The best New Year's resolution ever!

I just read the most touching and thought-provoking article.  No, its not work-related, no Nobel Prize will be won based off of its notion, but it may very well be the best idea for a New Year's resolution ever.  I intend to try it myself, hopefully with a bit of success, and see if I can't get a new perspective on the sometimes chaotic and annoying parts of my life.  Check it out for yourselves and perhaps give it a try...can't hurt!

Excellent News!

I have finally gotten some excellent news from the job hunt front!  I got an email a couple days ago requesting a phone interview for Assumption College (which if you don't know is in Worcester, MA).  Its a small, private, Catholic College VERY similar to Stonehill, where I did my undergraduate degree.  I had a lovely chat with the chair of the search committee, who seemed quite excited about my teaching and research interests and was really interested in my desire to involve undergrads in active research projects.  I learned a bit about the department and about the undergraduate community there.  It seems like a wonderful place to be.  Perhaps if things continue to go well, Tim and I will have to take a little drive up to Worcester to check the place out!  I am scheduled for a second phone interview next week with the whole 5 person search committee this time and am looking forward to hopefully being able to share more exciting news!

Christmas continues....

Friday morning, since the wee man was not in any shape to go to visit Pepere L.'s side of the family on Christmas day, was spent with Pepere L. and Nana. They came over my parent's place (THANK YOU!!!) to reduce the number of times we would have to pack up the wee man. And since they weren't able to make it through the blizzard to the birthday party, the little dude got double the gifts, birthday and Christmas at the same time...not that he knew the difference! Pepere worked like a mad man to finish this extra special gift on time, and on time it was despite also having to build a barn (yes, as in a whole barn to house horses and chickens), and 4 days of power outages (due to a massive ice storm)!!! How cool is this, and what a very special present for the little man to treasure for years. He is obviously a bit little for it now, but it will be something that we are sure will bring miles and miles of enjoyment. Hopefully, like the skin horse in my favorite story The Velveteen Rabbit, it will be loved so much it will become a real horse someday...it certainly deserves it! :)


I wonder how many hours total were logged to make the horsey (he needs a name soon, huh?)?


Interestingly, even with the gorgeous rocking horse Pepere brought for him, the best gift, or at least the one that was the most fun to play with was mine...big surprise. My bath and pamper basket provided over an hour of fun and entertainment for the little man, and he didn't even have to get wet!


The rest of Friday was relaxing, we spent the day trying to get the wee man back on his regular schedule. It wasn't a complete success, but we did manage to get two naps in (not a great afternoon one, but it was a nap). We figured that since everyone (except Tim of course) was hanging around and had time off, we would go out to dinner. So off we went to Wormwood's, a great seafood place out of the way a bit. Noah was a good boy, he ate a bunch of the Christmas dinner leftovers and sampled some of mine and Memere's dinners...haddock, garlic diced potatoes, squash, and some dinner roll. After dinner, we came home, entertained ourselves with Noah's hair, gave him a bath, and got down to some serious business of Wii Bowling! I managed to get the current top score, a 212!! Let's hope my record stands for a while and I don't disappoint myself next time I play!

Saturday for lunch we stopped over to visit my dad's side of the family, the Lambs. They are getting up there and two of the three are on and off sick and in the hospital, so it was quite nice that everyone was relatively healthy and at home for Christmas and our post-Christmas visit. As usual, we had a ton of food and they spoiled us with treats and a few gifts. Noah got a ride on Alphabet train, which has this super cool chute that spits blocks from the top of the train to underneath the caboose he rides on! Needless to say it was an instant hit!


Thank you to all of the family for making Noah's second Christmas much more exciting than the first (no offense little dude!). He absolutely loves all of the toys and can't wait to spread them all over the living room as soon as he gets up in the morning. Thankfully we have gotten a bit of storage and organization going in there, so once he goes to bed, it stops looking like a daycare and looks mostly like a living room again. Hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas and our very best wishes for a healthy and Happy New Year!

And as a last present for this 2008 holiday season, I give you Noah, with a "faux hawk" courtesy of Uncle Tim and some really tasty smelling pomade!!! :)

Santa Claus definitely came to town!

also known as the great toy explosion of 2008! :) Seriously, we are so grateful to have been able to spend time with family and start to show Noah that the best parts of Christmas really are the parts that don't involve presents at all (wine & green bean casserole...need I say more!). Although, since we did enjoy those parts, there was also time for Noah to get into the "Santa brought me presents!!!" part too!

Noah and I drove up to Maine alone on Wednesday morning. He napped nicely in the car the whole way up. We went over to Memere's work to bring her some lunch and hang out, and of course show off his cute face! He was a big hit with everyone and he seemed to get along with everyone but Roger...the one person who was desperate to hang out with him! Oh well, better luck next time! The rest of Wednesday was pretty quiet, Daddy joined us in Maine after a long day of work just in time to put the wee man down for bed. After Noah went to bed, I finally found the time to make my almond flavored Christmas tree cookies (which are an absolute must for me!). They are so, so tasty and I got them in just in the nick of time!

Noah graced us with a 5am wake up on Christmas morning, but thankfully he took a bottle and went right back to sleep until 8am!!! How awesome was that! Come to find out that was the most extra sleep Noah was going to get that day as naps were unsurprisingly next to impossible to come by. We opened gifts and then attempted to get the wee dude down for a nap. Sadly, just as he was drifting off, Mia (the pee pants cat who can't be left alone at the house without peeing on the rug) jumped in the crib and woke him up. He never went back down (we did fix the situation after by putting up a tri-fold screen between the bed and the crib so she couldn't bust in again), so we opened a few more gifts, both birthday and Christmas from great Aunt Pris and then tried to have some Christmas lunch. Noah pitched a holy fit and was promptly and successfully put down for a nap...sadly it only lasted an hour. Since he was such a mess, we decided to fore go visiting Tim's dad's side of the family and rescheduled that visit for the next morning. We hung out, played with toys and relaxed for a few hours and then headed out for a visit to Memere L.'s place with her side of the family. He tested out the food there, some traditional French-Canadian Pork Pie, some bread and marinara sauce, and some cheese, oh and he broke in the brand new high chair she got just for wee person visitors. Overall, we had a chaotic, but fun day, punctuated by fits of screaming and throwing food, but also laughter and smiles. Isn't that just typical of a up-and-coming toddler though!?!?!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Opening his picnic table all by himself!


Checking out the available buttons on his very own sports car. Thank you Mommy & Daddy!!!!


Some fruits (vegetables also followed) for some "health-conscious" pretend play! :)


Sitting like a big boy in my very own car!


