High Five for Friday!

It's Friday!  Let me just say, it's hard to start a new tradition/ritual, especially when it's only once a week.  I nearly forgot about High Five for Friday already:) 

1. I finished up my last week of working three mornings a week (and will start back to my normal half time schedule on Monday).   It was very helpful to start back to work gradually so we could all adjust to the new routine.  I've said it before, but I am SO grateful for an accommodating workplace that allows me to have more time at home with our family!
2. This week was also the beginning of Papa Daycare at our house:)  My dad retired last Friday and started up his new post at our house Monday morning.  What a trooper!  (I have to add, he wants to be Papa Daycare.  No arm twisting here.)   He spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings with Nora and with Luke before school started.  It was so sweet to hear Luke tell me about reading with Papa before school each day and Dad and Nora made the most of the beautiful weather with walks each morning. 
3. My lovely cousin, Steph, makes it down to Rochester from St. Paul every couple months for work and we got to have an evening to catch up.  It's always great to see her, share a meal, and this time we even hit up Target:)  We also like to schedule shopping dates together a couple times a year, which I think we'll be doing again sooner than later now that I'm no longer prego:)
4. I got to spend the "school day" with my friend, Liz, on a quick jaunt to IKEA today.  (I say school day because I left with Nora right when Luke went to school and was back in time to pick him up from school.)  Liz is one of my very favorite people:)  We met in high school and have been friends since.  She's a wonderful, kind, loving friend, wife, and mommy:)  We try to get together every couple months and take turns meeting in Rochester or the Cities/Hudson, WI where she lives.  Today we met, babies in tow, at IKEA because I had something on my radar.  It's funny to think back on all the years that we've known each other and how our time together has changed to us both being moms of two, married, and in our thirties.  Yikes, that last one hurts;)  Anyway, I could write an entire post about Liz and I.  In short, Liz and Jack (her 6 month old) and Nora and I had a nice time strolling IKEA and enjoyed lunch at TJIFridays:)
5. This week was overall quite relaxing.  It was the first week that I was back to work that Brent and I both felt like, "Yeah, we can handle this new life/routine of ours."  That sounds dramatic.  It really wasn't that bad the last couple weeks.  It was just an adjustment phase:)   But this week, we had less happening in the evenings and were able to enjoy down time as a family (we're all home bodies...well, I guess the verdict is still out on Nora, but the rest of us are).  Nora slept better this week and we can now say with confidence that she sleeps through the night.  She eats between 9:30-10:30pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:30am.  All in all, it was a very nice family week:)