Just What I Needed (except for the hangover)

It's amazing how a dear friend can make for such a fun evening.

And how a glass of the good stuff and a few more beers can make for such an un-fun morning (okay, majority of the day).

This is the Christina Evelyn that lives life with abandon. And she helped me do the same for about 3 and half hours last night. Amazing food at Tilia (except her pot du creme which I think she literally spit out on the server) and even better conversation. With her and the other diners and drinkers that we quickly befriended over topics like quinoa, Pininterest, Stella & Dot, Playmobil, the lottery and more.

Yesterday, after nearly 15 years, was Christy's last day working in corporate america. She's currently en route to Costa Rica to surf for a week before heading back home to her new cabin in the Wisconsin north woods.

So glad she's back in the USA. Even better that she's chosen a neighboring state to call home again. I sense a lot of Camp Christy in the Schuster's futures.

Three of My Three

This week I've been looking through photos from when Wren was born and selecting the ones I will print for her baby book. It's been a wonderful jaunt down memory lane.

I'm amazed at how quickly life changes in 5 months time. Things that seemed so scary 5 months ago are not so scary anymore. Things that felt awkward and klutzy are second nature. Things that were really, really challenging are a little less challenging these days. Worries have turned into joys.

We're at a new normal. At least as a family we are.

In less than 4 weeks I've got what I think will be the most daunting task ever...getting back into the working mom groove. This time with three really little kids in tow instead of just two. I have no clue how I'm (we're) going to get out of our house, usually before 7:25 am, all put together for a day at the office.

But if the past is a good predictor of the future, I know we'll manage just fine some mornings, struggle others and utterly rock.it. a few mornings here and there too (on those mornings I will wish that the DQ was open before 8am because I'd be buying congratulatory ice cream cones for everyone in my car as well as all other customers in the drive-thru).

And then of course we still have to get home in time to feed, play with, bathe, brush and bedtime story all three of them. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Almost 4 weeks is a good chunk of time to turn a blind eye to any potential problems.

So, thinking back to when the days were simpler. Or maybe I mean more complicated (I didn't say everything's been figured out in the past 5 months).

Three of My Three...

Tummy Time was often a family affair. When Otto was a newborn, Max always wanted to practice tummy time with him. No different once Wren came along. All three of them would pile onto her little playmat and work on strengthening their core muscles. Practice makes better.

Ooops. Looks like the one who needs the practice isn't getting any.

Small things like big scrapes on faces apparently went somewhat unnoticed the first couple weeks that Wren was home. Looking at this picture now (& a few other close-up's of Otto's face) I realize that I may not have fully "noticed" Otto's gash. I kind of remember being in a bit of a haze when one of his teacher's commented on it at drop-off one morning. The thing is Otto is one tough cookie. When he fell and got the gash, he just jumped up and continued running to keep up with Max, so I blew it off too. Remarkably, within about 5 days this big cut was totally healed. Resilience.

And can I just say how happy I am that Max's hair is shorter now! I always thought I liked his long hair, but I like it better shorter. Perspective. That's another thing I've gained these past 5 months. Otto's hair will be cropped soon too.

Spring Transformation

This first week of spring...well, it's been a time of transformation and growth out in nature (green!leaves!grass!birds!worms!rain!) as well as with Wren.

Wren has outgrown many of her newborn apparatuses and moved onto the next set of entertainment options. Gone are our days using the bouncy chair, baby swing and tummy time mat. She's on to the Johnny Jump-Up, park swings and high chair.

Even though I get to hang out with her and observe every day how big she's getting, it's still surprising to see Wren in these photos. So B.I.G!

She seems to like the Johnny Jump-Up even though she just sways back and forth in it at this time. If I were better with Photoshop I would have super-imposed a "Please pardon our dust" sign behind Wren in the jump-up. With our new bathroom this past Fall, we also got a "new" back hallway...a wide open view of our new bathroom's plumbing.

And here she is getting all situated for some bites of peas. Arguably this high chair is still a bit too big for her, but I had to try it out and see if it would work. She's a little wobbly in it right now, but it will be perfect in just a couple weeks I bet.

With all the Spring weather we've been having, Wren went on an outdoor playdate with her friend Matilda and tried out the park swings for her first time, too. I'm hopeful she'll crack a smile in the swings because there is a lot of park time in our future. I'll blame her solemness on the fact that she was exhausted. She fell asleep in my arms moments after this picture was taken.

