Swimming with my daddy

Seven and a Half Months with Seven and a Half Teeth

So I woke up this morning to someone, I don't want to name names, but it rhymes with Shmoah, sticking their finger in my nose. Someone, and again, I don't want to name names, but it ryhmes with Shmoah, has decided that he doesn't like sleeping through the night, so Greg will bring him into bed so I can feed him. Then, we falls asleep for an hour or so and wakes up again to eat. It's a pretty exhausting cycle.

Noah is changing so much. Yesterday he started doing the military crawl across the hardwood floor. Right now I'm watching him pull himself across the carpet, desparately trying to catch Gary. He has yet another tooth coming in, which makes eight total. Four on the top and four on the bottom.

I've been in exams for the last week and a half, or what feels like forever, and I am missing Noah terribly. Yesterday I thought he was finally mad at me for being gone so much, so I rushed home before an exam just to see him. I think we're cool now, but I haven't left for school yet, so we'll see.

He's going to be starting Shalom School in less than month. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle being away from him, luckily it won't be full-time and I will be able to go and see him during my lunches too. I'm sure it will be harder for me than for him, but I guess I never realized all of the stuff I miss when I'm not around during the day.

Noah seems more inquisitive these days. Whereas before he would just smile at almost anything, now he has to explore it and check it out before he approves and flashes his pearly smile of 7 1/2 teeth. I took him to the co-op this morning and all of the "natural" people wanted to smile at him and make silly faces and he just sat in the cart and stared at them. He has a low stare that he likes to give people, almost as if he's already a teenager and he thinks you're being ridiculous. I know that stare well, I give it often.

So back to the teething and sleeping ... I think that's what is affecting his sleep. We had one night, where it seemed like all of his teeth were in and everything is cool and he slept almost through the night, only waking once for a brief period. But then, I think this 8th one decided to make its first appearance, and its been down hill ever since.

Maybe Noah's teeth are like my exams? He has eight in and only twelve to go. They'll come in stages and the mollars will be the most difficult. I have three more this semester and then one more year and then the bar...lame how everything comes back to exams. I'm ready for a break!!!

6 Plus Months

Noah passed 6 months and I am so behind in writing about his milestones ... just last Friday I saw Noah's 3rd tooth and just yesterday I felt a 4th! He started swim lessons with Greg and while he didn't "love it" he didn't hate it either and I think that's a success. To see a video of his first swim lesson click here.

He's growing up so fast and while I never wanted to be a mom that said things like that, I guess people say it so much because its so very true. At his last appointment he weighed 18.6lbs and was 28 inches long. I'm only 61 inches, and I'm 30 ... he's going to pass me very soon. Well not very soon, but you get that I'm exaggerating to emphasize my point and that is, he's a big dude.

He's rolling around on his tummy all the time and he's making "dadada, duh-duh" noises and he's getting really good at eating his solids. On Saturday we started giving him green beans, but I don't think he likes them very much. He makes a gagging face and looks at me like "what the F did you just put in my mouth? I trusted you for christ's sake!" I think he likes it better when it is warmed a little, but so far he prefers the rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Next is going to be applesauce.

So, I can't believe he's 6 months old! That's half of a year! It feels like I was just rolling myself out of bed and waddling into the lecture rooms for class. Last night I was looking at the line on my tummy from where my belly first started protruding; the place that housed and grew him for 10 months (I know they say 9 months, but that's a lie, it's 40 weeks. You have to go all the way to the end of the 9th month, which is really just 10, so they should just call it that, but that's a different entry). Anyway, that line is so strange. It's not a real line, it's really just a fat wrinkle on my tummy, but I like to refer to it as a "line" because its less offensive to my already low self esteem about my current weight and squishiness.

The line is my badge of honor for carrying and creating Noah, and its hard to imagine my life without him, but at the same time it's hard to adjust to my life with him. My day-to-day life is not very eventful, but I know I'm exhausted at the end of it and emptying the dishwasher or putting a new roll of toilet paper on the toilet paper wheel thingy makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I never thought playing with a baby would be harder than any job I've ever had or any marathon I've ever run ... really just harder than anything I've ever tried. But ultimately, it's way more rewarding.

