Sunday, October 23, 2011
Baby Bo is Six Months Old!
On Friday, my baby boy turned six months old. He is about the cutest thing ever, and we love him a lot. He is a very happy baby, and really never cries. Well, he cries when he gets hurt, like when Jenna accidentally jumps on him or when I accidentally drop a hymn book on his face at church. But other than that, the happiest baby ever. He is very laid back and patient and loves me even though sometimes I get so caught up with Jenna that I ignore him a little bit.
He loves to eat "real" food and will scarf down his oatmeal and pears in about 60 seconds flat. He eats baby food three times a day and is getting good enough that sometimes he doesn't even need a bib. He sits up really well all by himself and can grab toys and play with them. He babbles, and says mamama if he is sad. He is a very curious little baby and feeding him a bottle is getting increasingly difficult as he likes to look at everything and wiggles so much he slides off my lap. He loves his new exersaucer we bought him and will play in it for a really long time.
He is a super sleeper, and sleeps 12 hours every night. He is a trooper during the day when he doesnt get as many naps as he would like because we are busy doing other things. Even if he is tired he is still a happy baby. He smiles at everyone and everything. He giggles too, and it is really cute. His favorite people to laugh at are Jenna and Kenna, because they are the best at playing peek-a-boo. He is proficient at rolling, and likes to be on his tummy. But sometimes he gets tired of being on his tummy and just lays his head down on the floor.
He really likes Jenna, and Jenna is getting better at liking Bo. She doesnt really pay much attention to him but gets very concerned if we go somewhere and Baby Bo isn't around. She is constantly keeping me updated on his state of alertness in the back of the car..."Mommy, Baby Bo is asleep." Or "Mommy, Baby Bo is awake!" She has recently started to want to give him hugs, which is super cute until Bo grabs hold of her hair and wont let go and she starts to cry. But while she is crying she tells me that "its ok, because he is just a little tiny baby and he doesnt know any better". She is constantly telling people that Baby Bo is her best friend, which is very sweet.
Bo is growing like a weed and has his six month check up tomorrow. I am guessing he is around 18 or 19 pounds, which sounds huge, but his dad weighed that much at 4 months, so I guess we are doing ok. We love this little boy so much and are so glad he came to join us! Happy half birthday, Baby Bo!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Big D
They say that everything is bigger in Texas, and based on our experience thus far, they are mostly right. But the thing that seems to be the biggest these days is baby Bo, a name that might not be appropriate for much longer. I guess somewhere between the middle of August, when the move preparation really got started, and now that kid has really gotten huge. And with all that has been going on around this house I guess it has sort of flown under the radar. But he is doing all sorts of big things, like rolling over and talking and standing on Jarom’s hands. He has also gotten pretty good at eating solid foods and doesn’t ever seem to be full. He has realized that he lives in a house with two very loud females and has developed a velociraptor shriek that allows him to make himself part of the discussion, and he uses it with frightening regularity. And he continues to be a very cute, very smiley, very easygoing baby, which is good because he has been relegated once again to the back burner by his older sister.

That’s because Jenna and Lix have undertaken potty training this week. Lix read a book about how to potty train your kid in 3 days and chose Monday-Wednesday of this week to give it a shot. I must say, the results have been surprisingly good. There have been a few accidents and Lix has been pushed to her breaking point, but Jenna has generally figured out how to successfully use the potty and is very excited about the stickers that she gets when she goes and the reward that comes when she fills up her sticker chart. On Wednesday evening after a long day stuck in the house and a couple of very frustrating accidents, Lix left Jarom with the kids so she could go get a haircut. Things went smoothly for about 30 minutes and then the wheels came off. Jenna was jumping on the couch, despite Jarom’s repeated requests that she not. One of her jumps was a little more than she could handle and *boom* she was on the ground with a bloody nose. She was obviously very upset and began sobbing, so Jarom picked her up and tried to make her feel better. Some of you may be able to predict what happened next. Jenna continued to cry harder and harder, until she puked all over herself and Jarom. Luckily, Jarom was able to contain the vomit to his clothes and person, but now had to try and carry Jenna up the stairs to the bathtub without shifting her body to allow barf to fall onto the floor. Somehow he managed to do it and got Jenna washed off and sitting in the tub. He then went back downstairs to check on Blake, who was now 10 minutes overdue for a bottle. He was crying a little now, because he was hungry and doesn’t really like being left alone. So Jarom quickly made him a bottle and toted him up to the bathroom, where he sat on the ledge of the tub and made Bo hold his own bottle while he bathed Jenna. It was getting late, so after he finished the bottle Jarom put him to bed and then was able to finish taking care of Jenna and getting her ready for bed, again. They were reading some stories when Lix got back. She makes it look so easy, this taking care of two little kids and not letting them die, but it is much harder than it looks.

