moran comes home

noa with jo's mom














moran always knows how to make noa laugh

will's birthday party

elad bathing noa and noa watching yuval the mevulbal

this week, was all about moran for noa, who came after her vacation in sunny ca. noa lights up when she walks in the room. moran took her step 3 usmle test on thursday and friday. we had brunch with jo's parents today, and noa definitely likes the british accent because she quickly warmed up to jo's mom. she had another birthday party on friday. this week was will's turn, and she wanted to explore the house so bad that she pushed down the gate. at the party, i showed everyone noa's new fixation with my stomach. if she sees my shirt slightly raised, she quickly makes her way to me, lifts my shirt and rests her face on my stomach. then she kisses my stomach and laughs. earlier in the week, noa and i went to check out a school. yes, a school. preschools apparently now have a two's programs, which noa might be eligible for next year. i hadnt even given any thought to preschool until my friend invited me to this orientation disguised as a playdate. noa, though, had a grand time playing. she crawled from toy to toy. i just cant believe we are even thinking about schools for noa. on thursday, i went out with the girls for book club and we enjoyed dinner and a drink. we had so much fun we extended the evening and went bar hopping. we only hopped to one bar, but nevertheless life after kids is not so bad.

4 parties in 4 days

noa and maddie on the rocking horse at leah's b-day party
leah is wondering why she didn't receive a chocolate cupckae

noa is a vietnamese girl at the purim party
this was a big week for noa, developmentally, socially, and nutritionally. she is no longer stricly "noa the destroyer." i think she has a future in demolition, but she can now put things back and in etc. she started putting the balls in her elephant toy, and the shapes in the box, and even the rings on the stacker pole. well, this was very exciting to witness, and she now helps put her toys away (with much guidance from me of course but its a start/breakthrough). she also started drinking from a straw and seems to enjoy drinking more in general, which makes our life easier. and on the social side, she had a busy weekend. noa attended 4 parties in 4 days, 3 birthday parties and a purim party. she definitely knows what cupcakes are now, and when she saw her friend riley not eating hers, she just reached over and took it. at the second party, she enjoyed the big gathering drum, steve's fun rocking skills, and the cantaloupe. yes, we discovered she likes cantaloupe, so what did we do? what every loving parents would do. we went to costco and bought three, and surprisingly enough she still likes it and can't get enough. she is quite the finicky eater these days. one meal she wants to feed herself, the next she wants me to feed, one meal she likes baby food the next she doesn't, one she prefers an adult spoon or my fingers, and the other her spoon etc. she has also learned the art of throwing her food or placing it in hard to find creases of her high chair. but on to the important stuff, she is officially weaned. yesterday morning, we were about to the start the day, when elad said why dont you stay in bed and i will take noa milk instead. around 12 months, i moved from three to two feedings, and then excusively the morning for a few weeks. elad was eager to stop breastfeeding, while i was dreading the last feeding. i knew i would never be ready and i was tired, so in a moment of weakness, i agreed to stop. enough about breastfeeding and silly milestones. noa is quite the adventurous baby, plunging from the changing table and diving down stairs, but she has her share of quirky fears. one of them was the vacuum cleaner until this week. she is still at odds with the vacuum cleaners of our household, but she no longer cries when they come alive. most recently, she proceeded to charge the dust buster and make some sort of babbling growl.

a cold week in danbury

"getting" sophia and playing peek a boo

shopping at stew leonards with olivia and sydney- worked well until noa started standing like the girl in titanic

apart from two days in the 50's, it has been a fairly cold week, and we are expecting a snow storm this evening which spoiled our plans to take a day trip. we are definitely anxious for warmer weather. the weather may not be changing much, but noa's behavior is indeed. she probably started to change just before we went to israel, but this week she has taken more noticable steps in a different direction. she crinkles her nose all the time as if she is disgusted with you, and she screams for no apparent reason. she will also get this crazy look on her face and throw a toy or excitedly raise her arms and throw them down. its a new side of noa and the jury is still out on whether or not this is a positive change. stam hahaha her behavioral changes are natural and exciting for us because we are witnesses to her personality previews (stay tuned there is more to come). noa is fearless when it comes to climbing, crawling, and diving to the floor from the changing table. she may be scared of vacuum cleaners big and small, but she has no qualms about plunging to her death while i am changing her diaper. the other day i changed her diaper with one hand on her stomach (and im not always so vigilant or careful), and the next thing i know i am holding her by her right foot and she is dangling inches from the floor and laughing. a scary moment. note to self- buckle her in or change her on the floor. she is now quite gracefully pulling herself to stand and using her toys and walker to support her while she walks and sometimes tries to run, which leads to a not so graceful face plant. falling is an integral part of her life these days. like most babies or toddlers at this age, she is obsessed with opening and closing, which is quite cute unless she jams her fingers or breaks something etc. she is still the little destroyer, happy to tear everything down and take everything out. we are still working on stacking and putting things in the bag or basket. she started playing peek a boo, and the other day she played with her friend sophia. she hid and then charged sophia to "get" her and then returned to her hiding spot. they both laughed the deep belly laugh, and it was pretty precious. still no teeth, but nevertheless making progress with chewing or gumming. she likes to eat whatever we are eating. she started eating big kid cereal (cheerios) in a bowl with milk with abba while he eats his morning cereal.

