Day 298 = December 25, 2010

Well, I didn’t want to admit it, but Simon is sick again. On Thursday night, he went to bed with a little bit of raspy breathing. On Friday, he had some coughs and sounded like he had some phlegm but he didn’t have a fever nor a change in appetite. Last night though, he woke up several times because he seemed to be choking on this saliva/phlegm that he wasn’t swallowing as he was asleep. But it didn’t deter us from having him open his gifts this Christmas morning.

Wrapped with care by Auntie Betty.

He wasn’t really that interested in opening his gifts though. He was more interested in the toys he already had so Ron and I opened the gifts for him. Thank you everyone for thinking of us this holiday season. We’ll put all his and our gifts to good use and I’m sure they’ll be featured on our blog sometime soon.

Thank you to Grandma Tam for this outfit for Simon that says “Baby’s 1st Christmas”. It’s a one piece suit that is complete with tuxedo looking shoes. Simon really liked the buttons on his feet so didn’t really want to stand up straight to take this photo. I had to trap him in between my legs to keep him still.

Simon’s happy mood didn’t last for long as his little cold seemed to become more intense. When we tried to put him down for his afternoon nap, he started wailing right away when we lay him down. We let him cry for a while before picking him up because lately he seems to have forgotten how to fall asleep. But this time, he really couldn’t sleep because he couldn’t breathe comfortably. Since he had already been crying, he had gulped a whole bunch of air so his stomach was also tight. I gave him a dose of simethicone drops to help with the gas and packed him into my Ergo baby carrier to try to rock him to sleep. He was pretty worked up so it took almost 10 minutes of walking and bouncing him to calm him down enough where he was no longer wailing. As he calmed his crying gasps, he was able to take some deep breaths and finally fall asleep. He had to sleep with his mouth open though since it seems like his nose is congested. We had tried a saline nasal rinse and we weren’t able to wash out the rinse from one nostril to the other so suspect his nasal passages are inflamed. But no fever thank goodness.

So poor little guy snored for about 75 minutes strapped to my chest. If not for my iPhone to read news and play games, I don’t know what I would have done while I waited for him to wake up.

When he gets sick like this, it reminds me that he is still a little baby and quite helpless.

But after his nap, he seemed a lot better. He still has a pretty bad cough. We went for a short walk to get out of the house and get some fresh air. We’d been cooped up in the house all day due to the rain but it was still cold out so we made sure to bundle Simon up. Here is Simon next to our apartment’s Christmas tree. They always set up decorations for every holiday.

We made a quick stop by Union Square for a photo opportunity with the palm trees and Christmas tree. There wasn’t much else to do since almost everything was closed except for a few restaurants, Walgreens, the movie theater, and Starbucks.

Simon’s new bear hoodie from Auntie Betty is super warm. It has this thick fuzzy lining, wind proof jersey material, and cute little hoodie with ears to complete it. I’d seen this when walking by the Gap store but never had the chance to go take a look at it. It’s adorable.

After our short walk, we came home and had dinner. Unfortunately Simon finished eating his dinner before we could finish ours so when he started fussing in his chair, we turned on the TV. Comcast On Demand has Sesame Street episodes that we’ve been playing for Simon sometimes when he’s at the dinner table. While this episode was playing, Simon suddenly started to giggle… Cookie Monster was on the screen. I wondered if it was a fluke so I rewinded it and played it again and Simon still giggled. We had to record it so played it a third time and he still found it funny, even funnier than the first time he saw it.

Little Simon seems to feel much better than this afternoon but only tonight when he goes to sleep will tell us if he is all better or not. Here is one last photo on Christmas Day, looking towards 2011!

Day 297 = December 24, 2010

Ron decided to buy Simon these suction cup bowls to have Simon practice taking things from a bowl to eat. This will be a lot more convenient than having to clean off the table at a restaurant so that he can pick up food from the table… and easier than us having to feed him all the time.

Simon checking out what there is to eat.

Simon playing with his Handy Manny telephone toy from Auntie Vicki. I think it may be too advanced for him just yet but he likes the blinking lights.

Simon Claus spreading some holiday cheer.

Simon was missing Rudolph so he gave himself a red nose. We think he scratched himself with his fingernail since he hasn’t been playing with paper or any other sharp objects.

Our holiday plans this year didn’t work out as planned so we did not have Christmas Eve dinner with our families. Instead, our friends Susan and Ken hosted us at their condo with Ron doing most of the main course cooking. Simon had a good time crawling around their laminate flooring since they don’t have much furniture and no pets so there was plenty of places for him to go.

We had wonton soup as an appetizer so Simon had some pork and shrimp won tons as well. Susan and her friends made them fresh yesterday. Simon seemed to like them and gobbled them up, he almost ate three whole ones by himself. I picked out all the shrimp and didn’t give him all the wonton skin.

For dinner tonight, we had Singaporean chili crab, using a sauce package that our friends brought us from Singapore. I turned out pretty authentic and is the best we’ve had here in the US. We even fried up some white buns like they do in Singapore. We used peanut oil so that it would brown nicely and not burn.

Finger licking good.

Ready to eat.

We had our crab while we waited for the other course, Beef Wellington. We always see this being made on Hell’s Kitchen on TV so always wonder how hard it is to actually make it since the chefs always mess it up on TV. Ron followed Gordon Ramsay’s Youtube video (mostly). It looked beautiful coming out of the oven even though their smoke detector went off right before they took it out.

After resting for 15 minutes, they sliced it up and meat was cooked perfectly. It was a bit salty but otherwise very tasty. It didn’t even need a sauce.

We had some mini tarts for dessert (from Whole Foods) to complete our meal.

Last day of wearing this outfit. I love how the belt buckle sits perfectly on his round belly!

Simon Claus is pooped out from a long day of spreading holiday cheer. We are transitioning him to a second plush in case Pooh gets lost. This is a Zebra made by Jellycat. They also make a tiger (which I didn’t know about) so am thinking of looking for that one online. He has lots of plushies but he only really likes the soft fuzzy ones like Pooh and this Zebra.

Here are some of Simon’s gifts for Christmas morning. Daddy Claus put them next to his crib so that we can open them in the morning.

Although the day wasn’t what we had originally planned and I was a sad, having Simon smile and hearing his laugh cheered me up. Thank you also Susan and Ken for hosting us for dinner.