The Rest of May: Kids, Mother's Day, Anniversary

When I got back from Virginia, this girl seriously didn't seem to know who I was:

We've since become reacquainted. 

Meanwhile Wrenzy looked adorable in the hat Jim got her while  I was gone, although I have to say I don't think it's been worn since:

Ever had Crazy Sock Day at school on May 12. Since she doesn't own any fun socks, she was adamant that we go to Target that morning before school and buy some. Turns out Ever was the only one in her class to remember the occasion, to which Mrs. Reese said, "Of course." Mrs. Reese told me when she was talking to the class about the things they were going to bring home for Mother's Day, Ever raised her hand and said, "So-and-so wasn't here that day" (meaning the day they made the Mother's Day stuff). When I told Jim that I think such anecdotes mean she's a genius, he said they mean she's going to remember everything we do wrong. So there is that. These were the craziest socks we could find:

I have to include this picture because I love Ever's mane:

A few times I stopped by Frazier Farms with the girls on the way home from picking Ever up from school. I love a cart full of girls.

The day that picture was taken, Ever got out at the checkout line and helped unload things. After putting something on the belt, I turned back to the girls and saw the cart falling over. Ever was trying to lift it up, but it was basically on top of her and only a couple inches off the ground. Both Tyna and Wren were still inside. Tyna was belted in, and somehow no one got hurt because it all happened in slow motion. A man rushed to help lift the cart up, and I got there about the same time. Everybody was fine, but I really must have looked like a mess of a mother. I a little bit scolded Ever for pulling the cart over while trying to reach inside. She started crying, so then I was trying to comfort her. I think Tiny was having difficulties, too. It was not ideal. 

Wrenzy is not the best at drawing on paper. The first thing I thought when she came into the kitchen like this was "reindeer," although that's probably not the right animal:

We had Alina over a few times to give Mel a break. She's a happy, easy kid, and I enjoyed her and Wrenzy's matching wispy hair:

To pay me back, Mel had Ever and Wren over one morning. They had a grand time.

Jim pulled off another successful Mother's Day brunch at church. It was touch and go there for a while, as we ended up with the wrong kind of Rhodes cinnamon rolls. They were some new type that are to be microwaved instead of baked. We stayed up really late the night before doing test batches, making sure we could bake them in the oven so we could make them fresh at church, and figuring out the ice cream-based goo in which Kathy Shirley used to bake them. Curse Kathy Shirley for starting this Mother's Day brunch/lunch tradition! We are not sad that next year will probably be our last Mother's Day as Mr. and Mrs. bishop.

Ever presented me with all sorts of neat things for Mother's Day. I made her pose with them two months later so I could document my gifts.

This one she made at school made Jim and me cry. She's getting big so fast.

Ever was very excited about a "Mother's Day Book" she made for me all by herself early one morning. 

It's adorable how she tries to sound words out. Sometimes we're better at figuring out what she was trying to say than others. These pages (are intended to) say, "Mom, I love you. You do many different things for me. I like going shopping. Mom, you're wonderful in many different ways. You make many different things..."

I think that sentiment is continued onto this page, which is harder to make out but is accompanied by a nice heart:

The end is, "You're the best mom. You're so wonderful. Happy Mother's Day."

She's the sweetest.

Jim took the Thursday and Friday after Mother's Day off for our anniversary. We didn't have a sitter Thursday, and Jim had a man cold anyway. I don't think we really did anything. Friday we had Taylor (the sitter we use on the day I work) come over in the morning, and then Alissa Hawkins relieved her after school and spent the night and all Saturday with the girls. Jim had booked us a hotel by Little Italy in San Diego in what turned out to be a pretty ghetto area. The hotel is new, and the room was really expensive. The website makes the place look nice. The room was small but fine:

We were shocked when we opened the drapes, though. Are you kidding me? So much money to look at this?

We got online and searched for a room in that hotel that night and found a significantly lower price than Jim paid. We felt very ripped off, and I determined to complain. It did not occur to me to complain right then and ask if they could switch us to a different room. Jim deleted his booking confirmation e-mail, and I lost the card for the manager I requested when we checked out. So two months later I sent an e-mail to a generic sales department e-mail address I found online. Unsurprisingly, I have not received a response. I'm still bitter about their misleading marketing and exorbitant prices.

Jim felt like trash all weekend but tried to power through and make it fun. We walked to dinner at a fancy restaurant that night. Our salad blew my mind, but the main courses were not great. It's really hard for me to spend money and not feel as if I'm getting value for it. We enjoyed watching a crowd salsa dance to a live band outside the restaurant.

