Things Wren Says

Leaving our house for school one morning I pointed out the white shadow of the almost full moon that hung in the bright blue sky.   Ten minutes and a few miles later, after we got into a wide opening after weaving through city streets with tree cover that had blocked the sky, Wren looked out her window and happily exclaimed,

"Oh look! The moon's going to school too!"


***********************************************


We were driving home from Grand Marais in early September and there were just a few trees here and there that were starting to change colors.  The great majority were still green, but the ones that were changing had some tiny fire red spots on them that were very noticeable.

Wren pointed and said "They're turning into flowers!!" about the bright red patches.

Yippee!! Fall was arriving and yes, it is when the trees turn into gorgeous flowers here. Particularly this year, which had spectacular color that hung on the trees for months, across Minnesota!

One and a Half

It's gotta be the hair.  I love it, but it makes Wren look three times her age.  She actually just turned 18 months old.  She's a very fun one and a half year old little girl.  

Who She Loves
When Wren wakes in the morning she often asks for IPA or shouts "Ip-Pah" when she hears IPA walking down the hall.  Then excitedly says "Maa" (like "baaa") as soon as she sees Max...or Otto.  We're working on teaching her "Otto" or just "O" so that she doesn't call both her brothers by the same name.

What She Loves
Over the past couple months she has become totally attached to her sleep sack and snugglie kitty. She still wears her sleep sack at night, but as soon as we take her out of it in the morning she wants to hold it.  She carries it around for much of the day when we're home.  

She has great fun playing hide and seek, especially when I hide under a blanket and she finds me.  

She loves to dance and have music playing.  It's extra fun to shake her head side to side really fast and have her hair flapping back and forth!  That will get her giggling!

She loves to show where her belly is (and her nose, ears, etc). But mostly showing everyone her belly.

Daily Life
She's starting to sit longer for stories!  She'll read with me and Otto on our home days and enjoys bedtime stories longer than just a few minutes.  

She has no trouble keeping up with Max and Otto.  And now she already dislikes her high chair and only wants to sit on the stools at the counter for meals, just like her big brothers.  We've had a few bumps...I probably never should have let her start sitting on the stools.  

Over the past month or so she's starting to say a lot more words.  Personally, the cutest is when she says "Thank You," which I notice most when her brothers have done something for her or given her something.  Win Win...she's using manners and her brother are being helpful!!!

As soon as anyone mentions going outside, going to Costco, going anywhere; she's instantly grabbing her coat and shoes and urging the rest of us to hurry up.


The Stats
34.5" tall (99%)
27 lbs 4 oz (86%)
5 teeth.  6th tooth looks like it's getting close to cutting through.
Her hair reaches to her waist when wet.



A few pictures from the past few months...

If you ever can't find her, chances are she's snuggled up with IPA or has climbed into the bathtub.

Keeping Up With Her Brothers. Beautifully.

Not only has it been two weeks, but for the next six months we've got the three kids all at the same school!  

Wren's at the JCC, and keeping up with her brothers quite beautifully.

A few things of note...

One location for drop-off and pick-up is nice.  But.  There's always a but...

But we only have one car that fits all three kids, so trying to figure out drop-off and pick-up has been a bit tricky.  Either we both go and divide up the kids between cars, or one person has to do both drop-off and pick-up on the same day.  

That brings me to the actual dropping off and picking up of the kids.  It is a looooong task.  Many nights, when it was just Max & Otto, pick-up would take a half hour.  Add another kid into the mix and some nights it's taken me 45 - yes 45 - minutes from the time I park my car outside daycare until the time I have three kids and myself buckled up and ready to roll home.  One night I did it under 20 minutes flat.  Joe and I are still trying to figure out how that happened and what we can do to make it happen again.

On Wren's first day, actually her first week at school, she did a great job at drop-off.  She joined Max and Otto at the breakfast table and started eating her pancake for breakfast.  Otto, however, was very clingy and shed the tears that day as I needed to leave for work.  

