*91*

Noah is adorable, but is a little pain in the a.ss sometimes. Whenever we lay him down, either in his bassinet, or in the baby carrier, or even to change him, he starts crying. That means either Joe or I have to always be holding him, unless we finally get him to sleep, then we can lay him down. That is, until he wakes up a bit and notices he's not with Joe or I.

"Minx! Joe! Do you want to go out in a bit? Everyone's meeting at a restaurant, just for dinner, but it'll be fun!" Caspar asked excitedly.

"Um, who will be there?" Joe asked.

"Your sister, Alfie, Marcus and Niomi, Oli, Jim and Tanya, and then us!"

"Where is it?" Joe asked again.

"I don't know yet. Somewhere casual and appropriate for Noah," Caspar nodded assuringly.

"Yeah. Can we go? I'm sick of being in the house," I laughed lightly.

"Sure, yeah! It'll be fun," Joe smiled.

"Okay, we'll leave in about an hour!" Caspar grinned.

Caspar left the room and I sat up in the bed, still cradling Noah. I'm actually really excited to go out. Ever since I left the hospital, I feel like I've haven't done anything except feed Noah and change nappies, although Joe has been a big help too, of course. Graham left a couple days ago, after staying the weekend, and since then, Joe has done whatever errands, so I stay at home to feed Noah.

"Can you take Noah so then I can get a quick shower?"

"Of course baby," Joe smiled as he shut his laptop and took Noah from me.

I went and took a shower, to freshen up and clean myself of course, and then got dressed. I put on a baggy top and skinny jeans. Since I've given birth, I've learned that your stomach does not return to normal right after you've given birth. However, it has 'deflated,' in a sense, quite a bit. I put on a tad bit of make-up before taking Noah from Joe so he could get ready.

I changed Noah's nappy and then changed his clothes to another cute outfit. However, he'll probably ruin it as soon as we go out by throwing up. I carried him over to the bed and laid him in the middle of the bed, but kept him close to me. Noah looked around before looking back at me and then closing his eyes to go to sleep.

"Joe," I whispered.

"Hm?"

"Look, I laid Noah on the bed and he just looked around before going to sleep!" I quietly cheered.

"Yes! Progress!" Joe laughed.

I very slowly and gently got off the bed and put on some shoes.

"Mm, I love you," I smiled, giving Joe a kiss.

"I love you too baby," Joe smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"We should get going, yeah?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, do you want to try and put Noah in the baby carrier?"

"Mm, I'll try," I laughed lightly.

"Good luck," Joe laughed.

Joe put the baby carrier on the bed and I gently lifted him into the baby carrier and buckled him up.

"Now let's just hope he doesn't wake up on the drive over there," Joe huffed.

"He'll be fine," I shrugged.

Joe carried Noah in the baby carrier down to the car, while I carried the baby bag. On the way to the restaurant, Noah ended up waking up and crying the rest of the way.

"Shh, Noah," I hummed.

"We're almost there," Joe said.

"Okay," I nodded.

As we pulled up to the restaurant, I got out of the car and opened the back door and get Noah out of the baby carrier. As I held him, he almost instantly stopped crying.

"See, everything's okay," I cooed.

Joe grabbed the baby bag and I wrapped a blanket around him before we went inside.

"Joe and Minxie are here!" Zoe smiled, standing up to give us a hug.

"Hello," I smiled, giving Zoe a small side hug as I was holding Noah.

"Aw, how's Noah?" Zoe smiled.

"He only likes to be held," I laughed lightly.

"Aw, I'm sorry," Zoe laughed lightly, "Can I hold him?"

"Yeah!" I nodded.

I passed Noah to Zoe and thankfully he didn't start crying.

"Minx! How are you?" Tanya asked.

"I'm great, thanks! Exhausted, but great!" I smiled.

We all chatted for a while before ordering our food. Noah was passed around the table and right now Oli was holding him.

"He's so small!" Oli laughed.

Oli held him for a while and Noah ended up falling asleep.

"Here, I'll put him in the baby carrier so we can eat," Joe said to Oli.

As we ate, Noah was just laid in the baby carrier in between Joe and I's chairs. Halfway through my meal, Noah woke up and started crying again, so I picked him up and rocked him as I finished eating. Thakfully I had pumped a couple bottles before we came out, so I could bottle-feed Noah while at the table.

"Want me to feed him?" Joe asked as he had already finished his food.

"If you don't mind," I nodded.

Joe took Noah and fed him while I finished eating my dinner.

We all chatted for a while and I'm glad because I got to know Marcus and Niomi a bit more, as well as Jim and Tanya.

"Should we get going?" Joe asked quietly.

"Yeah," I nodded, letting out a small yawn.

"I think Minxie and I are going to excuse ourselves," Joe smiled.

"Aw, okay! It was fun to meet Noah!"

"Take care!" Tanya smiled.

We said good-bye to everyone and went around to give hugs before we left.

°

"Noah, hush baby," I cooed trying to calm Noah so Joe didn't wake up.

After a nice evening out with everyone, and Noah had been well behaved, Joe and I were hoping that he would go straight to sleep. However, that isn't the case.

Joe was still asleep in my bed and I carried Noah into the livingroom and kitchen and rocked him. I glanced at the clock on the oven and it read 03:48.

"Shh," I said soothingly.

Noah would not stop crying, so I checked his nappy, clean. I sat down on the sofa and started nursing him.

"Mm, is everything alright?" Joe yawned.

"Yeah, Noah's just hungry and restless," I nodded.

"Okay," Joe said, as he slouched on the sofa next to me.

"Baby, go back to bed, I've got this," I assured Joe.

"Come on then," Joe nudged me.

"I'll finish feeding him first," I nodded.

"Okay," Joe mumbled sleepily.

Joe traipsed back into my room and I finished feeding Noah before burping him and rocking him, trying to coax him to sleep.

"Come on, baby," I mumbled quietly.

Noah kept wearily closing his eyes, only to open them a few seconds later and repeating it over and over again. I cradled him and got up to walk around a bit, hoping it will rock him to sleep.

"F.uck," I muttered under my breath, as I saw it's already 04:45.

I've been up for over an hour and Noah will not go back to sleep. I decided to go back into my room and laid him in between Joe and I on the bed, hoping he wouldn't start crying. Thankfully, he didn't. I closed my eyes and rested them lightly, to make sure Noah fell asleep before me. Once I was sure he had fallen asleep, I gently laid him back in his bassinet, mostly so Joe wouldn't accidently hit him in his sleep, as he has a tendency to move a lot. Only then, was I finally able to get some sleep.

°

a/n: hello! thank you for reading and i hope you all enjoyed it! honestly, all your lovely comments throughout the book make me so happy! Love you all loads loads loads! X