Okay, Pepere, I am dressed for the day, now take me for a ride!!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Man

To my little man on his first birthday - 

I can't believe you are already a whole year old!  Where did the time go and what happened to my tiny little baby?  I realize that it really is amazing what can happen in the span of a year, but it takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to raising children.  In the span of a year, you have gone from a completely dependent tiny little bundle to an (mostly) independently mobile little boy who had opinions (and voices them regularly and loudly), who knows who his favorite people are (Mommy & Daddy of course), and whose ability to learn new things astounds me each and every day.  I can't help but be amazed and proud of something you do over the course of a day.  To think how worried I was to bring you home from the hospital, worried I would break you, or not feed you enough, or not change your diapers often enough.  Those first few days and weeks were bumpy, I hated to see you cry, and I wanted only to do the very best I could by you.  Often when I held you and fed you during those first few weeks, I would daydream about the person you would grow up to be, I would wonder if you would grow up to be the type of boy and later man I would be proud to call by son.  While many of those questions will remain unanswered for years still, I know that the little person you are today is someone I am so happy to have had a part in raising. 

The moment you arrived was one that I will never forget; two people were born that day, a sweet little boy and his mother.  I can remember feeling such excitement that you were finally here, and wouldn't you know, you granted my only Christmas wish, to have you home for Christmas day.  For the record, you just barely made it little man, we arrived home at noon on Christmas day, you almost missed your cue.  But, coming down to the wire or not, you truly are, and always will be, the greatest Christmas present I will ever receive!

And even though there are moments when I am sad that you aren't my tiny little baby any more, I wouldn't trade a moment of time to have that little one back.  While it's true that you don't need me in the same way that you used to, I see everyday that you still need me, just in a different way.  You stop what you are doing to rush over to me when I get home from work, you shower me with sloppy baby kisses for no reason at all, you take a break from playing to crawl over to me and give me a cuddle.  What you don't realize is that I need those smiles, and laughter, and kisses and cuddles just as much as you do.  That love is what makes all of the stress of working and keeping up the house, and doing all of the less fun things in life so worth it.  And its all the more special that there are only the two of us in our little mutual adoration society.

Somehow I feel like I can't do justice the joy you have brought to my life over the last 12 months.  We have come so far together, you have gone from a tiny bundled up newborn to a crawler, and now a cruiser who is dangerously close to walking.  What is more amazing though, I think, are the changes that have occurred in me.  I have gained a new perspective on life, a new set of priorities, and new goals for myself.  You made me a mother, and I am a better person because of it.  I find patience where it didn't used to be, I find pride in the small victories, and I have gotten a second chance to see the world again for the first time.  I love to show you new things, to teach you, and to watch you learn.  Nothing makes me more happy than to see the look of pride and accomplishment on your face as you figure out something for the first time.  Thank you for making the last year so much fun, for being such a wonderful addition to our family.  And so even though I will miss the quickly waning baby days, I will always love the little man you are today.

Happy birthday little man, I can't wit to see what the next year will bring.

I love you always,

Mommy

A Letter to My Son on His First Birthday

Dear Noah -

I am finding it hard to believe that a year ago today your mommy and I were sitting in the hospital waiting to meet you for the first time.
The range of emotions that we went through that night is hard to explain to anyone who has not been through it themselves. Fear for your mommy, concern for you, and the jitters of the unknown just to name a few. She may never tell you, but I was very proud of your mommy that night. She showed an intestinal fortitude that I never knew that she had when she brought you into this world. All I could do was watch in amazement and awe. I was scared of the great unknown, such as what to say to you, and how to act around you. You see, daddy had never even really been close to a person as small as you much before he met you. You made it very easy for me though, and for that I am eternally grateful. There is not a day that goes by that I don't feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants, and that I don't have a clue what I should be doing next, however, whenever I am around you it just seems to come naturally. Instinct takes over, and we seem to figure it out together. There are some trying times that we have been through over the past year that I will probably never forget, but there have been so many more wonderful times that make it all worth while. Current parents will back me up when I say that I will never forget the first time that you fell and there was blood involved. It probably scared me a hundred times worse then it scared you, but I can't even begin to describe the hurt that went through me. Conversely, watching you figure out how to crawl, and seeing you sit down all by yourself to me is a wonder greater then anything else. To see you watch and learn, and try out different things until you get it just right to me is nothing short of shear amazement. You are such a smart baby, and you bring joy to my life every moment of every day. I hope that you never lose your innocence, and I hope that you always strive to figure it out, whatever it may be. To see you now, and to see the things that you can do, I still find it hard to believe that a year ago you were a tiny little bundle that I could hold in one hand (not that I did mind you!!). Nothing gives me more joy than to see that ear to ear grin, or to hear you go off into peels of nothing more then pure, innocent laughter. I only hope that your first year was as fun as mine was, and that I can continue to keep that innocence in you. I feel like I have been truly blessed, and without a doubt you are unquestionable one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me.

I love you very much Noah,

Your Daddy.

Noah's 1st Birthday Party....

almost didn't happen. Yes, that's correct. There was careful planning, decorations, food, presents from Mommy & Daddy, and yet it still happened only because of some seriously brave souls. As is typical of the northeast at this time of year, you just can never make serious plans. Unfortunately, Tim only had 1 day off this weekend, so when it was time to send out the invitations, we rolled the dice and picked Sunday, hoping that it wouldn't snow. Too bad for us, the snow started around 7am...um, really??? We just couldn't have planned it for a worse travel day, by the time the party was set to start at 11:30, it was close to a blizzard out. Yes, there were some people we would have loved to have celebrate with us that just couldn't make it, but we also had some family come despite the weather, so all was not totally lost. Memere B. came on the train on Saturday to help us with the cleaning and party prep. Pepere B. drove down with the 4-wheel drive on Sunday morning. Uncle Tim drove across the city to hang out and Memere L., Tom, and Beth drove down from Maine too! It was smaller than originally planned, but we still had fun! We decorated the dining room in, what else, a monkey theme with yellow and turquoise...very hip! Balloons and streamers, and some tasty lunch food made it your basic party.

For his special day, Noah's Daddy and I got him his very own chair, complete with his name embroidered on it! He seems quite in love with it already!!

We had some lunch and then Noah busted into his gifts. And when I say he busted, he seriously did. He helped himself and tore off some of the wrapping paper himself! For never having seen a wrapped present in person, he sure seemed to know just what to do with them! He got lots of wonderful gifts, a rock and bounce pony and the 2007 mint set from Memere L. & Tom, a corn popper from Aunt Beth, some puzzles from Uncle Tim, a cool push train, an outfit, and a snack cup from Great Aunt Sim, and an outfit, book, bath toys, the "Elf on the Shelf", and the Laugh and Learn House from Memere & Pepere B!! He made out like a bandit, and we are left trying to figure out where to put all of his new birthday loot....wait until Christmas comes!

