Hi!

It's been confirmed now by two separate parties (besides his mommies) that Simon is now saying "Hi".

Yup, the little man has said his first word.

Hi

A good first word.

He also responds to certain other communication like "up?" where he will lift his arms up to be lifted.

Or, "one two three..." for almost anything about to happen.

He will also now help get his clothes on. It's awesome.

Today he also rolled himself from his back on to his stomach and THEN got himself on to all fours.

A few hours later while we were visiting with a friend and her baby (a few months older than Simon) he got from all fours into a sitting position, twice!

He wasn't particularly happy about it while he was working it out but once he was done figuring out how to make it happen, he was happy as a clam.

He's truly amazing our little mover and shaker. He may be in heart failure but he's a moving and shaking baby in heart failure.

It's all incredibly exciting and I gotta say more than a little crazy making.

Simon is not your typical baby. I am not turning out to be the mom I imagined 10.5 months ago (even pre-Aug 1st really). I know, I know that nobody realistically turn out to be the parent they think they might be before their kid arrives. Still, I think our situation is just a little different from most.

I always thought I would be the mom that lets their kid get really frustrated while they try to roll over, crawl, stand up, etc. I'd be present and not let it go on for too long but really believe that it's a part of getting to those milestones. I struggle with wanting that for Simon but also seeing in my mind's eye that heart monitor from the hospital and knowing how that number that measures his heart rate would climb significantly when he would be crying and/or upset. That's not good for someone in heart failure. So I work it out as best I can. Simon will walk someday, it's ok if he breathes hard, just not for too long. What's too long? Beats me. Depends how I feel. That's a bit of the crazy making part right there- to put my son's heart health in the hands of how I feel in a given moment. I guess it's that parenting thing plus a little extra. Trust your instincts Laura and/but keep it in mind that Simon has a little something extra going on.

He's amazing. I love him so much.

I am so amazed at how much he teaches me every moment I am with him and certainly those I am not.

Speaking of, I got to go to Creative Arts Charter School (where I used to work) twice in the last two weeks to try and keep a scholarship program going. I used to work for an Outward Bound Scholarship program and have been able to get two slots for students at CACS ever since I started working there in 2006. It's been great to connect with those kids again and hopefully get a few of them on courses this summer. We'll see. It's hard because I'm not there everyday to encourage them to finish their applications but it's been so great to reconnect with that part of my identity and especially great to stay connected to those young people. I got lots of hugs today from students that said they were missing me. Shucks.

Simon is starting to squawk.

Peas.

Laura

From this morning's photo shoot with Mamaw D