I can't complain, but sometimes I still do

It is amazing how fast kids grow up. And how easy it is to forget what your kids were like when they were tiny. I suppose this is all part of God’s plan to trick people into having children. You see, if you told people that they would have to spend 9 months being sick, gaining weight, acting hormonal with all sorts of odd food cravings and emotional mood swings, then pass an 8 pound thing out of their body, then spend the next few months taking care of a creature that can do absolutely nothing by itself, feeding it every few hours, changing it’s diapers, waking up often in the middle of the night, and then you would have to deal with it for the next 20-60 years depending on how successfully it adapted to adult life, you would have very few takers. But you spruce that offer up with some cute little smiles and a tax break here and there, and you can get some folks to bite once. Then that kid grows up and learns to talk and walk and do some things for itself and becomes your friend, and you forget about all the agony and get duped into going through the process again. Newman!

He's so little, but he kind of has monkey arms. He can already touch his hands over his head.

But I suppose that as far as newborns go, Blake is actually fairly well behaved. He rarely cries, and has actually been doing a pretty good job of sleeping at night. Some of his toughest hours come between 9 and midnight, which is when Jarom sits on the couch and watches TV with him so Lix can sleep. The big concern around here was that Jenna was a good kid so the next one would be a disaster, but so far (knock on wood) Lix is actually claiming that Bo is an upgrade. We shall see if that lasts. The most significant drawback has in fact been the diaper changing, as Alixa feared it would be. She has been peed on a couple of times, and has learned to take the proper precautions to avoid this. He continues to be a good eater and is starting to plump up a little and lose his newborn skinniness, which is good.

Cord gone, so he gets his first bath

Jenna has been a great big sister, and loves to give baby Bo kisses and keeps an eye on him whenever he is around. She also gets very concerned whenever he is a little grunty, and calls this crying, because I’m not sure she ever really hears him cry. She has also been acting a little more like a two-year old, with some tantrums and general stubbornness. We think that this may be a byproduct of a new kid in town who is stealing some of the attention she used to have, or it may be because she is almost 2. Either way her parents aren’t particularly thrilled about it, but think it is a small price to pay considering how well behaved she usually is.

This is what Jenna would have looked like if she had gone to Kristi's wedding

Jarom took a week off from work to hang out with Lix and Bo and Jenna, and actually spent most of the week taking Jenna out for trips so that Mom and baby could rest. One morning Jenna woke up her parents with some crying at about 5 am. Lix sent Jarom in to investigate, and after about 15 minutes of consoling her and trying to interpret what she was saying between sobs, he figured out that she wanted to go outside and see some animals. He managed to explain to her that it really wasn’t the best time for that and that she should perhaps lay back down for a few hours, but that he would be happy to take her to see some animals when the sun came up. When she arose at her normal time 3 hours later she had not forgotten that promise and happily jumped in her bed asking to see animals. So the family took a trip to Maymont, where they keep friendly goats and sheep and donkeys, along with more exotic wildlife like bobcats, foxes, and black bears. Jenna had a great time seeing the animals and pushing baby Bo in his stroller. It was probably a little too soon for Lix to do so much walking, especially because it is rather hilly, but she handled it well. She estimates that her recovery from this delivery has been one bajillion times better than the last one.

For someone who woke up at 5 to go see this goat, she seems remarkably ambivalent. But later she did feed a goose and a squirrel ritz crackers right out of her hand, so that's something.


In fact, she is already losing lots of weight and is enjoying her new, non-swollen feet. And she must be doing something right because this week she started receiving text messages from someone who claims to be her stalker. The text said “This is your stalker, I know everything about you.” That sort of message is more likely to represent a couple of high school kids picking a random number as opposed to a dangerous psychopath who follows you around and watches you sleep, so she isn’t overly worried. However, in order to teach the kid a lesson Jarom has been calling the number repeatedly, leaving strange messages when he doesn’t answer and asking for Steve whenever he does. Most of those calls have taken place between 1 and 3 in the morning, so that the “stalker” can appreciate being on the receiving end of childish phone pranks.

Jenna always organizes her toys when she is done playing with them

And speaking of phones, Lix hasn’t gotten a new one for a few years so Jarom decided that he would let her pick one out for a Mother’s Day present. She got an LG Octane, which isn’t anything special but does keep the Qwerty keyboard that she loves and provides a significant upgrade in the quality of the camera and will allow her to take videos with her phone. She liked it so much that when Jarom asked her if it was the best Mother’s Day present she had ever gotten she said “Definitely in the top 3.” Normally Jarom would be happy with a top three finish, because that gets you up on the medal stand, and there’s no shame in that. But he thought about it for a second and it dawned on him that this will be Alixa’s second (as in 1,2) Mother’s Day, so he just placed 3rd out of 2, which all of a sudden doesn’t seem so great. I guess next year he will have get her another diamond or a vacation home or something.

Bonus points if you know where the title comes from.