invitation

i've decided to privatize this blog a bit, which means folks can only view it by invitation. fancy, i know. i've been thinking about this for a while, and feel like it'll make my family a little safer on the world-wide-web, and it will also give me a bit more freedom to present myself and my family to you, our chosen audience. hopefully it won't be too annoying for readers to sign up on blogger in order to read us here. i appreciate everyone's flexibility! and i hope to continue blogging about my little family's simple yet crazy life on a regular basis.

isla says hello to you all!

p.s. apologies for all the random emails from blogger! i had a bit of trouble figuring out how to make this change...

settling in

the past few weeks have gone by in a fog--of bliss, of discomfort, of relaxation and frustration. so many feelings in one little house! mostly we are all doing quite well, except for the brief interlude of colds we've had this week. isla is easy and relaxed so far, a champion nurser and pretty understanding of her brother's enthusiastic hugs. noah is getting more accustomed to his sister, and to sharing his parents' attention. we've had fewer deliberate bonks for isla and a bit less naughtyness in general. but he is, after all, a two-year-old, so some bonking is to be expected. generally i would say he is adjusting well and is still his sweet self. i think it is his mother who is changed a bit, with less patience and taking things more personally. but we're figuring it out. we even went to the co-op today for a big shop, and everyone did great. it was my first time there in maybe a month!

isla weighed almost 11 pounds at her two-week check, and got high marks for being a very strong and healthy little girl. she is already out of her newborn size diapers and clothes. she has long quietly alert times, where she looks around, sucks her hands, etc. she loves going for walks and so far likes the car, which is pretty convenient. she has been sleeping well and letting us sleep mostly too. her hair is staying red so far and her eyes are turning blue. she smells wonderful.

i'm healing slowly and still haven't been up for big walks or outings. my biggest complaint is my sore tailbone! has anyone else ever heard of this as a pregnancy/birth side effect? a friend today recommended a chiropractor, which sounds like a good idea. tomorrow i have my postpartum check with the midwives, so i'll see what they say. i'd love to be able to sit on my bum again!

not much else to report from iron street. summer is definitely gone and we are thinking about autumn-related things like canning applesauce and making pies. tonight i made a potato-leek soup from the cookbook sarah and christina have been raving about. it was great!

here's a brief photo documentary of our little family settling in.

reading time (though i don't think isla's that interested)

snuggling on the bed

noah the climber at the park

snoozing

aaron and the kids at a local apple orchard for a friend's birthday

me and grandpa on aaron's boat (we had a lovely sail last saturday)

isla all wrapped up in the amby bed

sick day! noah conked out in the big chair all morning, nursing a fever.

hanging out with uncle colin and tricky nicky

practicing the art of thumb sucking

isla's first night out on the town (with my mojito in the foreground!)

cozy with aunt irene

noah is no longer averse to sliding!

blessing

a few nights ago, my friend andrea came over to bless us. she's a priest, so she can do this in a pretty official capacity. i'd had it in my mind that she was coming over to bless little isla, and to sacramentally mark her entry into the world by anointing her with holy oil. which andrea did, and which was lovely. but only when andrea began to pray for and anoint the rest of us did i realize that probably we are the ones who needed that sacrament even more than isla.

we've had a week of ups and downs, of the deepest felt love and the strangest sadness. noah is confused and seems angry with me, and sometimes rough with isla. i am post-partum, hormones racing through my body making me think i can't adequately mother these two little ones. and physically i am sore and tired, with even sitting still requiring effort. aaron is his usual strong and supportive self, but he can only do so much. and he is on his own search for fullness, in his work and his creative life. isla is calm and lovely, but she too is figuring out how to be a person in the world. we are all in a strange new place.

which made andrea's prayers--for strength, for peace, for patience and healing--all the more apt, for all of us. and i felt the touch of her fingers on my forehead, tracing the sign of the cross in holy oil, as a powerful seal--sealing me to these other fragile members of my family, sealing my bursting heart, sealing my bleeding wounds, sealing us all to christ.

and we all fell asleep smelling sweet and strong.

hello, isla louise

isla louise bandstra was born at 3:07am on sunday, august 31. she weighed ten pounds and was 22 1/2 inches long. her birth was a successful VBAC at skagit valley hospital in mount vernon, washington. we had a fantastic nurse midwife and a wonderful doula, and we couldn't have done it without them. we are all nesting in our cozy new home and getting to know this lovely little girl. hooray!

a visit and a miracle

our friends kaedra and jasper (but sadly no jesse) came to visit again this week for a few days. kaedra just did a bradley childbirth training session in seattle and figured if they were so close they couldn't not drive a few more hours to bellingham. which was great, though i do not know how she is handling all that driving on her own (10 hours today back to boise!). the visit was great, and made me, kaedra and maryka all feel reconnected to our common east coast community despite our west coast existence.

the miracle occurred yesterday afternoon, when two pregnant ladies and two two-year-old boys all took a lengthy nap at the same time!! it was astounding. and wonderful.

