Happy Noa Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

We are back from Michigan and A LOT has happened! We put in an offer on a house in Ann Arbor and it was accepted! Gulp!

We were in AA meeting with a realtor thinking we would just start to get an idea about what the market looks like there, and we fell in love with the last house she showed us. We had no intention of writing any offers, but we couldn't resist. It is in the neighborhood we wanted to be in (Burns Park) very close to the elementary school that Noa would attend (1.5 blocks away). I remember walking through this neighborhood when I was in college and I always dreamed about living there one day. Safe, quiet streets, great schools, big park, close to everything.
The acceptance of our offer means that change is moving quickly through our lives and we need to take some time to catch up with it all. I am just tryng to trust on the universe and do the footwork to make it happen. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, it is much less anxiety -producing to focus on the big changes Noa is making.
Here she is on the floor with her Grandpa.


Noa had a great time with her grandparents--they kept her (over) stimulated and happy. She changed so much in the two weeks we were away. She can now roll from her back to her tummy, and when she gets going, she can do continuous barrel rolls across the floor. We put her down, and the next thing we knew, she was six feet away on the other side of the room! This kid will be crawling in no time.

I am amazed at how strong she is--it is almost a freakish strength. She is this long, slender bean, and she can stand on her legs and she can lift her head way off the ground. She is a force! She is doing amazing things in her office (exersaucer) and she is developing these fine motor skills. She can pinch and grab things and put them where she wants them to go. The other day, I held the phone to her ear so that her grandpa could say hi, and she grabbed the phone with both hands and held it to her own ear just like the "big heads" do. Amazing.

Nana and Grandpa got Noa one of those doorway jumpy things and she loved it. She would bounce and hop and spin around and then take a much deserved break and suck on the material. The chair also put her at the perfect height for my parents' dog to get in some guerilla-face licking before we could intervene. I found the whole thing just a wee-bit stomach turning, but Noa seemed to be enjoying herself.

She has also developed this new facial expression (see below).
I tell her that she is the cutest thing I have ever seen, and I explain to her that this means she is pretty darn cute, because I have seen puppies and bunnies and there is absolutely no contest.


As always, she continues to love bath time, and she especially likes it when you drape a cloth over her head as she bathes. I am not sure how I figured out that she liked this, but it works for her. Very cosmopolitan.

The weather was quite warm in Michigan over the holidays, hanging out in the 40's most of the time. No snow to speak of. Bad news for the planet in the long view, but it sure made for some nice long walks down the dirt roads surrounding my folks' house in the country. Jeremy would bundle Noa up in his jacket and she would be toasty and content for our walk around the lake. They look like some down-filled, two-headed creature of cuteness.


Noa also had her first airplane trip and she did great. No major fussiness, and her ears didn't seem to bother her at all. Here is a photo of her with the flight attendant who rewarded her with her own pair of wings and an official certificate from Southwest Airlines, welcoming her to the flying community.


Now that we are home, we are trying to settle in and prepare for a big move at the same time. I came home with a cold and we are still waiting to see whether Noa will get it. Fingers crossed!