Cleaning Yessa's House...

Stories from Yessa, pre-blog era:

Noa’s Journal

6/26/08

Not a lot has changed for you since your last entry, little Peanut.  You still have a little bit of the orangutang(sp?) swagger to your walk, but you seldom just fall over
any more.  You are even starting to trot a little bit when being chased.  Your only words are still “Maaam” and “Dad,” but you put so much energy and verbage into
those words and the babbling you do, we seldom are confused about what you want.  You truly know what you want to say.  You and Zoe were playing a game
where she would throw the ball off the stairs, and you would trot after it and bring it back to her.  When we talked to your two grandma’s later on that day, you
were telling both of them all about it on the phone.  You were pointing at the stairs and at the living room and around to where the ball would roll, and just talking
away the whole time.  It was really just wonderful to see and so precious.

Your other delicious little habit right now is to say my name long and loud when you don’t feel like I’m listening to you.  You’ll be sitting on my lap and my
head will be turned the opposite direction, and you’ll yell, “Moooooooommmmm.” You have the sweetest little voice and face.

Still very little hair.  You do have one curl in the very back in the middle.  If it would make the rest look thicker, I’d trim it off, but it wouldn’t, so I just twirl it
through my fingers and smile.

3/31/08

Ah, sweet, darling girl.  What a joyous addition you have been to our life.  You walk all the time now.  You still tip over often, but you are solid and even try to
run when one of the big kids is chasing you.  And laughter, oh, my gosh, you are a kid who loves to laugh.  You really are generally always happy.  Unless someone
tells you no, or you don’t get your way,  or one of the big kids doesn’t want you around.  Overall though, you are just a treat.

Your receptive language is totally fantastic.  We can say pretty much anything to you and you get it.  You don’t say much besides “Mom” and “Dad,” but you get
your message across very clearly.  This weekend when I was out, you carried a box of lentils to Dad and “told” him that you wanted some.  He got you a bowl, and
you ate them.  Pretty amazing and fun.

It’s funny when you want nummers.  You sort of say “na, na,” but your main way of getting your point across is to hit me on the chest.  Not subtle, but very effective.

RIght now you are also loving dancing.  Zoe often plays the piano on the preset songs, and you trot around the living room with both your arms raised above your
hand, turning in circles.  That’s how you dance, and we love it.

Oh, and coloring, you love to color.  You can climb up on the bench at the dining room table now, so you climb up there, grab a crayon or a marker, and start coloring.
You don’t totally know that you are s’posed to only do it on paper, so lots of places have marker marks on them, but that’s okay, you love coloring.

The other fun thing you have started doing is immitating the big kids, often with hilarious results.  You always want to work on the laptop computer, like they do.  You
are finally learning not to pound on it, and you’ve started laying down in front of it on your belly with your feet kicked up in the air, like Zachary does.  Yesterday,
you and Zachary were both in the dining room working on something.  Zachary was coloring at the bench, and got down on his knees to make it easier rather than
bending over.  You decided you needed to be on your knees, too, which put your nose at the level of the bench.  It was so sweet to watch you go down on one knee,
realize it wasn’t going to work, but you wanted so much to be like Zachary.

You are certainly loved, little one.

3/4/08
It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and still you are working on the whole walking thing.  You were walking around carrying a lego container this morning.  Your steps
are still very methodical, plodding, slow, and stompy, but oh, what joy it is to watch you.  You have the sweetest, most loving personality.  And you love to interact with
people.  You crawled over to one of the mom’s from Zachary’s tumbling class, stood up next to her, and put your arms around her to hug her.  She was just melting.

You’ve been singing a lot lately, too.  Lots of “la, la, la.”  Just happy sounds as you putter around, going about your business.  Luckily you don’t tend to put things in your
mouth because the big kids are really into legos now.

What a blessed joy you’ve been for our family.

1/25/08
Just yesterday for the first time, I saw Noa choose to hang onto the wall to walk from the dining room into the kitchen, rather than crawling.  It was really impressive.  Then, of
course, you walked into the kitchen, stepped into Chip’s food bowl with both feet, which then promptly slid out from under you and you face planted.  Still, you are an
amazing little being.  Dad and I were snuggling with you on the couch last night, and I said, “Do you want to give Daddy a kiss?”  You put your sweet little face over to
receive a kiss on the nose.  THen you put your face up to mine to get my kiss, then back to Dad, then back to me, then back to Dad.  You love getting those snuggley
little hugs and kisses.  And when you are hugging someone, you are always pat,pat, patting her back.

