A Busy Week and a Half

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but the last week and a half have been crazy! It all started with a little Nor'Easter we like to call Ida. Noelle, Maddie, and I had driven down to NC to spend a few days and to pick up my mom before heading up to Philadelphia to pick up Grandma Gidjunis for a big weekend down at the Saxton house. Well, thankfully we left Wednesday morning for the trip up north because we stayed just ahead of Ida's winds and hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in only 40 mph winds and heavy rain. I gripped the steering wheel tightly over the 20 plus mile bridge/tunnel, thanked God we had the Elantra and not a vehicle that rides higher up, and tried not to stare at the crazy waves we could see below. But we made it, and we wouldn't have been able to go that way if we left later, and after a nice stop at my dad's cousin's house for the best crab cakes I've ever had, we arrived in Philadelphia without major event.

My dad, Michael, and the dogs had a bit more fun with Ida. We were worried they wouldn't make it up for the weekend festivities but thankfully the waters receded, the road was uncovered, and the winds died down a little. So Friday night began our adventure with 6 adults, 1 baby, and 3 dogs hanging out in a 2 bedroom townhouse. Not a lot of sleeping went on, but it was nice to see family.

Saturday we spent the afternoon celebrating Grandma Hayhoe's life. One of our favorite priests came out to the cemetery for a memorial service and we buried Grandma's ashes in the Hayhoe family plot. It was great to see so many relatives come out to say their final goodbyes. Most of the family and friends came out to our house after the service to share memories (we saw some great pictures!) and eat some food. It was a long but good day and it was great for Noelle to meet my grandmother's best friend, Mrs. Noel. We didn't name Noelle for her, but she was always a special person in our family, especially at Christmastime.

Sunday was another long day filled with family and friends. Noelle was baptized at the 11:30 mass at our church, St. Paul's. We were excited to have Michael and Catherine serve as her godparents, and we were so proud of our little girl who was, as always, on her best behavior at church. Fr. Matt gave a great sermon tying the baptism in with the readings and current society, and it was great to have family and friends at church with us. Noelle was baptized after the homily, and despite being asleep before they anointed and poured the water over her head, she just looked up and smiled without crying. We look forward to raising Noelle in our Christian faith and love the prayer books and other mementos we got to help remember the special day. Family and friends headed to the house again Sunday to celebrate the baptism and have a fabulous Thanksgiving type meal. Thanks to my mom for making most of the food for both days!







On Monday morning I said goodbye to my dad and brother, and then cried somewhat hysterically as I left little Noelle for my first day back at work. I did breakdown one time at work, and teared up whenever anyone asked me about my little one, but I made it through the day. And, surprisingly enough, I made it through the next three days as well. It was great to have my mom babysit the first week I had to go back, and with next week being Thanksgiving, Noelle will only have to go to daycare two days, a great way to ease in to our new routine. I have to say the getting up at 5 (really 4 since that is when Noelle usually wakes up to eat during the night) is less than pleasant, but I am excited to work longer days so that I can be off Fridays. Here is a picture of Noelle learning her new trick - holding her bottle!



So we are getting our lives in order for this new, post maternity leave phase of our lives. On Thursday we get to head down to TN for Thanksgiving with Bryan's family. We look forward to seeing everyone and to introducing Noelle to most of the family. We aren't super excited to put Noelle on a plane (and I'm pretty sure the people sitting near us won't be too excited about it either) but we'll report in next week about our trip!

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

Congrats B!

Just a short note to tell Bryan how proud we are of him. If you haven't heard yet, he got the news last Friday afternoon that he passed the bar! He was so nervous that he left work early to come home and stress here instead of at the office. When he walked in, we were still with a group of moms and babies from our Mommy and Me group in the living room, so he had to jump over toys and Maddie to get in the house! After the group left, the family sat together updating the computer screen every 5 seconds to see if the results had been posted for about 30 minutes...after finally getting actual information on the page we checked, double checked, and triple checked Bryan's bar number to learn that he passed. After one more check to make sure we had the right number, we did a celebratory dance around the living room!

People say having a baby changes everything. For us, maybe not so much. We celebrated the news by ordering pizza, putting champagne in the fridge, and falling asleep on the sofa before we had a chance for it to get cold and drink it! Not that different from the time before we had Noelle sadly enough!

On Saturday, Bryan got the official letter in the mail telling him again that he passed. Another small victory cheer occurred and then we got on to the business of the weekend. For those of you wondering, B is actually not a real lawyer yet. In early December he will take a required ethics class that everyone who takes the bar in MD has to go to, and then in mid-December he will go to Annapolis to actually be sworn in. But all the roadblocks are now passed and in just one short month he will officially be Bryan K Saxton, Esq.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

The past week or so Noelle has been giving us a wonderful gift: sleep! She has consistently slept about 7 hours a night, and even slept Sunday night through the entire night! Right now she gets up around 4 usually to eat and goes back to sleep. Since I go back to work in a week and a half and will be getting up at 5 to get to work by 7, Noelle just needs to get about one more hour in and then we won't have to get up at all during the night. We are so proud of our little girl! Here is a picture of the little one sleeping on the couch with her daddy - her little hands around him are so super cute!



Besides that, we enjoyed a lovely visit from our Miami friend, Nate, his wife, Jen, and their dog, Oscar, on Sunday. They stopped in to meet Noelle, watch some football, and eat some food, and it was great catching up. Maddie loved playing with Oscar - the two of them ran circles around the house for hours (and Maddie learned she doesn't fit under the living room tables).



Noelle loved the adult Leopards!



We hope to see more Miami friends soon!

Mommy and Me

Noelle and I have started getting out a little more often. Before this week, our main journeys were to the park to walk with friends or just with Maddie, and while that is fun (and definitely helping me get into pre-pregnancy shape) it was time for some different adventures. So what did we do? We joined a mommy and me group. Our first event was last Wednesday, and while Noelle had fun, I learned I am in way over my head.

Let me preface everything by saying how nice everyone was. But, these moms (or at least some of them), are out of control. One said she had finally gone 3 days in a row without calling the doctor's office to ask any questions (her baby is 4 months). Another has already taken her 4 month old to 5 different series of classes - music, dance, baby sign language, swim lessons, and I can't even remember the other one. A third has a $1000 diaper bag. Now there are a lot of things I could do with a $1000 dollars. Buy diapers for the remainder of Noelle's childhood. Buy Bryan and I 100 good bottles of wine. Pay for the great majority of a trip to my favorite place, Disney. But a diaper bag? You've got to be kidding me. By the way, this playdate was in an $800,000+ house (I know, I looked up the neighbor's house that was on sale - yes I am still a stalker). So, I left the date thinking I am either a slacker mom or these other moms are seriously crazy. I am going to go with the second one since so far my child hasn't had any real problems, is sleeping and eating better than these kids, and is certainly more attractive. And yes, I might be prejudiced, but seriously, have you seen her? She is super cute.


Addicted to the internet already...I guess we need to figure out how to add those parental controls soon!


Still loving my playmat!

So we will still go to some events, but we are going to pick and choose a little bit based on who we see will be there and try to remember that just because we aren't totally over the top millionaires doesn't mean we aren't doing just fine as parents.

Here are a few shots from last night - Noelle didn't trick or treat (and she actually slept through us giving out candy), but she still dressed up for the occasion.