arizona in april

noa and i travelled to arizona to defrost, visit family and friends, and experience a little county fair. i was so excited to leave the cold and enter the warm or hot even. the first two day were devestatingly disappointing as a cold front moved in and the temperature was in the 70's. but it turned around quickly, and i enjoyed a few days of 90's. where to begin.... mimi spoiled noa right off the bat. she took her to the grocery store sprouts and bought her everything in the store- just in case she might have a craving for this or that etc. she also introduced her to a snack cup, and it didnt take noa long to figure it out and become quite attached. lola played really well with noa, and noa even says lola (which has to be one of the funniest things to see and hear- her tongue sometimes fogets to stop and comes out lolalolalolol). she really fell in love with rhett, though. she loves babies, and maybe she realizes she is bigger. well, actually, he is technically bigger even though he is 9 months younger. he must seem like a big teddy bear to her because she couldnt stay away from him. and you can understand her because rhett man is so smiley and cuddly, you just look at him and he laughs. then there is mimi's hopped up, chromed out, and strobe lights underneath golf cart, which noa could not get enough of. it would be an understatement, to say noa loved riding in the golf cart. we went to the county fair, where i showed pigs and dairy cows for nine years. it was easily one of my favorite experiences as young person. i could write a book about milking cows at dawn, fresh upside down lemonade, water gun fights, fair crushes, the annual dance, cleaning pins, washing pigs, clipping cows, boys roping girls as they walk by, green sweaters, showmanship, testing the rides for the "carnies", kissing behind the barn, holding hands on the ferris wheel, and all the people. so, my expectations were high and naturally disappointed. the fair grounds seemed a bit dead, but some things never change. i probably knew half of the people there, maybe more, maybe less. noa enjoyed all the sights, sounds, and smell of course. she most enjoyed a little train ride with dawn, lola, and grace. she was so stimulated, she took a nice nap in the afternoon in the shade in her stroller near a picnic bench across from the indian fry bread. the days grew hotter, so we headed the fountain on main and cooled off. noa fell in love with papa and mimi. she was fixated with my dad. she would say papa papa papa and look for him. she followed him, wanted to sit in his lap, go outside with him. she definitely likes her papa. but her and mimi had a few laughs as well. and if we had stayed one more day, i think she would have preferred her over me. the night before we left, we got to see jeff and monica. they were busy all with the fair as she is the lamb superisor. we saw them in the fair of course as well. they took noa and i out for dinner at a very cool restaurant, and the food was delicious. it had an aquarium and flamingos outside. the restaurant is next to the wildlife zoo, and it was great to see little ben and grace again. noa did not take her food this time, so no tears were shed- only silly grins and smiles. and i must not forget to tell you about my lovely saturday. as facebook takes over the world, i decided to test the waters recently by just barely dipping my toes. it turns out that is enough to be sucked in. for efficiency purposes, i wrote on my wall when i would be in arizona. well, a friend from college who also happens to be from az but currently lives in colorado saw my note. this friend realizes i will be in az during her baby shower so she invites us. naturally, noa and i are not the type to turn down an invite that involves baby shower games, good food, and socializing with old college friends. well, the day did not exactly go as planned. it will suffice to say that my day involved getting lost in a hummer in the middle of nowhere while low on gas, and noa removing the cell phone from my bag and putting it in my friend's bag, and finally a three hour round trip drive in the hummer with a hungry and restless baby to retrieve the cell phone.

should i eat my food or play with it???

just as football accompanies thanksgiving, one must go to brunch on Easter Sunday. we joined our friends nat and magnus for a lovely brunch in redding. as you can see above, noa has fully embraced the "feed yourself" stage. i, on the other hand, have decided she is not ready for this stage. it took me 2 hours, a phone call to my mom, and every cleaning solution in the house to clean the chair.

a tooth sighting and 7 steps

isaac and noa

yosel and noa

noa singing "ma nishtana" as the youngest

alana and noa

noa had quite the big week. we can see and feel her very first tooth coming, but it has still yet to arrive. while at the mall with jody and the twins, she stunned us by taking 7 steps out of nowhere. since, she has continued to crawl for the most and take steps here and there. she is definitely in the drunk sailor stage. sadly, she had another first this week. she and i both vomited on wednesday after the passover seder and michael and varda's. we recoverd quickly though and all is well. we celebrated passover this week on two nights and one morning. we went to seders in connecticut and brooklyn. we are really grateful to elad's extended family. they make us feel very welcome and loved. noa was a trooper on both nights. we put her to put in the stroller around 8:30 each night, and then transfer to the car when we left. we didnt get home from brooklyn on thursday night unitl 1am. thankfully, elad didnt work on friday. and then on saturday, noa hosted her first matza brine party. the twins came over for a matza brine brunch. noa also started cleaning her ears with her finger, which makes her seem so big. she also says "ah, oh", lola, dawn, and even rhett once. she doesn't seem to like the letter m though, so we dont hear ima very often.

