the last night in May

Noah is about the smiliest baby ever to have slept (or not slept) in this house.  He lights up at everyone, and not just with a smile, but this enormous grin that takes over his whole face.  I haven't caught it on camera yet, because even though he's been doing this for 7 weeks now, I still can't put him down to take a picture.  He's too sweet.  Noah also coos.  And I mean, the boy talks.  He has more to coo about than our very social girls did as babies.  He will giggle and "ooh" for anyone and has started that developmental bubble blowing.  I love hanging out with him.  The middle of the nights are sweet although, I'm ready to sleep.  Its been a long time.  He is consistently waking up between 3 and 4 am, and is so hungry he gasps as he eats.  I hope that soon, some of this food will stick to him and he'll sleep say maybe 7-8 hours.  That might mean I'll sleep more than 4-5 hours at a stretch.  I'm not complaining.  I think someday I'll long for these sweet nights again.

I wanted to have our kids soclosetogether so that they'd always have each other.  Now the babies have come and our routine as a family begun.  Zoe is working on growing teeth lately, which makes her sleep late.  One of these mornings, Noah was back down for a nap, and the normal breakfast routine included only Piper and me.  Piper talked away, welcoming her day.  She chattered and observed, and asked lots of questions.  I bumped around, half awake, messing with the french press, and tried to keep up.  And I thought "wow I'm glad we have Zoe," all 20 months of her.  I had no idea how quiet I am in the mornings and how much they talk and play then.

She and Piper love each other well for being so little.  They hold hands, giggle, and really enjoy being together.  They each slip off to play by themselves at times, but for the most part stick together.  I'm curious how the next few weeks will go as we put Zoe and Piper back in the same room to sleep at night.  We separated them when Zoe was about 8 months old, so they've had their own "space" for as long as each can remember at this point.  I've been talking it up with Piper and she is happy about it as long as Zoe is still in a crib, and not a big girl bed.

Once the girls are settled, Noah gets a room, and I get my closet back.  Noah currently and this minute is curled up on a crib mattress that's laying in the middle of my closet floor.  I'm trying to move everyone now, because I expect him to start rolling in a few weeks and this arrangement will no longer be sufficient.  He'll land in shoes if he rolls too far.

Brandon is back from playing basketball now so we're going to sleep.  I'm turning off the PBS documentary on cows, and posting my note.