While I was typing. the last few posts, I let Naomi play by herself. When I looked back to check on her, this is where she was.

Naomi and I went with some friends to Lake Canandaigua Beach. She loved being in the water, whether it was the lake, or some little mud hole someone dug on the beach.
Naomi got a very dirty bum.
I couldn't resist posting this one; she has such a funny look on her face. It makes her look like she was nervous going into the water, but in reality she had no qualms.
Naomi loved playing in the water.
Here is a view of the beach.
All in all, we had a fun day.

We found out that Kurt is supposed to dress professionally for class at least three times a week, and since all he has is one white shirt, we thought it was time to go clothes shopping. Here is one of the shirt/tie combos we got for him. Lookin' good!

I've been trying to get pictures of everything Naomi does so I'd have something to blog about. Here are the most recent events in the life of Naomi, since that's who seems to have the most adventures around here. In this picture, Naomi loaded up her stroller herself with dolly and any garbage she could scrounge up.
This is a dress Nana bought for Naomi from an online Halloween costume shop. It's a little big for her, but she seems to like it. Naomi likes playing dress-up.
This is Naomi playing our new piano. You can kind of tell she's smiling in this picture. When I took this picture, she would play a note, then look back at me and smile, then play another note. She was very excited that she could make the piano play music. This is exactly why I wanted a piano.

I couldn't resist posting this picture. A neighbor showed me an improved way to do Naomi's hair in pigtails, involving water and gel. Well, the hair ties didn't stay in very long and this was the result.

The last few days have been pretty busy. Friday was Kurt's White Coat ceremony. I didn't realize it was such a big deal, but it was like a graduation ceremony before school started instead of after it ended. Kurt got his white coat, so he looks like a doctor now. His teachers admonished the class to not wear their white coat to any bars, but I don't think that's going to be a problem. There was a luncheon after the ceremony and Naomi was quite the hit. There are advantages to being the cutest kid in the class.

Also this week, we got a piano. Someone was giving away their piano for free on Craig's list, and it's actually in pretty decent shape, so I jumped at the chance. We ended up paying for someone to move it to our house, but all things considered, I think we got a good deal. It just barely fits in our living room without having the couch in the middle of the room. It was exciting to walk down the stairs in the morning and have a piano in our living room.

I am posting this video by popular request. This is a video from the first day Naomi was walking, which is over a month ago now, but better late than never. I tried to add it retroactively to my July 8th post, but that is apparently not possible. Now Naomi walks more than she crawls and she is getting pretty good.

After a neighbor girl got Naomi's hair in a little "ponytail" I decided to try my hand at it. Trying to get a 10 1/2 month old to cooperate with her hair was a lot harder than I thought. I had to distract her by giving her food and telling her she was "so pretty".

I started with pigtails, which ended up looking more like antlers (if you saw a face-on view you could see that better). I then tried a single "tail" which looked more like a fountain. Oh, well. Naomi is cute all the same. I'm sure I'll get better. I hope so, anyway, because I'm sick of people asking if she is a boy, even when she is wearing pink.

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Last week, Kurt and I met up with Kurt's "big sib" who is a second year med student assigned to Kurt to help him get to know the area. We went to Stony Brook State Park, which is a little under an hour from Rochester.

As you can see, it is a beautiful area. The nature trail we hiked had so many waterfalls. Naomi was so anxious to get in the water, I didn't have time to go back and get her swimming suit. In the picture where she's holding the rock, nothing made her happier. I tried to take it away, but she insisted on holding on to the largest, pointiest rock she could find.

Kurt's big sib is named Brad and he's married and from BYU like us. We were bummed to find out that we're in separate wards, but we hope we can spend more time with them anyway.

Before "Nana" Mildenstein left, we all went to Lake Ontario to check out the beach. It was a little overcast, but the lake and park were beautiful.

Naomi was very excited to see the sand and all that water. It was cute to watch as Nana helped Naomi walk by the edge of the lake. I think if we had let her, Naomi would have jumped into the water in a heartbeat. In the picture with Nana and Naomi, they are exchanging "ooohs," which is one of Naomi's favorite things to do lately.

We're starting to get settled here in Rochester. Most of our boxes are unpacked. Our painting and projects are almost done. It's feeling more like home.

Kurt started orientation for medical school today. The school provided dinner for the students and their significant others. Of the 104 students in the class of 2012, maybe 5 are married. And I only saw one other child there. We are the minority, but we like where we are right now.

This living room shot shows what we had intended for the living room. The shelf that Paula is holding up has been a pain, though, and we have yet to get it up on the wall. The bathroom shot is to give an idea of the wall color and theme going on. I know, we still have the blue tape in the picture. That's down now and we have a over-toilet cabinet on that wall.