And here's Wren's friend Tillie. She's 4 months older than Wren, but from this angle you might think Tillie is younger than Wren (I think they are actually about the same size). Tillie's Mama always says Tillie doesn't "give up smiles" that easily for adults - but this girl was nothing but smiles yesterday. She loves her Mama and Daddy. She loved the swing. She REALLY loved the puppy dog chasing his ball at the park. I like to think she liked the Schuster family.

Lucky Girl

Last Saturday, on Wren's 5 month birthday, we introduced her to solid food for the first time. Given it was St Patty's day, and since avocado was Max's 1st solid food and Otto (as Christy so wittingly observed) loved saying "avocotto," I decided the best first food for Wren would be avocado too.

Lucky girl! At least I thought so given they are one of my favorite foods.

I was hoping for a nice, peaceful and orderly environment to introduce Wren to food. But quickly decided that she'd likely be in high school before our house feels like that again. So, other than the initial planning that went into selecting Wren's first food, there was very limited "set up" (boy, was there set up for Max's first feeding...lights, camera, video, clutter cleared, etc). We just dove right in and gave it a try.

Ha! That was not a picture of Wren's first bite, but I think it was the most animated one we captured.

For Wren's first feeding, she basically just gummed the avocado and licked her lips a lot. She did not take any real bites.

Max was really excited to help out and take a turn feeding her. Otto was quick to follow.

A day later Auntie Cristy got a chance to feed Wren, too. This time Wren wanted full control of the spoon. While she was still unsure of the food, she realized that the food was the way to get to chew on the spoon.

One week later and she's still working on getting the hang of taking a bite and swallowing. We've moved from one green food to another and introduced her to peas mid-week. I'm pretty sure once I give her sweet fruits instead of just veggies she'll "suddenly" know how to eat...but I'm a little stubborn and would like to stick to veggies for a bit longer. As if this will have any impact on her desire to eat veggies when she's a toddler...

My Favorite Part of This Friday

My favorite part of today could have been Max & Otto playing house, when Max was tucking Otto into bed, rubbing his back & scratching his hair, telling him a story and singing him to "sleep."

It could have been the super-easy time I had getting them both put down to nap (NEVER happens) just after lunch.

It most definitely was not the minutes from 8:41-8:59am when a nice game of playing in a blanket fort turned into chaos. Those were a very long, loud and cranky 17 minutes for all of us.

This Friday's favorite? It was making our box guitars and watching the boys have a ridiculous amount of fun playing them. Holy smokes...Otto can't stop smiling when he's playing his. He even took his to nap with him. Did I mention how easily he went down? Perhaps box guitars are the new snuggly bears.

And here's some video. Although I've been obsessed with Hipstamatic this past week, it's been quite awhile since I've taken any videos of the kids. So, here's a bit of them and their music making. Lucky for you, I had to edit the second video in order to upload it...it's missing a good 30 seconds worth of their guitar and voice encore of Twinkle Twink.

79 & Sunny

We've had the most gorgeous weather in Minneapolis this past week...70's in March! Over the weekend temps got up to 79 degrees both days.

Shorts weather!!!

What a nice treat this is for us. The kids are so much better behaved outside running free, wearing off their energy. It's a lot easier for me to play with both boys outside too. When I'm inside I often feel like a referee - managing Max's desire to build and Otto's desire to knock down, always with the same set of blocks...

Friday during the day we played at a couple different parks. After Joe got home we walked up to Linden Hills and had BBQ followed by ice cream.

While walking home we noticed how the weather was perfect for camping. Warm day. Cool night. No humidity. No bugs. Sunrise and sunset times that align with kid's sleep schedules. I was off and running with this idea and really wanted to pull our tent and camping things together and head for a campsite the following day. BUT...we didn't. We felt a bit too disorganized to take three kids on the whim camping. We weren't sure we'd all fit in our tiny tent. But we've got the itch and are getting our sh!t together so the next time we get a whim we can follow it.

Of course by 9am Saturday morning our tent was pitched in our kitchen.

Just hours later Wren's Exersaucer was pitched in our backyard!

Saturday afternoon the boys asked if they could play in the sprinkler. Why not? It was 79 and sunny. And the sprinkler is even more fun in March than it is in August.

Future Besties?

MFEO BFFs? (a mom can hope, right?)

My good friend Greta's little girl, Matilda, has affectionately been called "Munchie" from the time she was born. Her hands are always in her mouth. Over the past couple months Matilda always seems to have her two fingers in her mouth.

And now, another little girl I know, seems to have taken to this as well...

I think it might just be Wren's way of saying "Hey Tillie, good idea! I like chewing on my fingers too. Maybe we should get together for another play date soon. Wanna be my BFF?"

Happy 5 Months Wren

From baby to little lady, all in the past four weeks. Wren is 5 months old!

