Wren turns FIVE!

Wren turned five in November - can you believe it?!

On the morning of her birthday, she woke up to cinnamon rolls, balloons and streamers, and she got to open one present before school. Then she got ready in her birthday shirt and headband and went to school for the day. It just so happened that Rowan was flying in on Wren's birthday because we were all leaving the next day to head to Colorado for Thanksgiving, so Jon picked up Rowan at the airport and we all met up at home for dinner and cake and more presents. It was a super fun day!

Wren Winter: 5 Years Old

Wren is 5 years old now, and I am convinced that she is the silliest, sweetest, smartest, most helpful little five year old in all the world! :)

Her favorite things right now are:

Art + Coloring + Crafts - This is still Wren's #1 favorite thing to do! She loves to color, draw, paint, cut paper and do any kind of crafting. As I type this, she's making homemade valentine cards for family and friends. She has her little table that always has crayons, pencils, scissors, paper and coloring books and when she gets quiet, it's usually because she's sat down to be creative.

Princesses + Ballerinas - She loves all things princesses and ballerinas, and she still loves to dress up as either when we are home. For Christmas, she got some ballerina leotards, tutus and ballerina shoes, so that's now a favorite outfit to dress up in. She still says she wants to be a princess when she grows up, even though we've explained that's not really a job. After we saw Disney on Ice, she said she wanted to be a princess from Disney on Ice, so we told her she'd have to learn how to ice skate. :)

Mom/Date Date Nights - Jon and I started this year taking each girl on a 1x1 date night once a month. The first month, Jon took Wren and I took Elle. Wren LOVED it. She talked about it nonstop before, and on date day, she was too excited to take a nap. Jon took her up the El Paso tramway to the top of the mountain, then out for burgers, then to an arcade. She had a blast and now she's already planning my date night with her.

Painting Nails - It's not often that I paint the girls' nails, but when I do, Wren loves it. The last time I did it, she said she felt like a mommy because her nails were painted. :)

Wearing Dresses - Wren would wear a dress everyday - even in freezing cold weather - if we let her. I have to explain in the winter that we're not going to be wearing dresses all the time. In the summer, I buy her so many dresses so she can wear one everyday.

Singing + Dancing - Wren knows the words to so many songs on the radio, and she loves to sing the songs she knows as loud as she can. She gets really into it - almost like she's acting the song out - it's hilarious to watch. We got her a karaoke machine for Christmas, so now she can sing into a microphone, which is very cute but very LOUD.

Throwing Parties - Wren loves to socialize! She loves when we have parties or when we get invited to parties. Recently, she's started throwing her own parties at home in either Elle's room or her room. She'll put on the radio (on her karaoke machine), get out her play food (hot chocolate for everyone!) and give us invitations to come. Then we go and dance like crazy people, stopping for fake food breaks.

Watching Movies/TV + Snuggling - She loves to snuggle up together on the couch to watch TV shows or movies. We don't do it often, but when we do, she loves it. Recently we watched "A Dog's Purpose" together as a family and it was the first movie that's ever made her cry - so sweet!

We love her so much - everyday more than the last! Always so happy that she is in our life and we get to watch her grow!

Wren turns FOUR!

  
Wren turned 4 in November, and we had a super fun day celebrating her. She woke up to balloons and confetti and a birthday donut breakfast, and I made her a special shirt that said "FOUR" on it to wear to school. She even had some new, fun birthday jewelry to wear.

At school, it was Thanksgiving lunch day, so the parents were invited to eat with the kids. Jon and I got to eat with her and Elle in Wren's classroom, which was super fun - kind of like a birthday lunch!

After school, we went to dinner at her favorite restaurant, the BBQ place. Then we came home to open presents and eat her giant sprinkle cake. She wanted a pink cake with sprinkles on it - this one had so many sprinkles you couldn't even tell what color the cake was!

For her presents, she got a new baby doll and lots of baby clothes, a baby stroller, a princess dress and an electric toothbrush that plays music.