There was a Cheesecake Factory nearby, so we split a slice before walking back to the hotel. We went in the hot tub and then discovered that the pool was actually a more enjoyable temperature, although it was freakishly small and shallow - about three feet deep the whole way. We were both very tired by 10:30 or 11, but Jim was determined to have the fun tims and made us walk another few miles to Extraordinary Desserts. We got a couple things to go and took them back to the room. I had reached my sweets limit after the cheesecake but did my part anyway. I know that place is supposed to be amazing, but I don't think either of the things we got was incredible. 

Saturday morning we tried to go for a run but started walking after a couple miles. It was hot, and Jim was sick. We ran here when we did a San Diego anniversary weekend a few years ago.

We decided to go to a matinee of The Old Man and The Old Moon at the Old Globe Theater. (Speaking of olds, the crowd was definitely mostly white-hairs.) A youth dance group did some dancing in the courtyard outside while we were waiting to go into the theater. That was fun.

My favorite part was when bystanders joined them, and this older fellow really got his groove on.

The Old Man and The Old Moon is a show by PigPen Theatre Co. that incorporates folk music and hand puppetry to tell an Irish (?) folktale, or something like that. I was in love with the set at first sight. Before the show started, an Orlando Bloom look-alike came out and started playing folk music. The other members of the group joined him one by one. 

This is the only picture of us from the weekend, waiting for the show to start:

The music was our favorite part. I loved it. The story was fun, and the whole production was charming although a little long. The group did a Q&A afterward, and it was interesting to learn more about them. They're a group of guys who recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon drama school. I'm amazed they've been able to do what they've done.  

We started heading toward home after the show, and I researched more places to eat. We tried a new farm-to-table restaurant that blew us away with its appetizers but, again, left something to be desired in the entree department. Most of the food was too adventurous for us, and I ended up ordering beef cheek ravioli. Jim asked for clarification about the beef cheek, and it really is just what it says it is. I tried to pretend that that didn't bother me, but I was really disgusted by the thought of eating a cow's face. Also the sauce just wasn't the best. At least the appetizers were wonderful. 

When we got home, Alissa said that everything went great and she would do it again. (This was her first overnight gig.) I was pleased. Her parents subsequently reported to us that Alissa told them all she did the whole time was feed people, change diapers, and put people to bed. Her mom said she asked, "Why do they have to poop every time they eat?" Although that's sad for her, I felt validated. That is my life. Their basic needs take up all the time. (Side note: Alissa subsequently agreed to watch the two littles for a whole weekend in September when we go to my work retreat, so it really must have gone OK, despite all the feeding and diaper changing.)

We went swimming at a friend's pool once. I know flotation vests make kids not learn to swim, but it is amazing to be able to let Wren go in by herself.  

Jim and Wrennington Steele played a nice Wren-controls-the-snuggles game one evening.

On one of our Saturday runs, Tyna was making the stinkiest faces. Totally unimpressed.  

I worked hard to get a bit of a smile out of her. 

My Wren is a tiny little wisp of a thing. 

It's hard to handle her cuteness. One night she ate tons of pesto pasta, and I asked if she were a pesto monster. She said, "I not pesto monster. I Wrenzypoo!" After that, we began asking her regularly, "Are you Wren Mara Kringel?" She would answer, "I not Wren Mara Kingel [sic]" or "I not Wren Mara." "Who are you?" "I Wrenzypoo!" After about a month of that, she lengthened it, becoming "Wrenzypoo-lovey." As I write this, she is always adamantly "Wrenzypoo-lovey." Sometimes she tells me that Ever is Wren Mara.

Tiny 's mop of hair is glorious.

Jim despises cooking - unless he's making a recipe from Sunset magazine on a Sunday afternoon. He made us a berry pie once. We gorged and finished it all right then, and that sort of ruined the experience. Then he made amazing blackberry turnovers:

I loved them so much. We shared some with Cikaneks next door, and Scott didn't save any for Rebecca. 

Tiny has become so much more difficult than she was as a baby. For so many months, she just lay on her back, totally chill. Now she is everywhere and into everything. She knows what she wants and cries to get it. This phase is so hard, when I have to watch her all the time and worry about her choking on everything and she can't speak to communicate her desires. At least she's squeezable, with the best cheeks in the business. 

On Memorial Day, Ever tried to teach Wren The Pledge of Allegiance. This is the best overall video I got, even though Wren doesn't really participate. Note the ending, "just as for all."

Virginia for Anson

Courtney and Dustin's firstborn, Anson Taggart Homer, arrived on April 4. Auntie Coco came to Oceanside for all of our babies and helped so much, changing all the diapers, cooking, cleaning, etc. Jim said long ago that I needed to visit her when she had babies and try to repay her. He volunteered to take a week off so he could watch our girls while I went to help with Anson. We had to plan ahead so he could request the time off. Ultimately I decided to fly out on Friday, April 28 and return on Saturday, May 6. Jim only had that Monday-Friday off, so I had to line up a sitter (JoAnn) for the Friday of my departure. (He was also scheduled to work at the hospital on the Saturday of my return, so I arranged for a sitter for that day, too. Somebody ended up picking up his shift, though, so I canceled that sitter last-minute.)