we had a pretty uneventful few days, mostly just managing two little boys who have a love/hate relationship. we also ate lots of good food, which seems to be what we do together mostly.

and some of that eating happened at a real dining room table!

the boys at their italian restaurant

maryka doing dishes (which is the awesome-est thing for friends of very pregnant people to do)

and kaedra with her german chocolate cake with two frostings, which she made as a birthday cake for the new baby. we sang, "have a birthday, baby!" (also a very awesome thing for friends of very pregnant people to do!)

jasper and his mama riding noah's little bike

noah and jasper on the bike (double decker style, as noah says), in a moment of love

and bike riding in the yard, in a moment of needing more space!

the boys doing yoga

aaron constructing a dangerous and exciting balance beam contraption in the yard

two mamas and their bellies! (me at 41 weeks, kaedra at 30ish?)

40 weeks (plus)

okay, here's the last in this slew of blog posts, for now. (can you tell i'm madly trying to use the quiet time i have before i don't have it anymore?)

here's me and my belly at 40 weeks (and a few days). hopefully this will represent my belly at its biggest!

and here's me at 37 weeks with noah. i couldn't find a 40-week picture of that, so it's little hard to compare. i forget what it's like not to have a baby in my belly!

visions and reminiscences

this weekend aaron and i went on a date!

...which may not sound like a big deal, but it's been a very long time since we had a chance to relax and really talk, just the two of us. it was very timely to be able to debrief after this busy summer and to set down some ideas about life with a new little one and what we want our family to feel like this fall. (answers: calm! relaxed! close! fun!)

we're really intending to put house projects on hold, to lessen our commitments (or at least not make new ones), and re-aquaint our family members with one another. noah and aaron haven't spent much time together this summer, and already they're having lots of fun hanging out, being crazy and having adventures. i'm suspecting this father/son bonding will increase as my time will be focused more on nursing and caring for the new little one. aaron and noah have already planned out trips to the railroad museum and the pool, bike rides and pizza dates, treat hunts and secret projects. it's really wonderful to see how similar these two boys are (like how much they enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together), and how much fun they have together.

aaron and i also set down some ideas for reconnecting with one another, after having barely seen one another this summer. we're hoping to figure out a regular way to have time for just the two of us, and to have quiet chances to talk about ideas, vision and feelings. it's crazy how fast that time slips away, if you let it. autumn seems like a good time to reign it in.

and also to reminisce! last autumn we were living in new england, enjoying community life with our friends and tromping around on crunchy leaves through very old farms. it was a wonderful few months of reconnection, adventure and ideas. noah was such a little guy, learning so much from all the other great little guys he got to hang out with. and at the end of the season, this teeny tiny one came into being! pretty crazy how much things can change in a year.

here are some of my favorite photos from last autumn:









hooray for new seasons and new adventures!

eating with ladies to celebrate babies

last week my friend sarah hosted for me a girls' night/baby shower/eat lots of yummy food evening out on the town. it was so nice to get out and hang with my lady friends. we had delicious appetizers at the temple bar and then moved on to delicious pasta at d'annas. i even had several sips of wine!

irene brought yarn for the yarn/belly game, wherein everyone cuts a piece of yarn into the length they think will fit around my belly. i'm happy to say that most everyone's piece was way too big! although, what that means about how big i look, i'm not sure...

here's maryka very excited about her yarn piece.

maryka made these gorgeous paper flowers for everyone to take home.

and here's irene (newly married! note the rings!) carefully choosing her flower.

and here's the best part of the whole night: blueberry cheesecake with a shortbread crust!

thanks, ladies, for a lovely evening. and thanks to this little lady inside me for helping me warrant such a celebration!

a warmed house

before the baby came we hoped to have a chance to host an open house and thank-you party for all the many people who helped and supported us in this crazy project. so we worked hard last week to get things in semi-order around here and opened the doors on sunday to our friends, family and neighbors. it was great to be able to really thank people for the work they did, and also for folks to be able to witness the great transformation this house has undergone. it was especially fun to welcome our realtor jeff, and to tease him that at the outset he didn't even want to show us this house because of how far gone it was. we're sure glad he decided to show it to us anyway!

here are some pictures of our semi-settled state now. there's still so much to be done, but we basically feel ready to welcome a little one into this house. and this house basically feels like a home, which is really amazing. it feels so spacious and cozy and ours. such a blessing!

here's the living room (with still bright white primer-ed walls!)

here's the entryway and office/craft area

here's the dining room (very spare, but it's a dining room!)

looking into the kitchen (with temporary plywood cabinetry, which will work fine until we settle on a floor plan and until aaron has time to make fancy cabinets)

a blurry picture of our bedroom

the bright bathroom

and noah's room, which has changed a bit to make room for a changing table and a few other baby things

thank you thank you thank you to all those who wielded a hammer or paintbrush, who have brought us flowers, veggies or soup, who have cared for noah, and who have shared your support and kind words. we could never have done this without you!!