Of course, since you only have a birthday once a year, the little dude got to have some cake along with all of the rest of us. I made him his own small cake to do with as he pleased and he seemed to get into the process quite a bit. He didn't make as big of a mess as I was anticipating, but he certainly seemed to be having fun! :)

When utensils just won't do, you can aways try face first!!

"What? That's not how you all are going to eat your cake? Hey, you only turn 1 once, so I might as well enjoy myself!"

Seriously, that's enough snow

Okay, that's enough snow thank you! We can stop anytime now...sooner would be better than later if you don't mind. It is now Saturday evening and it has been snowing for about 31 hours now...yes, that is nonstop snowing. True that some of the snow fall has been heavier than others, but for real, flakes have been falling from the sky for almost a day and a half straight!

Here is a picture up our street from late this afternoon...check out the size of the snowbanks already!!!


Our bushes into the backyard are getting quite a workout holding all that extra weight!


And a random fun picture of the wee dude with his new prize...the snack trap. Theoretically, you are supposed to be able to put in snacks (a la Cheerios) into the cup part and snap on the rubber lid and the slits that circle the lid are supposed to keep all of the snacks from dumping on the floor when it is inevitably shaken to death. That is a good plan, except, within 15 minutes of getting it for the first time, Noah figured out that if he pressed in on one of the flaps, a bunch of Os would fall out...he found this quite entertaining and the result was a trail of Os all over the kitchen. Perhaps this is something we will put away and pull back out at a later date when he can follow simple instructions! :)

You know we live in New England when....

Well, you know we live in New England for a number of reasons (heinous daily commutes, a college or university every 2.5 miles up the road, absurd housing costs, etc.), but the reason I am posting about this is one thing that many southerners just don't have to deal with.

So, a bit of background info. Today we are expecting 12 inches of snow in our area, yes, that is a foot! And it is supposed to fall from about 1pm until 10pm...over an inch an hour, which depending on the wind gusts can be classified as blizzard conditions! Then a reprieve on Saturday and another big storm later in the day on Sunday. If you are keeping track, Noah's first birthday party is scheduled for Sunday at 1pm. Do you see a problem??? Given that most of the family coming are all driving from Maine, we have now rescheduled said birthday party earlier in the day (11:30am) to hopefully accommodate the rather untimely arrival of winter weather. The only problem with this is that Noah will probably now be asleep for the start of his own darn party. We'll have lunch while he finishes his morning nap and then the guest of honor will hopefully make his appearance for cake and presents. I am a bit on the bitter side (and yes, have already thrown a bit of a hissy fit about this), but I guess that is what I should expect living in the northeast and trying to make plans for anything around this time of year. With any luck the snow/sleet/freezing rain mess that is predicted will hold off until after people head home on Sunday and we can enjoy a few peaceful hours celebrating our ability to keep this small person happy and healthy for a whole year now!

A constellation of badness, and it continues...

So, this weekend could quite possibly be classified as by far one of the most unfortunate experiences I have had in extended memory. Tim and I were set up to go out to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant downtown and then finally use my Blue Man Group gift certificates that I got for Christmas last year. This was all planned for Saturday night and Memere and Pepere B. were heading down to our place that afternoon to look after the wee man. The badness started when Memere and Pepere B. lost power in the ice storm on Friday morning. Then Pepere B. got sick and decided not to come down for fear of spreading germs to our house. Then I woke up Saturday morning and promptly threw up. Over the course of the late morning and early afternoon I started with a fever, the chills, and oh the throwing up.... By 6:30pm or so when I should have been getting myself ready to head out, I attempted to get up and couldn't decide whether to go lay back down or go throw up. Needless to say, there was NO way I was making it downtown to see Blue Man Group...so I gave my ticket to my brother who was over doing his weekly laundry and hanging around to keep my mom company for the evening. In the meantime, Tim realized last minute that he had a final to take Sunday morning (instead of the Tuesday he thought it would be), so he decided it would be best to stay home and study for the final instead of use his ticket, so it got passed to my mom. So, let's recap...my brother and my mom are now heading to see the Blue Man Group, with the tickets I received for Christmas last year! Those tickets being about the only present I got that was just for me last year...given the fact that I was massively pregnant and just wanted a wee man of my very own. So, off they went, and they thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I laid on the couch and hovered over my trashcan and cried for the loss of my date night. I spent the rest of the evening and overnight period heading to or trying to decide to head to toss my cookies. Fun stuff here people!

Carrying on with the badness...still no power in Maine for Memere and Pepere. Memere decided to stay with us where it was warm and help the sickies take care of the house. Sunday morning off Tim went to take his test. As the day wore on, Tim got sicker and I started to finally be able to keep some food down. It was ugly. Thankfully Memere helped out with the laundry and keeping the wee man loved and entertained while Tim and I were preoccupied being ill. All three of the adults took a nice nap while the wee man slept during his afternoon nap...it was wonderful and I should definitely do that more often! :) (Minus the sick part of course).

Monday rolls around and there is still no power in Maine, I am finally starting to feel like a human again and Tim is coming around the corner from the worst of it. The wee man then throws up his bedtime bottle and spikes a fever...seriously???? Thankfully by Tuesday morning the little dude seemed to be over the worst of it, no fever and off he went to Nana Lou's to spread back the germs that I think he picked up from there last week. By the time I got into work, I was feeling a cold coming on, which if you are keeping track would be the 4th illness I have contracted since Thanksgiving! I need a new immune system apparently...and fewer nighttime wakeups from the small one might help too!

Thankfully the Christmas shopping and wrapping is done, all but 1 of the Christmas presents were sent to Maine with Memere (who headed back Monday afternoon and finally got power back at 5:30 Monday night...only about 84 hours after they lost it!!!). The birthday party supplies are purchased and ready, so let's bring on the festivities and hopefully some improved health for all....and to all a good night!

Its the most wonderful time of the year

Because these guys are on TV and I can do a jig and sing along every time I see them! Hehe! I spent a couple of hours wrapping Christmas presents last night watching this movie, sadly, I am still not done wrapping, 10 gifts to go, not that I am counting. Oh and bows need to be added, but not until they are ready to go...a brown striped someone will eat them if they get put on and then left under the tree. Free cat to a good home! :)

Okay, I've seen it all

I have now experienced the full range of bad driving and can officially say that I am SO ready to no longer have to drive in Boston, preferably not Massachusetts either, but that may be a stretch. Are you ready? Wait for it....I was cut off while driving to work this morning by a HEARSE!!!!! Um, really? I can only assume, and pray for the departed that there was not occupant in the back of the vehicle, but seriously, the dude driving the death rig trounced on the gas, cut me off and then sped away, weaving through various lanes of traffic in Cambridge along the river. What the crap?? May the job hunt situation please deliver me some promising news soon so I can put an end to this commuting madness!

My god, he's almost a year!

