Wendy Week: a Chronicle of Firsts

The first year of a baby’s life is filled with so many ‘firsts’ it boggles the mind!  Even as fully invested as I am in her growth, I know I have forgotten more of them than I remember.  Still, recalling these  little and big milestones brings such delight!

Take today’s ‘firsts’ for example:  
She said “Ba” for ball . 
She rubbed Charlie’s back, when I told her to be gentle. 
She got her first black eye by tripping and falling onto the bathtub rim. 
She walked up to Charlie with her arms open, asking for a hug.  
She held my hand and walked all the way through the parking lot, down the steps and to our front door.  (Of course, she felt the need to investigate  a leaf, the crack of the sidewalk, and a splat of bird doo on the way!)

Not long ago, that same side walk gave her her first skinned knee:

…which made her crawl like this for a few days:

Incidentally, the discomfort of crawling that night motivated her that night to take her first steps!  
But before she could walk… First free stand!

And she didn’t really start walking seriously until after our trip to NC for Easter, where Grandma and Grandpa gave Charlie and Wendy their first Easter Egg Hunt:
(“Yes! All the pretties are mine!!!” … "What do you mean by, “those are Charlie’s eggs”?”)

Before Easter,  she learned to crawl,

 

..and got her first curl of hair

…and first taste of summer fruit along the way:

  

Spring brought Wendy’s first hike:
(who doesn’t love hiking barefoot?)First art project:

Winter brought Spring and was full of fun firsts! 

First Family Slide Ride!

First day at the Beach!
First two-piece swim suit!

First New Years! First Christmas!

Baptism,

Rolling,
Sitting!
    

And what fueled all that fun; all that development? 
Why, Chocolate Ice Cream, the perfect first food, of course!Just kidding!  The first (intentional) food didn’t come for several more month and was boring barley cereal—I think she liked the chocolate ice cream better!  Still, Wendy LOVES to eat!  Sometimes when she is eating, she gets so excited and smiles so big that her food falls back out of her mouth!

Which brings me to her first smiles:
Let me just say this about Wendy’s smile. It is like grace. It is like the gospel. When she looks you in the eyes and laughs, you cannot help but be overwhelmed, swayed, softened and changed.

   
Seeing Wendy’s smile for the first time, confirmed what was happening in our hearts.  Something about the first few weeks of a newborn’s life creates a time warp, I think.  I don’t know if it is the sleep deprivation, or the raging hormones, but so little and so much happen that it feels eternal and like a rushing freight train all at the same time.  Then again, falling in love can have that affect on you! Wendy’s second week of life included meeting her cousin and all three great-grandparents for the first time, her first wedding,  her first plane flight and her first bath!—That’s a lot for a week!    

Wendy’s first week was not less eventful (after all she was born in it!), but it did involve less long-distance travel.  Here she is getting ready for her first car ride.
(This was after her first ambulance ride and her first time being dropped out of an ambulance—which I did not document and let’s hope were also a ‘last’ experience!)

 

Wendy was welcomed home by Nana and Charlie and
    our neighbors.  Here is her first birthday cake (a home-made present from our neighbor, 
if you can believe it!) It was perfect!!!

This is how Wendy first met Charlie:
Weeks before her birth, in an attempt to help Charlie visualize what it meant to say that Wendy was going to be born soon, I told him that when little tiny baby sister came out of Mama’s tummy, he would be able to hold her hand.

The first time he came to see us at the hospital, he marched
into our room, located me and Wendy, climbed up on the
bed, dug through the blankets, extracted her hand and
gripped it tight before he even said so much as “Hi” to me.

He was a brother on a mission to meet this precious girl!

 

 

Which brings me to the beginning….the first first….
it all began with Wendy’s first breath:

What a beautiful sound it was when it finally came! Her Dada caught her just right with a towel from between my legs, laid her on our bedroom floor, rubbed her blue chest, and urgently said “Breathe, baby girl, breathe!” And she did. (Though, little spitfire that she is, this instance may also be the first, only AND last time she obeys him…)

And this long post would hardly be complete if I didn’t mention that she is our first daughter, too.  That’s a big first that keeps on firsting!  Welcome to the world and our hearts, Wendy Brielle Marzinke!