family visit and more birthday celebrations

wow, aunt dawn is fun

i always did this to dawn when she was little

mimi with with three of her five grandchildren

just some friendly wrestling between cousins

she liked this gift

she liked mimi and papa and rhett and her party and the cake and gifts, but not her hat

silly mimi she grew to be very fond of cupcakes in time for the group birthday party

we had a very full house this week as my sister, her two children, her college friend, and my father arrived. luckily the weather was nice, so the airport pick up was uneventful apart from greeting the guests. noa slept in a pack n play in our room at the foot of the bed, my sister, her friend broooke, and her three month old rhett slep in noa's room, and my parents and my sister's 23 month old slept in the guest room. it was one big pajama party filled with three different nap schedules and various eating stages/preferences (breast milk, baby jar food, chicken nuggets etc.). lola is quite energetic, so noa had lots of engaging play time. she enjoyed poking at rhett and surviving play time with lola who loves to hug. fleeing lola's hugs may have inspired her to cruise because she really stepped up her game this week. noa is now officially cruising. she is walking around the house leaning on anything that will support her. she is also standing up next to her walking toys and pushing them. in the past, we would put her in front of the wagon and she would push it and walk, but now she initiates. noa is unfortunate to live far from grandparents and cousins, but she made up for loss time in this week packed with family bonding. mimi spoiled her at the mall buying her a cute spring outfit from janie and jack. lola taught her all kinds of useful tricks like where the snacks are, so now she goes to that cabinet and pulls out snacks ALL THE TIME. we celebrated noa's birthday as a family on saturday, the 14th. we prepared a brunch, noa had some cake, opened gifts, and received lots of hugs and kisses. she was very lucky to have her aunt moran, mimi, papa, aunt dawn, and cousins lola and rhett attend, but other family and friends came as well. michael, varda, isaac, ruth, alana, harry, nat, magnus, tami, sabrina, and cassie all joined us to celebrate noa's big day. noa especially enjoyed opening her gifts. thanks again to all of you for making it a very special day for us. later that evening, leah came over to make cupcakes for the our playgroup birthday party the following day. it would be an understatement to say that our first frosting concoction failed. there was a bit of an explosion, a sugar rock was involved, and fortunately everyone survived the ordeal. tami saved the day with an easier frosting mix that turned out great. leah and i were up for the challenge, but time constraints forced us to think realistically. we had only one jumbo cupcake pan, so we strategized and assigned a unique color combination to each each child while a one batch was in the oven. the following morning, leah showed up bright and early with very pretty and as it turned out delicous chocolate cupcakes, and we frosted. elad offered his steady and meticulous hands to the project, and wrote each child's initials on their cupcake. the oh so well planned party was such a success. i could write and write. casey ordered delicious food, enlarged amazing pics of each child, and created a year book. leah set up a hand prints booth. janelle decorated perfectly. oh, casey also made a slide show, leah brought music, and someone set it all up on a telivsion. kerri organized the place, and the ride-on toys were so much fun. noa couldn't get enough. and then ana and her famous song leading skills entertained the little ones. and we will never forget how much noa enjoyed her cupcake. ana said her face reflected pure joy as she squished it in her fingers and stuffed it in her mouth.

noa's playdate party

noa and i arrived home safely last sunday. she was an angel on the plane ride home. i did, however, let her do pretty much whatever she wanted. i gave her cookies for the first and last time. i let her crawl all over the plane. she looked like a homeless kid by the time we arrived. naturally, i changed her clothes upon arrival for the sake of elad's health. we hurried home to watch the big game, and sadly our cardinals fell a little short. on tuesday, a snow storm greeted mimi's arrival to connecticut. she came to celebrate noa's first birthday and help with all the birthday preparations. after trips to stew leonards, costco, party depot, and a & p, everything was in place for a playdate party worthy of noa. i didnt want a perfect party, just the party little noa deserved. moran came to our place the day before to help with food preparation. the day before noa's party, i started acting a bit crazy, so i placed a 911 call to moran and she came through big. she made platters, salads, glutten free cupcakes, and a cake for noa. mimi made a few decadent deserts that were so successful, the girls asked her to make one again for the group party. we transformed the family room into a playroom, hung baloons, adorned the place with "big one" decorations and her "welcome to noa's party sign."abba was big help the day before and he even surprised noa during his lunch hour. in the end, all went well at the party. her friends, rylee, riley, sophia, layla, will, and pike and their moms attended the party. she loved it when everyone sang to her, and she was relieved when i gave her chocolate cake after disappointing her with an angel food cake with strawberry frosting. after she had her cake, we stripped the babies down to their diapers and set a hill of cupcakes in the middle. we thought it would be more fun for them. the girls (except for layla and noa a little bit) showed little interest, but the boys on the other hand dove in with both hands. so, her special day went really well, and it was great to have her mimi and aunt moran here to help and celebrate. the following day, our friends jo and simon came over to see noa and congratulate her. they came bearing too many gifts, but noa did not complain. on sunday, we went into the city for brunch and window shopping, and noa did so well. she slept in her stroller on the way in the train, and then took her afternoon nap in her stroller on the go in the city. two b-day celebrations down and two to go....

