The Others

It’s been a few weeks since my last update, but I swear I have a good excuse – the house has been overrun with visitors and I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything. But the dust is finally settling, so I’ll recap.

The craziness began the Sunday before Easter with the arrival of Alixa’s family, who came to town to celebrate spring break (Woohoo!) with Mikah and her new boytoy Sterling. After church Jarom swung by Nate’s house to pick up their inflatable mattress and set up Jenna’s room and my room for guests. Jenna had to return to her pack and play at the foot of mom and dad’s bed. The visitors got a late start and didn’t arrive until the wee hours of the morning, at which point they all stumbled to their assigned sleeping places and crashed. Monday morning Jarom headed off to work while Alixa and Mario began their family-bonding project, which consisted of installing crown molding in the living room. This was a first for both of them, and there was some confusion about the size of the nails used by the nail gun, so it was slow going at first. Jarom got home around 5:30, and the room was roughly 20% completed. After a few more hours of work, the decision was made to expand the project to include the dining room. This meant a trip to Lowes to get more crown molding. Fortunately, Tuesday went much faster, thanks to some appropriately sized nails and the experience of Sterling, who wasn’t around on Monday. The crew finished the living room and dining room in just a few hours, leaving Alixa with enough time to take Jenna to the doctor for her nine month shots before hitting the road northward to visit the nation’s capitol.

Jarom left some Chipotle chips out for the neighbors. Of course they loved them. Who wouldn't?

Alixa was born outside of DC and lived there until age 7, which means that there are people who live there that are good friends with her parents and vaguely remember her. Nobody wanted to carry Jenna (who now weighs around 20 lbs) around DC all day Wednesday, so Gramma Nancy agreed to drive to Baltimore and pick her up for a 36-hour babysitting session. In keeping with the tradition of giving Jenna to Nancy in all of the worst conditions, the little girl was miserable from her shots and a little bit sick. She seemed to do okay, but did not get any good naps or sleep much Tuesday or Wednesday nights.

Sterling and Bogan

Jenna making friends with the Pit Bull

The Hegewalds

In Washington, Lix and family got to see all of the sights, including a sighting of the Obama motorcade and a VIP tour of the Capitol building courtesy of cousin Kyle. The cherry blossoms were in bloom, which made for a wonderful day that everyone enjoyed. That evening Jenna was retrieved and Jarom’s girls got back around 11:00 pm, which is just a tad past Jenna’s bedtime. Thursday was a short day at work for Jarom, because it was Good Friday Eve and he works for a Catholic Hospital. He took advantage of this free time and went to play nine holes of golf with Mario and Lix. The weather was perfect. They put Jenna down for a nap before they left at 4:30, giving PJ instructions to feed her dinner when she awoke. She never did. Apparently she decided that she wanted to catch up on all the sleep she had missed, so she snoozered right on through til morning, when she got up at 8 for breakfast, and then promptly when right back to sleep until 11:30. That’s right, she slept for 19 hours, with about a 30-minute pit stop in the middle.

Asian Jenna vs. American Jenna

On Good Friday the Hegewalds all went to Williamsburg, where they were charmed by the quaint 1700’s era village and got to witness several reenactments of various historically significant events. They also found a teahouse where they could enjoy scones and other such pastries while drinking and pointing their pinkies. The overall review was that it was neat, but maybe not worth an entire day. I think they were all a little tired of walking tours by the end of it. Jarom had been there several times as a grade-schooler, and decided that he would rather hang out with his daughter all day, so he stayed in Richmond. They slept in together, and then ran some errands, which were highlighted by the four donkeys that they found at a local church. They stopped to see them and Jenna was beyond excited and very curious about what must have seemed like the biggest, furriest dogs she had ever seen.

You are not allowed to leave Williamsburg without this picture

I guess parade security in the 18th century is pretty lax

Enjoying some tea, and apparently champagne

Saturday morning began with a round of golf for Mario, Lix, and Jarom. While they were gone there was an emergency involving Mikah, Sterling, and PJ all being unable to figure out how to assemble a bottle for Jenna (Answer: start by matching up the brand names that are on the bottle with the one on the nipple.) Saturday afternoon everyone took naps, and in the evening they played some tennis and went to Applebees for some eatin good. Alixa cooked up a wonderful Easter dinner with her mom, highlighted by a Honey Baked Ham. After they left there was some vacuuming, 6 or 7 loads of laundry to wash all the sheets and towels, and a boatload of dishes to be done. Jenna went back to her room, and the house was quiet once again.

She likes to burrow, and LOVES her white doggy (as yet unnamed)

Until Tuesday morning. That’s when Nancy, Jamie, Haley, Loni, Alli, Madison, and Taya arrived. So Jenna was back in with mom and dad, I had to share my room again, and Jarom returned to Nate’s to once again borrow the air mattress. The sheets and dishes piled up again, but it was fun to have the families around to play with and enjoy the nice weather. Mario was in charge of doing the crown molding with Alixa, and Nancy had a job to do as well. Together with Lix she painted Jenna’s room and made it into a very respectable nursery. I’m told that they painted three walls “Brittany’s Bow” and one wall “Heart’s Desire”, but I’m fairly certain that it is pink (3) and red (1). But it looks great. The Winn contingency only stayed for two nights, and it is once again quiet and the house is free of air mattresses and my room is free of guests. It is sure wonderful to live close to family, but I sometimes think it would be even more wonderful if they would space their visits out just a hair.

This is in the Capitol building. Kyle said that he wanted it up. My money is on that snake.

Tomorrow Jarom starts working 12-hour shifts at the hospitals that are implementing the electronic medical record system that he is building, so he’ll be even more of an absentee father than he usually is. Enjoy the Masters.