A Few Things - Before Arden

Susan and I joined forces for semiprivate swimming lessons with Tracy Zundel this summer. We had a heck of a time coordinating our schedules to squeeze in 10 lessons before Baby 3 was born, but we did it. Ever and Luc had their lessons first, and then they entertained themselves in the pool while Wrenzy and Amelie had theirs. It was nice to see Ever swimming again, and now she's comfortable enough that she'll even swim in other pools (unlike last summer, when she lost her nerve everywhere besides the Zundels'). Toward the end, she and Luc started working on keeping their faces in the water and breathing to the side, although that's going to take a lot more practice. 

When Tracy suggested joint lessons with Amelie and Wren, she didn't realize that Wren couldn't even walk yet. Also Amelie screamed the entire time until the last lesson or two. After a few attempts at joint lessons, Tracy suggested that we split them up and just do 15-minute private lessons with each little. That worked much better. Wren was amazing. She LOVES the water and cried when her lessons ended. I couldn't believe that right off the bat, Tracy had her jumping in and going under water and even sort of swimming (assisted, of course) to the steps. She got so that the second Tracy sat her on the side or put her on the steps, she would throw her arms up over her head and try to jump back in immediately, whether or not Tracy was ready. A couple of Wrenzy videos from an early lesson:

Both girls after one of their last lessons:

Mamo and Pod got back from Peru on Saturday, June 18. They rented a car and headed up to Ventura. I went up with the girls to see everybody and drop Ever for some cousin time. I spent the night and drove back with Wren on Sunday. Saturday night we got to see Mamo and Pod's pictures from Peru. What an incredible trip they had! The only bummer - and it was a big one - was that Mamo hurt her back (compression fracture) during a fall on a big natural rock slide on the penultimate day of their trip. She was in really bad shape. I can't imagine being in that sort of pain. She is a trooper, though. Dee or Shan took this phote while we were there:

I went back up on Tuesday night and brought Ever back to Oceanside on Wednesday morning. Pod flew home Tuesday, and Tutu was going to stay with the Deetrixes until we needed her for Baby 3. On Wednesday night (June 22), however, we had a scare. Jim and I were up until after midnight. Then about 1:30 A.M., I got a call from Trisha. "I think it's time!" She had been having contractions 6-8 minutes apart for a couple hours, so they were heading to the hospital. I told her we'd get somebody to come stay with Ever and Wren and would meet them there. When I hung up, I got emotional ("Oh, my gosh. This is happening!") and started freaking out ("We are not ready!"). We were not prepared in any way. I'd been spending a lot of time on work and hadn't managed to wrap things up yet. Stacey Sullivan (mentor/partner at work) was in Europe for two weeks, and I was trying to move a deal along as much as possible while she was gone so they'd be ready to close shortly after she returned. I hadn't finished everything I wanted to do. We hadn't installed the car seat, packed anything for the hospital, etc. Nanny had offered to come over any time, day or night, to stay with Ever and Wren when we went to the hospital. We had just exchanged texts on Tuesday, and I asked her if she had been sleeping with her phone on. She said, "No, but I will." So I called her as soon as I got off with Trish, and she didn't answer. I called a few times. We tried Carl's phone, too. No answer. We texted Jeremy asking if his parents had a landline. Jeremy didn't think so. I was in a frenzy thinking we needed to get to the hospital immediately, or we might miss the birth. Jim called Karen Bunnell. She answered on the second ring. When he explained that we needed to go to the hospital, she just said, "I'll be right down." She was here in a flash. I was whirling around trying to think of what we needed to take or do. I hadn't been grocery shopping for a while, and we were even out of bread. I didn't know what to tell Karen to feed Ever and Wren the next day. She just said, so calmly, "This is not my first rodeo. Just go. Go have a baby. We're good." She's a comforting person to have around during a crisis. I felt bad because she called out of work the next day, too, so she could rescue us. When she arrived, I said I hoped she didn't have to work the next day (she's a neonatal nurse), and she said, "It's already taken care of." So incredibly nice. 

