I know I'll save money on clothes since he is a boy, even if it will be spent on other boy related things down the road, like ER visits. Just kidding, but little boys really do climb and jump on everything, I know Zoe will be looking forward to it. When I showed her the little outfit I bought she thought it was a toy for her and tried to bite on it, so we need to teach her that everything small is not a toy for her, but I think she'll pick that up quickly being the smartest dog in the world and everything. We still can not think of a name. We change our minds just about every five minutes. I'm thinking about starting a poll with all of the top names we are considering to get some other people's input. Hopefully by July we'll have something. Here is a picture of the outfit I bought:

Book Review

I finished reading Dan Brown's Deception Point this week. I will say before this review that I am not a big Dan Brown fan. I've never read his most popular stuff (The Da Vinvi Code) but I have read some other stuff of his that I thought was really terrible (Digital Fortress). I find that he always has a strong female protagonist that he describes as intelligent and beautiful but then he makes her say the stupidest things in the name of making sure the audience understands what is going on. Anyway, that really bothers me, but I actually really liked Deception Point. It was fast moving with a good amount of action. I thought the characters were developed well and I liked that a lot of it took place in Washington D.C because it is easier for me to visual where everything is. I thought the scientific elements of the book were pretty interesting too. So that being said I would recommend Deception Point for a quick entertaining read.