Potty training is really the last step that is keeping Jenna from truly becoming a big girl. It has been interesting to watch her relationship with her parents lately. More and more she is becoming like a friend of theirs. During the move in she was quite helpful. Jarom gave her a large pile of little things that she could take into the house one at a time and she carried everything in her pile inside and up the stairs. When she goes to the store with Lix to help with the shopping they chat like girlfriends. She is also becoming very imaginative. She regularly puts her animals and baby dolls to sleep and feeds them elaborate meals. She has also started playing with things as if they were another. Rocks in the back yard become buggies that need to be fed leaves and have conversations with the other buggies that she has collected. Hangers become babies that need to be put to bed at naptime. It is pretty cool to watch her little mind go and see the things that it comes up with.
One thing that is definitely NOT bigger in Texas is the distance between our house and the other Winn Residence. That has been cut in half. Which is nice at 6:20 in the morning when Jarom leaves to go pick up Nate and head to work. They have decided to work a 7-4 shift in an effort to avoid heavy traffic and get home a little earlier to see the childrens. It is certainly the right decision, but Jarom is not thrilled about having to get up almost 90 minutes earlier than he used to. He did spend his birthday money on a spiffy new pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the big Texas sun on his drives home.
The rest of the week has been filled with all sorts of little errands and tasks. Lix and the kids came down to Jarom’s office for lunch one day and got to meet some of Jarom’s coworkers. Jarom made a trip to the dumpster to get rid of the last of the boxes that needed to be unpacked. The family went down to the local 24-hour Fitness and unfroze Jarom’s account so that he can once again work out at weird times. Lix can’t drop Bo off at the day care until he is six months old, so she still has to wait another week. We got the carpets cleaned, after seriously considering replacing them and then realizing that it was a little too expensive for us to do right now. So instead we got a new area rug for the family room, and it looks amazing. Jenna has continued to do great with the potty training, and has received a rocking horse and a new playhouse as rewards for her good behavior. Both were finds that Lix made on craigslist, which will make Brooke so proud.
The Winns also attended their new ward. It was pretty standard Mormon stuff, except that this is a ward that is dominated by young families. So there are 3 nurseries and about 120 kids in the primary. It makes for a loud sacrament meeting, but will sure be nice when Jenna has so many friends her age at church.
Here are some funny things that Jenna has said lately.
Alixa: Let’s put on your sunshine shirt, and then we will put your sweatshirt over that.
Jenna: Oh, that will be amazing!
Alixa: Jennabear, I love you
Jenna: No, I’m just eatin right now
Alixa put Jenna down for a nap today, and she didn’t sleep. She was singing very loudly and doing bum drops which were making huge thudding noises. So Lix went to investigate and noticed Jenna had thrown all of her animals out of bed. Lix asked her why she did that, and she said Pete had said "NO!" to her so she put him in time out by throwing him out of the crib.
Jenna: Mommy, I’m sweet like a popcorn ball

That’s because Jenna and Lix have undertaken potty training this week. Lix read a book about how to potty train your kid in 3 days and chose Monday-Wednesday of this week to give it a shot. I must say, the results have been surprisingly good. There have been a few accidents and Lix has been pushed to her breaking point, but Jenna has generally figured out how to successfully use the potty and is very excited about the stickers that she gets when she goes and the reward that comes when she fills up her sticker chart. On Wednesday evening after a long day stuck in the house and a couple of very frustrating accidents, Lix left Jarom with the kids so she could go get a haircut. Things went smoothly for about 30 minutes and then the wheels came off. Jenna was jumping on the couch, despite Jarom’s repeated requests that she not. One of her jumps was a little more than she could handle and *boom* she was on the ground with a bloody nose. She was obviously very upset and began sobbing, so Jarom picked her up and tried to make her feel better. Some of you may be able to predict what happened next. Jenna continued to cry harder and harder, until she puked all over herself and Jarom. Luckily, Jarom was able to contain the vomit to his clothes and person, but now had to try and carry Jenna up the stairs to the bathtub without shifting her body to allow barf to fall onto the floor. Somehow he managed to do it and got Jenna washed off and sitting in the tub. He then went back downstairs to check on Blake, who was now 10 minutes overdue for a bottle. He was crying a little now, because he was hungry and doesn’t really like being left alone. So Jarom quickly made him a bottle and toted him up to the bathroom, where he sat on the ledge of the tub and made Bo hold his own bottle while he bathed Jenna. It was getting late, so after he finished the bottle Jarom put him to bed and then was able to finish taking care of Jenna and getting her ready for bed, again. They were reading some stories when Lix got back. She makes it look so easy, this taking care of two little kids and not letting them die, but it is much harder than it looks.
Potty training is really the last step that is keeping Jenna from truly becoming a big girl. It has been interesting to watch her relationship with her parents lately. More and more she is becoming like a friend of theirs. During the move in she was quite helpful. Jarom gave her a large pile of little things that she could take into the house one at a time and she carried everything in her pile inside and up the stairs. When she goes to the store with Lix to help with the shopping they chat like girlfriends. She is also becoming very imaginative. She regularly puts her animals and baby dolls to sleep and feeds them elaborate meals. She has also started playing with things as if they were another. Rocks in the back yard become buggies that need to be fed leaves and have conversations with the other buggies that she has collected. Hangers become babies that need to be put to bed at naptime. It is pretty cool to watch her little mind go and see the things that it comes up with.