We always love celebrating our Wren bird! :)

Wren Winter: 4 Years Old

Wren is 4 years old now, and she is just the coolest, sweetest, kindest, funniest little girl in the world! She is literally so cute that I want to eat her! :)

Her favorite things right now are:

All things Frozen + Princesses - She loves the movie Frozen and knows all the words to the songs. She loves dressing up like a princess in her many play dresses and princess shoes. One of her dresses plays a song, and she plays it over and over and over again.

Playing Babies + Family - She dresses up her baby dolls and takes them to school and to dance class. She pushes them in the stroller and gets them comfy on the couch to take naps. She comes up with really crazy names for her babies, like "Ananina" or "Dametaticus" - crazy! When I tell her they are crazy names, she asks what should their name be, and I'll suggest something like "Scarlett" or "Elizabeth" and she says "Oh, that's a nice name."

Art + Coloring + Crafts - She loves any kind of project and starts most days off sitting at her little table coloring in her frozen coloring book. Sometimes me and her color together at night before bed, which I really love.

Dancing to Music - She likes to dance to music and have us watch her "tricks," which usually consist of jumps, leg raises or twirls. She started dance class this year - ballet and tap - and she loves going. We got to watch her dance last week, and she is one of the best in the class! She totally knows the moves and can follow the teacher - I was so proud of her!

School - She still continues to enjoy school and is learning so much! She can now spell AND write her first name. She can count to 20. She can recognize most letters in the alphabet, and she can memorize song lyrics like it's her job.

Bossing her Sister Around - Wren and Elle pretty much fight constantly. They have some moments of getting along and playing nicely everyday, but those moments are far outnumbered by the moments when they are fighting, screaming and playing tug of war over a toy. Jon and I are constantly the referees. We have to remind Wren all the time not to tell Elle no or correct her because she's not her mom. I do hope that as they grow, they start to get along better.

Helping Mom and Dad - Wren is such a great helper. She likes to help in the kitchen, getting dinner ready, washing grapes or baking desserts. She likes to help with any kind of project we have, from cleaning the garage to framing pictures. She likes to help me fold clothes - I give her all the hand towels and wash cloths. She really likes to mop the floor with our Swiffer, but last time I caught her spraying the water all over the rug. ;) As a side note to this one, Wren has incredibly good manners. She always says "please" and "thank you" and asks others to do the same. She corrects people when they are chewing with their mouth open. She asks that you not "snatch" things out of her hands. She is just very well mannered. We really have to credit her school and amazing teachers with instilling these manners, because most of the time, she is correct Jon and I for not doing the polite thing - HA! Her dance teacher told me the other night that she is just so polite and has the best manners. We are so proud of her!

Doing Big Girl Things - She loves brushing her teeth all by herself with her singing electric toothbrush. She likes peeling her own oranges, cutting up her fruit and picking out her PJs every night. She also knows how to strap her self into her car seat, which is a huge help to Mom and Dad.

Being "Out and About" - Wren loves to be out of the house, whether it's going out to eat or walking around the outdoor mall. She always says she wants to be out and about. She would eat dinner out every night if we said ok. (And speaking of food, she is still an amazing eater and eats just about anything. She will always pick cupcakes over broccoli, but she will eat her broccoli and anything else if you ask her to.) She likes to be busy and prefers to run errands all day to staying home and playing. She loves playing at the outdoor mall and riding the train.

Singing - She likes to make up songs and sing them really loud around the house. She also likes to sing her songs over the radio songs if we're driving in the car. She has a horrible singing voice, and Jon always says we should put her in singing lessons - ha!

Her Blanket - Even though she is now in the stage where she fights every nap and bedtime, Wren is still a great sleeper and she sleeps between 10 and 12 hours a night + naps for 2 hours every day. She still sleeps with the yellow blanket that she's had since she was a baby. She falls asleep "chewing" on it - which is more like pressing it against her lips, right under her nose and making a sucking movement with her lips. Both of our girls do this to fall asleep, and we did not train them to! Such a funny thing that they both have in common.