And boy do you love Zoe.  You think she is just hilarious, and you are so attracted to the toys in her room.  You could play in there for hours.  I keep expecting to find a
My Little Pony shoe or comb in the poop in your diaper one of these days, but it hasn’t happened yet.

1/8/08
You spent lots of of time in the Moby today since the big kids had swimming lesson.  You love being up high and being able to look around and watching everything.  You also had
great laughs today as you practiced walking around.  You’ve also been getting lots of pleasure out of playing the piano.  You are tall enough to reach the keys all by yourself, and you
take advantage of that.

1/3/08
Well, I’ve realized I won’t be writing in the journals every day, because there are days where nothing exciting happens, but, every day is still magical.  Noa took several
steps on her own, of her own choosing.  It cracks her up so much every time she does it.  She’s just so darn happy and lovely.

1/2/08
You took your first steps by your own choice today!  You stepped from the ottoman to the couch and it was great to see.

At Zoe’s Daisy Scout Meeting today, several of the moms commented on how cheerful you are.

And you’ve been using the signs for eat and drink so effectively.  I love to see you communicate.

1/1/08
Noa had a restless night last night.  I had a new sound machine in our room for her, and that may have thrown her off.  So, finally at 8:30, after having put her to bed around 7:00, I got her up and she stayed up with us until she showed she was tired around 10.  Then she was ready to relax and go to sleep and stay there.

Noa has been very interested in putting things into things now.  And she’s thrilled with walking behind the vaccum that all the kids have used, and the pink buggy.  Speaking of Noa, I’ve gotta go because she blowing raspberries in frustration.  SHe really wants my attention, and Daddy just won’t do.

12/31/07
I’ve finally realized I should be typing this journal upside down so I can just type at the top each time.  And one of my goals for 2008 is to write in her journal for at least 5 minutes each day.  So, here I go.

Noa took her first steps on Dec. 27.  She was walking back and forth between Buds and me on the living room rug.  Grandma Iowa was still here, her last day of an 8 week visit, so the timing could not have been better.  Noa thinks it is hilarious fun to walk back and forth between us, but she also cackles like crazy when she does “trust falls” between us.  She is so fearless.  She hasn’t really made any attempt to walk of her own volition, but Buddie sits down and practices with her each day, which she loves.

Your vocabulary is also increasing like crazy.  You’ve got several signs that you use often:  dog, more, drink/eat (those seem to be interchangeable).  I need to start using more signs because she is so wanting to connect.  She understands pretty much what is said to her.  Tonight, after she was done eating, I asked her to put her fork on the plate so I could clear it off…and she did.

You are so cheerful and sweet-spirited.  You have truly brought so much joy and laughter to our lives.  You were snuggled in bed with Buds and I a couple weeks ago, and we were both reading, you were sitting between us, and decided that it was time to give and receive kisses.  Repeatedly, you’d lean over to each of us, with your little slobbery mouth, and plant one on us.  It just melted my heart.

You also love doing whatever Zoe and Zachary are doing.  You’ll climb up or down the stairs to get to wherever they are are and play with whatever they are.

You have the sweetest, breeziest laugh. Ah, darling daughter.

3/8/07
Noa turns 4 months old tomorrow.  And except for writing up here birth story, I haven’t written about her.

Here’s the birth story I wrote up shortly after she was born:

Noa’s Birth Story

Noa Moxie born 11/09/06 at 3:03 a.m.

Since it was only the second night after my father’s death, our family was again staying overnight at my parent’s house. The children were asleep in bed, Chris was up at our house trying to get some work done, and I was laying in the recliner, visiting with my mom. I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant, and praying this baby would wait until after Thursday night’s visitation and Friday morning’s funeral to be born. God’s timing is often better than our hopes.

Chris came back down to the house around 10:25 p.m., not having been able to get much work done. I got up out of the recliner, glad to see him back, and as I walked across the living room floor toward him, my water broke. That had not happened with either of my previous two pregnancies, so that was a new sensation.