One thing that is definitely NOT bigger in Texas is the distance between our house and the other Winn Residence. That has been cut in half. Which is nice at 6:20 in the morning when Jarom leaves to go pick up Nate and head to work. They have decided to work a 7-4 shift in an effort to avoid heavy traffic and get home a little earlier to see the childrens. It is certainly the right decision, but Jarom is not thrilled about having to get up almost 90 minutes earlier than he used to. He did spend his birthday money on a spiffy new pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the big Texas sun on his drives home.
The rest of the week has been filled with all sorts of little errands and tasks. Lix and the kids came down to Jarom’s office for lunch one day and got to meet some of Jarom’s coworkers. Jarom made a trip to the dumpster to get rid of the last of the boxes that needed to be unpacked. The family went down to the local 24-hour Fitness and unfroze Jarom’s account so that he can once again work out at weird times. Lix can’t drop Bo off at the day care until he is six months old, so she still has to wait another week. We got the carpets cleaned, after seriously considering replacing them and then realizing that it was a little too expensive for us to do right now. So instead we got a new area rug for the family room, and it looks amazing. Jenna has continued to do great with the potty training, and has received a rocking horse and a new playhouse as rewards for her good behavior. Both were finds that Lix made on craigslist, which will make Brooke so proud.
The Winns also attended their new ward. It was pretty standard Mormon stuff, except that this is a ward that is dominated by young families. So there are 3 nurseries and about 120 kids in the primary. It makes for a loud sacrament meeting, but will sure be nice when Jenna has so many friends her age at church.
Here are some funny things that Jenna has said lately.
Alixa: Let’s put on your sunshine shirt, and then we will put your sweatshirt over that.
Jenna: Oh, that will be amazing!
Alixa: Jennabear, I love you
Jenna: No, I’m just eatin right now
Alixa put Jenna down for a nap today, and she didn’t sleep. She was singing very loudly and doing bum drops which were making huge thudding noises. So Lix went to investigate and noticed Jenna had thrown all of her animals out of bed. Lix asked her why she did that, and she said Pete had said "NO!" to her so she put him in time out by throwing him out of the crib.
Jenna: Mommy, I’m sweet like a popcorn ball
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The Travelling Pants
When we left off last the Winn family was crashing at Winn Manor in Delaware. That went on for a wonderful two weeks. Alixa and Jenna were thrilled to have Jarom around all day long, and everybody had a great time hanging out with lots of cousins and stuff. Jarom and Lix pawned their kids off on some doting aunts and played a round of golf together, there were family dinners and trips to malls to go shopping with the girls and swimming in the hot tub and swinging on the swing set and consoling JD while watching BYU games. All the wonderful things we have come to expect from a Delaware visit. And after a few weeks of not being a productive member of society, Jarom was actually pretty excited about the prospect of getting back to work and getting into his new job. So on Friday he helped pack up Carlotta and sent Lix, Jenna, Bo, and I westward towards Ohio, while he loaded up his car for the trip southward towards Dallas. As you might imagine, Alixa’s trip of 6 hours with 2 kids did not go nearly as smoothly as Jarom’s trip of 24 hours with 0 kids. I will let Alixa share her thoughts.
When I was talking to my mom one day about our plans while we were homeless, I mentioned that we would be spending our time in Delaware. It was only a four hour drive, there was lots of space for us, and Jenna had cousins there she could play with all day every day. It was a perfect place to be for three weeks until we could get to Texas. But my mom suggested that I spend some of the time in Cleveland with her so she could see her Grandkids one more time before they move so far away. I reminded her that it was an 8 hour drive to her house, not something I was willing to drive by myself. She said she would fly in and drive with me, so I agreed that we would go to Delaware for 2 weeks, and then come see her the last week. Well, a few days later, she said since I was now driving from Delaware, a drive that can be done in 6 hours, she was not going to spend the money to fly in. I said ok, thinking I have driven 5 hours by myself before, what is one more hour? So Friday the 23rd I packed up the car and the kids and headed out to Cleveland.
It was raining, which is no fun to drive in and I was hoping it would stop before we had to stop to feed children and change diapers. But unfortunately, it didn’t stop. It got worse and as we stopped for gas and a sobbing Bo, the rain was coming down in sheets. I stopped in a parking lot to feed Bo squished in the backseat of the car, but now Jenna was crying because she was tired and hungry, and that upset Bo, so he did eat, he just cried. So we were all crying in the cramped backseat of our car as the rains came down. I finally calmed Bo down enough to get him to eat, and promised Jenna something (I don’t remember what) if she would stop crying. After feeding Bo, we drove over to a gas station, thank goodness for covered gas pumps! I filled up the car and proceeded to change Jenna’s diaper. I pulled her out of her seat, and she was soaked. She had peed through all of her clothes. I started to panic because her suitcase was buried in the back of the car and I would have had to unpack most of the car to get her some new clothes. But, as I looked down, I saw the jammies that she had worn the night before that I didn’t pack in the suitcase, but had just thrown into the front seat on my way out of the door. They were a small miracle to me, just sitting there, I almost cried for joy. So, I put her clothes on her and then tried to decide what to do about lunch. Jenna was hungry, and I had minimal food in the car, but I couldn’t get both kids out of the car and into a restaurant without all of us getting soaked. So I settled on an Arby’s, the only fast food place at the exit, and got Jenna some French fries, and me a roast beef sandwich. Not the greatest lunch, but we were back on the road.