Watching Movies/TV - We still don't let the girls watch TV or movies on a regular basis, but we have started letting them have a movie night every once in a while. Wren LOVES this. She loves movies and TV (maybe because she doesn't get them very often? or maybe all kids just do). It's a fun treat for her.

Asking Why - She asks "why?" A LOT! Sometimes I have to tell her to just stop asking why because it will go on for hours - or sometimes because I have no answer - or sometimes because the answer is "because I said so!" :)

Giving Love - Wren is a serious love bug, and she is always giving and asking for hugs and kisses and telling us she loves us. Randomly throughout each day, she says she loves us and she'll go through the list of her whole family and say she loves them. At night, she asks for multiple big hugs and kisses before bed. Although she gets in yelling matches with her sister, she would never purposely hurt Elle, even when Elle hurts her. She is very kind and sweet.

Her Family - She loves hanging out with her family and visiting family far away. She loves her Gigi and Didi and Pops and Rowan and every time they visit, she says she wants them to stay forever.

Following the Rules - Wren is a rule-follower, for sure.  She listens so well, takes direction, rarely ever has to get corrected twice and really makes life so easy on Jon and I. She is considerate and kind and cautious. I think her desire to do the right thing makes her nervous in new situations, which I think is totally ok. Her teachers are always telling us that she is so good and they never have to correct her. We are so proud of what an attentive, obedient little girl she is!

She really is a joy to be around every day, and I'm so lucky to be her momma!

Wren Turns THREE!

Wren's third birthday was a great day! Both Jon and I were able to be off for the day, and we kicked things off with balloons + presents + donuts first thing in the morning. She got a scooter, a doctor kit, and a wooden school bus toy with little people to ride in the bus.

After breakfast, we headed to the zoo to feed the giraffes and the birds and tell all the animals it was Wren's birthday!

She had a blast all day, and we had a blast celebrating her and making her feel special. She is such an amazing little girls, and we are so lucky to watch her grow!

Wren Winter: 25 Months Old

Wren has such a big personality right now at 25 months old. I know I just did a 22 month update, but she has learned so much in the three months since then, I felt like I needed to do another one! Every day she learns more words, does something completely hilarious, and reveals a little bit more of her sassy and sweet personality. There are so many things I don't want to forget about this stage, like these little gems below:

She has started saying yes and no to everything, but she says yes like "Yep" or "Uh huh" and no like "No-ah" with this very sassy tone. It is hilarious and cracks me up every time. I know I shouldn't laugh when I'm telling her it's time to get out of the bathtub and she's saying "No-ah, No-ah!" over and over again, but I can't help it. (And then I picture her saying it the exact same way when she's 15 and I'm asking her to clean her room and somehow I don't think it'll be as funny then.)

She has started saying a lot more words and pairing words together to make phrases. Some of my favorites (in addition to "no-ah") are: "Dada wuck" (Daddy's at work), Momma (it took her FOREVER to say this so I love it every time), "When" (Wren), "Ro Ro" (Rowan), "cat foo" (cat food), "mulk" (milk), "bubba" (bubbles), "cuh" (color), "go" (here you go), "uh oh" (anytime something bad happens), "no no" (usually said to the cats when they are bad along with a pointed finger), "choo choo" (train), "toot toot" (the sound an owl makes), "shuga" (sugar), "booga" (booger), "chee chob" (good job), and "tee too" (thank you).

When she sees something that is really, really cool or pretty or amazing, she says "Oooh Wow, Oooh Wow, Oooh Wow!" over and over again and it's the best. Things she thinks are worthy of an "Oooh Wow!" moment include the paper plate Christmas tree she made at school, the cereal I eat in the morning and colorful rolls of washi tape. ;)

She calls herself "you" when she sees pictures of herself, but it sounds more like "eewwww!"

