At first she didn't have any friends in her group at New Song, but partway through the week, she got to switch groups and join a couple of friends, including Ellis Martindale. (Tons of Mormons do these VBS's because it's super-cheap babysitting and hey, the Bible.)
Really bad photo of a photo of her original group:
Pictures with Ellis:
Weeks after both VBS's had concluded, I heard Ever signing this song that she learned, I think, at the First Pres VBS:
Once or twice I heard her sing, "Through the brightest days and the darkest nights," but all the rest of the times, it was, "Through the brightest stations and the darkest nights."
Ever and Wren have both been totally sweet with Aardvark. We expected that from Ever. I was pleasantly surprised about Wren. No photographic evidence of Wren's sweetness here, but plenty of Ever's:
I did get a couple videos of Wrenzy visiting/talking to Tyna (from Tiny Baby to Tiny to Tyna*).
Also, I have to say, having a newborn you didn't give birth to is one million times easier. I had no idea it would be so different. With Ever and Wren, I never experienced postpartum or felt as if I had a particularly terrible time recovering (aside from the couple of days after Wren was born, because of the surgery). But apparently childbirth really wreaks havoc on one's body. I wasn't really well-rested before Arden was born, and I still had to get up at night to feed her (although less than is typical, which was amazing). Nonetheless, I felt great. No breastfeeding, no hormones, no having just put my body through the gnarliest experience imaginable, etc. I wasn't emotional. There were no tears. It was amazing. Night and day. When I realized that I was probably feeling really different because I wasn't dealing with the crazy hormones, I worried about Trish. She always claimed she was doing fabulously, but she did admit to crying one day because she had forgotten to thaw the meat for dinner.
Back to the summary of our lives. Tutu introduced Ever to Mary Poppins. First they watched clips and sang songs; then when Tutu was here for the baby they watched the whole (incredibly long) movie. Ever loved it, and I'm glad she appreciates those old, not-so-action-packed flicks.
The week after Aardvark was born, Wrenzy started to walk. This was the first big walking day, July 15:
It was fun that Mamo was still here to witness that. Wrenzonomous then took a break from walking for a couple weeks but finally became a real walker at 16 months. It has been so incredibly helpful. I'm so happy not to have two babies I have to carry everywhere!
There was not a lot of venturing out of the house, but we did make it to Hosp Grove one say. I admired Wrenny in the car. This age is so adorable.
Tyna, the Eskimo baby, got a bath (well, more than one, but only one was memorialized):
Wrapped in her sleep sack:
Wrenzo developed an insatiable appetite. The girl would eat almost anything, and she'd consume huge volumes of food. It was amazing, especially since she'd struggled with food for so long. She has to eat more frequently than Ever, and once she decides she's hungry, she has to be fed right then, or she loses her mind. She does the "more" sign to say, "Give me food now." Usually she insists on feeding herself, and the mess is tough.
Still a fan of the tongue:
Since we'd stolen Tutu away from the Deetrixes early in anticipation of Tyna's arrival, we let her leave us on July 18 so she could spend a few more days in Ventura before her flight home on the 22nd. We lunched at the train station Burger King since BK is Mamo's old fave. Wrenzy and Ever are incredible burger eaters like their father. Wrenzy enjoying hers:
She finished it on the platform while Ever played sassy ...
... and then sweet:
I'm a pro at the Amtrak since that's the train I ride to work. I told Jim and Mamo that the stops are short, but Jim probably had time to help Mamo on with her luggage. I failed to emphasize the brevity of the stops. I've seen people miss stops because they weren't fast enough. I really erred by not being clear. When Mamo's train arrived, Jim carried her suitcase on. The girls and I stood there watching and waiting. He didn't get off, and he didn't get off. "Where is he?" I kept thinking (and maybe saying, too). I saw the conductor pick up the little announcement phone, and I thought he was going to give a final warning about the imminent departure. But the doors closed right then, and Jim had never disembarked. I stood there going, "He never got off. He never got off!" Ever lost her mind and started screaming and crying. She seemed to think her father would never return. I tried to quiet her down. "Daddy is just going on a little train ride. He'll turn around and come back as soon as he can." Jim called, and Mamo was texting me. Mamo was in tears, she felt so bad. Jim was irate that they hadn't given any warning before taking off.