As I was looking at the route to take to my mom’s house, I decided to go up to I80 instead of taking the Pennsylvania turnpike (I 76) so that I could avoid Pittsburg and all of the construction going on around the city. I did not realize that to get up to 80 was a small road with not very many lanes. It was slow moving for a little while but we finally made it to 80 and I was excited to be moving at freeway speeds again. We were cruising pretty well for maybe 30 minutes, and then everything stopped. Literally, stopped. We weren’t even inching along. About ten minutes of just sitting there, people started getting out of their cars to walk up and see what was going on. I asked a trucker and he said there were two major accidents, one after the other, and that was why we were stopped. So I took the opportunity to sit in the back and hold Bo and play with the kids. We were stopped for a good hour and then started inching along. I assumed we had bypassed both accidents since we were stopped for so long, but that was not the case. We drove about 2 miles down the road, and stopped again. This time we were stopped for 2 hours. Not moving, just sitting. This time I was able to feed Bo again, change diapers, and get everyone ready for bed. I also fed Jenna her “dinner” of an m&m kudos bar, and some cheezits. She asked for real food, but that was literally all I had in my bag. So all in all, we were stopped for 3 HOURS. It made our journey and 11 hour trip instead of a 7 or 8 hour trip with stops. After we started moving again, the kids fell asleep and we were able to make it with no further problems. We pulled in around midnight. It was a terrible day of traveling, but we had survived. I learned a lesson… always have extra clothes available for the kids, and lots of food, just in case!
So it wasn’t the perfect drive. But they did make it safely to see Mimi and Opa. And sitting at the top of their list of things to do that week was visit the zoo. So on Saturday they stopped by to see all the animals and Jenna could not have been happier. She loved the elephants and tigers and monkeys, but her favorite exhibit, and not by a narrow margin, was the seals and sea lions. She spent a whole lot of time just staring at them while they swam around, completely transfixed. And when the group moved on to other animals, she repeatedly asked to go back to see the seals until her request was approved. The rest of the week was filled with game playing and visiting and tea. All the wonderful things we have come to expect from an Ohio visit.
While the family was enjoying the changing leaves in northern Ohio, Jarom was wondering why it was still in the high 90’s in Dallas. The job started pretty well, despite the general discomfort and lostness that accompanies any new job. There was a lot of orientation and filling out of forms to get the right key cards and computer programs and the like. But the people that he is working with seem very friendly and he is feeling pretty good about their decision to move. But after having so much time off, you can’t just jump right into a 5-day work week. So he got a Thursday night flight out of DFW to go to Cleveland and retrieve his family, and begin another two-day car drive. This one went much smoother than Lixi’s last one. It is amazing what a difference having a spare adult makes. And the fact that we avoided any accidents or major traffic jams didn’t hurt. We left Friday morning around 10 in the morning, and were pulling into Bob and Melissa’s house in Memphis about 12 hours later. At least we thought it was Bob and Melissa’s house. Jarom had stayed there the week before, but it was late and dark and their neighbor also has a large pickup truck in the driveway. So poor Lix had to awkwardly apologize to the strange man who answered the door but was nice enough to point us in the right direction.

We got a good night’s rest and Jenna got to play with their puppy, Max. But we were very anxious to get to our new house so we didn’t stick around very long after the French toast ran out. Another 7 hours across the super-boring states of Arkansas and East Texas and we had reached our destination. The kids actually hit their breaking point about 45 minutes before we got to the house, so the last few miles weren’t the greatest, but I was pretty impressed with how well they did throughout the trip.
We pulled in and our PODS were waiting for us, and through the miracle of packing everything so tightly that there wasn’t any room left, nothing was broken. Jarom did need to enlist Alixa’s help as he opened them to help prevent a cartoon-like explosion of furniture and boxes upon their release. It took about a day and some help from Nate to get everything out of the cubes and into the house, and then about another week to get things out of the boxes and into their new places here. But after living in the house for one week, we are now down to just a handful of boxes here and there, mostly containing wall decorations and stuff that Alixa hasn’t chosen a spot for or Jarom hasn’t had the time to put up on the wall.
In addition to getting the house organized Lix has been very active socially, attending playgroup one day and going out with some friends on another day. She also got Jarom to go over to the Combs’ house on Friday evening for pizza and to meet a few couples. Brooke Combs (Alixa tries to find a Brooke to be best friends with everywhere we live) even came over to play and help unpack on Wednesday. I had the honor of meeting her and her kids, although they didn’t really seem to like me. The Winns got introduced in church today and Jarom has found a weekly basketball game that he can get in, so I would say that they are adapting to the move rather well.
