Wendy Week: Happy 1st Birthday!

You woke up at 6:30 this morning, but that’s usual.  Dada brought you into bed to nurse. I love nursing you.  You love being done so that you can flop over on your stomach, wiggle your legs over the edge and slide off.  You head straight for the curtain to see your tree and check for birds and squirrels.  If you see one, you lean up on your tip-toes to watch it run or fly as far as you can.  Then you check on us, lying in bed, watching you, to see if we saw it too.   We didn’t, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about it with you.

                          Then Charlie starts humming.  He does that every morning when he wakes up, and every morning I promise myself, that I’m going to get a recording of it before he grows out of this stage.  I love his morning songs.  He loves having the bedroom to himself to wake up in.   He takes a while to wake up, he likes to be alone, and snuggle with his blankets before he is ready to see anyone, but especially you, Wendy.  Your exuberant “Eye(Hi)!” is too much for him first thing.  Except this morning.  When I walk in and I tell him that it is your birthday today, he is immediately up.  Excited.  And he wants to give you a birthday hug.  You love it!

We have breakfast in stages, and video chat with your grandparents while you open your packages from them.  Charlie helps you.  You have no idea what it is to do something interesting by yourself. When you are bigger, you are going to fight for independence from his interest in your life just like you fight for independence from us. But you aren’t big enough for that yet. Right now, whatever you are focused on is better if you are next to him and he is doing it with for you. After presents, you take a nap.  This morning there were thunderstorms and Charlie was very worried about the noise, but it didn’t bother you at all.   You slept from 8:45 to 10:45 and woke up very refreshed.  Charlie wanted to get in with you, which made you bounce and shriek and bonk your head on the side of the crib.  Sometimes enthusiasm can be painful, but I love the way you don’t let that stop you.  You know its worth it for the fun!After some snacks we got dressed to go to the store.  I remembered we had some rain boots for you, and Charlie was so excited about going “mudin WITH Wendy!”  It turns out you rock boots.  I have never seen cuter knees in boots. Ever. To Market to Market to buy some fresh cream, white chocolate and bread
Home again, Home again, let’s bake up a cake, just like we said….I do have to say, this picture is reminding me that I adore the way you wave to everything and everyone we pass when you are in the stroller or any kind of cart.  It makes me feel like I’m pushing the Queen of England, or Miss America on a float….elbow, elbow, wrist wrist, touch your pearls and blow a kiss….Today, because it was your birthday, you and Charlie each picked out a little balloon.  Actually Charlie picked them both out.   A blue smiley face and a yellow smiley face.  You immediately began to gnaw on your balloon while Charlie hyperventilated about it popping and I repeatedly told him, it was fine and to let me be the Mommy.   Until I noticed that you had a strange golden smile—the yellow paint was coming off where you were licking the balloon—and then it was time for me to hyperventilate.  I only tell you this so that you will know, someday when you are a Mom, that sometimes you will make the very best, most well-intentioned mistakes.   And it is Ok.  Also, balloons are really not a toy, but they should be. Thankfully, you were just as happy to chew on the little plastic stick that came with the balloon for the rest of our trip.  After lunch and a glorious nap with your brother,  we shared a bowl of blackberries.   It makes me laugh how very anxious you get about making sure that your tray stays full when you are eating something you really like.  If you get down to the last five or six bites you start asking and crying for more as if you had none left at all.

  

Then it was time to go muddin!  Charlie was really excited about going with you! 

    You on the other hand, planted your feet, leaned over to touch the muddy water once or twice, and then signed to me in no uncertain terms that you were “All done!”  You watched the rest of the proceedings from the stroller, with a wary look. 

…Until we found a puddle that didn’t involve grass and squishy mud!Of course, after the muddin, we needed baths.  You and Charlie sang a bath-time duet.  Charlie was singing about the snack he was about to get.  You were singing for the pure joy of bathing (and being with Charlie)!

After your baths we had dinner.  I made a favorite: peas with chicken and rice in coconut milk, and a little ginger to flavor it.  You ate a LOT for dinner tonight!  

Then our neighbors, the Sandersons walked over to help us sing to you and watch you blow your candle out.  You weren’t really sure how to.  Don’t worry, we will work on that.   But Charlie was glad to help!