Wendy Week: Being a Sister

Being a baby sister is something we are all learning about for the first time.  Jonathan doesn’t have any sisters and I’m the oldest, and Charlie had no idea how his life was going to be turned upside down when she was born.  Wendy is foraging new ‘sister’ ground for us all.  

One thing is for certain, being little tiny baby sister means being adored by more than just Mama and Dada from day one…I’ll talk more about their first meeting tomorrow, but Charlie’s love for Wendy was pent up for months before she came.  Once she was a tangible reality, he was bursting to show her just how much he loved her!Being loved by Charlie takes very creative form sometimes!  For example, every girl needs cars when she’s going to the doctor for her 7-day check-up, right?  Especially when they are lovingly placed there by a brother who knows just how boring waiting for the doctor without toys can be!And who cares about the risk of a broken back when you have your very own superhero who can climb into your crib to wind up your mobile if Mama turns her back for a second and you get fussy!Speaking of the crib…They have clocked HOURS together in that thing! …some with Mama’s knowledge and some without!

       

For Wendy, being a sister means she has always had someone to watch…To look up to…And to imitate….Being a sister means rarely doing something alone, or for the first time…It means learning to share all sorts of things like bath time, rubber duckies, purses, cheerios, cheese, wrestles with Dada, and even Mama’s arms!  Sharing can be hard….(sometimes there’s grabbing and pushing and screaming and crying)….other times it can be oodles and be oodles of fun!

Being a sister means there is always someone to share car rides with (and hand you back your toys when you drop them), to watch the tree (I love that tree!)  wave “Hi” with before breakfast with, and best of all, there is always someone to giggle, shriek and play with!

May they continue to learn the joy of sharing life together and be dear, life-long friends!

Wendy Week: Life Tips on Day 1

All ye, Hear ye!

In anticipation of the youngest member of our family finally getting an age number, I hereby declare Wendy Week--a newly minted virtual festival held in honor of Wendy (of course)!  

Celebrations will include daily naps, quotes, stats, cute videos of our one and only 11-month-old chubs, and of course as much delight and zest for living as we can pack into the next few days.   Let the festivities begin!  

First up for your viewing pleasure,  here are 5 tips on life skills from Wendy herself!

1.  How to Wrestle a Stuffed Baseball:  Learn to Lose Gracefully

2.  How to Acquire Food When You are Hungry:  Learn to Forage Like a Wild Primate

3.  How to Intimidate and Dominate Others with Your Charm:  Learn to Growl Like a Lion

4.  How to Ingratiate Yourself with Your Batman-Loving Brother:  Learn to Say “Batman” With a Growl

5. How to Permanently Retain the Position of Youngest in the House:  Learn to Walk and Climb (thus keeping your mother so busy saving you from killing yourself that she cannot begin to imagine having another child)

Twaks

Me, pointing to the batman sweatshirt on the floor, where Charlie dropped it after coming in the door and taking it off: "Charlie, what is this?"
Charlie, in a cheerful, instructional voice: "Oh! That is the twak(track) of me takin off my fweat showt. Dat's how you can twak wew I was. I was heew, Mama, whened I taked it off."

'Ticky like ‘piderman…

Surprisingly, it turns out that carefully inserting each of your fingers into a mac and cheese noodle and then trying to climb the wall on your way to the bathroom because your fingers are "'ticky like 'pider-man's" does NOT work! --not for the climbing, not for the Mama...

let’s play pretend

It’s a play date at our house with Alaythia this morning and the imaginary plot line is getting a little too complicated for this adult!

I came running when I heard, "Mama Keren! Mama Keren san emergency!" 

Then I was firmly reprimanded since I was dull enough to not know that Charlie was Mama Keren and baby Slalie Ponchot was calling *her* mommy, not me.  

Now *mama Keren* is on the *weigher* with several tissues and a *toaster* on his chest.  And he has a *bad ear and mouth that needs a stacking cup*. From the looks of things, it's a pretty bad case, but on the bright side he has a pretty doctor who is wearing a very pretty blue polka dot apron.

So I'm sure he will be recovered by snack time!