This week, Wren's 2nd week at the JCC, she cried just a little at her drop-offs.  Within a few moments she'd settle down and enjoy her teacher and brother's company.

Max and Otto really love having her at their school.  Max gets to see her every Tuesday, as their classes pass each other walking to and from swim lessons.  Otto and Wren's class even play together once in awhile.  I've also received an email from Otto's friend's mom that Otto told her how his sister Wren goes to school with him now and he wanted to introduce her.  Max loves visiting Wren in her classroom and his teachers have been kind about using a visit to Wren as a reward for his continued good behavior.    

Back to Wren...  It seems like she's having a really good time at school.  Her teachers - as well as her brother's teachers, who often see her - have been sharing stories with us of all the fun she's having.  That she's super happy and smiley and giggly.  

When we pick her up she's always been engaged and playing with other kids/teachers and comes running to us for a really warm welcome back hug.  When we ask if she had a fun day she gives us a big head nod up and down telling us "Yes," which is so nice to see.  And she loves to blow kisses to everyone as we say good-bye for the night.  

Happy 11 Months Wren

I've been staring at this computer screen for awhile now.  Going back and forth between this post and pictures and video I've taken of Wren the past month.  

Back at 6 months or so I thought Wren was a little girl and not a baby.  And now?  She's a real little girl.  

She wants to eat big people food.  And not cut up in bits and pieces "for her."  She wants the whole apple. 

*Please note that we were watching her very carefully while she was eating this. Choking hazards scare me.

I consider her 1st official step was taken on Labor Day (Sept 3rd).  It was super cute.  We were playing while she was standing up holding on to something.  Wren stopped what she was doing, looked directly at me, and in not so many words (but definitely with her eyes) said "Ok, I'm gonna take a couple steps to you now, Mama." And did it.

That was so two weeks ago.

As of a couple days ago she was getting really confident and throwing her arms up in the air and waving them around while standing. Max was so excited to tell me that "Wren's free standing and her feet are close together instead of far apart. She's getting good at it and standing a long time." 

And as of tonight, the day after her 11-month birthday, she's piecing this walking thing together...

It's clear we can't take her anywhere any more.  

Playing a little game of peek-a-boo

Trying new hairstyles...A pony tail to mix up her barrette and pig tails.

Papa Mark, this picture's for you:)  She loves all the vehicles as much as her brothers do!  And you would have loved to see Max sneak up behind her and give her one hell of a big, fast push on this little 4-wheeler.  I attempted to reprimand and Wren was giggling so much that I was not effective at teaching Max a lesson of how she could have gotten hurt.

Happy 11 Months Wren.  

Happy 10 Months Wren

Your 10-month Birthday has been such a mix of emotions for me. You're in the double digits. I've started planning your 1st Birthday. As I snapped your "43 week" chair picture I had a little melt down realizing one year since you were born is less than 10 weeks away. Another little melt down came as I was getting caught up writing in your baby book. A bigger melt down while weeding through all of your baby clothes, getting them ready to send off to have your special memory quilt made.

Wren, you are such a little snuggler! You continue to hug and wrestle any stuffed animal you can find. One of your favorite toys at daycare is Pete, the giant stuffed turtle. Every other day I hear about how much fun you and Pete had together:) Now you've started to make more precise motions and movements with your stuffed animals. You'll hold your bunny and look at it's face and go to kiss it. You work hard at removing your rag doll Wren's knee-high socks. And of course you love snuggling with all of us too. Rolling around the floor with your brothers. Climbing and cuddling in their beds and ours.

You are so incredibly cute when you need to get my attention. If I'm holding you, but paying attention to and looking at Max & Otto, you've taken to craning your neck, leaning right in front of my face, reaching for my cheek and turning my face towards yours. Kinda sad that sometimes that is what is needed. I do appreciate your direct-ness, as well as your huge smile once I've redirected my attention to You! Once in awhile you'll tug my ponytail, which I do not love.

