November was a month spent getting used to new routines and preparing for the holiday season. I (Steph) returned to work on November 1st after six weeks of maternity leave and had to (sadly) drop Noah off at daycare for the first time. After spending every day with him for a month and a half, it was very difficult leaving him in the care of others. The transition was made easier because Noah's classroom has cameras mounted that enable parents to watch remotely. Whenever I found myself missing Noah, I would login to our account and spend a few minutes watching him play and sleep. As hard as it was leaving Noah I was glad to return to work. It was nice having conversations not related to diaper changes, feeding schedules, and bath time. 
Throughout the month Jorge kept trying to push Noah beyond the limits of his size and age (I'm assuming this pretty common for dad's to do with their sons). Jorge is convinced that Noah will be walking sooner than any known baby, but we all know that that's pretty unlikely. It is fun watching Noah stand on his feet. We have definitely noticed his legs getting stronger. It seemed every weekend in November was spent running around NC. The weekend before Thanksgiving Noah took his first trip to Jacksonville, NC to visit Jorge's family. Noah met his great-grandparents for the first. It was awesome seeing Noah and his great-grandfather together. It would be nice if we lived closer and make these visits more frequent but not seeing everyone very often makes each visit that much more special.
Thanksgiving weekend my family (mom, dad, brother, and brother's girlfriend) came down from PA and NY. It was the first time my brother and his girlfriend met Noah and they were very excited to meet the newest member of the family. On thanksgiving, we dressed Noah up in a turkey themed outfit (I think it is absolutely necessary to dress little babies in ridiculously cute holiday themed outfits. Your kids may wince with embarrassment when they are older but its definitely worth it) and traveled to Wilson, NC to chow down and give thanks with my extended family. From Wilson we traveled to Greensboro, NC to enjoy our second dinner and dessert with some more of my family. We couldn't stay out too late though, because we had to get plenty of rest in order to have the energy to battle all of the shoppers out in full force on Black Friday. It was definitely a busy day but there's nothing more fitting than spending Thanksgiving with so many people that you are thankful to have in your life.
The day after Thanksgiving we took part in the awesome shopping of Black Friday. Jorge and I missed it last year because we were on our cruise. So we were especially looking forward to going out this year. There is just something fun about getting up early to buy things that you can get any other day but for some reason they are more appealing on the day after Thanksgiving. Now that Noah is around we couldn't wake up at 4 AM to hit the stores like we usually do but it wasn't that bad getting to the stores around 10. We managed to get to the stores when there was a lull in the major crowds arriving. We tackled the mall and new outlet shops before stopping and refueling with a quick bite to eat. I don't think anybody did too much damage to their bank accounts but we all definitely took advantage of the sales.
Overall November was another month that left us counting our blessings. In our next entry we will talk about our fun in the snow and the best holiday of the year, Christmas!
Love Always,
Stephanie, Jorge, and Noah
