Chicken Noodle Soup

I've had a really, really, really, really, really rough 2 weeks. I am comfortable enough to now label my four-month-old as colicky. Any baby who cries for hours on end for no logical reason I guess can be labeled as colicky. I've never had a colicky baby before. It's hard. Really hard. I was up with him from 12:30-5:30am and then my husband took over until he had to go to work. I was really tired all day and the crying all day long can really make you go bonkers after awhile. All I wanted was some chicken noodle soup for dinner and it somehow made things a little bit better.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock
8 ounces dried wide egg noodles (the egg noodles from Costco are the best)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (use rotisserie chicken)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.