Other than the fact that the previous owners had dogs that left behind some hair in the carpet, everyone is pretty excited about the house. Jenna loves her new big girl bed and is excited about climbing up the ladder to lay down every night. The upstairs play room is great for Jenna’s toys and it is nice that we can keep the downstairs a little more orderly. Jarom and Alixa love that they have enough closet space to hang up all their clothes and Jarom likes not having to share a sink with his wife. They have been having regular family dinners at the table in the kitchen instead of on the coffee table in front of the TV, which makes Lix happy. And both cars now fit in the garage, which makes them happy. There will be little modifications and adjustments that will need to be made for a while, but right now everyone is thrilled to be together and in a home that is our own as we all try to figure out what life will be like here in the lone star state.
And a few videos of what the kids have been learning lately
When I was talking to my mom one day about our plans while we were homeless, I mentioned that we would be spending our time in Delaware. It was only a four hour drive, there was lots of space for us, and Jenna had cousins there she could play with all day every day. It was a perfect place to be for three weeks until we could get to Texas. But my mom suggested that I spend some of the time in Cleveland with her so she could see her Grandkids one more time before they move so far away. I reminded her that it was an 8 hour drive to her house, not something I was willing to drive by myself. She said she would fly in and drive with me, so I agreed that we would go to Delaware for 2 weeks, and then come see her the last week. Well, a few days later, she said since I was now driving from Delaware, a drive that can be done in 6 hours, she was not going to spend the money to fly in. I said ok, thinking I have driven 5 hours by myself before, what is one more hour? So Friday the 23rd I packed up the car and the kids and headed out to Cleveland.
It was raining, which is no fun to drive in and I was hoping it would stop before we had to stop to feed children and change diapers. But unfortunately, it didn’t stop. It got worse and as we stopped for gas and a sobbing Bo, the rain was coming down in sheets. I stopped in a parking lot to feed Bo squished in the backseat of the car, but now Jenna was crying because she was tired and hungry, and that upset Bo, so he did eat, he just cried. So we were all crying in the cramped backseat of our car as the rains came down. I finally calmed Bo down enough to get him to eat, and promised Jenna something (I don’t remember what) if she would stop crying. After feeding Bo, we drove over to a gas station, thank goodness for covered gas pumps! I filled up the car and proceeded to change Jenna’s diaper. I pulled her out of her seat, and she was soaked. She had peed through all of her clothes. I started to panic because her suitcase was buried in the back of the car and I would have had to unpack most of the car to get her some new clothes. But, as I looked down, I saw the jammies that she had worn the night before that I didn’t pack in the suitcase, but had just thrown into the front seat on my way out of the door. They were a small miracle to me, just sitting there, I almost cried for joy. So, I put her clothes on her and then tried to decide what to do about lunch. Jenna was hungry, and I had minimal food in the car, but I couldn’t get both kids out of the car and into a restaurant without all of us getting soaked. So I settled on an Arby’s, the only fast food place at the exit, and got Jenna some French fries, and me a roast beef sandwich. Not the greatest lunch, but we were back on the road.
As I was looking at the route to take to my mom’s house, I decided to go up to I80 instead of taking the Pennsylvania turnpike (I 76) so that I could avoid Pittsburg and all of the construction going on around the city. I did not realize that to get up to 80 was a small road with not very many lanes. It was slow moving for a little while but we finally made it to 80 and I was excited to be moving at freeway speeds again. We were cruising pretty well for maybe 30 minutes, and then everything stopped. Literally, stopped. We weren’t even inching along. About ten minutes of just sitting there, people started getting out of their cars to walk up and see what was going on. I asked a trucker and he said there were two major accidents, one after the other, and that was why we were stopped. So I took the opportunity to sit in the back and hold Bo and play with the kids. We were stopped for a good hour and then started inching along. I assumed we had bypassed both accidents since we were stopped for so long, but that was not the case. We drove about 2 miles down the road, and stopped again. This time we were stopped for 2 hours. Not moving, just sitting. This time I was able to feed Bo again, change diapers, and get everyone ready for bed. I also fed Jenna her “dinner” of an m&m kudos bar, and some cheezits. She asked for real food, but that was literally all I had in my bag. So all in all, we were stopped for 3 HOURS. It made our journey and 11 hour trip instead of a 7 or 8 hour trip with stops. After we started moving again, the kids fell asleep and we were able to make it with no further problems. We pulled in around midnight. It was a terrible day of traveling, but we had survived. I learned a lesson… always have extra clothes available for the kids, and lots of food, just in case!
So it wasn’t the perfect drive. But they did make it safely to see Mimi and Opa. And sitting at the top of their list of things to do that week was visit the zoo. So on Saturday they stopped by to see all the animals and Jenna could not have been happier. She loved the elephants and tigers and monkeys, but her favorite exhibit, and not by a narrow margin, was the seals and sea lions. She spent a whole lot of time just staring at them while they swam around, completely transfixed. And when the group moved on to other animals, she repeatedly asked to go back to see the seals until her request was approved. The rest of the week was filled with game playing and visiting and tea. All the wonderful things we have come to expect from an Ohio visit.
