Back to Work

Work is fast approaching.  Less than a week and I'll be leaving the little babe at home.  Gotta say, I'm pretty excited.  I'm happy to be back around adults, and honestly, doing less work then when I'm at home.  In a way, it's just my relax and hang out time.  Even though I am excited I'm also a little worried.  I'm going to get even less sleep then I'm getting now; at least in the short term until Noah sleeps a little longer.  He's still getting up once during the night and if both Jeff is working the previous night and I'm working the following morning having to get up at 5:30 it's going to be tough for either of us.  I just keep thinking it's only for the short term.  Once he sleeps 8-9 hours he should be able to make it until about 7:30 and he can start his day as normal.  We'll see how it goes! 

... and on to bussiness; Noah is 12 weeks old!

So crazy to think about it but it makes me think that three more months and he should be sleeping longer, eating solid food, moving and talking so much more.  Winter time is gonna be great!

• How old is Noah?:  12 Weeks
  
• Noah is how big?: Just over 15lbs
• Sleep: Still waking up once at night... hopefully soon it'll extend 'till the morning.  We only make it 'till about 4 or 5.
• Milestones: Lots of talking and smiling. We also got him to sit in the bumbo.  Still a little wobbly in his neck but not to bad. 
• Baby "Win" of the Week:  Noah made it through his first Ironman! No grumpy baby.  We were out of the house from 5am till about 8pm.  Long day for the little guy but he did great!  Noah: 1 - Mom&Dad: 1

• What Mom misses: Still some sleep but it's getting a little better.  Mom really misses some husband time and is looking forward to a date this weekend. =)
• Best Moment of the Week:  Noah's been talking so much this week.  It's hilarious to have a conversation with him.
• What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Back to work in less than a week. Date time without Noah this weekend and drinking a couple of beers!

Nine Weeks

Someone made it to two months! Very exciting.  I'm counting down the days until he sleeps all night and is more fun during the day. He is however starting to talk to me more so I feel like I can have more of a conversation with him.  Even if it is random noises.

• How old is Noah?:  Nine weeks
  
• Noah is how big?: Just over 13lbs
• Sleep: We finally made it to one feeding in the night and let me tell you it's the most amazing thing ever.  Noah slept one seven hour stretch this week and a couple five or six ones.  He then sleeps until about 7:30 when I wake him up.  It makes for a much less grumpy mama.  It's been helping too that Jeff has been doing the late night feel around 10:30 because I get a couple of extra hours of sleep before that.  Overall this week of sleep has been much improved.
• Milestones: He's smiling all the time now.  Even when he's playing by himself.  Lots of cooing too.  He will talk to you all day when you change his diaper.  That might be my favorite time. 
• Baby "Win" of the Week:  I'm gonna go with Mom and Dad win this week with Noahs awesome sleep.  He even woke up happy a couple of times which for sure beats waking up to crying in the morning.  I would say win for the whole family. Noah: 1 - Mom&Dad: 1

• What Mom misses: A day off "work"  You really take your days off real work for granted until you realize you'll never have a day off when you're a mom. (This is still true this week, but now I'm starting to feel guilty that even though I'll have an opportunity to get out of the house I still don't want to take advantage of it because I feel like I should be the one taking care of him.  I need to try and get over that)
• Weigh Progress: Did not weight myself this week but I'm definitely under weight and it looks like I'll be staying that way so I think I'll retire this section. =)
  
• Best Moment of the Week:  I slept eight hours straight for a couple of days this week.  Soo much better than two or three hours.  I think this Babywise schedule is starting to pay off.  It's so hard to keep him on schedule with activities going on and such....and even waking him up when he's sleeping.  I want him to have the proper amount of naps and feedings throughout the day so that he'll be happier when he's awake and he sleeps better at night.  I think a lot of people are so anti-schedules that sometimes they make you question and feel bad about the choices you make when parenting. This week it just made me feel better about doing what I think is best regardless.
• What I’m excited about/looking forward to: I'm looking forward to go back to work. I'm a little nervous with how Jeff and I are going to juggle our schedules and when were going to see each other but I just have to tell myself it'll work out in the end and I much rather have us take care of Noah then put him in daycare. 

Sleep & Food!

Two of my favorite things... and with one comes the other. 

I'm cautiously announcing how excited I am to have gotten Noah to only get up once in the night.  It's been so nice.  I feed him between 7:30 - 8:00 at night and I go to bed.  When Jeff comes home from works he's been giving him his final feed between 10:30 - 11:00 and he doesn't wake up until three or four.  Then he sleeps until about six or seven.  This gives me almost six or even seven hours on a good night!  I'm still really tired during the day but with the extra sleep I seem to be able to fall asleep better when I do sleep and during the day I have a little more enegy to do things around the house. 

What a cutie.... if only he could sleep all day.

Anyway... that brings me to the next point.  Food!

Today I made two new recipes.  I really do love to cook and try new recipes out.  It's a great way for me to relax.  So here we go. First, Chicken Enchilada Casserole (Clink the link for the recipe)

And as always, I didn't really follow the recipes all the way. The casserole turned out okay.  Not sure if I'll make it again.  It was kind of average.  I did like the addition of the black beans instead of the re-fried beans.... much healthier.

...and for dessert, Impossibly Easy Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Not that this is healthy in any way... but it was pretty tasty. And super easy to make.  I would recommend this for sure.   I did not have any raspberries on hand, so I substituted with strawberries and of course added chocolate chips because honestly how can you have dessert without chocolate?!

Seven Weeks

Baby Noah, you're almost two months old!  Time is going so fast.  I can't wait 'till you sleep through the night so I feel like a human again.  You are lucky you're so cute.

• How old is Noah?:  Seven Weeks
  
• Noah is how big?: 12.2 lb apparently the wii was wrong last time... =(
• Sleep: The nights are great, his first set is about five hours and the second set about four.  Then we try and sneak another three hour set afterwards but usually he wakes up early since the daylight is right in the nursery window.  During the day he mostly has two hour naps with an hour of awake time in between.
• Milestones: He smiled for real!  Like more then once!  He's much more fun when he's awake.  He's also getting very smart.  He used to go down for naps no problem before but hes learning what's going on when that happens and as soon as you put him down he immediately starts crying to tell you he did not like that.  It usually lasts less than ten minutes though so not too terrible. 
• Baby "Win" of the Week:  Noah had a great feeding this week of over a half hour... which would be good until five minutes later when cuddling with mom he puked all down moms v-neck shirt.... note to self - t-shirts work best so puke doesn't get in your bra and all the way down inside your shirt to your pants.  Noah: 1 - Mom: Negative 20
• What Mom misses: A day off "work"  You really take your days off real work for granted until you realize you'll never have a day off when you're a mom.
• Weigh Progress: 126... and hopefully I'll keep going down. (down 4 from pre-preg) I've been cleared for stronger workouts but honestly I'm too tired to even consider working out. Maybe next month will be better. 
  
• Best Moment of the Week:  Seeing Noahs first real smile.  He kinda even squealed a little!
• What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Noah's two month appointment in a couple of weeks.  The Dr. is going to be very impressed by how big he's gotten. =)

"Bye guys!  See ya next week!"