Okay, first let me just state that it is clearly not possible that exactly 2 weeks from today Noah will be a WHOLE YEAR OLD! It is starting to hit me, but not really sink in. He is still my baby even if he has refused to nurse for like the last 4 months, he is almost walking, he is too busy to cuddle, and he has very well expressed opinions about just about everything! I know, he really is well on his way to being a toddler, and perhaps is already there, but don't talk to me about that stuff. I still look at him some evenings when I am rocking him to sleep and see a tiny newborn that still needs me all the time. I am dealing though, I am about half done getting together the 1st birthday party supplies, we have the cake pan, we have the gift purchased, and the invitations have been sent. We also got his 1 year pictures taken this Sunday. They came out pretty good. The last two times we had professional ones taken, there was at least 1 picture that I absolutely loved and would show off to anyone who would stop long enough to look. This time, there are some cute ones, but he just wasn't feeling it. There are none of the typical Noah room-lighting smiles that I love so very much. I think he was just too busy exploring the studio to sit still and smile long enough to get that perfect one. Oh well, there is always next time, and at least we had a free 8x10 and 20% off the entire purchase coupon too!

In other monumental news, I have 1 Christmas gift left to purchase! All of the rest are done!!! They have also all been boxed and organized, so one night after Noah goes down, I can get them all wrapped too. Perhaps I can even send some of them to Maine when Memere & Pepere B. come down this weekend to babysit the wee man Saturday night! How awesome would that be...purchased, wrapped, and out of the house by mid-December! The Christmas cards have also been sent, and probably received too! So if you haven't received one then 1) either I don't know you and you aren't getting one, 2) I don't have your address, 3) you've never sent me a card and aren't an immediate family who qualifies for an exemption of that rule.

Tomorrow evening is our first holiday party, a family & friends party at my boss's house, to which Noah has been graciously requested to attend! Hopefully he is on his best and most social behavior! Saturday night, Tim and I have a very exciting date night planned...dinner at a favorite Italian place downtown and then tickets to the Blue Man Group. I got gift certificates to see the show last Christmas from my parents, and we are finally getting our act together to make it out for the evening! It should be really fun, and I am really looking forward to an evening out just the two of us. I am sure Noah and Memere and Pepere B. will have an awesome time together playing, and hopefully I will return ready to tackle the ensuing 1st birthday party/Christmas chaos.

In the meantime, I am still trying to clean up the unpleasant cat smell on the living room rug, we are on round 2 of Nature's Miracle and have dumped almost an entire gallon of the stuff on the spot now. I must admit, the first round we were probably a bit too conservative, but this second time, we whipped out the watering can and thoroughly drenched the area. If the smell is not gone this time, I WILL be calling to get my money back! The water- dumping situation has been handled, however. We had put the plug-in kitty water fountain thing a while back in place of an easier to clean regular water bubbler thingy, which apparently offended someone of the brown striped variety. Since I replaced the plug in one, there have been no spills, no splashes, and most importantly, no unnecessary cleaning of the kitchen floor. Let's just hope we can get the living room rug under control and we'll be well on our way back to some semblance of sanity in the house!

T-minus 14 days until Noah's 1st birthday & 16 days until Christmas!

P.S. Shockingly, we have no new pictures on our camera from this week (I know, we're slackers), but if you want to see the professional Noah 1 year pictures, just send me an email and I'll send you the link.

Thanksgiving Recap

This year I am thankful for many things...

• family members that are so supportive and always willing to lend a hand and provide some much needed backup
• a healthy family
• a happy baby who, while certainly very independent and persistent, seems to be growing and developing beautifully
• a non-pregnant mostly back to my old self body!!!!
• wine...red, white, I'm not picky
• the impending end of the need for a breastpump
• our jobs and paychecks, which in this economy mean a whole lot more than most years
• turkey, sweet potatoes, crescent rolls, stuffing, green bean casserole, and most importantly pumpkin pie!
• the appearance of Noah's second top front tooth
• a husband who puts up with me even when I am over-stressed and not much fun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year...it was so much fun to have Noah around this year, he provided a ton of entertainment, and really seemed to enjoy all of the extra attention from his extended family members. Given that Tim works in grocery, he had to work later than normal on Wednesday night, so we didn't get on the road until 7pm, and that was after I had spent the whole day packing and cleaning up. We got to Memere & Pepere B.'s around 8:15...amazingly there was NO traffic! Of course we are now past the wee man's bed time, Memere and Pepere walked through the door from dinner about 15 minutes later, and so it took me an hour + of rocking and shushing and tush patting to get him to sleep. Then...the stinker woke up at 2:30. After the two of us took turns rocking him back to sleep only to have him bounce up wide awake the minute his head hit the mattress, I had had it. Tim gave him a talking to, laid him back down and he was relatively quiet. Now keep in mind the spare crib stays in the same room we sleep in, so we are literally about 3 feet away from the crib. I rolled over and prayed to the gods of infant sleep and was sadly disappointed when I suddenly started hearing the volume on the white noise machine going up and down and up and down. The wee man was actually reaching through the crib rails and playing with the volume control knob on the stupid thing!!! I lost it, all cool and patience went out the window and I went postal...seriously postal. I yelled "HEY" at him, placed him in the crib, down on his belly, which is how he sleeps anyway. There was some crying and fussing and then silence...Sweet silence. He fell back asleep until 5:30am and was up for the day...NOT COOL. In the end Tim and I ended up taking turns catching up on sleep. Needless to say after all of that excitement, he napped extremely well, and actually did really well in the sleep department for the most part the whole time we were there. The one hiccup was Saturday's naps...I am not sure if he just wasn't hearing of it, or he wasn't tired, but it took 3 people over an hour to get him down for the first one, and me half and hour to get him down for the second on.

In between all of the sleeping, there was some amazing Thanksgiving fixings (see above for the menu). Noah seemed to enjoy pretty much everything you put in his mouth, he ate up Stove Top Stuffing, a whole crescent roll, green bean casserole, some sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and some of Memere L.'s pumpkin pie! He was such a good boy through the whole meal, being patient for his bites, laughing at various things and people, squinting up his face trying to smile for the camera. The only thing we aren't sure if he liked a ton was the turkey itself, he doesn't have the molars yet, so chewing that sort of food would be challenging.

Here he is trying to decide if he likes cranberry sauce. In the end it was a hit just like everything else!

Thoroughly enjoying himself and his first Thanksgiving dinner!

The rest of the day was fairly relaxing, just another nap and visiting Memere L., Tom, Uncle Christopher, and Uncle Chris' friend Marian. We had a great time there, Noah had a ton of fun playing with people and his new package of building blocks.

He and Uncle Chris had a great time playing.

And obviously the blocks, or more aptly the bag the block came in, were a huge hit.