While the family was enjoying the changing leaves in northern Ohio, Jarom was wondering why it was still in the high 90’s in Dallas. The job started pretty well, despite the general discomfort and lostness that accompanies any new job. There was a lot of orientation and filling out of forms to get the right key cards and computer programs and the like. But the people that he is working with seem very friendly and he is feeling pretty good about their decision to move. But after having so much time off, you can’t just jump right into a 5-day work week. So he got a Thursday night flight out of DFW to go to Cleveland and retrieve his family, and begin another two-day car drive. This one went much smoother than Lixi’s last one. It is amazing what a difference having a spare adult makes. And the fact that we avoided any accidents or major traffic jams didn’t hurt. We left Friday morning around 10 in the morning, and were pulling into Bob and Melissa’s house in Memphis about 12 hours later. At least we thought it was Bob and Melissa’s house. Jarom had stayed there the week before, but it was late and dark and their neighbor also has a large pickup truck in the driveway. So poor Lix had to awkwardly apologize to the strange man who answered the door but was nice enough to point us in the right direction.

We got a good night’s rest and Jenna got to play with their puppy, Max. But we were very anxious to get to our new house so we didn’t stick around very long after the French toast ran out. Another 7 hours across the super-boring states of Arkansas and East Texas and we had reached our destination. The kids actually hit their breaking point about 45 minutes before we got to the house, so the last few miles weren’t the greatest, but I was pretty impressed with how well they did throughout the trip.
We pulled in and our PODS were waiting for us, and through the miracle of packing everything so tightly that there wasn’t any room left, nothing was broken. Jarom did need to enlist Alixa’s help as he opened them to help prevent a cartoon-like explosion of furniture and boxes upon their release. It took about a day and some help from Nate to get everything out of the cubes and into the house, and then about another week to get things out of the boxes and into their new places here. But after living in the house for one week, we are now down to just a handful of boxes here and there, mostly containing wall decorations and stuff that Alixa hasn’t chosen a spot for or Jarom hasn’t had the time to put up on the wall.
In addition to getting the house organized Lix has been very active socially, attending playgroup one day and going out with some friends on another day. She also got Jarom to go over to the Combs’ house on Friday evening for pizza and to meet a few couples. Brooke Combs (Alixa tries to find a Brooke to be best friends with everywhere we live) even came over to play and help unpack on Wednesday. I had the honor of meeting her and her kids, although they didn’t really seem to like me. The Winns got introduced in church today and Jarom has found a weekly basketball game that he can get in, so I would say that they are adapting to the move rather well.
Other than the fact that the previous owners had dogs that left behind some hair in the carpet, everyone is pretty excited about the house. Jenna loves her new big girl bed and is excited about climbing up the ladder to lay down every night. The upstairs play room is great for Jenna’s toys and it is nice that we can keep the downstairs a little more orderly. Jarom and Alixa love that they have enough closet space to hang up all their clothes and Jarom likes not having to share a sink with his wife. They have been having regular family dinners at the table in the kitchen instead of on the coffee table in front of the TV, which makes Lix happy. And both cars now fit in the garage, which makes them happy. There will be little modifications and adjustments that will need to be made for a while, but right now everyone is thrilled to be together and in a home that is our own as we all try to figure out what life will be like here in the lone star state.
And a few videos of what the kids have been learning lately
Monday, September 19, 2011
Food for Thought
Eating around the Winn house is always a little bit of a tricky task. Although I can’t confirm or deny this rumor, it has been said that Jarom once went 11 years without eating anything that wasn’t a peanut butter and honey sandwich. And it would seem that Jenna has inherited her father’s finicky taste buds. Which is why she is two years old and still being fed a steady stream of baby food, as in the baby food that comes in the jars for the 8-month olds. But recently we have begun to see drastic improvement on the Jenna-eating-stuff front. She has improved her eating speed, which is one of Alixa’s biggest pet peeves, so that she can finish a lunch or dinner in less than 45 minutes. She has also been surprisingly adventurous in trying new foods and being open to liking them. And she is even pretty good about it when she tries it and doesn’t like it. The overall effect of this new behavior is that the number of times per day that Lix wants to shoot herself has gone down by 3-4, depending on how many meals Jenna eats. And her imaginary food skills have been improving along with her real ones. She regularly cooks pancakes and cupcakes on Kenna’s play kitchen, which are always sold for the low low price of six dollars. And one of her favorite things to do while taking a bath is to make Diet Coke salads for her mom or dad. If you are interested in that salad, here’s the recipe: pour bath water from a small cup into a bigger cup until the bigger cup is full. Serve at room temperature, and probably charge $6.
Blake has been pretty good about eating as well, and as a result is getting pretty big pretty fast. Lix even tried to give him some rice cereal for the first time, and it was just as successful as every other kids first solid food. A whole lot of spitting and drooling, but he started to figure it out a little bit and when it was over we just threw the bumbo into the bath with the baby and washed everything down.
But the big news around here hasn’t been about food, but where that food is being eaten. And it isn’t in Richmond anymore. Jarom was originally scheduled to work at Bon Secours until September 16th, but on the 8th he got a call from the HR guy and was told that they would go ahead and pay him for the last week but that he didn’t need to bother coming in. Jarom thought about arguing, but didn’t want to end on a sour note so he took the deal and decided to head up to Delaware with the family for a two week vacation before heading down to Dallas.
