slowing down and catching up

since moving in to the new house, we've been able to slow down a bit and enjoy some time with family and friends. the first week we were here, in fact, we got to see both alan and cara and mike and jessie, good friends on east/west and north/south travels of different sorts.

alan, cara, noah and an awesome car lineup in the living room.

alan and cara spent the night with us on their way back east to lexington, massachusetts, at the conclusion of a cross-country adventure. it was great to catch up with but also very handy to have them around right after moving in. alan rewired the dryer and cara scrubbed our kitchen sink, and together they made us a delicious home-cooked meal. alan and aaron also had a friendly race to build some new chairs from ikea, which can be witnessed below.

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the next night we got to catch up with mike and jessie, who left seattle in may for a summer of travels and are now headed south to teach and work at the oregon extension in ashland, oregon for the fall. we are very excited for them (and jealous!) and are hoping to make it south sometime this fall to visit.

here's jessie attempting to read a tintin book to noah. (i don't even bother. when noah asks me to read one, i just tell him that daddy will read it when he gets home!)

my big boy

lately i've started thinking about how different life is going to be around here very soon. honestly, this has only just hit me in the past few days. i should have been preparing mentally and emotionally for the greeting of this new baby for months now, but i think i've been so distracted with other things that it really hadn't even occurred to me until now.

just last night noah was in bed with me, wiggling and chatting it up, while i tried to fall asleep and aaron read in the living room. at first i felt annoyed; i was SO tired after a busy day and just wanted to sleep. but then i really listened to his little voice and eventually ended up in tears. he is so funny and sweet! and it is crazy how his mind works. i was mostly quiet and he was talking to himself, reminiscing about the day and reviewing things that he's learned recently. he talked about our housewarming party (i.e. the cupcakes we had, all the friends who came, playing with jessa in the yard), he talked about the new baby who will come soon (how she will nurse from mama, how mama will hold her in the sling and noah will kiss her), he talked about the fair we just went to, and ice cream, and grandpa and his new room. and he practiced his consonants! he said "c-c-c-c-corn!" just like grandma has been teaching him. he cracked me up, so that i wasn't tired anymore and just wanted to enjoy my little boy, while i still can single-mindedly.

suddenly my very first teeny tiny baby has turned into a big boy! he is so competent and hilarious verbally and physically, and every day he learns new things and makes me laugh. he is incredibly independent but still cuddly and loving. he loves to climb, has figured out how to open the fence gates on his own, is very interested in boo-boos and broken bones, has opinions on all the choices we make, loves to play crazily with aaron, and knows a ton about the world.

one of the funnest things about noah right now is his sense of humor. he has a handful of "jokes" that he loves to share with people, and which only make sense if you know their background stories.

joke #1: "tow truck at a coffee shop"
a while back while driving noah and i saw a tow truck parked at a drive-thru coffee kiosk. he thought it was hilarious.

joke #2: "tractor in the watermelons"
recently we saw a little skid steer loader as part of a display in front of a grocery store, its bucket full of watermelons. this was also hilarious.

joke #3: "not barbara the mailman--mike the mailman!"
one day not long ago at our old house, our landlady barbara came to the front porch to pick up her mail. noah assumed, i think, that it was mike the mailman there to deliver our mail. but he saw barbara instead and joked, "barbara the mailman!" then he told the truth and said, "not barbara the mailman, mike the mailman!"

joke #4: "not a poo, a rock!"
a while back aaron was changing noah's diaper in the grass outside a vineyard near here. aaron was shocked at what he thought was a very large and solid piece of poo. upon further inspection, he discovered that it was in fact a rock that had somehow snuck its way into noah's diaper. and astute noah pointed out that it was, "not a poo, a rock!"

i'm sure there are more jokes, though i can't think of them right now. i really think this little boy understands irony. it's awesome.

i know it's a little silly to mourn the growing up of my little boy, when he's still only two. it just seems like it's gone so fast! i want him always small and sweet and innocent and able to fit on my lap. but i also love to watch him change and grow and discover the world... so i guess i need to take joy in his growth and discoveries, and help provide an environment of joy for him too. (maybe it's just these crazy hormones coursing through my body that make me cry on an hourly basis!) but it must be true that there is something very special about a mother's relationship to her firstborn. we have made so many discoveries together. now we will have to gently let go of one another a bit, and share that joy and those discoveries with our new little baby.

noah is going to teach her so much!

a new cousin for noah

aaron's brother john and his wife jess had a new baby last week--little john spencer bandstra. what a busy week for bandstras! we got to meet john spencer via video-chat on aaron's parents' computer, and noah was intrigued. he's been talking about kate's new little brother a lot. i keep asking him what john spencer eats, and noah says, "only his mama's milk." not too much longer till noah will see this in action with his own little sibling!

teeny tiny john spencer

kate gazing at her new brother (what a lovely picture!)

aunt i's wedding

this weekend, aaron's sister irene got married, to noah's newest "uncle kevan." it was a lovely weekend and a beautiful wedding. and especially fun for us to relax and hang out with family--and not think about house projects for a few days. congratulations to irene and kevan!

i went with irene and her bridesmaids to get a pedicure the day before the wedding. since i can't really reach my feet right now, it was so great to have this special treatment!

a lovely irene on her cell phone during the wedding rehearsal (at st. mark's anglican church in white rock)

noah with church pews

noah in his suit jacket marching into the church on wedding day

aaron, irene, kevan and colin after the wedding

irene and kevan at the reception, in a bit of rain

noah enjoying the rain at the reception

and enjoying his cousin jacob

moving day!

finally, finally, finally... we have moved!! (a smooth transition--it really helps to have a family moving company!) all our worldly goods are now in (and around) our new house at 1716 iron street. after nearly twelve weeks of work, aaron has made our house into a home. while there is so much left to do, it is crazy how transformed this house has been from what it was a few months ago. it is clean, bright, open and roomy. (and will be roomier once all the boxes are unpacked!) and the best part is that we are all here together now, nesting and awaiting our new little family member.

here are some pictures from moving day:

the bandstra truck on humboldt street, and our homemade chair

uncle colin packing up noah's toys

colin and nicole struggling to assemble noah's crib in his new room

aaron constructing a quick kitchen in the front yard

a very exciting ride in a bandstra truck with grandma and grandpa

noah's cozy new room

and a snoozy boy in his new room

east to west and west to east

the week before we moved, we were happy to get to hang out with two of our favorite families: jess and andrew thistlethwaite, on their way from vancouver to boston; and jesse, kaedra and jasper walsh, on their way (sort of) from gloucester to boise. we were very sad to say goodbye to jess and andrew, but happy to welcome jesse, kaedra and jasper to the west.

noah and jasper had a love/hate relationship. they were super sad to say goodbye to one another for naps and bedtime, but as soon as they woke up they began the process of stealing toys from one another and shouting about it. no one got bonked too badly, and when jasper left noah said "i miss jasper!" oh, to be two.

here are some pictures from our week of visits:

jasper and noah have fun (and sorrow) in the tub together.

sharing the rocking chair.

jesse rides a "seesaw" with the boys at clayton beach.

noah climbing like a crazy boy at the beach. (he also crawled on his belly naked in the freezing cold water!)

big bellies! (me and kaedra at the beach)

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)

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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!