In terms of milestones, the past month brought a couple biggies. You said your first word, IPA. Same as Otto's 1st word (Max's was "DaDa"). I thought I heard you say it two different times over the course of a day when we were letting IPA out. The next day Jamie babysat you and while I was out running errands I got a text that said "Your daughter says the word "IPA."

In addition to saying IPA, you do a great amount of babbling. Lots of dada, mama, blabla sounds. In fact, for one week you would literally babble shout yourself to sleep. Joe and I still rock you to sleep after feeding you your bottle. And for a week while rocking you, you would very loudly (kind of like shouting, but in a happy way) babble. For a solid 5 minutes or so I'd rock you and you'd be belting out your babbling. And then, instantaneously, you'd go silent and be sleeping. There was no wind up or taper off - an immediate, all-out loud babbling and then silence as abruptly as it started.

You also cut your 1st tooth (Aug 9th) and then your 2nd tooth exactly one week later (Aug 16th). Your lower left and right ones. Aside from a couple nights of needing to work a little harder to get you to sleep, you remained ever cheerful.

On top of the teeth, you got Hand Foot & Mouth disease. I thought you had gotten warts all over your feet and was kicking myself for letting you run around bare-foot at daycare (I think it's a no-no, but really, they let the rules slide sometimes). It cleared up quickly after first spreading across your feet, legs, butt, hands and mouth.

You and Otto are starting to duke it out over toys. You want the spatulas, spoons and ice cream scoops he's got - and since he usually has them ALL for his various restaurants set up around our house - you guys will go at it. I know I need to think through how to handle this differently, other than just giving you something else to play with, because that trick's not always going to work.

This month we continued spending a ton of time outside enjoying the Minnesota summer. We camped for a weekend at Whitewater State Park, played at Tamarack Nature Center and the Splash Pad and visited the Science and Children's Museums.

As a special treat, I ended up having a whole day just me and you the day before your 10-month birthday. Both the boys were in school so we spent the day doing a couple errands, hanging out and walking around the lake. During your nap I was able to make a cake to celebrate this month's birthday. It was an idea I saw on Pinterest and needed to try. A super easy way to make a cake fancy!

All the boys were amazed at it. And all of you absolutely loved the Poky sticks. You happily sucked all the strawberry coating off of one and then went on to babble-shout for a good 10 minute sugar high.

One more monthly Birthday til your big one. I think I need to try another fun cake next month!

Wren's 1st Tooth. HF&M. 1st "Haircut."

Thursday, August 9th was quite the trifecta for Wren.

At Noon I noticed her first tooth (lower left) had cut through.

Around 2pm I noticed bumps all over her feet/toes. I thought they were warts that suddenly appeared. After double checking with Joe, Jamie, Diane and our Pediatrician, she was diagnosed with a big case of Hand, Foot & Mouth.

And then at 6pm after getting back from a walk around Calhoun & Isles, I went to get her ready for a bath and had to give her her 1st hair cut. Her hair had wrapped around the button and loop closure on the back of her shirt. It was so snarled and knotted that I had to cut her hair in order to get the shirt off of her. Not much hair was lost, but I insisted on Joe snapping pictures of this sad event. Snagged hair, her tooth, or the HF&M must have been the culprit for her crying while out on our walk.

*P.S. - I am soooo bummed. I totally meant to save the little snip of hair that was tangled around her button and I forgot. Her shirt got tossed in the wash machine without me noticing it. It wasn't until I was pulling it out of the washer after it was washed that I got a pit in my stomach because I lost her 1st cut of hair. Not to worry - plenty of hair for a 2nd cut. Someday. Considering it took me 3 years to cut my boy's hair, there's no telling how long it'll take me for my girl's hair!!!