I immediately called our midwife, who suggested I try and go to bed and get some rest since no contractions had started. My mother came out to say goodnight before we went to bed and Chris said, “Wait one minute.” It took her a minute to believe me, but then she looked thrilled.

By now it was 11 p.m., and I realized I was not going to want to stay at Mom and Dad’s, but needed to be at our house, near the birthing tub. Mom gladly agreed to take care of the kids for the night and Chris and I headed up to our house.

I was having great success staying focused on relaxing, as my weeks of hypnobirthing practice had trained me to. Chris was talking me through surges with lovely images of our hiking in Italy, a trip to the beach, and just being with me. I spent a great deal of time in the tub, relaxing into each surge. Then things got really intense.

Now we’ll switch to a timeline:

The one thing I forgot to put in the birth story was that as Buds and I were driving up the driveway, in the pitch dark, three deer were eating in the side yard in front of the garage.  Seeing them gave me such a feeling of peace.

March 29, 2007
Such  long time since I’ve written.  One of my new goals is to write 5 minutes a day in Noa’s journal, so here we go!

What a charming, sweet, smiling baby she is.  Every day we continue to be impressed and amazed at how cheerful and funny she is.  She loves to watch Zoe and Zachary and they get huge grins whenever they are any where near her.  They love to snuggle and hold her.  Buds and I get a little anxious because they are both still so young and don’t realize how tough then can be on her, but she seldom cries.  Zoe can get Noa to relax and smile whenever she is fussing and I need just a couple minutes to finish something up.  It cracks me up to watch Noa in the exersaucer and Zoe crawls under it, or shakes it back and forth while Noa laughs, or just watches with her big eyes.

Some Noa milestones that I haven’t noted yet:

First real smile:  15 days old.

She rolled over 2x’s when she was 5 weeks old.  Grandma and I both saw her do it, but she hasn’t done it again consistenly since then.  She has done it a couple more times.  She was really close, just yesterday, to rolling from her back to front, but didn’t quite make it.

Her latest funny trick is making the zerbert sound with her lips when she is starting to get frustrated or ticked about something.  She is so calm and sweet-tempered, she doesn’t generally cry unless she is really, really upset, but she’ll start making the blowing lip sounds to let you know she is not pleased with you.

She is also a big talker.  She loves to talk when she’s feeling loving and snuggly, but even more frequently, she’ll yell and moan and groan when she’s not sure she is getting all the attention she wants.  She really has such a winning spirit.

She is still totally bald.  The fuzz in the front of her head looks slightly orange in most light.  And her eyebrows are def. red.  We keep hoping she’ll be a red baby.

Ahh, sweet girl, what a blessing you are.  You came just when we needed you to bring us joy in our sorrow.

4/2/2007
Ah,Noa.  If only I could memorize every little sound you make, every smile, every coo, goo, and hiccuping laugh.  You love to laugh, and when you start, you always get the hiccups.  You are entranced by the older kids.  They love to hug and snuggle you.  You are their “Princess Buttercup” and they frequently have to save you from the Daddy Dragon.  And, oh, how you love it.  Sometimes they snuggle you a little too hard and close, but they would never make you cry on purpose.

You have gotten very funny lately.  You very, very seldom cry.  There isn’t much need because we are always together.  Sometimes I can’t do things for you as quickly as I would prefer, but you always settle and relax as soon as you are picked up.  But, lately, when you are starting to feel ignored, you have started “yelling.”  It is so sweet and funny and convincing.  You truly will be sitting in your exersaucer, not really ticked off, but just going “Waaa” a way of saying “Hey, somebody come get me.  I’ve got to go, because you are calling.

5/23/07
Oh, my, gosh.  How can it have been 7 weeks since I last wrote to you about you?!  Ah, sweet, sweet Noa.  You continue to be the most wonderful, warm-spirited, loving child.  One of your funniest habits is your pointy little tongue.  You always stick your tongue out when you see me.  You will often stick it out when you see Daddy or someone else you know.  It always follow your smile.  It is so cute, and it is so pointy.

I’ve taken you into Daddy’s office with me a couple times, and you’ve done so well, laying on the floor, rolling, rolling, trying so hard to crawl.  You really are amazing.