The remainder of the weekend was fairly quiet. Pepere L. and Nana visited for a couple of hours, we went to breakfast Saturday morning, we visited the Lambs (my dad's cousins) and that was about it. We came home Sunday afternoon to find out that one of the furry beasts had peed on our NEW living room area run. In addition, brain child, Miss Mia decided to dump out the entire contents of the water bubbler, so after cleaning up the kitchen floor on Wednesday prior to leaving and then again today (when she pulled the same stunt over again), she is obviously at the top of my hit list.

For now though, it is time to try and enjoy the Christmas holiday season and get back into a normal routine for a few weeks. Wish me luck in getting all of the gifts, cards, and birthday party plans done before the big days arrive. T-minus 20 days until Noah's birthday and 22 days until Christmas!

I will end this post with the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. Look whose getting into the wine...or perhaps it was just the corks! :)

Noah meets Santa Claus

So while out Christmas shopping on Monday and out on a much anticipated (and needed) day out with Memere B., we decided to take Noah to see Santa Claus at the mall. The lines were short as it was a week day and we figured we'd give it a try. What's the worse that could happen, he would freak out and we would move on. Well, my friends that is exactly what happened, my smart little man freaked out! I could see him thinking in his head..."Hey, wait a minute, who is this scary huge man with a strange outfit and a white beard...I don't know him....He's not my Daddy, or my Pepere, or any one I care to hang out with....in fact, I don't like it here on his lap, somebody get me outta here NOW....WAHHHHHHHHH." It was a little sad that he didn't like Santa and that he has already gotten old enough and smart enough to know friend from foe, but it was also cute because he is my little man, and darn it, if he doesn't like Santa, that is just fine with me...no perfect photo keepsake is worth making the kid cry over.

So I present to you the only picture of Noah and Santa you are going to get this year....this was taken literally nanoseconds before the fear registered and the wee man started screaming. Of course the lady wanted me to purchase the picture of him screaming too, but I chose the high road...years from now when he gets married and we give his new bride pictures from his childhood, I can feel good knowing there won't be any screaming Noah and Santa pictures for ammunition!

Phew...one major holiday down!

When I go back years from now to look through these pages and reminisce about Noah's early years I hope I can give myself some credit about the amount of effort I put into these pages and the amount of time and love I dedicated to documenting our lives at this time. With that in mind, I hope I can also give myself a break for missing a week or two here and there when living my life was more important than documenting it for posterity!

So, I am partially remiss in the fact that there is no weekly update from last week. It was an insanely short week last week, which was jam packed full of Christmas decorating, packing for Thanksgiving and getting things in line for the madness that is Christmas shopping and Noah birthday planning. Suffice it to say that the previous week, if I remember correctly was fairly uneventful. So, I have decided to summarize it in pictures! :)

Mr. Noah has continued to enjoy playing and as long as he is well rested, he can be the happiest baby I have ever met.


In monumental news, he did FINALLY cut his second top front tooth, which brings the tooth total to 4. Mommy and Daddy are now breathing a sigh of relief since the night time bottles and random mid-night wake ups seemed to have disappeared as soon as the tooth popped through! Please let this trend continue.

Noah is getting agonizingly close to walking. He stands unsupported frequently, and for increasingly lengthy periods of time, and he has finally let go and allowed us to assist him in walking around the house holding his hands for him for balance. Once the child gains a little more self-confidence, he'll be off and running...we'll keep you posted but learning from waiting for that second top tooth, we aren't holding our breath! Here he is wearing the sweater Memere B. knitted for him...this is a feat of some proportions given that she had to take apart the neck a month back or so and redo it with buttons since the first attempt wouldn't fit over his big noggin!

Noah no longer sits still when he is awake...if he is up from a nap, then who ever is on duty is running a marathon to keep up with him. Getting this picture of him sitting on his bench took FOREVER and about 16 tries of me sitting him back down as he had already taken off for the hills before we could snap the picture. Wish us luck in getting a good shot of him by the Christmas tree for the holiday cards!


Noah still enjoys emptying the toy basket and getting inside...its a game that will apparently never get old! :)


As I mentioned, we did get the Christmas tree put up. None of the other decorations are out yet, but, its a work in progress. Noah is not a big fan of Santa hats, in order to get this picture, I had the camera ready to go and the button half pressed down and Tim put the hat on and we took the picture. If you look, he already has a hand up to remove the hat from his head! Oh well, I guess Noah won't be playing Santa and passing out the gifts on Christmas morning.


Speaking of the tree and decorations, Noah is a huge fan of them. He admires the tree all the time, and escapes the living room on an hourly basis to go visit it.


He did manage to succeed in making off with the ornament he is playing with here, but not before tasting it, to make sure it was worth the effort!


Towards the beginning of Thanksgiving week, we started getting some of Noah's birthday and Christmas presents in the mail, which of course arrived in enormous boxes. One of said boxes has now been repurposed as a Noah house, which he absolutely couldn't be more excited about...pretty adorable!

Scary times people, scary times

So a bit of an update on the job market front now that I am back from giving my first talk at a national conference. That's right! I finally did it, I gave a talk at a professional meeting and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be at all. Of course I was massively prepared and it was a smaller group and the last day of the conference so a lot of people had gone home already to prepare for the upcoming holiday, but in any case I gave my talk, answered the questions appropriately, and didn't make an idiot of myself! I even managed to not panic about flying down and back to D.C. in one day. I got a bit nervous when the shuttle got stuck in a bit of traffic and ended up only having about an hour to change into my dress clothes, eat a light lunch, and pump before finding the conference room. Everything worked out really well though, and the best part is that it is DONE!

On to now more pressing information...the job market. It is bleak! I was perhaps naively under the impression that academia was immune to this whole economic crisis that we keep hearing about, but apparently I was sadly mistaken! As I have already posted, I got an anticipated rejection letter from Smith College, and in a new development, I got an interested phone call from Salem State looking have an informal phone interview before continuing with the remainder of the interview process. After hearing more about the department, like I would be expected to teach 4 classes each and every semester, I would have no dedicated research space, and would be expected to get external funding if I wanted to have any sort of research program at all (when I would find time to write grants while teaching 8 courses a year confuses me a bit), I decided it would be in my best interests to pass on the position. Basically, I was too far away from what type of position I was hoping to get. Say I actually did get offered the job, I don't think I would have taken it anyway, I definitely want to still be able to research. Even if the department can't give me money to do the research itself, a place to conduct the studies and enough non-teaching time to work on the project is really a basic need.

SOOO, that is 2 position down, plus I got a letter from Quinnipiac University today in CT. They have had to put a hiring freeze university-wide due to the tightening economic situation. I have also seen and heard rumors that UMass Amherst has done the same thing and reliable sources have indicated that UMass Boston has already contacted candidates on their short list for interviews. Given that I haven't heard anything, I am not optimistic. That is now potentially 5 schools off the list...granted 3 of the 5 were probably schools that wouldn't have been the best fit for me anyway, but it is starting to make be a bit nervous. I am holding off on the panic until I hear negative news from Williams and/or the University of New England. But can we all collectively pray to the job search gods that I hear some good news soon from a school that would be a good fit for me????