Law and Ethics

Noah was very interested in the Law and Ethics ... makes studying a little more difficult when a 6 month old is trying to help turn the pages.

Solids

We started Noah on solid foods a few weeks ago. At first he didn't really get it and then he just tolerated it. He would open his mouth and then close real fast and everything would come spilling out. We started with rice cereal and then we tried to introduce avocado ... he was not a fan of the avocado! He would gag and then slowly spit it all out.

Today we are starting sweet potatoes. Let's hope it goes better than the avocado...

Monkey Cakes, Circus Tents and Chocolate Cake Crumbles

Tonight we are celebrating Ed's bday. So, since I've been super into baking, I volunteered to bake the cake. I don't know if its because I feel super maternal or what, but I have really been enjoying baking. I can't wait til I can bake Noah's birthday cakes and watch him blow out his candles.

My mom used to make me really special cakes. One of them was in the shape of my favorite stuffed animal, Lee. He's a giant gorilla that I still sleep with. He's named after Leonardo Da Vinci and I called him Leonardo Da Monkey, even though he's a gorilla. She also got me one in the shape of an old english sheep dog and my other favorite stuffed animal, a pound puppy. I loved celebrating my birthday when I was a kid. My mom would go all out; Rainbow Bright even came to one of my parties, and we played parachute and then Julie Barnet stepped in dog poo and when we ran across the parachute she got poop on it and everytime we'd lift the parachute up and down there was a hint of doo - doo, but that didn't matter. When I got older I would have slumber parties and we'd swim and put on makeup and do our hair. I remember my mom and I picking out all of the "Wet 'n Wild" colors at the grocery store and I felt so important and so special.

My birthday always felt special when I was a kid because I would get to celebrate it twice. Once at my mom's and once at my dad's. I remember one birthday my dad was really proud of the cake he made. It was 4 or 5 layers and he mixed chocolate and vanilla frosting together and then covered it in decorative icing. There was read and blue curls of that really gross icing all over it, it looked like a circus tent. I remember loving that cake.

Something out baking is very comforting and very soothing. Its nice to see something from start to finish that doesn't take 6-9 months to train for, or 4 years to graduate and then another 3 months to study and take a 3-day exam (oh law school ... I will finish and conquer you too, just you wait!). When you take something out of the oven, it's like having a to do list and getting to check off a little box, it's very satisfying.

So, last night I made Ed a chocolate cake ... I won't go in detail about it, because I want it to be a surprise, but let's just say, I wish I could eat chocolate right now, because I would eat the S outta' this thing! Just me, my couch and a fork, and it'd be a party.

It feels really nice to be able to bake things and have them actually turn out. When I was younger I had one of those "Easy Bake Ovens" that would cook things with the light bulb. All you had to do was add water to some mix and then pour it in the pan and voila, there was supposed to be something edible and tasty. Alas, mine were always kind of gross and not very edible. I used to love baking with my mom, but that was really more my mom baking and me helping, so it doesn't count that those things always tasted good.

There was one summer in college. I had come home for the summer and I was staying with my mom and Ed. It was the summer in between my junior and senior year I think. I didn't really have any friends left in town, so I was kinda bored and mopey. So, one day I decided to bake a chocolate cake. Ed volunteered to help me, I think it was because he felt bad for me because I was pretty lame. We mixed everything and measured everything and then put in the pans and baked it... We took the pans out of the oven and let them cool, and then we turned them over they wouldn't come out of the pans. It was so sad. Just chocolate cake crumbles. So, we sat there and picked at the edible part and I felt very defeated.

So tonight, let's hope this cake is better than the chocolate cake crumbles, because at least this one came out of the pan!

Giant Block of Cheese ... Can't Wait To Sit On You.

Today my mom, Ed and I took Noah to Fairytale Town. Yes, I know he's too young to do anything on his own, but he likes to be outside and he likes looking at things. Must be amazing to be a baby. Everything is new and everything is exciting.

Fairytale Town was so much fun! I remembered going there when I was a kid. Everything seemed so magical and big. It was different this time ... I imagined what Noah will think of everything when he gets older. I loved the pumpkin carriage and the crooked mile. I wonder what Noah will like the most?

I can't wait to see his face when he climbs the giant slides for the first time or when he sits on the giant block of cheese.