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.
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
Happy 5 months, Wren!! You look like an Irish Queen with your green crown. I don't care what you say, Summer...those brownies look amazing! Mrs. Byrnes would be proud.
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