Thank you and Amen! :)

Too much excitement for one morning!

So, I knew there were difficulties in working with an older adult population, but given the fact that my research is aimed at the "normal healthy aging" population, I figured the odds of having an emergency were slim to none. I was apparently wrong! One of the grad students in the lab was testing an older man this morning on a non-stressful memory type of task. Immediately after completing the practice run, the man became unresponsive, was swallowing hard, and remained that way for about 3 minutes! This is NOT NORMAL. The poor grad student didn't call for help down the hall, but was with it enough to get on the phone and call 911. Long story short, the man came to and didn't realize anything had happened. He had ridden his bike in from Jamaica Plain, which is about a 30 minute ride, the Boston EMTs couldn't find the building, so one of the nurses at the student health center came over, the BC police and EMT finally made it in to examine the poor guy who by this point is totally with it and apologizing for causing a scene. Eventually, the EMT came to the conclusion that he had a TIA or a mini-stroke. Needless to say we refused to let him ride his bike home and we called him a cab. We made him call us when he got home and confirmed that he had made an appointment with his doctor. Hopefully all turns out okay, but the poor guy won't be participating in any more of our studies. He did one of my studies back last spring...I am going back right now to look at his data to make sure it isn't out of the ordinary! Let's hope the rest of the day is less interesting.

Dressed up ready for the frost

So it is finally cold for what seems like it may be the winter now. Saturday it was 60+ degrees and now we hit a high of 49 today. It is only supposed to get colder from here out too, I think Wednesday is supposed to top out at 36! In perfect timing, I have finished up the winter hat Memere B. started for the little dude, so he now officially has a hat that fits his head and matches his snowsuit! Its not perfect, it has a certain "handmade" quality to it given that I had a hand in it. But I am proud of my accomplishment and can honestly say that I could make another one, from scratch with no help now! It took some serious fighting to get it going correctly once I picked up where Memere B. left off, but I got there and unless you point out the spots, you can't tell 2 different knitters worked on it! So here it is in all its cuteness...I present the wee man's winter hat!

The rest of the outfit is adorable too I might add. He's got some tan corduroy pants from Old Navy, the coveted jean jacket from Great Aunt Pris, a hooded zippy sweater and the Shoo Shoos that thankfully still fit him!

In recent developments this week, the wee man can now stand unsupported for brief periods of time. Here is a terrible picture of him, but it nicely displays this new found ability. Look Ma...No Hands!!!

We have gradually been getting better with meals that don't contain yogurt. I am still trying to be patient given the fact that the tooth still hasn't come fully through the gum yet. I imagine it is still bothering him in some ways. We keep trying the finger foods and we are gradually adding a few things here and there...he is pretty good at Cheerios, bits of chicken, tiny pieces of bread, chunks of Dunkin Donut Munchkins (yeah, I know, not organic goodness, but he loved it!), Gerber Puffs, peas, and shredded cheese.  The main problem is he would rather play with the food than eat it, so you end up with a wee man that is a complete disaster and is still hungry since nothing has made it to his mouth.  The point of this all you ask?  Check out the chin in this picture, Gerber Puff anyone? I think its Strawberry Apple flavored :)  Incidentally you can also see the remainder of a couple of bruises on his forehead from his recent run-ins with the floor...the play table at Nana Lou's, etc.  And as per usual, he is clutching with white knuckles his very own spoon, which serves little purpose other than giving him the impression that he is more independent in this process than he really is, allowing us to sneak in spoonfuls! :)  We are still at least a step ahead!  For now that is!

Noah has also been having great fun in the big boy tub. Elliot was hanging out in the bathroom Saturday night too. Memere and Pepere B. got the wee dude some bath letters and numbers to play with and they stick places when they are wet. We decided to decorate the little dude with his initial...the scarlet 'N'!!!

We had a pretty quiet week and weekend. The little man had a rough couple of days on Monday and Tuesday with the teething, there was crying, there was screaming, there was clingy-ness, and Nana Lou and I took turns getting a workout carrying him around both of those days.  For some reason Daddy just wasn't cutting the mustard...he was fun when Noah was a happy man, but as soon as his mouth started to bother him, he went straight for me, and I ended up doing 85% of my tasks for Monday during the day and Tuesday evening holding on to a pathetic mess of a Noah man.  So sad.  Thankfully, we seem to have gotten over the worst of it, he is much happier now, and doesn't spontaneously break into fits of tears...and he is now sleeping better as well.  The eating is a work in progress, but hey, it can't be perfect, we would wonder where the challenge was.  I got a couple of hours of "free-time" on Friday afternoon.  I worked at MGH in the morning at the MRI scanners and the after lunch had an OT appointment, which I think may be my last...I can't take the stupidity so I think I am going to cancel the remaining ones.  I'll go back if my cortisone shot wears off and the pain returns, but for now, I have a hard time stomaching the annoyance the the waste of my precious time when I am not even feeling any pain.  Anyway, so after the OT appointment, it was only about 1:30 and I didn't want to go get Noah for fear of disturbing his afternoon nap.  So instead I went back home and had 2 1/2 hours of quiet all to myself.  I didn't to housework, I didn't do anything for anyone.  I ended up doing a bit of Christmas internet shopping, worked a bit on my talk for the conference next week, and watched the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy which I missed because they put the Patriot's football game on ABC during my show...RUDENESS defined!  It was wonderful, but by 4pm, I missed my wee man and went to Nana Lou's to rescue him!  I guess I am resigned to the fact that I don't have any free time, I've got a wee dude and I guess that is a fair trade off. :)  

The weekend was also quiet, the most excitement we had was about an hour's worth of errands on Sunday to get more cat litter, some work pants for Tim, and a few wee man supplies.  There was the requisite 5 loads of laundry and a bit of cleaning.  I worked on making some food for the little dude...potatoes, peaches, pears, applesauce, and some peas.  I still have to finish that project this week with some carrots, sweet potatoes, chicken dices, and pumpkin, but at least I got a good start.  I am hoping that by going all out and making a bunch of stuff now, I won't have to make any more until after Christmas...we'll hope for the best!  Next weekend we are planning to decorate for Christmas since we will be up in Maine the day after Thanksgiving when we traditionally decorate.  I can't wait to put up the tree.  Oh, and we have to get going on Noah's birthday party planning too!  I can't believe its only like 5 weeks away...crazy!

