Spring Break!

Well, I made it to spring break. I think I'm kind of in denial that I don't have to work next week. We've gotten into a pretty decent morning routine which is going to strange to change for a little while.

The last month has been a bit rough. Nothing really terrible has happened, just a lot of little things that make life harder and more frustrating. The first crappy thing: we found out that our daycare is closing at the end of the school year. It has been so wonderful to have Noah right in my school and getting to nurse him during the day has been great. I was so relieved when he was enrolled in February and thought we were all set for daycare next year too, but apparently not. So now we're searching for a new place for Noah to go during the day next year. It just makes me sad because we really love his current daycare and I know the staff and other kids really love him too. Plus, he's the youngest so he's getting lots of good observation of the older kids crawling and walking. We're disappointed that he won't be able to be with the same people next year and it's back to the search...

This place has awesome toys!

Napping buddies

The second crappy thing has been illness. Everyone in our house has been sick. I started it, then Noah caught it, and finally Jordan. We're all finally on the mend, but we went through a lot of sleepless nights and tissues in the worst of it.

And the latest crappy thing was a couple weeks ago I went to open our deep freezer in the basement and it was completely warm inside. All the milk that I spent the last four months pumping to build up a back-up stash was spoiled. I had close to 1,000 ounces frozen in there, some of it was from the first weeks when Noah was still in the NICU and I was pumping every 3 hours around the clock for him. Needless to say, I was pretty devastated and many tears were shed. I called the customer service line to see if we could be compensated at all for our loss. They're replacing the freezer since it was only four months old, and gave me a $35 giftcard to Sears as an apology. Somehow the giftcard didn't really soften the blow, but I guess it's a nice gesture. So now I'm back to trying to build up a little stash. It's a lot harder now that we're taking pumped milk to daycare in addition to nursing and my supply has decreased since going back to work, but we haven't had to supplement with formula and Noah has been consistently gaining weight since he was born so I guess I'll count my blessings and practice some non-attachment.

We've also had some awesome and fun things happen too! We took Noah to the local ice skating rink with Andy, Lyz, and Desmond. He had lots of fun watching the people go around the rink and looked adorable in his bear suit. They didn't make skates small enough for him, maybe next year.

We also finally went to see Book of Mormon at the Overture Center. Remember way back in October when I bought tickets? Well, the show finally happened and it was hilarious. It was also pretty surreal to get a night out of the house with just me and Jordan. We spent an hour walking around downtown before the show started and I'm sure I sounded like someone that just crawled out of a cave because I was just marveling at all the people that were out and about! The show got out pretty late and Noah was asleep at Andy and Lyz's house, so they generously offered to keep him overnight and we took them up on it. It was our first night without Noah since he came home from the NICU. I didn't think I'd feel ready for that to happen for a long time, but it worked out wonderfully and we were so thankful to get a full night of sleep!

Awake and out of the house at 7pm on a Friday night- wild and crazy kids!

Our seats were in the nosebleeds but it was still a great show!

With the warmer temperatures we've also finally been able to take Noah outside. He loves being out, as long as the sun doesn't get into his eyes. We're very diligent about providing adequate shade and eye protection.

Coolest baby ever 

Catching some rays in the backyard.

Noah has also hit a couple new milestones including being able to hold his toys purposefully and increasing his vocal range to include a lot of squeals, screams, and other high-pitched sounds of joy.

This is my ball.

Cuddle buddies.

Yes, we put silly hats on our baby.

I'm going to attempt a new milestone next week: traveling with Noah on my own. The plan is to head to MN early on Monday morning and stay until Thursday morning. The first time we made this trip was when he was two months old. Jordan and I tag-teamed his care and it went really well. Now it's going to be just me. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about it, the part that worries me most is nighttime. It's really helpful to have two people dealing with a crying baby at 3am. Send good, restful thoughts my way, please!

Such a serious face.

I'm five months old! Be impressed!