For Wren's birthday treat this month I had planned to make a delicious looking Coconut Cream Pie that seemed like it would take some concentration and patience to get the filling just right. Originally I was up for the challenge of tackling my first homemade cream pie, but then - as it often does these days - the days leading up to Wren's 5 month birthday just flew by and I didn't have the ingredients on hand. Take that and couple it with a forecast of 79 and sunny and I lost all interest in "stirring continuously" over a hot stove.

Considering her 5 month birthday was on St Patrick's Day I quickly and easily decided the treats I wanted to make to celebrate were Chocolate Mint Brownies. I'm not sure I've ever made them before, but I've definitely eaten them!

Back in high school, when I frequently babysat for the Byrnes family, their mom introduced me to these. Bless her heart.. I'm sure there were times I polished off nearly a whole pan of them that she had made right before I showed up to babysit. HER recipe is soooo good. The recipe I found off the internet that seemed close enough to her recipe was not close enough.

While making these brownies I spent a lot of time thinking about Mrs Byrnes and her family. Thinking that, in a way, I'm now "Mrs Byrnes." Now I have a few kids. Now I make family dinners and birthday treats. Thinking what a treasure it is that I had the chance to work for such an amazing mom. She always said that taking good care of her kids while she was away was the most important job she could ever hire someone to do. Mrs Byrnes having the trust in me to give me that important of a job was a special gift.

I started watching the Byrnes' oldest girl when she was just a few months old. She turned 21 today!!! I guess I'm not the 12 year old babysitter anymore! Twelve?! I'm not sure I'd ever hire a 12 year old to watch Wren. Could a 12 year old even lift her into her crib? More importantly, would a 12 year old eat all my brownies?

Let's see...what's new with Wren in the past month?

Most notably, in the past week, she's gone from swaddled sleeping to unswaddled sleeping. I'm all for swaddling as long as possible, but when safety becomes an issue, it's a nice, easy, definite, cold-turkey "we're done swaddling tonight" type of decision. This happened about a week ago when Wren, who we double-swaddled to keep her put, started getting herself flipped from her back to her belly all while swaddled. I went in once and found her face down at nap. It happened a second time that night and that was the end of swaddling her. Not worth risking her safety should she get stuck face down in bed and not be able to flip onto her back again.

And now that she's not swaddled, of course she's not sleeping quite as well as she had been. She makes good use of all corners of her crib, rolling and flailing about as she (and we) try to get good sleep. She gets her limbs stuck in the crib slats (time for me to dig out the bumper I didn't bother putting up for #3). The other night I thought we had ghosts as I walked past her room and heard her mobile music playing (she must have kicked the "On" button while tossing and turning). Although we know this is just temporary as she gets more control over her arms and legs and settles into sound sleeping without the swaddle, it's still a bit of a bummer.

Over the past month her talking and squealing has become less forced and a bit more "babyish" than it was when she was 4 months. She's making sounds a lot more frequently (except for one week when she was feverish and a bit lethargic). Max and Otto can get her to crack up by dancing silly and making funny noises. She's rolling and rolling and rolling now. And while she pulls her knees up under her while on her belly, she can't lift herself onto all fours, nor is she anywhere near sitting up yet.

Happy 5 months Wren! We're less than 12 years away from you saying "But you babysat when you were twelve years old. Why can't I?"

Wren & Daddy

Wren & Mommy

Another 939 of These? Yes, Please!

What a weekend! And it's only Saturday night.

If I only get 940 of these (less, I guess, since we've already had over 200 with Max, over 100 with Otto and about 20 with Wren), I'll take another 939 just like today.

Hopefully I'll make the time soon to share more details of what's been going on over here. We've had swimsuit and sprinkler weather, St Patty's Day, Wren's 5 month birthday, Wren's 1st time meeting Auntie Cristy and the start of solid foods...all in the past 12 hours!

I Got The Proof

That time I didn't, but this time I did. Got the proof, that is!

Even though this little piggy had a temp of 99.9 degrees

And this little piggy had a temp over 100 degrees

Joe and I snuck away for a few hours this past Saturday night. We had to get out anyway to get some more infant Tylenol, so why not make a night of it!

The weather was gorgeous and we headed out for beer and fries at Pig & Fiddle (only because everyone else in SW Mpls had already walked to Tilia and beat us there by 5:30!), followed by more beer and lots of mexican at Cocina del Barrio, followed by sundaes at Sebastian Joes!

As always, thanks to Diane & Jamie (and Papa John, too, this time) for watching all the kids. Joe and I always love catching up over a few beers as strong as our children's personalities.

