Noah Willing

7 December 2011

In many households, you hear the phrase "God willing".
In Katie and Heath's house, the phrase is "Noah willing".
Truth be told, our wonderful grandson is a bit of a tyrant. He thinks the whole household exists to satisfy his every need and if his needs are not being met to his satisfaction, he lets you know it. He gets that from his father's side, of course.There's nothing stubborn about Greg or Katie or me.

Okay, I wasn't just struck by lightning so I'll continue.

The kids decided we would get professional pics of all of us done at Sears. It was a great idea but we misjudged our timing and Noah was not willing.

We love this picture. Noah is letting us know that he is not happy, I'm wondering how to stop the crying and Greg is serenely in his own little happy place. Om

Did you people not get it? I REALLY don't want to be here!

We arrived in Florida mid October. Greg stayed around for a couple of weeks but I got to stay until the end of November. When we were planning this stay, the kids had threatened to send me to Canada to visit my mother if I got on their nerves and so I tried to be very, very good. It worked. I wasn't sent to Canada.  In fact, after we got back, Heath sent me an email telling me what a big help I had been. I'm saving the email.

Thanks to FaceTime and the iPad, Greg was able to vicariously enjoy our grandson when he went back to Zurich.

 Heath and Katie are, as we had expected all along, awesome parents. They're also sleep deprived. Noah does pretty well sleeping through the night. Well, as well as a breast fed newish born baby can do. But he really doesn't see a need to waste time sleeping during the day unless he is in close proximity to his mommy ... very close proximity.

They're working on that.

Greg flew back to Florida so that we could fly out to California for our traditional Thanksgiving with Greg's family. Our Noah, who hates being confined to a car seat, proved himself to be a pro when it came to flying.

If they're not going to feed me, I'll just eat my arm ...

... or my Mom. Noah, we have to work on your kissing skills!

Who knew we'd need so many diapers on this flight? Diapers, diapers, WHERE ARE YOU?

In fact, they even let him into the cockpit to give the pilot a bit of advice on his landing!

Every Thanksgiving, we fight to keep Greg's mom out of the kitchen but she always seems to find her way back in and then she gets really tired from all the Thanksgiving preps. This year, our nephew Craig hosted the festivities ... but he left all the cooking to his mom, Chris. Just like her mom, Chris wouldn't let any of us help. Dinner with turkey and buffalo prime rib was delicious! Great job, Chris!

Noah meets Great Grandma & Grandpa Hill and Great Aunt Chris.





Of course, no visit to California would be complete without Pinnochle.



Back in Florida, we had a little more time to spend with the kids and our special wee boy.

Isn't he adorable? My hubby's pretty cute, too.

Back in Zurich, we're keeping ourselves occupied. My friend Kathy C told us about a wonderful Christmas market in Bremgarten, a lovely little medieval town an hour train ride from here. The town was beautiful but the crowds weren't. Greg compared them to Times Square on New Year's Eve. After shoving our way from one end of the town to the other, Greg declared he had had more than enough.

We've been enjoying wandering the streets of our wonderful city, admiring all the stunning Christmas decorations.

The Swarovski Xmas tree towers above Greg in the Christmas market in the Haupbahnhof (main train station). It's the largest indoor Christmas market in Switzerland.

Here is an ass. I wanted Greg in the picture, too, so I could say "Here is an ass. There's a donkey in the picture, too."

And here is an ass' ass. Aren't his Christmas stockings adorable?

Yesterday I went out on a quest for vaccuum cleaner bags. I didn't know the German for vaccuum cleaner so made sucking sounds with my mouth, earning startled and wary looks from the salesmen. After three stores, I finally bagged my prey and, better yet, I spotted some Christmas trees for only 25 francs: a bargain!  I hauled my trophy home on the tram.

Zurich rewarded my brave endeavors with a spectacular sunset.

And only two more weeks until the kids are here for Christmas!