m + b

at 3 months ruby

  

:: is such a light in our lives ::

:: constantly waits for eye contact, which makes her burst into smiles ::

:: and has an especially strong love for her uncle brian ::

:: loves to gaze at her big brother who calls her "baby ruby sue" ::

:: likes to coo ::

:: laughs ::

:: and is starting to drool ::

:: is ticklish ::

:: rolls to her side, and sometimes all the way over ::

:: has had the strongest neck since the beginning, of any newborn i've ever seen ::

:: prefers to nap on laps and in arms than without (who wouldn't?) ::

:: and wakes once or twice a night ::

:: rarely cries or fusses ::

:: definitely has a soft shade of red in her hair ::

:: and still has deep blue shiny eyes :: 

 

 

when we think back on all the words we've felt belonged to mateo, "joyous" seems to be one of the strongest.  always happy, always silly and light and bright.  

so far, ruby is very similar, but she brings a strong sense of calm and peace and mellowness into the room.  a quality that reminds me of my michigan friend ginger, a quality that puts you at ease. 

she is such a delight to be around, and it is such an honor to have her here.

a tale of two houses, for the record

the one in lansing:

our awesome realtor who helped us find the house and even helped us paint it (!) encouraged us to try selling it on our own before listing it to save us money.  we put up a yard sign and made a website and posted it on facebook.  we had 2 calls, both from facebook, and two couples, each with a little one mateo's age, came to look at the house on the same sunny afternoon (lucky for us, we only had to clean up once!).  later that week they each placed amazing offers - one for full asking price!  facebook sold our house!  thank you God!

the one in flagstaff:

we'd been searching for months for a rental that met 3 criteria: 1) close to campus, 2) dogs allowed and 3) with a washing machine.  we found very few that met these hopes and when we did we'd call and because of the crazy high flagstaff house demand, they'd already have dozens of calls and applications.  we came close to getting a house next to nau but lost it because we waited too long to decide.  then one sunday afternoon we found one listed with luke's old college landlord located just a few doors down from his old place.  it met the three criteria (and is also 3 times the rent of owning our place in michigan!) but it had no photos.  we talked about it for ten minutes and said a quick prayer and decided we'd take it, sight-unseen.  

well, we are here now.  it definitely has it's down sides: very student-y neighborhood, very rental-y house, no character, the front yard is a driveway with no trees or grass, and oh, they forgot to mention that the landlord lives upstairs in what we thought was a single family home!  but it has it's upsides too: luke negotiated $100 off of the rent each month, they replaced all the carpet when we asked them to, it is a 5 minute walk to his office and a 10 minute walk downtown, our neighbors are nice (some speak spanish with mateo!, another is faculty, and another is a former midwife) and the health food store is so close we can see it from our street and they've given us permission to borrow their carts to walk our food home.  maybe once we unpack we can show you some photos.

yard sale-ing

we had a fairly successful yard sale a week before we left.  luke's mama helped a ton, friends came to chat and hang out, and we got rid of tons of junk.  on the second day, we put up a sign that said "$3 a bag, or $100 takes all".  people really went for the $3 a bag thing.  at the end of day, we put an ad on the free section of craigslist and the people came in droves (with trucks!).  one woman who came eventually asked to take all that was left to open up a thrift store which meant we didn't have to take any trips to goodwill!

if you click on this last photo, you can see how mateo pretends to take pictures.  :)

we made it

we made it to flagstaff!  

the drive was amazing and fairly problem-free, and we arrived to our new casa (or "cha-cha" says mateo) with a sign and balloons all over thanks to luke's brother and his wife who moved here a few weeks before us (and who are expecting a baby any day now!).  we've been busy unpacking, thrifting, selling and buying books at bookmans, eating yummy food in a town that has lots of it, walking everywhere, hiking the peaks, getting sunburned, waiting for that baby, seeing old arizona friends and missing our lansing friends, frisbee golfing and gazing at those beautiful mountains.  i have to say that i've really enjoyed our time without any internet and debated continuing this blog thing but here i am again thanks to someone's encouragement.  :)

more soon.

thanks and farewell, dear michigan

tonight is our last night in michigan.

we spent it with dear friends and dear family, under the twinkle lights and on the swing on our porch.

after a full day today and several weeks spent packing and purging.

we've had some really, really busy times lately, move-related, camping, yard-sale-ing, and saying our goodbyes.
we had a potluck gathering and invited everyone we know.  our friend and midwife took beautiful photos - you can see them here.

my computer is broken, so i have no other posts or pictures to share with you.  but maybe when we get to arizona, (in between mountain hikes and a wide open social calendar) i will have time to process our photos and memories and feelings.  i don't want our last days here to get lost in my not-so-great memory.

michigan has been really good to us. 

it made us grow, with a first year of lonliness and unemployment and hard times.

in four years, it made luke into a phd.

it made the both of us into a mother and a father, times two.

it made us homeowners for the first time.

it gave me a passion for birth.

it redefined our definitions of "party store", mexican food, and mother.

it taught us about real food and urban gardening and farming and a love for beefsteak tomatos and kale.

it turned our family into pie lovers.

and it showed us the meaning of community.

so now we are off on the next adventure, caravaning with a car and a giant moving truck and two hopefully happy babies and one hot scruffy dog and possibly a pop up camper that we might buy tomorrow all on the road to arizona and pulling up to our new home that we haven't seen a single photo of. 
sounds about right.