Random good news

There are a few things that apparently I am overdue in posting.  First, I would like to say that I have invited Tim/Daddy to be an author on this blog for the 3rd and final time this morning.  If he doesn't buck up and accept the invitation, I will no longer claim responsibility for posting any updates from his front unless of course the wee man is involved!  In addition, I will be giving him the silent treatment for an evening in the hopes that he will get the point that I am not the only one that should be recording memories of this experience for posterity.  We'll wait with baited breath to see what transpires.  

Second, the update that I should have posted quite some time ago, but then things got REALLY busy and then I kind of forgot how exciting it was because it had already long since past.  So, a few weeks ago, I made mention of some potentially exciting news in Tim's work front.  At long last, an update!  In May he switched to a Grocery Manager Trainee position in Waltham with the intent on finishing out his prep and getting trained on all of the necessary systems and HR policies so he would eventually be promoted to a Grocery Manager once a position opened up.  Well, one opened up in Quincy and a few days before Halloween he went in for an interview only to be told by the store manager that he wouldn't be interviewing him, instead he would be recruiting him to accept the position!  They were that impressed by him and he received such glowing recommendations, that he was essentially hired on the spot.  This was a Tuesday and by the Monday after Halloween, only 6 days later, he was the new Grocery Manager in Quincy.  Now you can see why this kind of got lost in the busy shuffle...it all happened so fast and so non-traditionally, that it was kind of surreal and never really sank in.  I still forget sometimes that he isn't still commuting to Waltham and getting stuck in some of the same evening traffic that I am.  I actually called him yesterday on my way home to warn him about traffic only to realize that he was on the highway and no where near the traffic I was worried about.  Oh well...exciting news, sorry it took so long to share!

In other Tim-related news, during his last working day in Waltham, he participated in their Halloween costume contest.  He just got an email this morning that he won said contest (see pictures of Halloween for his costume...which during the day included FULL war face paint as well)!!!  As a prize, we get 2 tickets to a Celtics game of our choice provided by one of the assistant managers in Waltham who has season tickets.  We may go Tuesday night if we can rustle up someone to look after the wee dude...I am not sure I am up for taking him out that late at his age...he is too busy and too stuck in his routine.  We'll see, I'll keep you posted.

For now, I am off to run the MRI scanner for the morning and then to another pointless OT appointment.

Job Search Update

Quick update on the job search. Thus far I have gotten quite a few letters confirming receipt of my application. Most of them indicate that search committee meetings will be held in the coming few weeks, with interviews spanning from early to mid-December all the way through mid-January. For the most part I still don't know much, but I am told by my advisor that it is still early. Today I did finally receive some real news from some where. Sadly, I will not be joining the faculty at Smith College. The position was for a neuroscience faculty, but they were hoping for an animal researcher, of which I am not. It was a long shot, but worth putting in the application. Hopefully, it is better news from here!

Bullets cause I have no time...

So, its Monday, and we are back from another weekend and I am just as stressed now as I was last week! I have about 5 million things on my work plate and am feeling a bit more than overwhelmed. So in lieu of skipping a post about the updates in Noah and our lives from last week, I am defaulting to random bullet points because I have no time for paragraphs. These are listed in the order in which they appeared in my head, if it is completely disjointed and chaotic...welcome to my mind as of late! :) Enjoy! Oh, and as always, pictures of the wee man will be posted at the end, cause he is too cute to miss a week of.

• Monday, the day from hell, Noah screamed for the better part of the afternoon so long and so hard that I got to be convinced he had an ear infection, or something seriously wrong with him. Nope, just not the case, we wound up in the pediatrician's office having to wait over an hour to be squeezed in after the last appointment of the day only to be told he is perfectly healthy and is just having an "off day." Nice, thanks for the assistance! There was a grand total of about 45 minutes worth of napping all day, badness defined! I haven't felt that stupid in a while, but at least I am not the mom who never brings the kid to the doctor even when he desperately needs it.
• Note to self: While I am sick now with a nasty cold, when I come back to life, I need to go and get a flu shot pronto!
• Last week pretty much consisted of on and off carpet cleaning and rearranging the house to let the carpets dry while we tried to get rid of the recurring cat pee odor that was starting to permeate the living room. I was disgusted and after some consultation with a dude at a reputable pet store, we opted to replace the area rug. The alternative was soaking the carpet and letting it air dry (no fans, no nothing) and repeat 2 to 3 more times. I say no to spending $75 on cleaner and forfeiting our living room for a month...thank you just the same. Problem solved, anyone else who wishes to pee on our new rug will find themselves a new home.
• I had my first occupational therapy appointment on Tuesday. I finally broke down and decided to give it a try given that my wrist is not getting any better. In case I haven't updated, I have DeQuervain's Syndrome, which is apparently very common in new mothers. It started when Noah was about 4 or 5 weeks old and has been a persistent painful annoyance ever since. I have gotten 2 cortisone shots in the hopes of alleviating the pain long enough for Noah to get old enough so that whatever childcare activity it is that aggravates it would no longer be necessary. So anyway, the OT keeps forgetting why I was sent there in the first place and claims that all of my symptoms are simply due to chronic stress and tension. The appointment was a joke and I am already convinced that this is going to be a serious waste of my time. The chick spent half of the appointment telling me to rub ginger paste on my wrist and made me stick out my tongue to see if I had inflammation. She's very much into Eastern and alternative medicines, and I am very much not. I would rather deal with the pain than her lectures on the benefits of Indian tea and meditation....someone save me.
• It was a quiet weekend, not much excitement except shopping for a couple of sweaters for the wee man, complete lack of naps and all day fussiness on the wee man's part and then replacing the area rug on Sunday. I don't blame the poor dude though because....
• Noah is FINALLY cutting that second top front tooth. I saw the white line with my own 2 eyes...and on more than one occasion to confirm that it wasn't a figment of my imagination.
• I did 5...yes that is one week's worth...loads of laundry. Instead of folding as they come out of the dryer, this time I let it pile up and then dumped it all on the living room floor. I didn't know we had that much stuff in the house...do these things multiply?
• I managed to take down the Halloween decorations, which includes a wreath for the front door with a black bobble head kitty on it (its not as cheesy as it sounds, trust me). Noah fell in love with that kitty and would poke at it and laugh every morning when we left and every afternoon when we came back...too cute! Sadly, the fun kitty wreath has been replaced by a boring Thanksgiving wreath covered in leaves and fall type things. Not nearly as much fun.
• Oh, I found Noah a pair of Christmas jammies so he will look cute opening his presents on Christmas morning. Check them out here. Seriously adorable, and yes, we have tried them on him, he will be the talk of the town opening his presents!
• Last year for Christmas, I got gift certificates to see Blue Man Group and its almost a year later and we have finally got a day to book to go see them. December 13th, at 8pm people! Memere & Pepere B. are coming to babysit and we are out on the town for the night. Its time for a good night out.
• Lastly, let the countdowns begin. 42 days until Noah's 1st birthday and 44 days until Christmas!

