iron street update

as our move-in date approaches (we think now august 5), work continues feverishly at the new house. this intense renovation has made for a crazy summer, wherein noah and i rarely see aaron for longer than ten-minute intervals and aaron has been imbibing way more coffee, soda and junk food than usual. but you do what you have to do...

aaron has learned a ton through this project, and hasn't yet needed to hire out any of the work (except the installation of marmoleum in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room, which will happen next week). he has taught himself roofing, wiring, plumbing, heating and drywalling, and most of those things, with lots of help from friends and family, are done or nearly done. the next two weeks will involve the last bits of drywall goo and then a coat of primer throughout the house; the final plumbing tests and inspection; finishing of the walls in the bathroom; prepping the plywood floors for the marmoleum installation; sanding and re-finishing the fir floors in the rest of the house; installing all the lighting fixtures and hooking up the electrical; installing all the appliances; installing a few new doors; installing all the windows; and building temporary cabinets for the kitchen. is that possible??!?!?! sounds crazy, but everyone who knows aaron knows that somehow he makes impossible things happen.

this summer for me has been all about waiting. waiting to find out if we got the house. waiting for all the work to be done. waiting for my garden to grow. waiting to move. waiting for this baby to grow inside me and eventually come out. waiting for life to slow down again. i hope we can have a slow, relaxing autumn, enjoying our new space and getting to know our new little one.

here are some recent photos of the new house.

newly drywalled kitchen

noah contemplating his newly drywalled bedroom

newly drywalled dining room

lovely old wallpaper, now gone

and my growing belly, 35 weeks along in this picture

sara's wedding

a few weeks ago i got to take a mini vacation, all by myself (well, me and my belly) to my friend sara's wedding near colorado springs, colorado. it was wonderful to attend the wedding, which was a beautiful combination of liturgical and quaker-style, including taize chants and a time of silence. but the weekend was also a great reunion of dear girlfriends--jennye (with baby esme), suzy, sara and me. it was especially fun because we stayed the whole weekend at the retreat center where the wedding took place, in a rustic little cabin called yucca. we ate lots of good food with sara's friends and family, met great new people and attempted a thunder-stormy swim. the elevation took a little adjustment, but i think the mini cupcakes served at the reception alleviated any headaches the climate change brought on.

i missed noah a ton but he had a wonderful weekend of adventure at grandma and grandpa's house. i didn't really miss changing his diaper, though...

after the ceremony (in this beautiful historic adobe chapel): me, sara, esme, jennye, suzy and sara's partner kathleen.

inside the chapel

suzy with a hooded esme in front of our little cabin

the view from the lodge

me holding a sleeping esme on top of my own belly-baby

saying goodbye!

counting wipes (a movie)

Click to Play

i ordered a box of baby wipes in bulk, and this afternoon noah amused himself for a very long time taking them out of the box, lining them up on the couch, counting them and then putting them back in the box. and then starting over, again and again. what i love is that his counting sequences always seem to start with 3, but he then goes right in a row up to 12, which is actually the right number. mysterious!

two uncle kevins!

we've spent the last three weeks hanging with uncle kevin from vermont. (a bit confusing, since noah also has another uncle kevan, from BC. that one is now referred to as "aunt irene's uncle kevan.") my brother kevin is on summer vacation and has spent these last few weeks chillin' with noah, helping aaron on the new house, cooking meals for us and teaching us all to talk like gangstas. it's been great.

here are the hard workers painting the porch.

and digging in the sandbox.

noah the beach bum watches uncle kevin skip stones on lummi island.

the boys pick strawberries at boxx berry farm in ferndale. (some actually made it into the buckets.)

siblings, at a delicious fry night at colin and nicole's house.

kevin munching cookies and cream at mallard ice cream downtown.

other fun activities have including sailing on the cape ann, watching movies at the pickford, breakfast at nelson's, bringing trash to the dump, swimming in ladner, buying junk food at grocery outlet, sitting in a long border lineup, putting up posters for the pickford and making up songs with nephew noah. ("i love milk" was a big hit.)

we'll miss you, uncle kevin!