all grown up and off to school

Sadly the fun has come to an end.  Noah is 12 weeks old today and that means my maternity leave is over (picture me sobbing).  In addition to preparing to start school, Noah had his first nights (4 of them) without daddy home and his first nighttime babysitter.  All of these were much more taxing on me than him, as he seemed to pretty much go with the flow.  Ben being out of town gave me a whole new appreciation for single mothers.  It was exhausting.  It would have been less exhausting if I wasn't still getting up in the middle of the night to pump (I know, I know), but I am too nervous to cut back.  Ben always does Noah's morning feeding so I can pump, but with him gone I had to get up around 2:30 and 5:30am so I could be ready for Noah to wake up around 7am.  That meant a max of about 4.5 hours of sleep, which really wasn't cutting it. 

The saving grace of being a single mom was waking up this guy

He is always excited first thing

My mom also came to visit and got a lot of practice feeding, burping and changing him. She was his first nighttime babysitter.  Ben and I went out and celebrate our 5 year anniversary at Bacchanalia, which was amazing!  We had wonderful food and wine and hadn't been on a date since last fall, so it was really nice to get dressed up and go out.  We were very close to canceling because Noah's fussiest time is around 6:30pm, which is when we left, but my mom managed to keep him somewhat calm by rocking him and carrying him around the house.  He got to eat a little early and apparently didn't like being put down to bed, which isn't normal for him, but by the time we were home he was asleep and my mom was only slightly frazzled.  She will luckily get more practice since she wants to come back every few weeks and let us go out (thanks Grandma!).

Reading his favorite book (Clap Hands by Helen Oxenbury)

Although Ben being gone and leaving Noah with my mom were nerve-wracking, they were nothing compared to leaving him at day care.  He has gone for 2 half days so far and has come home happy and exhausted.  I had a lunch date with my friend Kelly one day and ran errands the other.  I cried both times I left him and called Ben to tell him I was quitting my job (I haven't).  All I can hope for is that leaving him will get easier as time goes on.   Friday is my first day of work so he will be starting full time then.  Hopefully my work day won't be terribly busy and I can pick him up early.

On a more fun note, Noah had a play date with his future wife, Mads, while daddy was gone.  The one thing Noah has going for him in Mads' eyes is George.  Hopefully her love for George will extend to Noah soon.

Highlights of the past week:- seeing Grandma
- starting school (a highlight for Noah only)
- play date with Mads
- more babbling
- trying out the exersaucer

And here are some of our favorite pictures:

Loving his caterpillar

Another favorite toy (baby einstein take along tunes)

get up (mommy), stand (me) up

This pretty much sums up what Noah wants to do all the time unless he's sleeping, eating or playing piano.  We used to be able to sit together on the couch with him on my knees or lap  and play, but now if I am holding him and he isn't eating or sleeping, then he wants me to stand up and stand him up.   He especially likes being lifted up high so he can look around.  While this may be adorable and fun, it is also exhausting and my arms feel like they may fall off at any moment.  I can sometimes cheat and just cradle him up high against my shoulder, but this doesn't always last very long.  He also likes to be flown around like an airplane, but this isn't any easier on the arms.  To alleviate some of the pressure on my (lack of) muscles, I am planning on seeing if he likes his exersaucer, but over the last 36 hours I have only reached step 3 in the instruction manual (this means Ben has a fun weekend project!).

In addition to doing a lot of standing, walking, dancing and flying around our house, Noah has made some more friends.  He had his first play date with my friend Elise's twins, Rhodes and Fitz, who are about 2 months older than Noah.  Unfortunately I failed to take a picture (probably because the whole time they were awake Noah was asleep), but they are gorgeous little boys and it was nice to get advice from someone who just went through what we are going through x2.   Noah also had another lunch date with Henry and got to meet Kristen and Jess, who came down here last weekend for a visit.  It was great to have a girl's weekend after being in a house with 4 boys.  I had more wine and stayed up later than I have in about a year and a half, which was so much fun but I'm still not caught up on sleep (Noah doesn't seem to understand sleeping in and was probably angry about the milk I had to waste after said wine, sorry buddy, 20.75 more years). 

George attached himself to Kristen so he could get attention too

In not so fun news, Noah also had his first fever.  Well, I considered it a fever (100 degrees), but the doctor did not.  The 'fever' was due to his 2 month shots and only lasted about 48 hours.  He thankfully wasn't terribly fussy and calmed down with a dose of cherry Tylenol.  He did great during the shots, and the nurse was impressed with his calm as well as his affinity for the sweet oral vaccine, so I fear that we may have a sugar loving baby on our hands. 

loved the mirror at the doctor's office

 Noah has been making a lot of progress on the sleeping front.  He cut his feedings down to 5 a day since he can now go from 8pm to 6ish am.  Sometimes he stirs around 5:30 or 5:45am, but with the help of the paci and some gentle rocking, he can make it past 6am so we no longer have a middle of the night feeding.  The only 'problem' with this achievement is that Ben now has to get up with him at 6 rather than 7am, and I'm sometimes up earlier than that soothing him.  We are working on getting to 7am but I think it'll take a few more weeks.

This week also marks my last full week at home before going back to work.  A small part of me is excited to have more adult interaction, but I am mostly just terrified of leaving him.  We went to meet his teachers this week and tour the new day care, and everything and everyone was really nice, but I will still miss him terribly.  I don't start work until next Friday (happy 5 year wedding anniversary to me), so he may go for some partial days earlier in the week so we can gradually adjust.

Highlights of the past week:
- play date with Fitz and Rhodes
- meeting his teacher
- meeting Kristen and Jess
- shots
- sleeping through the night
- eating his hands

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the week:

Loving his kitty!

We've discovered our hands and are constantly eating them