Just Another Friday

Just another Friday at home with my two boys and little girl. I can't make this stuff up.

I don't remember how that all started, but like most things with kids...If you give them dresses to wear, they'll want a bow to put in their hair. And if you give them a bow to wear, they'll want mary jane socks to go with it. And so our Friday morning was off to a splendid start!

I'm totally fine with them playing dress up; even if it's them wearing dresses. And they begged to wear these. I searched through Wren's bins of clothes and Max insisted the 2T would fit him (other than all the buttons it fit just fine). For Otto we choose a cute spring plaid number. And, not to be outdone by Max & Otto, we choose a vibrant floral frock for Wren. I don't know...put them in a beauty pageant and they are stiff competition these three.

It was kind of like a social experiment in our house last Friday morning. Once they were in dresses they even started acting a little more ladylike. Until Otto decided he was hungry and grabbed the left over burgers from dinner the night before...

I was able to get them out of the dresses and into new outfits so we could head to Costco, ensuring we received fewer looks than had they stayed dolled up.

I like this Costco picture because it seems to have so inaccurately captured the three of them. Each one of them looks somber and is staring in a different direction. Usually we are all quite animated there - me included. And I mean this in a good, well-mannered, very happy to be there way. We all LOVE Costco (Max once asked if we could camp there overnight...you know, sleep in the bunk beds they were selling, eat pizza from the deli, etc). Anyway, once I took this picture and looked at it, it made me giggle because of how different I imagine we act while there.

Back at home we declared it was "Rainbow Day" after nap. We made biscuits and dyed them different colors. We chalked the kid's hair rainbow colors.

Max liked getting his hair all colored. Otto enthusiastically wanted blue hair, but once I got one streak in he was "all done." To which Max went over to hug him and tell him "You're so brave Otto." This has been Max's way of comforting Otto most recently. It's very cute, especially when he says it and "being brave" is totally out of context of the situation.

I gave Wren a teal streak and an orange streak but it was difficult to see in her hair. I went to capture the color and couldn't have asked for a more perfect face from her...

And before I go, I'm going to leave you with one more of them in the dresses because I cannot NOT share this.

Oh, the crossed ankles!

"How do I say it again?"

Gragger. Mordecai. Megillah. Hamantashen. Yom Tov! Happy Purim!

Max needed to help me out, a lot, when reading our bedtime stories about Purim the other night. And I could tell he loved that he knew how to pronounce all the Hebrew words. He's proud of what he's been learning at school and was happy to help me along.

I'll let you all Wiki Purim for the backstory on the Jewish celebration, and just tell you that it is clearly a much celebrated holiday. The boy's school was so VIBRANT on Thursday. Everyone was in costumes, shaking their noisemakers, eating treats, making things for charity and just generally rowdy and fun. Max was super excited to get to school that morning!

Max decided he wanted to wear his Halloween costume from a couple years ago for his school's Purim celebration and costume parade. Although he got lots of comments about how cute it was, he said he got a little upset that everyone started to use his pumpkin tummy as a punching bag...

Given his school doesn't celebrate Halloween, it was actually quite fun to pull out the costumes in March and see all the kids dressed up. Almost like we got Halloween two times this past year (I mean no disrespect to the Jewish celebration by making that comparison...merely exciting in the fact that all the kids were so pumped for the special occasion and dressing up).

Snip, snip, snip!

Spring cleaning has begun in our house and it manifested itself as a good crop of Max's hair. He's been asking to cut his hair even shorter, so I figured I'd just have him tag along to my next hair appointment and do it then. It's been 4 months since my last hair appointment, so he's been asking for awhile and I've been unstyled for awhile.

At the salon he doesn't want his hair washed. I tell him he's totally missing out on the.best.part.of.a.haircut. But he doesn't bite, so Natalie uses a spray bottle and chops away. I like the results. A lot. Even more now that it's been a couple days.

And I've learned that if you cut his hair, but he chooses to wear a dress, they kind of cancel each other out and he still looks pretty darn pretty.

Oh, and don't go all JCrew on me.

They've got nothing on me and my Max & Otto. "Lucky for me..." I ended up with boys whose favorite color was pink and favorite book was Pinkalicious! for quite awhile, wear their little sister's dresses & bows, talk about their feelings, exclaim when their beds are "so cuddly and snuggly" and ask for long hair and ponies.

Because in a blink of an eye they've changed their favorite colors to green and blue, ask for Batman tattoos, ask for ANOTHER truck to play with, pretend to smash [anything] into pieces so they can show me their superhero powers, want their jeans, Bob the Builder t-shirt and holy tenners back on, and want their hair cut "short and spiky like Daddy's"!