Back to the lab again

Having returned from the Far West, Jarom and Alixa began the new year by laying out some resolutions and getting to work on them. During a mean-spirited game that was played in Grandma and Grandpa’s basement after a family home evening Alixa was asked to make a resolution for her husband. She chose “Go to the gym three times a week.” It hurt Jarom a little bit, but only because his physique has plummeted from mediocre to embarrassing over the past few years. The truth is painful. So he has been working out more, and Lix has been great about encouraging him. Unfortunately she is still baking cookies and sweet breads and making muddy buddies about every third day, so it seems to be a zero-sum game. I suppose there are worse things than being married to a great chef who loves to make yummy treats.

Another of the resolutions is to get the house ready for the arrival of Blake Owen (I reserve the right to make any adjustments to this name as needed.) This mainly consists of doing some organizing, especially in my room, which has hitherto been a storage repository but will soon become an actual room with an inhabitant that actually needs space to operate. So there has been some putting of stuff in boxes and sending it up to the attic, and the semi-regular analysis of old clothes to decide what things can be sent to the goodwill. The decision was also made to organize the upstairs linen closet and to provide the family room with some cubbies for the kidlet’s toys. Alixa received the inspiration from Wes Carter and bought the equipment at Target. I will admit that it has done wonders as far as keeping the floor free of toys and Jarom doesn’t trip nearly as often when walking through the house. It’s only mid January, so I’d be cautiously optimistic about the continuation of these goals, but so far, so good.



The new year has also brought with it a new church schedule, which has been great. The ward is now meeting at 9 am, which means that the Winns are less likely to show up early, but more likely to not be grumpy because church is interrupting their naps. Another big change is that Jarom and Alixa now have less of an excuse for not paying attention in Sunday school because Jenna hit the 18-month mark and now gets to attend nursery. It was little surprise that on the first day they went to drop her off she bolted away from Lix and excitedly began playing with the kitchen set, forgetting that she even had a mother. They have puzzles and books and a slide and other kids in there to play with, so Jenna is pretty much in her own personal nirvana. And the nice women that are there to take care of her love that she will sit on their lap for an entire book reading and that she pretty much never cries or complains. Jarom and Alixa are very nervous that the universe somehow messed up and gave this kid all of the good qualities of an entire family and now each subsequent child will be an unmanageable devil.



Basketball season has also started for the church leagues, and Alixa and Nate have been called as the young women’s and young men’s basketball coaches, respectively. This means that Jarom has unofficially been called as the assistant coach to the young women’s and young men’s basketball teams. He has practice on Thursdays from 6-7 (boys) and 8-9 (girls), games on Friday evenings (old men) and two on Saturdays (boys and girls). Throw in the once a week pickup game that he regularly plays in and that is a lot of basketball. But he very much enjoys it, and it is a lot of fun for him to help Lix and Nate coach. So far the teams have an aggregate record of 4-1. Jenna also enjoys hoops, and has become a very vocal cheerleader. Alixa taught her how to yell “Go Daddy” and “Go Natie” while watching their latest game, and she knows that she should never clap for the opposing team.



The only negative to speak of recently is a little bit of sickness that seems to have invaded the Winn home. Jarom has been battling a sore throat that isn’t too bad except for the occasional hacking up of phlegm that makes anyone within earshot want to puke, and Alixa and Jenna have suffered from it as well. The problem with Jenna is that she has a very sensitive gag reflex and sometimes she coughs so hard that she barfs. Jarom taught her how to take deep breaths in order to calm herself down, and she has gotten pretty good at controlling it herself. We aren’t sure if it is still the cough or if she has caught something else, but last night was a terrible mess. Jarom was heading to bed around 12:30 when he heard a cough and some gagging from Jenna’s room. He quickly went in and found her sitting up and crying, having thrown up on her favorite stuffed animal, Pendy Pete. He picked her up to take her to the tub, and on the way she threw up in the hall and again in the bathroom. They washed her up and cleaned up the mess and finally got her back to bed around 1:45. At about 2:30 she threw up again, and it was back to the tub. Jarom stayed home from work to take care of her today, as Lix needed to baby-sit Kenna and it probably isn’t a good idea for them to hang out all day together. She seems to be doing better, which is great. Hopefully it was just a quick bug and it is all out of her system now.



On a lighter note, everyone is very excited about Grandpa Winn’s 80th birthday party this weekend, where there will be lots and lots of cousins and family. Cross your fingers that everyone will be back to full strength by then so that they can have a great time.