She is still incredibly sweet and will pucker her lips for kisses, wiggle her nose against yours for Eskimo kisses and open her arms wide for hugs. Sometimes it catches you completely off guard, which makes it even better. The other night, I was giving her a bath and being really silly and she was cracking up and then suddenly she was puckering for a kiss, and it caught me so off guard that I almost cried from the sweetness.

She is learning to count and knows that 2 comes after 1, but then she wants to jump to five and eight - those are her favorites. She knows she is 2 years old, and will tell you she's two if you ask her, but she can't show you just two fingers. Instead, she holds out her hand with all of her fingers spread far apart and says "two." Then asks for help to hold two fingers up and the others down.

When she hears Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," she immediately jumps up and shakes her booty - meaning hands on the sides of her butt and moving her hips from side to side. It's the cutest thing ever! Her favorite music is not pop, though - it's indie folk music (think Mumford and Sons type music) - and she wants it on all the time. She asks to dance the minute she wakes up and any moment of the day when music is not on.

After her bath every night, when I get her out of the tub and wrap her in her towel, she snuggles up on my lap inside her towel so that I can't see her at all - just a big towel bundle on my lap - and she stays there for a while until she's warm enough to come out and get into her pjs.

Now that we've started potty training, we let her sleep with her door open so she can come tell us when she needs to go to the bathroom. This means her wake up time has gotten earlier. She's up every morning at 6:30am like clockwork now. Jon and I will probably regret this, but we've been taking her to the bathroom and then letting her get into bed with us for a little snuggling until we're ready to get up for the day. She usually does not fall back asleep, but she does lay in the bed very quietly and rubs our faces or gives us kisses every once in a while. Again, her sweetness kills me.

She has recently taken an interest in one of the baby dolls that she has. It has clothes that come off, so she loves to undress and dress it (with our help every time since she can't do it on her own). She loves to put her diapers and underwear on it, too. And she has started setting it places, like in her high chair or on the couch, and bringing it books or crayons to play with. I caught her setting it up at the table in her high chair and moving her mouth like she was talking to it but with no sound coming out, and I almost died.

This age is definitely one of my favorites. She is just so new everyday - I don't ever want to forget any of it! :)

Wren Turns TWO!

I wanted to share a few photos from Wren's 2nd birthday. My parents flew in from Texas for the occasion and Jon's mom drove down from Northern Virginia to join the party. We had a tiny little celebration with grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit skewers and Krispy Kreme sprinkled donuts. Wren's gift from all of us was a play kitchen with plenty of play food, appliances and accessories. She was in HEAVEN with her new kitchen and still plays with it everyday - over a month later!

(Photos from Wren's 1st birthday are here - I can't believe she's grown so much!)

Wren Winter: 22 Months Old

  
Wren is such a character these days. Twenty two months is definitely a hilarious (if challenging at times) age. I wanted to write a quick update with a few fun facts about this crazy lady to help us remember how much fun she was at this age.

FAVORITE THINGS

The cats - she loves to tell Cajun and Whiskey good morning every morning and runs to give them hugs when we come back to the apartment after being gone for the day. She also loves to hold the cats on her lap like a baby. She crawls up on the couch, sits with her legs straight out and pats her lap - that's how you know she wants to hold a cat.

Dogs - even though we don't have dogs, she loves when we see dogs out and about or on TV. She barks like a dog when you ask her what a dog says (but it sounds more like a monster growling).

Fruit - she is still a great little eater and loves any and all kinds of fruit - bananas, strawberries, oranges, peaches, blueberries - you name it, she loves it.

Climbing - she is a total monkey and loves to climb on anything and everything - the couches, dining room chairs, beds, the rocking chair in her room (she's a pro at rocking, too). A lot of times she can get herself up into or onto something, but can't get down. Then she sits there and says "Help, Help, Help" until someone comes and helps her down.