Noa and I are at the end of our stay in Israel. The second half has been a bit busier but equally as fun. As there are very few prepared baby food options in Israel, Ruthy has made her various purees, and we give her samples of whatever we are eating or whatever we find in the fridge. Naturally, we gained confidence until we looked over at her while eating at Mantina to see red blotches all around her mouth and puffy pillows below her little eyes. We suspect it was tuna, but either way it slowed us down a bit (that is until she grabbed the falafal out of savta's hand and stuffed it in her mouth). As I mentioned, this week was filled with excitement. Every day, when noa woke up at 11am, we headed off to meet with friends and family at a local cafe or restaurant and tried to return in time for noa's nap. and most nights this week, i went out with friends after noa went to bed. i ate too much chocolate with tovi and ronit, drank wine with tara, enjoyed "gedera pita" at sarit's chena, and danced the night away while eating pebbles that tasted like chocolate in a cave while celebrating the wedding of none other than sarit and josh. one night before noa's bedtime, we visited shelly at work and noa felt right at home behind the bar. chanan came home early from work one night (he wouldnt do this for just anybody) to bathe noa and put her to bed. noa gave him various questioning looks, smiles, and a laugh while he went forward with confidence and held the shower head over her head while she struggled to breathe as the the water poured down her face. he later read her a story and put her to bed, and from then on she seemed to be in love with saba. on a sad note, we drove to rehovot to visit ronit's mom, sylvia, in the hospital. later that day, we celebrated chanan and noa's birthdays, and noa enjoyed her first chocolate cake. On shabbat, we drove up to tsipori to visit the segev family, which is fun because there are friends for both ima and noa (and saba and savta). it is also reminds me of home in az, so i always enjoy the trip. as always, the food was delicious. shlomit's kitchen and hadar's deserts are like a kitchen from tuscany or martha stuart or something more authentic. while there we visited a sheep farm, and after noa adjusted to the sight and feel of pens full of lambs she let a lamb suck her finger. we couldn't get enough of the beach, so we tried the ramat poleg's beach front restaurant with gal and yifat. the deep couch seating, view of the beach, and sun made for a fun outing. noa also bonded with rachely, yifat (who needs to make children's music), eitan and all his sweet hugs and kisses, and of course ziv (my big sister in israel). and lastly, thanks to savta for all the "pinukim."

Noa and I have been in Israel now for 8 days, and we are loving every minute. Savta Ruthy is making Noa all kinds of food. Upon arrival, Noa was greeted by a big basket full of toys, puzzles, and books. The only downside is for me to see what Noa is missing out on back home with one grandma in AZ and the other here in Israel. I have been spoiled as well with extra time to read and sleep and enjoy local coffee shops. The weather has been fabulous (high 70's), so Noa only needs one layer. She has also enjoyed playing outside in the sun and chasing the cat (tsitsi) and dog (lucky). Last friday (which is first day of Israel's weekend), we went to Arana (waterfront mall with restaurants) and ate brunch outside. Noa ate nearly everything Savta offered her until she was full and then she fed the birds, which mezmerized her for at least a few minutes. Guests have been popping in almost every day to visit Noa. Her friend Eitan came over and brought her a balloon and chocolate and even gave her a hug and a kiss before he left. I felt like Noa had grown a bit as she sat in the kitchen with Eitan (16 months) and they both ate grown-up food (salad, cottage cheese, and an omellete). Noa stood on her own for the first time yesterday or the day before. i was quite surprised because she doesn't seem that stable yet on her legs. she is, however, quite the climber. you should see how she conquers the stairs. her tecnique and determination are both cute and impressive. i believe she started saying, "bye bye" before we came, but she is saying it more consistently now. today, we went to downtown natanya for a few errands. Noa enjoyed the shuk (an outdoor market), where she tried and succeeded on a few occasions to touch and sample all the colorful vegetables and fruit on display. She also ate falafel and seemed to like it. she is not at her best, though, and we are not sure why. she had a fever for a few days and she is a little fussy. i wouldnt say she is sick, but the fever and fussiness is lingering. who knows. pics to follow.