We met Jeremy and Trish at the hospital. Trish hadn't dilated any further than at her last OB appointment (1 cm), but the nurse gave her the option of a) walking a bit and getting checked again in an hour or b) going home. Trish didn't want to go home and then have to turn around and come back in morning traffic, so we all hung out as she paced slowly around the room. The nurse checked her again, and no progress. Trish had expected a fast labor and delivery and had never had a false alarm like that, so she was surprised. Jeremy said he'd known all along it was a false alarm; he thought Trish was just trying to will it to happen. In any case, we all headed home thinking we'd be back in the next couple days. 

I became very alarmed at our lack of preparedness. I talked to Mamo Thursday morning and asked her to come down. The middle-of-the-night, no-back-up-plan-when-Nanny-didn't-answer thing was really not ideal. It seemed so much less stressful if Mamo could just be here for the birth. Plus she could help me get ready with whatever time we had left. Mamo was sad she hadn't gotten more time with Dee and Shan and family, but she kindly obliged and took the train down that afternoon. 

Then the baby didn't come, didn't come, and didn't come. Trish was so ready and even tried castor oil, but nada. It was still lovely to have Mamo here, and I got to do lots of things I always want to do (especially before a baby comes) but never have time to. We cleaned and organized various trouble spots in the house, got rid of stuff, etc. I loved it. We also got handpacked quarts of Mississippi Mud from Baskin Robbins, which we enjoyed on sugar cones every night while watching a show or movie. It was amazing. One night I went to get ice cream and was devastated to find one million people in matching blue shirts:

Of course it was a gigantic Mormon family reunion. Aside from a very few, they all got their ice cream and stayed inside, thereby making entering and ordering nigh unto impossible. I was so annoyed. I persevered, however, and one of the ladies let me cut so I didn't have to wait for the entire group to finish ordering. 

Ever received a bunch of hand-me-downs from a friend who moved away. They included a few pairs of biker shorts. Ever tried them on and loved them. She says they're soooo comfortable - the same argument Coco gave for wearing them for years. I had to take a picture for Coco. Ever, keeping Coco's legacy alive:

Wren was a terrible eater for the longest time. I think she was just delayed and had a hard time chewing and getting the food down. Then finally she could eat food and feed herself like a normal child, and I was so excited. Just in time before New Baby.

One day she had her head down and looked up at me like a possessed child. It was really funny. It became a thing she does. I do it once to prompt her, and then she does it over and over and laughs. She's turned into quite a card. This day I took a million pictures of her:

Wren practiced walking by pushing a stool around - an endeavor fraught with danger:

Wrenzy likes playing outside. One day I watched her climb in and out of the little car over and over and over. She couldn't walk, but she sure could enter and exit a vehicle.

We didn't do much on the 4th of July. Waffles with Nutella were enjoyed for breakfast:

Go Fish and similar games were played:

(It should be noted that Mamo played lots of games with Ever while she was here - Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights, etc. They also crafted and did other projects. Ever was in heaven.) 

We sang "Happy Birthday" to America, and Ever blew out the candle on the country's behalf:

Wrenzoza gave Jim lots of love:

Mamo stayed home that night with sleeping Wren while Jim, Ever and I went up to Bunnells' to watch fireworks from their backyard while Roy played patriotic music. I loved it. 

After the show, Ever and Fox Bunnell did sparklers:

Baby 3 totally pulled a Kringel and refused to come out absent an induction. Poor Trish. Induction was scheduled for July 8. The evening of July 7, Jim requested a last-hurrah dinner at The Soup Plantation. (That used to be one of his favorite places. I think he may now be willing to admit it's not very good, although he'd still opt for that over cooking any day.) Again, Mamo stayed home with sleeping Wren (it's really hard when they go to sleep at 6:00 P.M.), and Jim, Ever, and I hit up the buffet. 

When I said goodnight to Mamo that night, she asked if I were scared. I said no, not really; Trish had always felt good about doing this and had been confident things were going to go OK, so I took comfort in that. Mamo got emotional and said, "Just because of what happened to you, I'll be glad when it's over." That made me cry. (It's still crazy to think about Wren's birth. Once in a while Jim and I still get teary over it.) I also got nervous about the next day. It would have been so awful if Trish had volunteered to do this for us and something awful had happened. Childbirth is such an insane, scary thing.