Magazines - she has recently taken an interest in magazines. We get random magazines in the mail, and she gets really excited. She sits on the couch and flips through them for hours - and it looks like she's really looking at everything!

Books - she loves books, even though she hardly sits still to listen to an entire book from start to finish. Sometimes she will read a book to us - which is my favorite. Flipping pages and baby babble make for a great story time.

Being chased - she loves to be chased. She screams at the top of her lungs and laughs until she gets the hiccups. It's the cutest.

Helping - she loves to help me with household chores like filling up the cats' food bowl in the morning, mopping, vacuuming, sweeping, etc. It takes her about 5x longer to fill up the cats' food bowl than it takes me, but I let her do it every time because she loves it so. :)

Music - This girl LOVES music. Anytime she hears music, she immediately looks up with surprise and joy and gets down on the floor so she can move. Then she starts swaying, throws her hands in the air and jumps from place to place on her tippy toes. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. It's like she really feels the music in her bones. I love it.

SLEEP

We switched Wren's crib to a toddler bed a month or so ago, and she has done really great with the transition. She does sleep less overall hours than she used to - I think because she knows she can get up and play with her toys as soon as she's awake so she doesn't try to fall back asleep - but we haven't had any trouble with her getting out of the bed when she should be going to bed. She wakes up around 7am now (she used to sleep until 9am most days), and we can hear her bumping around in her room, playing with toys. Sometimes she knocks on the door, letting us know she's ready to come out. (We have doorknob locks on the doors, so she can't get out on her own.)

WORDS

Even though she's not a big talker just yet, she does have a few words that she knows really well, and she sounds so cute when she says them, including - Bye Bye, Hi, Hey, Shoes, Cheese, Eye, Help, Book, Milk, Bath. (Still no momma or daddy - I guess cheese is more important than that.) Although her words may be few, she understands EVERYTHING and we are always amazed when we ask her to do something, just being silly, and she really does it. (Hey Wren, can you go into the bathroom and get some tissue to blow your nose? - and she does!)

PERSONALITY

Hugs & Kisses - this little girl is a serious love bug right now. She gives the best hugs and kisses. Sometimes she will climb up on the couch, squish herself real close by my side, look up at me and say "Hey." Then she'll throw her arms around my neck and huuuuug me with all her might. She's a pro at eskimo kisses and loves to stare deep into your eyes for minutes at a time while your noses touch.

Sassiness - She has definitely started showing signs of extreme sassiness lately. She now knows she doesn't HAVE to come in the apartment when we get to the door, she can run back down the hallway or stand stubbornly across the hall and refuse to move. She now knows she doesn't HAVE to lay still for a diaper change OR a clothes change, she can wiggle and wiggle and try to run away, giggling the whole time. (We've also had to deal with a few throw-yourself-on-the-ground-cry-and-kick-your-legs tantrums lately - not the best part of parenting, for sure.)

Overall, she's such a sweet, caring, loving little girl. She's curious and loves people. She waves at strangers and reaches out to touch them when they walk by. She says "Bye Bye" to everyone when she leaves them, even the cats. She has her sassy moods, but for the most part, she is cheerful and easy going, independent, social, easily adaptable to new situations, places and people, and she's the perfect little side kick to do life with.

I know I've said it about every stage, but 22 months is my favorite. I love seeing her unique personality come through, and I love that we can feel her love so strongly these days because she can show us herself. I'm so glad I get a front row seat to watch her grow into the person she's meant to be. :)

Wren Winter: 1 year old

Well, little Wren - you are 1 year old now! This update is way late, but I wanted to post it to complete your year of updates. :) Your last month before your first birthday was a big one - you snacked on Whiskey's ears a lot (hilarious!), you celebrated your first Halloween (as a scary witch!), played outside in the cold, did some sightseeing in DC, got your third tooth, and - most importantly - you learned to walk!

