May 31-June 15
Summer vacation is officially underway! It's been a crazy first two weeks, no doubt about that. My last day of work was May 31. The day prior, Noah was being fussy about his bottles and slept like poop. In the morning as I readied him for daycare, I noticed that he was breathing heavier than usual. I plopped him in his car seat and drove off to Valerie's house. Once we got there, he just bawled and bawled. I figured he was just grumpy after such a miserable night of sleep. Twenty minutes later, I sat down at my desk and checked my phone really fast. On caller ID, I saw that I had missed a call from Valerie and had a voicemail. This can't be good. "Noah has a fever" was pretty much all I registered. I called Valerie back and found out it was fairly low-grade, so I told her she could give him tylenol, and that I would pack up my office and check out as fast as I could. When I picked Noah up in the afternoon, Val informed me that he had been tugging at his ear all day. I decided to take him into the walk-in clinic, and sure enough, another double ear infection. Not how I envisioned my first afternoon of sweet freedom! Noah was much better after starting the pink stuff, but developed a cold within a number of days. It was tough keeping him happy what with construction going on on our neighborhood sidewalks and having hardwood floors installed in our family room. He had a rough time napping the first day of all this mess, but quickly adjusted to the disruptions.
Grandpa visited on his birthday, 6.5.11 (for a flyfishing trip with Brady, my brother)
Once Noah finally started getting better, I started to develop his cold. Tuesday the 7th I was totally miserable and lied on the couch all day. Except for the 15 minutes or so that Brian filled up Noah's pool for some fun!
Then the fun really began. On Wednesday, we had a 10:45am flight to Minnesota. The night before, we realized that we totally forgot to get Gilbert's wellness check done so he could fly. I wanted to just chance it since United has never asked to see the paper, but Brian wanted to be safe over sorry. So in the morning, we went to the vet before the airport. Bad move. We hightailed it to the airport and coasted in on fumes (why we planned this all so poorly is beyond me, but I'm blaming it on being so sick all day Tuesday), but it was too late. We got stuck on standby, and Noah and I made it out 2.5 hours later. Brian had to settle for a later flight. Both Brian and I were sick at this point, so flying was miserable. My ears plugged up beyond what I imagined they would, but luckily Noah was completely unaffected. After about 15 minutes of worrying that someone would murder me for being that mom on the plane, Noah passed out in my arms. Phew. And he did awesome on the flight home, too!
Our time in Minnesota was awesome! It's great being able to share some of the chores with the grandparents. When Noah was napping, I was free to read or sit and talk with family. I didn't have to wash bottles or clean up from lunch or do laundry. It was so relaxing. The reason we went home so early in the summer was for Brian's brother's wedding. Despite an uncertain weather forecast, it turned out to be a perfect day for a wedding.
The happy couple!
The other happy couple ;)
Noah was dressed better than the groom and groomsman (even though the groom had a custom-made suit) and everyone absolutely loved him.
I'm a big deal.
He almost made it through the whole ceremony on my lap, but lost it just as they started to exchange rings. Brian's mom had kindly invited my parents, so my mom whisked Noah away for the last couple of minutes without making too much of a scene. At the reception Brian and I had a great time dance-battling his parents (who have taken years of ballroom classes) and acting like teenagers again with all of my brother-in-law's friends. Fun fun fun!
My favorite action shot of the night. I love this family!
The rest of the trip was just spent relaxing with family and eating great food. (None of which I could taste. My ears and sinuses stayed plugged the entire trip. Lame.) We plan to go back again soon for a longer visit to include some time at my parents' cabin. Can't wait! It's so fun sharing Noah with our families, and we always leave Minnesota feeling conflicted about where we should be living. I love watching how excited his Grandmas get over his jabbering (which he never stops these days) and how much Noah clearly enjoys their company as well. Brian and I are both fairly quiet, shy people, so Noah's sociability and lack of stranger anxiety just amazes me. It makes me really happy to see him light up other people's faces. He really is such a happy, special little boy!
My parents with Noah at the wedding
Hanging with my dad
For my own posterity, I now have to add a couple new milestones. Noah spoke his first word on May 24. I was sitting on the floor after work shamefully playing on my phone when Noah walked up to me and said, "Hi!" I looked up briefly, said "hi" back, and he walked away. Then he said it again. This time it hit me. Holy crap! Noah is saying hi!! Brian wasn't ready to call it officially right away, but it has become increasingly clear that he is saying hi and doing so meaningfully. His favorite living creature to greet? Gilbert of course. Anytime he sees Gilbert now he waves and says "hi!" It's adorable. He also has a word which we haven't deciphered yet. He says "ah dee" with great enthusiasm, and if you repeat the word to him, he perks up and gets excited. It's actually proven to be a great way to get him to smile for a picture. No one has been able to connect it to an object yet, but it's definitely a word to him. In the last couple of weeks he's also been pointing at things a lot and making "uh" noises, and very recently starting saying "dis" when he points. It sounds like he's saying "this" but I'm not convinced yet, mostly because I don't feel like that's a word he would have picked up on yet. Noah also loves to raise his hands in the air to either A) get picked up, or B) ask for something he can't reach. The fact that he's learning to communicate in these different ways is so dang fun! I always think that the stage he's currently at is more fun than the previous one. Being a mom just keeps getting better! I hope that never stops!
Stop typing and pick me up. Now!
