Living La Vida "Mommy"

PICTURE #1 = PRE -NOAH

PICUTRE #2 = AFTER NOAH

Not quite so loca anymore, no?

To those of you who didn't know me "p.n." (pre-noah) I have to tell you a little secret... I wasn't always the Martha Stewart homemaker I am now. HAHA. Who am I kidding? I still loath cooking, can't make a craft to save my life and have trouble containing the f-bombs that seem to burst from my mouth with a mind of their own. So most things remain the same.

On the side of "sameness," we have my love of reading. The 2nd week of Noah's life, I mastered Nursing and Reading 101. So far, I have read too many wonderful books to count. Here are some of my fave's in case you are looking for something to procrastinate with:

• The Year of Living Biblically by A.J Jacobs. A guy follows the sometimes strange rules of the Old Testament while living in NY. Freakin hilarious!


• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Unlike any tale I have ever read. About a guy who travels with the circus during prohibition. Beauitful story.


• The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. USA Today called it "Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan." I couldn't agree more.


• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A fictional tale of an author's life. Eerie, but interesting.


• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. Non-fiction. Very informative book. Explains what goes into your child's vaccines. Sorta scary when you find out what goes in them, but lets you see the pros and con's to vaccination.


• Insert your blog here. Yup, I've been loving keeping up on your lives through blogs. Congrats to the Saldana Family for starting their blog this week!

I still find time to have lunch with "the chicas" now and then. Every Thursday Sarah Chintawat and I do lunch around here. If you are ever in the area, stop by! I have also had the pleasure of lunching this month with Jen D, Ali and Lisa! Thank you so much girls for making time in your day and for smiling politely as I ramble on and on about Noah.

I try and still make it (sorta) to the gym. Today Noah went into the day care @ the gym for the first time! Though after I reading the vaccine book, I made it a point to explain to the care-givers "No children touching my baby!" and "Please wash hands before touching Noah!" I think they were glad to see me leave....

I ...."go to work?" I ask this with a question mark, because I don't think you can count 4 days of working as "going back." Next week I am doing some trainings for the VAPA department. My mom is coming to stay here and watch Noah. Thanks Mom! We will see how it goes for the little guy and I might take on more hours next month.

Because of work, and because I am getting a little tired of being the "mommy milk cow," we have started to introduce formula to Noah. So far he's only having one half formula/half breast milk bottle before bed. I don't plan to up it that much this month, maybe just until he can have 1 full formula bottle at night. I still want him to have my milk, but appreciate the flexibility of knowing that if he "had to," he could have a bottle without me being there. (Yes, I do know about pumping, lol, it just doesn't work well for me. 5oz = 1 hr of pumping + a lot of pain.)

So what else has changed? Hmm. Sleeping patterns, of course. Though now Noah can go 7 hrs through the night! (Congrats little monkey!) Also my hankering for weekly mall attendance. With the stroller, Noah, etc, its just too much work. Thank the lord for online shopping. :D Free time (aka Noah's nap time) is spent now not watching reality tv on TiVo, but housecleaning, showering, scooping after kitties, laundry, and basically anything I should be doing instead of blogging....

Finally, the most wonderful change is the relationship I have with the "new man" in my life. Sometimes he smells funny, sometimes he drools on himself, but it doesn't take much to make him smile. Also, it seems he never tires of his momma. He is happy being on my lap or just watching me from his chair. We dance together, we sing together, we have conversations about the election, and he never says "get lost lady, you're buggin me."

So basically, I spend less money, watch less tv and get to hangout with my sweet little baby boy. Not too shabby. Here's to to the new "a.n." chapter in my life!