"Hi Mom, you wanted the dining room shelves rearranged just like the living room right? No, oh well, I'll just play around here instead. Mmmm...tasty highlighters." Sadly, I thought we had properly hidden all of the highlighters...better luck next time I guess.

"Hmmm...calculus...now that sounds like a book a wee man can sink his teeth into."

So much for not rearranging the dining room shelves. This is what transpired on Wed. while I was at work and the carpet was drying yet again. Can you imagine a whole month of carpet drying??? We wouldn't have a house left!

"Who me? Still not getting in trouble over here!"

Cat Update

After carpet cleaning extravaganza 2008, we seem to have gotten all of the "problem spots" cleaned up and aside from the rather odd smell of the enzyme cleaner which I will be hopefully taking care of with some powder carpet deodorizer tonight, the living room smells SO much better! We also haven't had a new spot since we instituted the new plan. Here is a brief summary of the events since my annoyed post on Wednesday. Keep praying to the litter box gods that our good fortune will continue and their furry highnesses will find our litter box offerings acceptable for their humble usage and they will leave our carpet alone!

1) Yearly visit to the vet, 2 shots a piece. Mia lost 2 pounds, which now puts her at only slightly tubby, but at an acceptable weight for the vet's liking. Everyone looks amazingly healthy and happy (aside from the poking and prodding of course).

2) A 3rd litter box was added to the kitchen.

3) All litter boxes were scrubbed within and inch of their lives, disinfected with bleach (which incidentally cats actually like the smell of)

4) New environmentally friendly litter was ditched in favor of the old familiar litter that is less effective, less environmentally friendly, but what they have been using for the last 5+ years. My bad for trying to introduce a "greener" product to cats who obviously don't give a crap about their environment or the sustainability of the planet!

5) Baking soda is sprinkled in the boxes when they are scooped daily.

Hopefully these new changes and the reappearance of the old faithful litter will keep things clean and happy at home. We'll keep you posted if not...believe me you'll hear about it! :)

Halloween and the second busiest weekend ever

So now that it is Friday of the following week, I figured I might as well publish a weekly update for last week. Its been a long and VERY stressful week here, so I am amazed I am actually getting to this before this weekend. So here it is, monster Halloween and weekend post.


While I am now completely exhausted, we did have a great Halloween! Noah was the cutest monkey ever, and was in an amazingly good mood the whole time! Thankfully he slept most of the ride up to Maine, so he was well-rested and quite happy for his first trick-or-treating experience! While, I know he didn't get the concept at all, he did have fun being social and visiting all kinds of new people, and for good measure, we at least gave him some great experience with saying "thank you!" All of the grandparents, and I mean ALL of them, came over to visit with the wee man on his first Halloween. Everyone went out for a walk around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat, that is except Pepere B., who was at home passing out the 18+ bags of candy to all of their trick-or-treaters. He had quite an entourage for such a small person!


We got to Maine in plenty of time to sit and relax a bit before the fun began. Noah decided to chill out on Daddy while we were waiting. Don't you love how he likes to play with Daddy's chin fuzz?



Here he is all dressed up and ready to go, hanging out with G.I. Daddy

And here is the whole family, dressed up and ready to go out for our first trick-or-treating experience. This is the first and last time I am getting dressed up for Halloween...next year I am maintaining my dignity and letting the wee man have his own fun! :)

Out and about and my arms got tired from carrying my little monkey man, so Noah hitched a ride with G.I. Daddy!

Checking out the loot he is getting next door and saying hello! Thank you Peggie! :)

And of course not to be neglected on this Halloween when the little dude wasn't really going to be eating any of that candy, the Memeres and Peperes spoiled him with some Halloween gifts. Memere L. and Tom got him a little pull around phone just like the kind I had growing up and Memere and Pepere B. got him a Pooh book, bath letters and numbers, and a ball that rolls itself around the floor.

[I had a picture here, but a small person decided to sneak a play with the keyboard and deleted it! No time to find it and replace for now...oh well]

Regardless of the fact that he got presents or not, Daddy decided he could try out just one piece of his candy stash, what a sticky nightmare!

Other than the Halloween excitement, we also had a ton of other things going on this weekend, including daylight savings time, which as you read already, seriously messed with my wee man's life! We went out to the traditional Saturday morning breakfast with Memere & Pepere B. and the Kings, which is fairly low keyed. As usual, Noah was Mr. Social Butterfly and ate his yogurt and cheerios like a fairly well-mannered baby in his highchair pulled up to the table. Some time I need to take a picture of how cute he looks pulled up to a restaurant table eating with the rest of the peeps! So cute! He took a good nap Saturday morning and then we had a fight to the death on Saturday afternoon getting him down for a nap before our dinner out Saturday evening. Noah won, there was no nap until we plunked him in the car to drive to dinner. Daddy had him down and all comfy, except he laid him down on his blanket. Instead of grabbing another one to cover him, Daddy tried to extract it and ended up waking up the little dude who decided that on second thought, there would be no napping. Two hours later, there still wasn't a nap, so we headed out for dinner with Memere L. and a bunch of the Poirier's for a birthday dinner for Great Memere Poirier. It was either going to end in disaster and we would leave early or it would go okay and we would survive. Thankfully Noah slept in the car and then for another 30 minutes on Daddy's shoulder in the restaurant, so when he woke up he was happy and mostly social and at least ate his dinner well. It was nice to see that side of the family and for Noah to meet them finally.

Noah was up for a bottle in the middle of the night and then up for the day at 5:15am...thanks to Daylight Savings Time. And Sunday was a fairly similar nightmare...a relaxing morning, fun playing in the living room and then a good morning nap. We were then supposed to go to visit Pepere L. and Nana briefly for a picture with all of Nana's grandchildren (all 6 of them). That sort of happened, we were minus one granddaughter, and we ended up staying longer than we thought, which ended badly afterwards with a WAY overtired Noah. Thankfully after a short dinner we headed back home and he slept most of the way back to MA in the car.

From all of this chaos I have learned a valuable lesson. Noah is too big and too active to be carted around all day. So, family be on notice, I am instituting a new rule...no discrimination...across the board. Barring yearly holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, there is to be a 1 activity per day limit on Noah's visitations, and NO FUN occurs without a decent nap! We will also be kindly requesting people to come visit Noah at my folks place, there is an open door policy, so feel free to come by. We drive up from MA, hopefully it isn't too much to ask to have you stop by in Saco. Not only have we been working hard to babyproof there, but that is also where Noah has a crib in which he can take the precious nap. Don't get me wrong, we love to visit and see family, and we are glad to get out of MA for the weekend occasionally, but for my sanity sake, and for Noah's well-being, we just can't keep running around all weekend any more. Everyone was miserable by the end of the day Sunday...too much to do and not enough napping makes for unhappy people! Naptime is the new priority people! :)