Wren at Home - The First Couple Weeks

Tuesday, March 24, we went home from the hospital. Wren's first car ride:

Jim took Ever to her last tumbling class on Wednesday. I was worried he would be really uncomfortable hanging out with the mom friends during class, but he did OK.

Mamo snuggled a lot with Wren. She would just lay the babe on her chest, and Wren would sleep and sleep. Since Mamo doesn't like pictures of herself, this is a close-up of Wren sleeping on Mamo:

Wren is a cute sleeper.

Like Mamo, Ever loves snuggling with Wren. Wren looks possessed here, but it was a nice sister moment:

We had Mamo with us for almost a week after we got home from the hospital. We just hung out at home pretty much the whole time, although we did manage to get out for a walk or two:

We had told Renei (Relief Society President) that we didn't want dinners, but she lined up a whole bunch of meals anyway. We had dinners every night for a week, including two dinners the night after we got back. Karen Bunnell up the street sent lunch down one day. Friends came by with treats. We had so much food that I began freezing whatever could be frozen and gorging myself on the rest trying to keep up. All those meals meant we didn't have to worry about cooking at all initially. Mamo got to spend her time focusing on the girls and helping with other stuff, which was great. 

Then there were the gifts. By the time Jim and I got back from the hospital, Mariah Koehle had dropped off gifts for Wren and a big-sister present for Ever. Many people brought gifts along with the food. It was out of control. We were blown away by people's kindness and generosity. It made me realize how awful I am that I almost never take dinner to people, would never think of taking a gift too, and certainly would never think of taking gifts for older siblings. Ever made out with almost as much stuff as Wren. One of the gifts she got was this giant coloring roll from Pam and Mark McEwan (less than half the roll is pictured):

I was grateful when the presents ceased so I could stop worrying about thank-you notes! 

Several friends also took Ever for play dates, to the park, to the beach, etc., so I had time with just Wren. They sent pictures so I could see how much fun Ever was having. She sure loves playing with other kids.

Mamo left on March 30. She was such an amazing help while she was here. She's a cleaning phenom and is so proactive about seeing what needs to be done and doing it. There's no better mom or Tutu in the world. I'm so grateful for all she is and does.

The first weekend in April was General Conference and Easter. That Friday night, the Rondos hosted their annual Easter party/egg hunt. I left Wren home with Jim and took Ever to the party. I felt a little like a celeb; it was my first outing since Wren's birth, so I got more attention than usual. Ever had a good time.

We got ambitious and had friends, Alan and Haleigh Bruns, over for belgian waffles and the Sunday morning session of Conference. The girls did pretty well while we watched - particularly Wren, who sleeps. I forgot how much newborns sleep. As you'll see in upcoming photos, Wren spent much of the beginning of her life sleeping and otherwise hanging out on this wonderful pillow Susan Oddou lent me:

She's been a really good baby. She generally doesn't cry unless she's hungry or overtired. She made it pretty easy to leave her on that pillow.

We had Easter dinner at the Karners' with the Karner/Oddou clan. I love doing holidays at other people's houses. Not cooking is my favorite!

Jim went back to work the Monday after Easter (April 6). That first day I was alone with the two girls, we barely left the couch. Ever was so good. She just hung out, kept herself busy or just sat with us. She is a good helper, and she adores her baby sister.

I only had three days alone before Bags came to help...