Everyone was happy to eat cake!    (I made the butterflies out of white chocolate. It was fun to imitate your first birthday cake, though mine is not quite the creation that first one was! )…Looks like you did a good job eating it yourself!Not many girls get two baths in a day.  Still, but I figured it worked out perfectly, since they are one of your favorite activities.  

There you are, Zu-zu, heading off to bed with sleepy eyes.   Full of rice and chicken and cake; fully ONE!   You sure celebrated well today! What a great first year!   I can’t wait to see you through other!  

Happy Birthday, Wen-d-dee-dee-deee!

Wendy Week: Guide to Communication

Wendy, thought she’d write this post, since she is becoming an expert! 

“Words?  Well, if you are going to get anything around this house, you have to make your requests known.   Apparently when I got here there was already another child (I haven’t quite figured out what to call him yet) taking all of Mama’s time and energy.  I’ve done my best to commandeer her for myself, but he is pretty tough competition.  She seems to think he is cute and is very committed to keeping him around, so I try to work with it the best I can.  Of course, he is fascinating and really, if I’m honest,  very handy in some situations.” 

“The big people seem to have  this weird complicated system to communicate.  It involves an endless variety of sounds, which are fun to imitate and all, but let’s just be honest here.  If you really want to get some action, just scream.  It works every time.” 

“Of course, Mama will tell you that she has taught me signs for lots of words.  She has this theory that giving babies signs to communicate is like giving them tools.  She thinks that if I have signs, I won’t want to scream.   What she doesn’t realize is how much faster she turns around when I yell at her, than when I sit there quietly moving my hands in some asinine repetitive motion.   But I’ll give her props for being almost as stubborn as I am.  Even after I scream and she knows exactly what I want, I still have to make the stupid sign to get it!”

“All that to say, signing is not so much a tool for me, more a frustrating  incentive to get on with talking.   I’ve discovered if I make a noise even remotely like the word that belongs with the sign, she stops making me move my hands to get what I want.  So recently, I’ve been dropping signs left and right and super motivated to get on with the talking.” 

“Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:  You can get a lot of mileage out of three or four simple sounds.  Try changing the inflection and, viola, it’s a whole new word!    For example, I get a lot of attention for saying Batman.  It gets me kisses!  I’m so good at  saying Batman, now that I can picking it out of a conversation in the next room and repeat it back.   They think I’m so smart, but really all I did was put a growly voice on my sound for bye-bye.   Seriously, Batman = ‘ba-ba” with a growl; Bye-bye = “ba-ba” in a sing-song tone!  And they think I’m fantastic for it!   That, my friends is how you get the cover-your-whole-body-in-goose-bump kisses!  You really have to make sure they don’t make you work to hard, how do you think I’ve managed to maintain my chub this long?  Shortcuts!  It’s all in the shortcuts—well, and food.  (But that is a subject for another day!)”

“Anyways, I was about to show-off to you how much mileage I’ve gotten out a few simple sounds:”

• “Bwa-bwa”  = bottle, or to nurse
  
   
• “Wa-bwa” = water cup (certainly not to be confused with ‘bottle’)
• ”Aba” = Amen
• ”Bee-bee” = Wendy, baby, please-please (I use this to get something that I want, but it certainly took Mama a loooooong time to figure out what this one meant)
• "Ba-ba” (with growly voice) = Batman
• "Ba-ba” (with sing song voice and wave) = bye bye
• “Na-na” = night night (said over and over after I leave the room and she is falling asleep)
• “Chssss” = cheese (first word)
• “Aaaaaaa” = ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m ready for the next bite’
• “Da-da” or “Da” = Dada
• “Ma-ma-ma” = Mama
• “Apee” = ‘up please’
• “Ah dya” = ‘all done’ or ‘all gone’
  

  …from February
  

  …from May

• “Tzzss” = ‘brush teeth’
• “Eye” = hi
• “Ma” = more
• “Mwaah” = kiss

“Impressive, right?  Also, it is only fair to admit, that I do keep a few signs around for their cute = cuddle properties.   I do love a good hug and cuddle!  Here’s my most effective one: the sign for sleep.”

“Na na!”

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!