Anyway, Jim and I were up really late that night making final preparations for the baby. I insisted that he install baby gates so I could let Wren out of my sight and not worry about her on the stairs. He tried to install the gate I purchased when Ever was a baby, but it has to go between two walls, which we don't have at the top or bottom of our stairs. So he made two gates out of PVC pipe that night. We ended up going to sleep around 1:30 A.M. So much for being well-rested when the baby arrived!

A Visit from Mamo and Pod

Mamo and Pod decided to get really adventurous and go with a guided tour group to Peru with Uncle Terry and Aunt Angela. They flew to Peru via LAX and came early so they could have a few days in Oceanside with us. (They planned a Ventura visit to see Dee and Shan and fam after Peru.) As previously noted, we very anxiously awaited their arrival.

Because Mamo had recently had a birthday, we wanted to welcome her with a cake. She requested a yellow cake with white frosting and coconut. I made a homemade yellow cake that Bags and I (mostly Bags) had made once before. It requires the eggs, among other things, to be room temperature, and I wanted to follow the recipe as exactly as possible. Because I didn't plan ahead well, I tried briefly to warm the eggs in my sweatshirt:

Mamo and Pod rented a car and drove themselves down on the night of Thursday, June 2. Ever tried desperately to stay awake (in her room) until they arrived. She lasted until about 10 P.M. but couldn't quite make it. The next morning, she was so excited when Mamo and Pod got up. She waited outside in the hallway while Mamo readied herself in the bathroom.

We frosted the cake that morning and enjoyed it after lunch on Friday. Ever handled the blowing out of the candle on Mamo's behalf:

Mamo and Ever made little kites and ran them around the yard while Pod (and Jim, to a lesser extent) tried to figure out the Barbie kite Ever got at The Dollar Store a while ago:

Pod is a patient and dedicated man. He spent hours on the Barbie kite - putting it together, trying to fly it, taking it apart, putting it together again the right way, and untangling the string. His hard work paid off.

 

That whole endeavor was hilarious. There was a lot of "Come on, Barb!," "She's coming down!," "You can do it, Barb!," etc. It just wouldn't have been the same if it hadn't been Barbie. In any event, it turns out that flying a kite is pretty fun. Ever didn't hold it for too long, but Pod thoroughly enjoyed it.

We did a short walk at Batiquitos Lagoon on Saturday before dropping Ever at a birthday party:

Pod did a little more kite-flying Saturday afternoon:

Uncle Lane had told Mamo that he and Robin's stillborn daughter, Melissa, was buried in the cemetery in Oceanside near our house, and he hoped Mamo could find the grave and visit it while she was here. The only cemetery I know of is Eternal Hills, right across the street from Henie Hills (our neighborhood).  Mamo, Pod, Ever, and I headed over there Sunday afternoon. At Mamo's suggestion, we had written "Melissa Throssell" on a little piece of paper for Ever to hold and reference so she could help us look.  The place is gigantic, though, and we had no idea where Melissa might be. Lane said she was buried by the road, but there are lots of roads through there. Since it was Sunday, there was nobody there to help us. There were, however, about one million squirrels and bunnies bounding over the grass in the same direction. It was as if we were witnessing all of the animals gathering for a convention. It was bizarre and fun. Anyway, we wandered among the graves for a while, searching for Melissa. Pod and I got separated from Mamo and Ever, and I wondered how we'd find them again. Eventually we were reunited. Recognizing that we were on a wild goose chase without a directory, we  gave up and drove past Robin's childhood home (just off of Vista Way, close to our house):

Mamo texted a picture to Lane, who was delighted to see this place that brings back happy memories.

Monday was Ever's last day of preschool / preschool graduation. (It was sort of a fake graduation since she misses the kindergarten and transitional-kindergarten deadlines and will be back at Little Bugs Preschool in the fall.) I dropped her in the morning, and then Mamo, Pod, Wren, and I went back at 11:00 A.M. for graduation.  First they showed us some of the things they did in preschool, like The Pledge of Allegiance ...

... and a song involving the alphabet and hand motions:

They sang a cute song about graduation day:

They took turns showing and describing pictures they drew of their favorite thing about preschool. Ever's favorite thing was dots, which they did on the day they studied the letter "d."

