snowstorm

this snow has been so fun! i feel like i'm back in new england. (except that in new england the roads would be plowed. here all the roads are sheer ice.)

we've had a couple snowy walks around town, although it's been so cold i don't like having noah outside for too long. yesterday his little nose stayed red all evening. how do eskimo babies take it? and sarah and jeff watched noah for a bit monday night while aaron and i went cross-country skiing in cornwall park. it was bright and quiet and lovely.

here are our house and our street:





here are some pics from our walk yesterday with sarah and jessa:

thanksgiving

we had the perfect thanksgiving day on saturday--a few days late! no macy's thanksgiving day parade, but we did have a lovely slow day full of cooking, fellowship (as colin would say), eating and snow! aaron and i were in charge of the menu this year at his parents' house, and we had a lot of fun planning and cooking. highlights included pumpkin cheesecake and classic green bean casserole. jess, andrew and suzy came for the day, as well as new friends dana and andrew telep (rick's brother and his wife) and irene and kevan and colin and nicole. the snowstorm that began so gently on our walk saturday afternoon continued with force for a few days, making vancouver and bellingham traffic nightmares but a snowbunny's paradise!


suzy, jess, andrew, me, aaron and noah on our afternoon walk


noah was concerned about his grandma (who was sick last week but is feeling better now)


andrew fed noah some butternut squash. i think it's clear how he felt about it.


roughhousing at the dinner table


taking it easy with irene and kevan


snowy backyard!


suzy's lovely "wallet muff"


noah slept in the crib at grandma and grandpa's house and seemed pretty happy to do so!


playing peekaboo. where's grandma?


oh there she is!

photo booth

we hung out with colin and nicole in surrey on friday night, and had lots of fun eating junk food, playing games, and sampling the new "photo booth" program for macs. i'm super excited about all the new mac programs! they make it so easy to take cool pictures and share them creatively. ANYWAY--here are some sample pics of noah from the photo booth program.


pop art


sketch


mirror


comic book


colin, nic and their nephew

noah's first snow!

on thanksgiving day we went snowshoeing at mount baker. it was beautiful, snowing lightly the whole time. noah was really entranced with the snow, peeking up into the sky and then blinking when a snowflake hit his eye. he sampled a bit of snow in his mouth but didn't love the coldness. aaron wore him on the front as we snowshoed and noah actually slept for most of the walk.


snowbunny


at the top of the trail


aaron wearing noah, holding an umbrella. he looked pretty funny, especially if you didn't notice immediately that his bulk was because of a baby!

nurse-in

in october a woman was kicked off a delta/freedom airlines flight out of vermont because a flight attendant was "offended" by her breastfeeding her baby. in response, a national "nurse-in" was staged in front of delta ticket counters across the country on tuesday, november 21 at 10am. the nurse-in was in protest of the treatment of the breastfeeding mother, and in hopes of raising awareness for breastfeeding rights. you can read about the incident in the burlington free press.

noah and i participated in the nurse-in at the bellingham airport, where we had about a dozen moms and their babies. we had positive feedback from travellers and good coverage in the local press. noah did great at his first protest--i.e. he nursed really well! (this may have been because i starved him for a few hours before the event!) it felt great to be part of such an important event, and to live in a community that cares about supporting an infant's right to nurse, wherever and whenever they need.

you can hear npr's coverage of the story here.


moms and babies at the bellingham airport


the article in the cascadia weekly, one of bellingham's local papers


part two


the new international breastfeeding accessibility symbol

helmet head

noah finally graduated out of the car-seat-in-the-bike-trailer and now rides facing forward with a bike helmet. his helmet is really cute--silver with biking frogs, birds, dogs and mice. it makes his head look gigantic, but at least he's safe!

his first ride with his helmet was to fairhaven with sarah and jessa. we stopped for coffee at tony's and then at the yarn shop.


grumpy boy. maybe he's mad about the sock mittens?


happy now!


our bikes and trailers


in the yarn shop. the yarn shop owner and her husband told us they are also committed bikers. they were glad to see us biking with the babies.

asher arlen wassell

chris and scott welcomed their fourth baby boy on november 14. hopefully noah (and me and aaron) will meet asher soon!


Asher Arlen Wassell
14 November 2006
5:09 a.m.
7lbs 15oz
22 inches


eli and jude snuggling with their new brother


benny the big brother

blankets

the cold weather has me feeling thankful for warmth. noah is lucky to have so many lovely blanket options to keep him snug. here are some of his wonderful handmade blankets:


cozy blue flannel from nicole


handknit thick cotton blanket from rachel


close-up


flannel frogs from jen


close-up


colorful quilt from gail


back view


nameplate


embroidered nursery rhyme quilt from the garden street quilters


close-up


jack be nimble


jack and jill


lucy locket

ski pulks

the wintry weather has gotten us excited about cross-country skiing, which also means brainstorming about how to ski with noah. it turns out the trailer things you pull behind skis are called "pulks," and there are a few different companies that sell kid-friendly ones. but of course, as aaron's brother colin says, why would aaron buy something he could make? so we're researching different options for do-it-yourself designs. i'm thinking since we have a bike trailer already we could try to make something like this:



but aaron thinks the trailer might be too heavy to pull (since we have a double). he is leaning more toward a sled-based design, but the question then is how to make a cozy, shock absorbent seat for noah?

you can look at different pulks here. has anyone made or used one of these before? we'd love any advice or feedback!

whatcom children's museum

another rainy afternoon today (seriously, didn't god make a promise to noah!?!), and we skipped our outdoor adventure for an indoor one. we went to the whatcom children's museum to see the new exhibit "by the bay: working on the waterfront." right up our alley! (or aaron's, anyway.)

the exhibit was neat--sailboats, fish boats, a cannery, a submarine, a greasy seafood restaurant... but we arrived during the tail end of a birthday party and the museum was utter chaos. noah seemed a bit overwhelmed by the masses of yelping kids!


noah riding in a freighter


aaron rapturously reading about the history of shipbuilding in bellingham