Playing Possum

Those of you who know Jarom and have children are aware of his proclivity for calling those children rats. Some of you have wondered out loud if he would continue this habit with his own offspring someday. It is still a little too early to tell for sure, but my magic 8-ball says “Signs point to yes”. As Alixa has become more and more pregnant, she and her little buddy have started to play games. This is often how Lix entertains herself during slow stretches at work. She will sit and balance things on her belly, waiting for Jenna to move them. She has been working on rolling over and sitting up with mixed results (Lix seems to think she’s a dog). This week, Jenna tried a new trick that she came up with on her own – playing dead. All morning on Tuesday Alixa didn’t feel any moving going on, so she decided to call her doctor, who told her to come on in to check it out. Even though she was pretty sure she was over-reacting, she didn’t want to take any chances. So she left work, drove to the hospital, waddled in and got all the monitors and doohickeys strapped to her, at which point Jenna decided to jump out from her proverbial hiding spot to say “Here I am!” Her movements while at the hospital were off the charts, making this the first official instance of Jenna making her parent look like a big fat liar. This story amused Jarom, who has since begun referring to the possum that Lix is lugging around. Oh, well. As a wise person once said, “A false alarm is better than a real alarm.”

No possums were hurt during the taking of this photograph

Also on the baby front, the Winns attended their first birthing class this week. It hasn’t been particularly valuable yet, but there are still a few more weeks to go. They got to watch a bad intro video that included a stand up comedy routine about childbirth that wasn’t funny. Their teacher is a strange lady who home schools her kids, has a thick accent, and says “OK” at the end of every other sentence. The main thing that they learned is that they wish they were going to be giving birth at this hospital in TN. The birthing rooms looked like hotel suites, and each came with a Jacuzzi tub for the mom to soak in before and after labor. Hopefully the hospitals in DE will be nice too.

I haven't put a pic of pregnant Lix up in awhile, so here she is at 8 months pregnant (32 wks)

We are all getting excited for the big move, which is only 10 working days away. We have been thinking about possible stops on our way up north, first considering Cleveland and then settling on Richmond, where we will get to see Nate and Kenz’s new house. But for now Jarom has a few papers and finals to wrap up and then he will have only two more classes to take in the fall to complete his Master’s degree. Alixa spent the week getting pampered by receiving a pedicure, her first in about a year, and getting a new hairstyle. She looks very beautiful, even though she is constantly scratching her itchy tummy and bosoms. Hopefully, she has less than 60 days to go, and is very excited about not being pregnant again someday.

I found this while looking for possum pics, and it's hilarious