Ahh, yes, the crawling.  You’ve been working on it for weeks now.  You can push yourself backwards, especially on hard-wood floors.  Then you slide right along.  You get up on your hands and knees, have also been doing that for a couple weeks, but you just can’t get the forward motion.  You work so hard on it every day.  You really have an inner drive to accomplish it.  The funny thing to me is that you really don’t have much interest in learning to sit.  You can sit up fine if you are in someone’s lap, with their legs around you.  And you have good strong abs from Daddy tossing you around and playing with you.  You just don’t seem interested in staying sitting in one place.  Why sit when you can be on the go.

That’s another thing you love, Daddy tossing you around.  He is always very gentle, but you love to fly up in the air, and oh how we love your laugh.  It is the sweetest, gurgleist sound.

7/6/07
Oh, how time has flown.  Well, you’ve stopped sticking your tongue out all the time, which I rather miss.  You are still just as fantastically sweet and gurgly.  People always comment on what a happy, sweet baby you are.  They are just entranced by your face, and then, when you flash that smile at them, they melt.  You are so laid-back.  I feel guilty when you cry for any amount of time, when I’m having to do something else.  You are such a sweetie, good-natured thing, I don’t ever want you to feel I don’t appreciate it.

You’ve been crawling for a long time now.  Since about 6 1/2 months.  You just pulled yourself up to a standing position two weeks ago, on a Sunday.  Grandma and Grandpa Vermont had been here for a visit, and you did it that afternoon after they left.  You crawled up the steps going to the second floor, I looked away, when I looked back, you had pulled yourself up.  Then, just last Sunday, I was sitting on the elephant box, right next to you, while you stood at the bottom step, and as I watched, you crawled up the bottom two steps!  I couldn’t believe it.  You are just determined to take life on your own.  You still have some trouble sitting up, but I suspect that is because you are always going off to stand somewhere.  You’ve even started, just a little, moving around furniture.

I weighed you yesterday, and you are up to 18 lbs.  Perfect size.  You have the cutest, squeezable baby thighs.

Now, for your habits.  In general, you take a short nap in the morning, generally around 2 hours after you wake up.  Then, your afternoon nap is generally longer, though not always.  And the, often you will want to take a quick nap around 7 at night, but then you are up until around 8:30 or 9.  You often have a lot of pent up energy that you work out as you and I are snuggled in the next at night.  You are chatting, chatting, chatting, crawling around, rolling, maybe stopping to have a little bit of nums, standing up, talking, talking, talking some more.  Often I will lay with you for awhile, then get up to brush my teeth.  Oh, my goodness how mad you get when I leave you, even if I’m only gone a short little bit.  You cry and scream and sound so sad.  I hurry back as quickly as I can so you know I haven’t forgotten you.

You are also so in love with your family.  When Daddy walks in the room, you just grin and grin, kick your legs, and follow him wherever he goes with your eyes.  He is working a lot right now, but he loves to have even a couple minutes to snuggle you and toss you once or twice.  Oh, how you laugh.

You have such a sweet, gurgly laugh.  I want to bottle it and sell it.

7/17/07
Noa and I have just returned from an extended weekend trip to Iowa to visit Grandma and relax.  We had a wonderful weekend, and Noa was fantastic.  So many people commented on each of our 4 flights that you were so wonderful, cute, sweet, happy, relaxed, etc.  It was a pleasure.  Plus, I think you saved us the $25 fee the airline can charge for switching flights.  You are earning your way.

You are crawling all over the place, and you’ve learned to climb the stairs, which is entertaining.  You laugh at so many things that Zoe and Zachary do.  You love to watch them and be a part of things.  You are chewing on things like crazy right now.  I don’t feel any teeth coming, and you aren’t particularly drooly, but you sure are chewing all the time.

7/19/07
Noa’s first tooth appeared this morning.  I got back from my walk and Noa was sitting on Daddy’s lap.  “Noa has a tooth,” he declared.  A tiny, little nub on the bottom middle of her mouth.  This is quite a bit earlier than any other child we’ve had, so it was a surprise to me.  We’ll see how quickly the others follow.

Today Noa went half-way up the stairs from the living room upstairs, all by herself.  She was glad to see me when I came up behind her, and turned to be picked up, but she had done a lot of climbing all on her own.