Happy 9 Months Wren

Wren you are at a fun age for enjoying the summertime with your big brothers. A bit younger and you may have been relegated to the Bjorn all season. A bit older and you'd be fully walking and even faster than you already are and I might have had to seriously reconsider my adamant stance against the use of kid leashes (don't worry Birdie, I'd use it on one of the boys). Your ability to sit and crawl so well has let us all enjoy time at more pools and plenty of local beaches.

But about your sitting and crawling. Our days are numbered. You've taken to letting go while standing and holding on to something. At the beginning of the month it was only for a brief moment. But in the past few days - whooo wheeee. We're talking nearly 10 seconds of free-standing. Joe insists you took one and a half steps to him. But I was in the other room, so I don't count that. Plus, I've seen you attempts to take a step. While attempts are good, greatly encouraged, and enthusiastically cheered for, I'm going to challenge you (you and I are #3's...we have older siblings to keep up with, and me a younger one. Not you...no younger sibling for you. Trust me, your brothers will gladly step into that role and give you that extra incentive without us needing to prove that giving you a younger sibling would be even more motivation) to really do it. I'm not sure if your real first step is days away or weeks away, I'm nearly certain it's not months away. I'll be watching for your confident stance, lifting your foot, moving it forward, planting it down and then bringing your other foot next to it.

- One of your first wobbly moments after letting go while standing

In the world of food, we've just accepted that you have no interest in pureed baby food and want to make our lives easier. You get our table food and seem much more interested in that. Pancakes and cereal for breakfast. Rotisserie chicken and veggies for dinner. Crackers and fruit for snacks. Sometimes we luck out and you and Otto even handle the cooking.

At nine months you are 21 lbs, 14 oz (92%) and 30" (99%). That makes you the same height as Otto and taller than Max was at this age. You weigh less than both of them did.

For your nine month birthday treat we tried to make a Pinterest "Kids in the Kitchen" recipe. Melting chocolate, dipping little blown up balloons in them and then putting them in the freezer to make chocolate bowls for a scoop of ice cream. Our balloons kept popping (perhaps I was supposed to inflate them and let them deflate a few days so that the heat from the chocolate didn't pop them). So instead we dipped some soufflé cups in the chocolate. Surprise, surprise, that didn't work either. So instead we just had the best ice cream known to man (Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip) and the boys licked the chocolate off the soufflé cups.

- This picture reminds me of when you were barely a month old. You very well could have been reaching for something so you could stand up, but I'll choose to remember it as your smile still open and your arms still wide doing their best to take in everything from this beautiful world.

- An incredibly hot June day at the Sculpture Garden. So hot I declined trying to get a picture of us all in front of the Cherry Spoon and instead snapped a few photos in the shade. With no sculptures in site.

- You're waving "Hi" now. Not on time and more like you're waving your hand in the air as if you were dancing.

- Blueberry pancakes!

some words

When I saw these pictures a week ago I told Eydie I had "No words." Now I have some words...

While a picture may be worth a thousand words, these photos Eydie took are worth millions of memories and emotions. Eydie's talent is beyond remarkable for how simply, purely and naturally she captures little loves.

The lack of distraction in the photos allows me to focus on Wren's face and features rather than the surroundings she's in. It's really the exact opposite of the thousands of photos I take of her - as those are usually all about what she's doing and the (usually) happy chaos she happens to be a part of at any given moment. When I couple Eydie's pictures of Wren with my pictures of Wren, I feel like I get the best of both worlds. A comprehensive story. The sheer beauty of Wren as captured by Eydie, as well as every day life as documented by my snapshots.

Eydie has caught Wren's little expressions so profoundly. Her pursed lips or wagging tongue:) Biting her lip. Big eyes and open mouth. I think Wren is just beautiful in these photos. It's how I feel she looks every time I look at her - even though she usually has a lot more food on her face, snot on her nose and goop in her hair.

