a visit from the DQ angels...

Auntie Jill and soon-to-be Uncle Greg just left our house after a great visit. Wren was in pretty good spirits (there was a point when Greg was holding her that she got a little fussy but I think it was because Wren knew he didn't have breasts she might be able to eat from...) and Ara was definitely in good spirits when we opened the gift they brought us - a DQ gift card! Ara's eyes lit up like they do when I come home from work. Wren seemed content in Jill's arms, and Jill seemed content holding her, even when she got puked on!

she's just so cute

trying out the kangaroo pouch.

friends are family

"uncle jon" gets a chance to hold Wren. Maia is a little jealous. Jon gets a mild case of baby fever.

gail, dave, alex and gabby

More visits from the family, complete with pasta for our freezer and peanut butter cookies. only Auntie Gail was brave enough to hold Wren. Everyone else watched from afar....

May Day

Wren's first May Day. Again, she slept through most of it. I think she will probably enjoy it more next year. Her friend Maia was with though, and Maia had a great time. And the sun was shining, so everyone in Minneapolis was happy.

more church pics

First Sunday at Church

Wren made her first appearance at AHP on Sunday. It was a huge success. She pretty much slept through the entire service, and every pass off of everyone taking turns holding her. The African community swept her out of our arms without hesitation or permission (didn't bother us, made us laugh, but so different from the hand washing, fragile and delicate handling, and polite "may I hold her?"that we are used to) They bounced her around and tossed her from person to person, the African grandmas whacking her feet and smacking her cheeks to get her to "wake up!" She got turns with Dede, Juliette, Loveline, Nancy, Mary, Dick, and David. She was also a hit with the row of High School boys sitting in the pew behind us, all grinning and waving at her during the service and greeting times. After the service Great Grandma Larson was waiting in the parking lot to say hello, and brought Wren a little bird house, a wren house of course, to be painted with her birth date and "Wren's House" and hung up in our yard.

dave rosati

all morning mike has been yelling, "wren looks like dave! like dave!" dave is my uncle, by marriage, not blood, and according to mike my daughter looks just like him....

Passed the test!

On Friday afternoon, Wren participated in a study at the Center for Neurobehavioral Development at the U of M, where I (Mike) work. The study is run by my coworkers (and good friends) Neely and Emily, and it examines recognition memory processing in infants. They recorded Ara speaking into a microphone, and then played back her voice and the voices of strangers to Wren. They collected Wren's brain waves/EEG on a machine to measure how she reacts to hearing her mom's voice vs. a stranger's voice. She did really well having the device on her head, and her results are pretty good! The screenshot with the red and blue lines was sent to me by Neely, and it basically shows that Wren can differentiate between her mom's voice and a stranger's, and that hearing Ara's voice makes her brain more active. I love my baby.

On your best behavior. Clergy is here.

Our great friend and Pastor, David Tucker, paid little Wren a visit this morning. Nancy, family friend and fellow church member came with him as well and brought us a rose, banana bread and chocolates! Wren so calmly and sweetly rested in their arms for quite some time as the sun shone in the windows while they listened to our birth stories. Really hope Wren is as comfortable in David's arms for her baptism on the 18th...

Friends are family: Part 600.

More friends. We love them, they love Wren, yadda, yadda, yadda. Kidding. Was fun having Jesse and Steve visit. (Sidenote: Steve is our only famous friend. He's a pro skateboarder. And yes, I know, you all are famous in your own ways - but this dude parties with Tony Hawk and Snoop Dogg. And now Wren.)

Was also really great to have our pal Bobby stop by - he was a little apprehensive to hold Wren, but I think he learned quickly that she's not as fragile as she looks - she almost sucked his pinky off!

Schmidts in the house.

My mom, dad and sister came over to pay us a visit last night, even brought us dinner from our fave Thai spot. Wren was her usual well-behaved self as she got passed around...Manny was there as well, sighing - I think he's upset that he's too heavy to get passed around anymore, too heavy to do anything anymore really...

You All Everybody!

Mike writing today.
(Note: The title is a reference to the show "Lost" - an obsession of ours (and Wren's I suppose) while Ara was pregnant...)
Been fun having more visitors to the house - Sarah and Hans came over (mainly to help me get my car back from the impound lot). It got towed on Tuesday morning in front of our house. It was actually pretty funny when we found out it was towed: I was laying in bed in baby-la-la-land staring into Wren's eyes like I always do, when Ara looked out the window and said "Umm, I think our car just got towed." and in a delicate baby voice responded "ohhh, that's too bad. It's okay."
Let's just say when I had to pay the $138 to get it out, I wasn't as "dainty" with the impound people...

Pam, our midwife's assistant, and a Nurse from Abbott also came over to visit Ara and Wren and check on their health. Both have a clean bill of health! Wren has been steadily gaining weight (even in the hospital - which is pretty rare) so that's good. Ara has been moving around easier so hopefully we'll be able to move the bed out of the dining room soon, although I've sort of enjoyed it - it's like a sleepover every night!