I was so excited leading up to Anson's birth, and I wished I were with Bags when she was having contractions and trying to figure out if she was in labor. I required constant updates from her on the day she ended up being induced. Mamo was able to be there when Anson was born, and Dustin's parents went out shortly after Mamo left. Then Bags was on her own for one work week until I arrived. The timing ended up being perfect. Dustin left for a conference in London the Sunday after I got there and was gone until Friday night (the night before I left). Dustin thanked me very sincerely for coming and said, referring to the week before I arrived, "It's been bleak." Bags was pretty much living on the couch nursing constantly, so grocery shopping and cooking weren't really possible. Newborn life is tough.

Bags's routine at that point was to stay up until around 11:00 P.M. or midnight with the baby - after his last feeding of the day - and then stay in bed as long as possible in the morning. The Saturday after I arrived, I woke up early (around 7:00 I think), despite not having gone to bed until after 1:00 A.M. Bags and Dustin were still hibernating, so I decided to go for a run. The temperature felt nice at first, although I learned within 10 minutes that humidity makes running a lot harder. The scenery totally makes up for it, though. I couldn't get enough of the green.

I got back and showered before Bags and Dustin emerged, so I felt productive. Later that day I fetched some groceries, and we made fajitas for dinner. Anson did some chilling in what Bags calls "the taco."

He's so cute and so, so tiny. It's weird that I brought home a newborn about his size last July, and yet I already forgot how incredibly small they are.  

Sunday Dustin went to church, and I kept Bags company at home. We watched a talk from general conference, although Bags realized as it was ending that she'd already seen it. She and I share memory issues. 

For dinner, I made Mediterranean pork with whole wheat couscous, green salad, asparagus, and broccoli. Dustin was very grateful for the vegetables (and the rest of the meal), as they'd been heavy on carbs and lacking in nutrition in recent days. I have to say, cooking is more enjoyable when the people for whom you're cooking are appreciative. (I'm looking at you, Ever and Wren.) 

Bags and I spent an inordinate amount of time decided what treat to make, finally settling on these chocolate sugar cookies with mint frosting and chocolate glaze:

Bags figured we should take Dustin's work trip as an opportunity to make things we love and he doesn't. Dustin doesn't like mint chocolate or pumpkin, so later in the week, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I left bags of both types of cookies in the freezer for Bags to enjoy, although I did some serious damage to the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies before I left.  

With Dustin out of our way after Sunday evening, we started watching a lot of trashy 90's TV (a teen show that shall remain nameless) while Bags nursed or we otherwise dealt with the wee child. The first few days I was scared to get too close to Antone* on account of my sleep deprivation-induced sore throat. Eventually I decided it seemed to be a chronic ailment that wasn't turning into a serious illness, and Bags admitted she'd like me to change diapers. I started doing so, although I still didn't do as many as I should have. (It's confirmed: boy diapers freak me out.) Other than that, I did more grocery shopping, cooked as much as I could (leaving a bunch of food in their freezer), did dishes (their dishwasher broke right before Antone was born), cleaned a very little bit, and generally just tried to provide moral support. 

We stayed up super late every night, and then I had a hard time sleeping when I finally did try to sleep. After a few days of that, I decided I wasn't going to sleep at all on that trip and stopped trying. One night Antone wasn't going back down very well after eating, so I took him through the night after his feedings. I also took him a few times during the day so Court could nap. I got in a couple more runs and took Tony on a super-long walk one day (almost six miles). Most of my jaunts ended up being longer than intended because I could never find my way back to Coco's house - even with the map in my Nike Run app. Once or twice I had to pull up driving directions and have the phone lady narrate my way back to the house. While I was out, I couldn't stop taking pictures of pretty houses and lovely, green streets.

Very few pictures were taken in the home, but I did get a couple of cute photos of the new mom cuddling the wee one:

How adorable is his little face?

Nephew time:

Before  I left, Bags, Tone Loc, and I went for a walk in my favorite area I discovered while running. It's incredible. You step outside and feel as if you're in a rain forest - birds, frogs, and other creatures making noise, lush vegetation, huge trees. It makes me so happy. So weird that this is just a few miles from D.C.:

This gorgeous house is going up in that favorite neighborhood of mine, and  I thought maybe Jim and I should buy it (for millions of dollars):

Jim sent me updates from the home front. He took Ever shopping and bought her some clothes/swimsuits, including this dress:

He also ended up getting Wren a few things, I think so she wouldn't be left out. 

Tyna started climbing stairs.

She was pulling to stand all the time, and the wood box was a favorite hangout.