Miss Paula took a moment to talk about each kid and give him/her a couple preschool mementos. (She had made adorable little books with pictures of some of their extra-fun activities.) She didn't say anything particularly profound about Ever, but here it is anyway:

The kids performed a cute play about a ladybug who shared her beautiful, sparkly spots with all her friends. Ever told me that morning that she was the ladybug, and she was supposed to talk but no one else did, and she was scared. On account of the fear, she had a hard time when I dropped her off in the morning. As I was leaving, Miss Paula was telling her she didn't have to be the ladybug if she didn't want to. So Ever gave up the lead for a non-speaking part. This video was taken by Deb Moffat, so it focuses on Parker:

There was a party after graduation. We all contributed food, and Miss Paula made cupcakes with graduation caps. Mamo and Pod headed back to the cemetery while Ever and I stayed and ate. Somebody had the bright idea to gather the kids and take a group photo at the after-party: 

With some assistance and a directory, Mamo and Pod were able to find Melissa's grave. Later that afternoon, we left Pod with a sleeping Wrenzo, and Mamo took Ever and me to the grave. Melissa is buried with a lot of other babies, and there are a lot of other young people buried all over that cemetery. We even visited the grave of Max Harris, the nearly-10-year-old in our ward who was killed in a boating accident during a family reunion a few years ago. I couldn't stop crying the whole time we were at the cemetery because I was thinking about parents who have lost children.

Mamo and Pod flew out of LAX Monday night. The good news was that Mamo would be back soon to help with New Baby, so that made for a pleasant goodbye. 

Miscellaneous May

At a post-preschool play date at Ella's, the girls rehearsed for their teenage years:

Then Ella led a yoga class:

All-time favorite pic of Wren (looking incredibly elfish):

Saturday morning snuggles:

Ever continues to sleep in odd positions/locations because of her FOMO:

Ever enjoyed a Paw Patrol-themed birthday party for Addi Goodwin:

Mother's Day we had the traditional third-hour lunch at church for the ladies. Jim delegated more of the tasks this time, so it was a lot easier. I didn't do anything besides help set up during the second hour. Jim even handled the message so the Relief Society presidency didn't have to. Ever gave me lots of Mother's Day mementos that she made in preschool and at church (the Popsicle stick one says, "I love you to pieces," I am told):

One day I had the bright idea that since it doesn't appear we're going to have a son, one of our girls should use the name we've wanted to use for a boy. I asked Ever what she thought about naming a son Soren James since Daddy and I aren't going to get a chance to use the name. She said, "I definitely will. If I remember." I asked if I should remind her when she gets old and gets married and starts having babies. She responded, "You might die, though." So that's sad.

Wren started practicing standing all by herself. She can be very deliberate about her training, and Ever is very supportive. (I have no idea why this video insists on turning sideways when I post it.)

Memorial Day we had the annual breakfast at the church. I started bawling uncontrollably during "The Star-Spangled Banner." I picture the colonists being so brave and fighting in the Revolutionary War, and I cry and cry and cry. I was glad there wasn't much of a program this year because I can't handle that much talk about America and veterans. I think I'm more emo about our country than Pod. 

In the evening, Paul and Susan and kids came over for pizza. We squeezed in a quick trip to the Harbor before that to see the McEwan and Wilson clans. Wrenzo practiced her cheerleading toss:

Tutu and Papa came to visit for a long weekend in the beginning of June, and we couldn't wait. During the last week of May, Ever could hardly contain herself. She wanted to help me make up the bed and get the guest room ready. One night she had been in bed, quiet, for over an hour. I thought she was sleeping. Jim and I were hanging out downstairs, and out of the blue she called out, "I can't wait 'til Tutu and Papa gets [sic] here." Next day, same story. She'd been in bed for about 45 minutes when she called down, "Mom, what day are we going to make the cake for Tutu?" (We had promised Tutu a belated birthday cake and planned to make it the day before they arrived.) It's so funny how Ever just hangs out in her room thinking about things, and so cute how excited she was about Tutu and Papa. So next up - a visit from Mamo and Podcast.