A flip of the switch

I don't know exactly why or how this happened, but Noah is sleeping...like for 12 hours straight every night!!  [Excuse me while I do a happy dance!]  I can't be sure if the sleep training finally worked or if he was just developmentally ready when he reached 5 months.  Hmm, or was it the night I accidentally left the baby monitor on mute all night last week?  The only thing that we did differently was setting a timer when he started fussing after he was in bed.  We simply waited for 3 to 5 minutes before going in to soothe him, and that was all it took.  More often than not, he will soothe himself back to sleep in that period of time.  Some nights are better than others, and maybe once every night or two, Matt will go up to give him his pacifier and soothe him.  Other than that, Noah goes to bed around 8:00 and typically sleeps until 7 or 8 the next morning.  As a side benefit, he seems less fussy during the day, and we feel so much better, too!  

It's been hard to think about anything other than sleep, but we did have a very fun Halloween last week!  Evie was so excited for her costume, and she had been practicing trick-or-treating all week with our candy bowl.  She and Matt carved a Doc McStuffins pumpkin, then Evie donned her fairy costume and Noah dressed as a giraffe to go out trick-or-treating.  Super cute!!

We wasted no time transitioning from Halloween to Christmas.  The morning after Halloween, we heard that Santa (aka, Grandpa Tom!) was going to be at the nearby church bazaar, and we just had to stop by for a photo.  Evie didn't have any idea that it was Grandpa in the Santa suit, and she was very brave talking to him and telling him what was on her Christmas list.  I asked her what she thought about Santa afterward, and she said she liked him, but she thought his voice was a little weird.  Ha ha!

From there, we went for a quick visit to the park, but it was our first really chilly day, and I couldn't hack it for more than about 15 minutes!  (Evie would have stayed all day despite the weather).

It's looking and feeling like November

Last, but certainly not least, we had to say goodbye to our good friends, the Netrabiles, over the weekend, because they are moving away.  Dileep and I first met as office-mates when I was an intern at IBM 13 years ago, and he was very kind to show me the ropes and help me figure out how to succeed in a corporate environment.  I got to know Melodie much better once we had kids, when we became walking buddies and have had lots of play dates and fun times with the kids over the years.  We are going to miss them so much, but wish them all the best on their new adventure!  I was pretty bummed on our way home in the car after we left, and Evie was trying to make me feel better, saying, "It's okay Mommy.  We can go to William's far house and go walking and play.  It'll be okay.  Do you feel better now?"  

I was looking back at some of the photos of us with the Netrabiles from the past few years, and I had to share a few:

William and Evie

Our talking on the walk must have bored them both to sleep

Trip to camp with the kids

And, we took some goodbye photos on Sunday before we left:

My goodness, how times have changed!

Crazy upside down kids photo 

I love this!

All four kiddos

And, here are a few other miscellaneous photos from the week:

Noah is ready for the cold weather with his new hat!

Thanksgiving is coming, and I have been practicing my pie-making skills.  I've learned from the master (my mom), and my pies are getting better!

Noah tries to get his legs under him when he's on his belly, and he looks like he wants to crawl soon.  Eek!

Bubble hat 

Chubby guy ready for bathtime - he is so squeezable!

Evie LOVES to serve snacks and meals.  Here is yesterday's "morning snack", as prepared by Evie

Even though Roscoe makes us crazy sometimes, he is so sweet with the kids.