You took your first steps one weekend morning a week before your birthday. It was just me and you and I squeeeaaaled with excitement. After that you started taking one or two steps here or there, but on your first birthday, you really took off and walked from me on one side of the living room to your dad on the other side. We both cheered so loud! Since then, you have not stopped walking. Your little legs are getting quite the workout!

Your first birthday celebration was so much fun. I was like a kid the night before Christmas. I couldn't wait for you to wake up and open your birthday presents. It was just the three of us - you, me and your dad. We opened presents and played with them in the morning. Then you took your nap, and I baked your cake. When you woke up, we put you in your highchair and brought the cake over. You were not impressed at first and held your arms up, telling us you wanted out. We decided to break it open so you could see what it was like on the inside, and that got you a little more excited. Your cake was carrot cake with cream cheese icing (me and your dad's favorite). Once it was open and you could see all the crumbly cake, you dug in and seemed to really like it, although your bites were always dainty - pinched between your two fingers like a little lady.

When we felt like you had eaten enough icing for one day, we picked you up and took you upstairs to the bathtub. You sucked the icing off your hands the whole way up the stairs! I think it's safe to say you had a great first birthday, and we had a great time celebrating with you.

All in all, your first year was amazing. We learned so much about babies, so much about you and so much about ourselves. I will always look back on your first year with so much love. Your dad and I love you more than words can say, and we can't wait for all of your years to come.

Happy 1st birthday, Wren! May all your days be happy ones!

Happy Birthday, Wren!

All footage captured by Jon. Music by Of Monsters And Men. Full birth story here. 

Happy first birthday, sweet Wren. The day you were born, our lives changed forever. The past year has been so much fun. I'm so happy you are ours and we are yours.

Wren Winter: 11 months old

My little Wren bird, your 11th month was a big month for you! You perfected your crawling, and starting speeding around the house on all fours, you learned how to play peek-a-boo (which is the cutest thing ever!) and you learned how to pick up food and put it in your mouth!

Daddy is the one who taught you how to pick up your own food. We had been trying for weeks, putting food on your tray for you to eat but you never wanted to pick it up - you'd just brush it off onto the floor. Then one day, Daddy tried putting just one piece of food at a time in front of you and showing you how to pick it up and put it in your mouth, and you caught on right away! We clapped and cheered, and you looked so proud putting your puffs into your mouth one by one. When you were done eating, we took you to the park and you decided to practice some more by putting a handful of bark into your mouth - haha! You probably wondered why we didn't clap and cheer for that. ;)

Another new thing you started during your 11th month is dancing to music. We noticed it when we were riding in the car and you were in your car seat. When a song came on that you liked, you would bob your head to the music. Then you started doing it anytime you heard music - in the grocery store, on a TV commercial. I caught it on video here. SO CUTE!

You are still such a good sleeper and sleep from around 8pm to 8am every night. I have tried to get you hooked on a "lovey" by putting different teddy bears, sock monkeys, etc into bed with you at night and showing you how to snuggle them, but you have no interest in it. The second that I leave the room, you grab the bear by the arm, stand up on your tippy toes and toss it out of the crib. Oh well, I tried. ;)

A few other highlights from the month: You started standing by yourself for short periods of time (with your arms down, neck out, and a giant smile on your face). You learned how to do a duck face (kissy face) on command. You loved putting your hands above your head for no real reason (raising the roof, maybe?). You started laying down on your belly in the bathtub and kicking your legs like a little fish. Daddy helped you overcome your fear of the swings at the playground. We took you to an apple orchard and let you play in the pumpkins. You got your first pair of Freshly Picked moccs (a milestone in every baby's life, right??). You got to celebrate your big sister's 7th birthday with her at the North Carolina Zoo. You continued to be a fantastic eater - zucchini bread, bananas, apple sauce and mashed potatoes are some of your favorites. Your personality continued to show more and more this month - you are silly and sweet most of the time, but get very stubborn and short tempered when you're sleepy.

Oh baby bird, we love you SO much, no matter your mood! Happy 11 month birthday - May all your days be happy ones!