She fell there one day and got a cut by her eye.

Ever and Wren gave a concert, during which Wren beautifully sang, "Jesus be kind to everyone."

My favorite was when Jim had Wrenny do "This Little Piggy" for me over Facetime. The way she said "mowket" was the cutest thing ever. I had her do it for a video after I got back, but it's not her best work:

 

I had hoped that Jim would have a really hard time while I was gone so he would feel my pain and think I'm amazing. Instead, he did lots of things out of the house, went for runs, fed the girls restaurant/fast food nearly every day if not twice a day (despite the fact that I left a bunch of home-cooked food in the freezer), and had a grand time. The girls seemed to do fine on the flexible sleep schedule, and Jim learned that they are better and easier to care for when you're out doing things (as compared to when you're homebound). Totally true. He did things I never can do because of nap schedules. He took Big Blue (the minivan) into the shop a couple of times for different things. He'd drop Ever at school, take the van in, go for a long run with the double stroller while the van was being worked on, and then pick up Ever. The night before I returned, he took the girls out for pizza and ice cream and then let them watch a show. I don't know if anyone was very excited about my return.

JoAnn watched the girls one day that week, and Jim went to Ever's class that day wearing his lab coat and stethoscope to talk to the kids about being a doctor. Mrs. Reese had told me early on that she'd love to have Jim come in. She tries to get different professionals to visit and talk about their jobs so the kids' minds are opened to more possibilities and they start thinking about what they'd like to do. She also had a dentist and a fireman visit this year. Jim wasn't super excited about it, but when Mrs. Reese brought it up at an open house the week before I left, he agreed. We realized that week I was gone would be the perfect time since he had work off. He said it went fine, and it was fun for him to meet Ever's classmates. 

Jim said that Wren tried his patience (toddlers!), but he told me completely seriously that Ever was perfect the entire week I was gone. He said a couple times he had to ask her twice to do something, but then she did it. Tyna, of course, was great.  He'd trade with me and be the stay-at-home parent any day. And maybe he should be. Ever was giving me trouble the first morning after I returned. I asked her why she listens to Jim and not me. She said maybe it was because he did more fun things with them, like go to restaurants, the park, etc., and she would do what he asked because then they would get to do those fun things. I know I'm not supposed to let my kids make me sad - or at least I'm not supposed to let them know they make me sad - but I was really upset by that conversation. I felt like an unloved failure. But I got over it. Mel Karner says Christian has told her a couple times that he wishes she would go to work and Derrick would stay home, so at least I'm in good company.

Anyway, it was lovely to spend time with Courtney and Antone. I didn't have any helpful advice about what to do when he fussed or how to get him to sleep, and I wasn't as productive and helpful as she has been when she's come to us. Nevertheless, she said just having me there helped lighten the atmosphere. Jim reported that everyone thought he was amazing for taking the week off to care for the kids, and it's true. He is the best, and I love how much he loves Coco. The girls got to enjoy good daddy time, and I got a week with my sis. I also got to read a bunch in Team of Rivals (the book I've been trying to get through for a decade) on my flights - and a little while I was there. I was very inspired to keep going and finish it off when I got home, but I think you can guess how I've done with that. Someday...

* Grandma Hastings used to be obsessed with a Star Valley boy named Anthon. She desperately wanted my cousin Danielle to marry him, but Dani had no interest. Grandma bugged Dani about him for years and years, but she always messed up his name, calling him "Antone" instead of "Anthon." It drove Dani crazy, and it was hilarious. So while in Virginia, I decided Anson's nickname should be "Antone."  

The Girls Grow (A Little) and Love One Another

At the end of April, we got out the kiddie potty to see if we could encourage Wrenny. At first she didn't seem super interested, but she did a little sitting:

(A couple of weeks later, she did both types of business on the potty in one sitting. That's been the only success so far. I haven't really been encouraging it, though.)

I took Arden and Wren in for their nine-month and two-year appointments, respectively. Tyna was about 19 pounds and Wrenzy 23. Wrenzy is a tiny little thing - seventh percentile for weight and I think 17th for height. Dr. Villar was impressed by her speech because she was doing the thing where she repeats all your questions (or at least the last part of them). Tyna is smaller than average, but not as mini as Wrenzy. Tyna still can't eat anything besides baby food. She chokes and throws up when I try to feed her a puff, which I thought no baby ever choked on. We didn't discuss that issue at the appointment, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to inquire about that. Anyway, Bearzy was really cute in her gown:

I took the babies to Target one day, and Wrenzy gave Tyna some sweet love:

When I get them up from naps at the same time, sometimes I carry them both down the stairs, one in each arm. I used to say, "I have my two babies." Now Wrenzy says it whenever we're on our way down the stairs like that: "Two babies." They're the best.