I debated whether or not to have Eydie photograph Wren between her newborn pictures and one-year pictures. I'm glad that debate didn't last long. Because when I look through her photos I am instantly transported to the quiet moments I share with Wren that never get captured in my pictures.

Eydie's talent is such an amazing gift. She's one of those people who, once you are exposed to her talent, you know instantly that she was put on this earth to do what she does.

The photos she's taken of Max, Otto & Wren are priceless treasures. Moments in time that pass far too quickly. Her photos help ensure that I will always remember some of the beautiful details. The little dip Otto had on his left ear for the first six months after he was born. Wren's dark brown, perfect pixie newborn hair and the wild waves she has at eight months. Otto's exuberant smiles and Max's deep, far off glances.

No words. Some words. A thousand words.

To me, these pictures are beyond words.

Happy 8 Months Wren

I'm not sure if there was anything more exciting during Wren's 8th month than these...

PIGGIES!

I myself live in ponytails most of the time, but pigtails, in a little baby girl's hair - well, that just takes cuteness to a whole new level! While on the topic of hair, I figured I should take a photo to document just how much Wren has at 8 months. As you can see, when wet, it's down to her shoulder blades in back. Once dry it's got a lot of curl and shortens up by a couple inches.

The past month Wren had her 1st road-trip to Green Bay where we visited both my parents, Joe ran the marathon and I ran about two thirds of it. Although on the road much of the time, it was a great mini get-away for the three of us. Our chance to reminisce about the days of when parenting was a bit simpler.

We also spent a lot of time in the great outdoors this month. Wren's first tent camping adventure as well as many weekends spent at Joe's parents pool and the neighborhood park pools. Wren loves being in the water!

Wren has totally found her tongue this month and is sticking it out a lot and making more sounds. She's been giving me tons of gummy smiles, too. Or maybe I'm just noticing them even more than usual because I know a tooth will likely be arriving soon (Max & Otto both had their 1st tooth by 9 months).

Wren's favorite toys of the moment are stuffed animals. I love it! While the boys had snugglies that they used at bedtime, neither of them was really drawn to play with the many stuffed animals we have around the house. But Wren will almost immediately crawl to the stuffed toys and clamber to a stand on the couch to pull a really big stuffed bunny I keep there. Then she'll hold and hug and roll around playing with them. She's particularly enamored with a bright orange and pink monkey from her cousins Grace & Lyla. She loves to chew on the monkey's toes!

Mealtimes continue to slowly improve, meaning she's eating a little better. She definitely prefers to feed herself finger food like Cheerios and bites of banana rather than spoonfuls of baby food. She also loves trying to use her sippy cup, even though it doesn't appear that she's getting anything out of it.

Wren's 8th month brought a 2nd audible gasp from a Doctor given her "state of affairs." Similar to the dermatologist seeing Wren's rash a couple months ago, our pediatrician saw Wren's "leaky" face and said "I am glad you brought her in." Wren's eyes, nose, mouth and ears were a leaky mess. Turns out Wren is the first of our three kids to have an ear infection. We had avoided a penicillin prescription for nearly four and a half years. But with her diagnosis of double ear infection and double pink eye, we started that stuff and have been washing a lot of diarrhea out of clothes and bedding since. Wren is on the mend, which means the snotty snarls in her hair are also on their way out (I've taken to using Pantene Pro-V conditioner to get through the tangles)!

Wren's 8 month birthday fell on Father's Day, and just a few days past all of my birthday celebrations and a couple friend's birthday celebrations. All that means is we were, once again, inundated with a whole lot of cake and treats in our house. So, I ended up not making the dessert I planned to for Wren. Perhaps I will in another week once our sugar levels have stabilized.

Of course we still had a little dessert to commemorate 8 months. While at the pool Otto was more than willing to help his little sister get her first taste of a Drumstick. And once she got ahold of the ice cream cone she did not want to let it go.

Happy 8 Months!

Love you, Wren!