But first there was the little matter of packing up the house into the two Relocubes that had been dropped off at the house. A big chunk of the work got done on Saturday, thanks in large part to Brooke (who watched Bo) and Kenz (who watched Jenna) and Nate (who helped move the few big items that we had, including and not limited to the futon mattress.) It was quite hilarious when Kenz came by to drop Jenna off in the afternoon, because both of the Ennas came in and looked at the now-empty living room and asked “where’d the toys go?” After explaining that they were in boxes that would go to Texas, Lix told Jenna that she could watch a show while she ate her dinner. This seemed to calm her down, or at least distract her from the missing toys. So she ran back into the living room only to come back again with that same confused look on her face, asking “where’d the couches go?” So she got to watch a show while sitting on the patio furniture that was set up in the living room. Please don’t judge us too harshly.
Sunday was the last day at church and a sort of farewell day to many of the wonderful people that have been so kind to us during our 2 years in Richmond. Jarom will definitely miss the organ player from this ward. And Jenna will definitely miss going to nursery with Courtney. And Lix will miss recipe clubs with Suzie and Brooke and all her other lady friends. We will miss the YMCA and the great ladies that have taken such good care of the kiddos, especially Miss Evy. I’m sure that there are far too many people and things that will be dearly missed to write them all down, but I think it is safe to say that Richmond became a happy home for this family and we will be extremely happy if Dallas can just come close to matching it.
On Monday things got a little tougher, and Jarom and Alixa’s marriage got challenged a little bit. You see Jarom is a planner, who likes to take his time and think about all the angles and possibilities and options before he starts working. Alixa is a doer. She just wants to jump in and start throwing stuff in boxes and putting those boxes in the cube. I don’t want to take sides and say which is better, but Jarom’s method is better. The Winns once again had some life saving babysitters/helpers to get the last few things into boxes, and then Lix took the kids and headed for Delaware, leaving Jarom with the last few things and the unwavering demand that Jenna’s tricycle and her water table not be left behind. After some creative packing, for which he is unreasonably proud, Jarom was able to get everything packed except for a pair of stools. It helped that they sold a bunch of stuff to the buyer of the house, which also means that there will be a new washer and dryer and television when we get to Texas, which makes Lixi very excited.
Now the crew is in Delaware, hanging out, enjoying the company, and counting down the days until they drive 24 hours to the lone star state. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I’m living in Bruce’s office and my stuff is all in boxes and I just don’t feel like rummaging to find the camera cords. So instead I will start a quotes segment, which is a blatant ripoff from my sister Annie. They are all from Jenna because she’s the only one that is funny right now.
Jenna: Mommy, I like your legs. They’re prickly.
Dad: Jenna, are you cute?
Jenna: No, I’m just trying to help this choo choo train find its mom.
Jenna(to her Mom, who was lagging behind): Let’s go Mommy, chop-chop!!
Now that Jenna is saying more and more funny things this segment will probably start showing up more often. And there will be more pictures once we get to Texas. Happy driving!
Blake has been pretty good about eating as well, and as a result is getting pretty big pretty fast. Lix even tried to give him some rice cereal for the first time, and it was just as successful as every other kids first solid food. A whole lot of spitting and drooling, but he started to figure it out a little bit and when it was over we just threw the bumbo into the bath with the baby and washed everything down.
But the big news around here hasn’t been about food, but where that food is being eaten. And it isn’t in Richmond anymore. Jarom was originally scheduled to work at Bon Secours until September 16th, but on the 8th he got a call from the HR guy and was told that they would go ahead and pay him for the last week but that he didn’t need to bother coming in. Jarom thought about arguing, but didn’t want to end on a sour note so he took the deal and decided to head up to Delaware with the family for a two week vacation before heading down to Dallas.
But first there was the little matter of packing up the house into the two Relocubes that had been dropped off at the house. A big chunk of the work got done on Saturday, thanks in large part to Brooke (who watched Bo) and Kenz (who watched Jenna) and Nate (who helped move the few big items that we had, including and not limited to the futon mattress.) It was quite hilarious when Kenz came by to drop Jenna off in the afternoon, because both of the Ennas came in and looked at the now-empty living room and asked “where’d the toys go?” After explaining that they were in boxes that would go to Texas, Lix told Jenna that she could watch a show while she ate her dinner. This seemed to calm her down, or at least distract her from the missing toys. So she ran back into the living room only to come back again with that same confused look on her face, asking “where’d the couches go?” So she got to watch a show while sitting on the patio furniture that was set up in the living room. Please don’t judge us too harshly.
Sunday was the last day at church and a sort of farewell day to many of the wonderful people that have been so kind to us during our 2 years in Richmond. Jarom will definitely miss the organ player from this ward. And Jenna will definitely miss going to nursery with Courtney. And Lix will miss recipe clubs with Suzie and Brooke and all her other lady friends. We will miss the YMCA and the great ladies that have taken such good care of the kiddos, especially Miss Evy. I’m sure that there are far too many people and things that will be dearly missed to write them all down, but I think it is safe to say that Richmond became a happy home for this family and we will be extremely happy if Dallas can just come close to matching it.