As for me, I was stranded at the train station with all three girls. My car keys were in my purse, which was locked in the car. I figured it could be up to four hours before Jim returned since there aren't a ton of trains running in the middle of the day. I wondered if I had enough formula for the baby, and what would we do all that time? I got the girls into the Amtrak office. Ever was still freaking out. Wren started to fuss. I called my visiting teacher, Melanie Oddou, to see if she could come pick up a kid or two. She wasn't available right then and suggested a locksmith. I hated to pay for that, especially if by the time I could get into my car and drive home I'd have to go back to pick up Jim. Shortly after I talked to Melanie, Jim called and said there would be a return train from San Juan Capistrano about 15 minutes after he arrived there, so he'd be back within about two hours from when the train left Oceanside. The girls settled down, and I realized we'd be just fine. By the time I'd corresponded with Jim, Mamo, and Melanie and changed a nasty diaper courtesy of Wrenzo, Jim was going to be back soon. Melanie was determined to help so came to pick up Wrenzo 20 or 30 minutes before Jim was due to arrive. Then he was back, and it turned out not to be a big deal at all. By the next day, Ever thought it was the funniest story, and she started telling everyone she saw about the time Daddy got stuck on the train.
Derrick Karner came to see the baby and pointed out that the strawberry on her face was shaped like a sideways heart, which I hadn't noticed before:
(Note: she's got a total of three of these hemangiomas. They get darker and bigger for the first few months and then go away - at least mostly - over a period of years. As I write this, hers are way darker than in the above picture but are already starting to get white spots in them as they resolve.)
Cute burper with fun hair:
Trisha gave us this onesie, which says, "Made with love (and science)":
Wrenzy spent a lot of time trying to open the gate Jim made:
(She got it open a handful of times, and then she learned to climb up the side by the piano. The gate's useful life wasn't as long as we might have hoped.)
Ever enjoys doing puzzles, and she's gotten good at them. Auntie Dawn sent some Frozen ones, and Ever did them over and over:
A week after Mamo left, Jim went on the high-adventure trip with Gary Oddou and the scouts, leaving me alone for nearly a week. In preparation for his trip, he decided to test my bear mace by spraying it into the kitchen sink. He has always doubted its efficacy. He also wondered if it had expired, as it's really old. Lastly, he wanted to make sure he knew how to use it. So he did the teeniest little spray into the sink - just pushed down until he heard it spray and then released. He did not consult me before doing so, and I didn't know what was going on. Arden and I were on the couch. I heard the little spray. Then Jim started hacking. He told me what he'd done, and Arden and I escaped upstairs. He opened windows and then came up coughing and sweating, eyes watering and snot pouring out of his nose. He went back downstairs to clean out the sink. I took this picture as the baby and I hibernated upstairs to remember the experience:
My throat felt weird, and Arden started fussing. When Jim returned from cleaning the sink, his hands were burning. We were a little worried about the baby, and Jim was beating himself up for his bad idea. "I can't wait to tell the ER doctor I sprayed her with pepper spray," he said. Pretty funny, as we were all OK.
Wren has gotten really into books. She loves when we read to her, as long as the books are short and picture-focused. She also enjoys reading alone.
She likes to take books off the bottom shelf in her room, slide between the rocking chair and the wall, and look at her books. It's cute.
Our week without Jim was mostly fine. We made it to Target once because we had to buy a gift for Ever to take to a birthday party for a preschool friend. We got a monster cart (Ever's favorite) and filled it with girls:
Ever had a great time at the birthday party, despite her expression in the picture below. You can't go wrong with a princess theme and four-year-old girls:
(Wren looks like a serial killer in that picture, no?) I think Ever woke me once and the other two each woke me twice. Wrenzy just woke screaming for no reason. Aardvark needed to eat. Once I was up with Arden for over an hour because I couldn't settle her back down. Miraculously, I survived just fine.
Luc Oddou, who still loves Ever and plans to marry her, was eating Nutella one day and tried to put some on a plate to give to her. Susan suggested that he at least put it on something like toast. So Ever received a delivery of old toast with some Nutella smeared on it, and she thought it was totally delicious:
Before Jim got home, I texted him this picture of the biggest and littlest:
He responded from the car and said that Tyna looks like Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family:
*With regard to the name "Tyna," and speaking of celebrities, the name evolved, as noted above, from "Tiny Baby." The spelling, however, is inspired by Blac Chyna, and we sometimes call Arden "Blac Tyna." I think it's hilarious that our baby is named (sort of) after this ridiculous woman who is currently carrying the child of Rob Kardashian:
I can't recommend that you Google her because nearly all of the photos of her are completely indecent.