Happy 7 Months Wren

Wren turned 7 months on the 17th. Phew! Lot's going on this past month and we’ve definitely had some significant moments.

At the beginning of the month I headed back to work. For the most part everything with that change is going really well. I’m happy to say I am motivated with my work assignment and feel like I fit in well with my new team. I’m back to having a supportive boss and that little {BIG} thing makes such a difference.

Wren seems to enjoy daycare, which always makes the transition back to the office a lot more bearable. We’re lucky to have some of the same teachers that cared for Max & Otto, so they have a soft spot for Wren. She likes all the new friends, teachers and toys to play with. We’re over the hump of the first couple weeks when she refused bottles at school, which means she’s back to getting most of her calories during the day as well as back to waking just once at night to feed. By this age Max was sleeping his 12 hours solid each night, but I’m fine with Wren waking up. She eats and goes right back to bed. And sometimes holding her in the still of the night is the only chance I have to do so.

- playing at school

Another perk of daycare is that they help ensure Wren has a chance to try and eat solids a couple times before we offer her dinner at night. This is huge for me. The other Friday when all three kids were home I felt so triumphant because I actually “had a chance” to feed Wren solids two times during the day. Some days I can’t figure out how to do that…

- when I do, it still looks like this

Exactly one week before Wren turned 7 months she took off crawling. The night before she started crawling daycare had told me that she was sooooo close to doing it. I think they say that when a child has actually done something new at daycare but they want the parents to (think they’ve) seen it for the first time. At any rate, although I was taken off guard one morning when I realized she was crawling towards me and Otto rather than her usual rocking and rolling our way, I really wasn’t surprised by it. She’d been on all 4’s and rocking back and forth for a few weeks looking like she was ready to take off toward her brothers.

I was surprised, however, with what she has learned to do since the day she started crawling. Here I thought crawling was going to be the big milestone I’d get to memorialize in Wren’s baby book and the blog for her 7^th month. But in one week’s time - from her 1^st crawling until her 7^th month birthday - she’s gone from crawling on the ground to climbing up onto things. And then from leaning against things to popping up onto her toes against things. And then from kneeling to pulling herself to a stand.

- one moment

- the next

- 8am.

Kneeling in crib talking with Max

- 3pm.

Pulling herself to a stand in her crib talking with Max.

It was quite fun because I think Max was as amazed, or even more amazed, than I was with Wren's new ability. He just kept squealing every time Wren would fall down and pull herself back up.

As fun and exciting as it is to have her moving so quickly, it’s a whole new ballgame now. Wren crawls right over and tries to swipe toys from Max and Otto. She’ll sit down next to one of them and I’ll catch them “parallel” playing. When we headed outside the other day I realized the new challenge – watching all three mobile kids with just two eyes. Setting Wren on a big blanket on the lawn, she was in the woodchips trying to eat them before I could get Otto set up with the hose and watering can. I usually live in flip flops, but I’m on the hunt for some new summer tenners so I can keep up with my six additional legs all going in different directions!

- Taking toys. Joe reminded me she has some of the best mentors in this area, so I shouldn't be surprised.

- She just seems so old sitting next to Max and "parallel" playing.

Wren is such a sweetheart. All the kids are. Otto just dotes on her. Every morning he wants to cuddle in Wren’s crib with her. He’ll snuggle on the floor with her. He doesn’t love when she tries to take his toys. Max still makes her giggle. And every night both boys insist on hugging and kissing her good-night, and Otto wants to hold her.

I love that Joe and I have the opportunity to parent a girl in addition to our boys. I've always called my boys beautiful, but I'm finding that I gush to Wren about how beautiful she is. There's something that overtakes me every single time I look at her and I can't help myself from blurting out how she's the most beautiful girl in the world. Seriously. The prettiest girl I've ever seen. Prettiest girl in the world, actually. But then none of our kids have been called or casted by the "professionals of pretty" over at the Gap Casting Call, so maybe I've just got a bit of that parent bias in me...