shelly moves to the big apple

hey, why do you have to go

scrapbooking party

making a mess in the kitchen

brewster playhouse

talking on the cell phone

ballard park in ridgefield

elad's little sister shelly moved to the city this week from israel, so all three shmulevich kids are now on the east coast of the the united states. on tuesday, we were all so excited for a nice day, so we celebrated at the park. elad joined us during his lunch hour, and we enjoyed a little sunshine and 60 degrees. i hosted a scrapbooking night this week, and initially there were only two people interested in coming. im not sure how the party grew. i think it might have something to do with a later annotation that wine will be served. anyhow, the evening was not productive at all, but we had fun. and finally on thursday we were able to see shelly belly. she moved to nyc to work for el al airlines at jfk. our visit was not as much fun as we had hoped. someone backed into our car, and i mistakenly exchanged insurance information and failed to call the police. a small oversight that will hopefully not turn out to be an expensive mistake. apart from that however, we enjoyed nice walk to soho from chelsea. noa learned how to put the phone up to her hear. of course she would learn this from shelly. noa puts it up to her ear, slightly lifts her shoulder, and says hallo/alo. on friday, we went to one of the coolest indoor playareas we have been to yet. as you can see in the pics above, noa had a great time. she has an adventurous side to her, and she likes slides and speed. on a scary not, i sent noa down the tunnel slide on her own, and she tumbled forward sliding down face first. naturally, my heart stopped, but she was fine. no tears. just a scared and confused look for a moment. yes, she still likes slides, but she is not fond of swings. she is still a demolitionist by nature. she empties cabinets and drawers and then gets inside. on saturday, moran flew to israel for a visit and visa purposes before her residency begins in june. noa was sad to see her leave, so she tried to hide in her suitcase.

simon

nat and elad

jo

jody, myself, nat, and jo

on my bday at elad's work

with kirsty at ruby tuesday's

noa enjoyed more quality time with moran this week. she often prefers her over me. yesterday, i was trying to take her from moran and she screamed/screeched. we ran lots of errands this week and noa was a trooper. she is now accustomed to falling asleep in the car and me moving her from the car to her crib without waking up (even if i remove her coat and shoes). this was her first week with no baby food, and she did really well. she can throw her food further and further each day. she reached an important milestone this week. she overcame her fear of stew leonard's cow. she now screams or yells at him. we are back in swim lessons, and i wish i had access to a pool apart from these lessons because i am convinced i would do a better job. we enjyed meeting kirsty, jo's friend, this week for lunch. noa definitely like french fries and british accents. noa doesnt like carousels though, especially when the horse that moves up and down. though, she seemed to like it more towards the end. noa often needs to do something a few times before she likes it. she seems to like the water. she scared me this week when the door to the garage stairs was left cracked, she opended it, and crawled right up to the edge. i turned around in horror and shock and jumped or leaped to her rescue while she laughed. pretty scary. i turned 32 this week, so thursday was quite the fun day for me. i slept in and moran took care of noa, and this was truly the best gift. i woke up around 10ish and worked out and then took a long shower. when i did finally make an appearance, i walked downstairs to the aroma of chocolate cake. moran and noa made me a chocolate cake, which i caught elad giving noa the other day because she wouldnt eat her dinner- but that is another story. we then met elad for dessert at his work. noa is always excited to see elad during the day. after that, we went to the mall and moran bought me a very cool t-shirt, starbucks, and a godiva truffle. and it doesnt end here. it actually continues for a few days. that night, i went out with the girls for some drinks and had a good time. the next day, we went to ali and layla's to celebrate her and keri's b-day. the weather was great, so we spent a little time outside in ali's beautiful yard. on saturday, we went to the park with the twins, and talked their parents into joining us at bobby q's for another birthday celebration. our amazing neighbors watched noa for us and we ate barbecue and enjoyed a few drinks along with some grateful dead music. she did so well at the neighbors. i just dropped her off, and she went to bed well for them and slept all night. elad grabbed her in the morning. they said she is a sweet heart. jo and simon were too generous. they gave me godiva truffles and a gift card to candlewood spa. cant wait to us that. someone asked me the other day if noa signs, and said of course. she points to what she wants, screams if she is not content, throws her food if she doesn't want it, and shakes her head as well if she doesnt want something.