On Monday things got a little tougher, and Jarom and Alixa’s marriage got challenged a little bit. You see Jarom is a planner, who likes to take his time and think about all the angles and possibilities and options before he starts working. Alixa is a doer. She just wants to jump in and start throwing stuff in boxes and putting those boxes in the cube. I don’t want to take sides and say which is better, but Jarom’s method is better. The Winns once again had some life saving babysitters/helpers to get the last few things into boxes, and then Lix took the kids and headed for Delaware, leaving Jarom with the last few things and the unwavering demand that Jenna’s tricycle and her water table not be left behind. After some creative packing, for which he is unreasonably proud, Jarom was able to get everything packed except for a pair of stools. It helped that they sold a bunch of stuff to the buyer of the house, which also means that there will be a new washer and dryer and television when we get to Texas, which makes Lixi very excited.
Now the crew is in Delaware, hanging out, enjoying the company, and counting down the days until they drive 24 hours to the lone star state. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I’m living in Bruce’s office and my stuff is all in boxes and I just don’t feel like rummaging to find the camera cords. So instead I will start a quotes segment, which is a blatant ripoff from my sister Annie. They are all from Jenna because she’s the only one that is funny right now.
Jenna: Mommy, I like your legs. They’re prickly.
Dad: Jenna, are you cute?
Jenna: No, I’m just trying to help this choo choo train find its mom.
Jenna(to her Mom, who was lagging behind): Let’s go Mommy, chop-chop!!
Now that Jenna is saying more and more funny things this segment will probably start showing up more often. And there will be more pictures once we get to Texas. Happy driving!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Second Honeymoon
1 Corinthians 13:11 – When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Now that Jarom is over the hill he no longer does birthdays in the same way that he used to. Where once he had huge parties with tons of presents and all of his buddies and the occasional bounce house, now he has destination birthdays with his wife. And for their first destination birthday the decided to head down to Dallas and find a new home, since they have to be out of their current home by next Tuesday. So they arranged for some baby sitters, sending Jenna off to the Bleyls and Blake to stay with the Hoffmans. The original second honeymoon plan called for a Saturday afternoon departure, but Hurricane Irene canceled their flight and they had to bump it up to 6 in the morning to get out before the rain came. They felt a little bad about leaving town while the kids and I stayed here to weather the storm, but the fact that they could sleep on the plane and not have to wrangle any toddlers as they walked through the airports made them quickly forget what terrible parents they are.
In Dallas they met up with Nate and Kenz, who had already been there for a couple of days without Kenna, who had been staying at our house. They had already visited about 40 houses and had narrowed the search down to two areas, which made Alixa’s job much easier. The Winns instantly fell in love with Frisco, which is a relatively new suburb about 40 minutes north of Dallas. It reminds them very much of Las Vegas, in that the communities are all planned, with running trails and community pools and playgrounds, the roads are ample and well built, and the schools are spread out inside the neighborhoods. It didn’t take very long before they could see themselves spending a lot of years there. The house hunt was great. All those long hours of research that Lix has put in watching House Hunters and HGTV’d and My First Place really paid off. Their first love was a house that wasn’t actually on the market, but had been recently. It was pretty much perfect, but a little bit more than they were hoping to spend. Day one ended with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory, a Winn birthday tradition, with Nate and Kenz and a lot of thinking about the many houses that they saw. Day two started with second visits to a couple of their favorites from the first day and then a few more new houses. And it was in those new ones that the Winns found their new home. It’s a lovely 4 bedroom place with a cute backyard and close proximity to a pool and a park. And they really liked the way it was decorated, so they decided to put in an offer that day and asked for all of the furniture with the house. Sadly, the sellers didn’t go for that, but they did agree to leave some nice couches, a grill, and the coolest little girl bed you have ever seen. And now we will have a place to stay when we eventually get down to Texas in a few weeks. Happy birthday, Jardog! Enjoy paying it off for the next thirty years!




After a very successful house hunt and 3 day break from the kids both Jarom and Lix were very excited to see Jenna and Blake again, and they were ready to have their parents back as well. Both babysitters were excellent and we couldn’t be more thankful to have such nice folks as our friends here in Richmond. It will really be sad to have to leave them when we go. Courtney was great and took Jenna down to the river and let her sleep in her bed with her every night. I’m sure Erik was just thrilled about that. And the Hoffmans did great with Bo, although they may have decided that they can wait a little while before they decide to have a second baby.
Now the focus is on getting out of this house. We have started to pack up, and decided that since we are picking up some furniture in Texas we can leave some here and sold a few pieces to the guy who is buying our house. It’ll save on moving expenses and keep old man Jarom from throwing out his back as he carries heavy dressers down the stairs.
The only real negative development that has happened lately is that Jenna has sort of quit taking naps. It has become quite a struggle to get that girl to lay down and go to sleep. She will scream and cry bloody murder until you open up the door to get her. After some trial and error we found that if you explain to her that she needs to stay in her room and offer to let her keep the door open a little, she does okay. Perhaps she just doesn’t like the feeling of isolation. However, now that the door is staying open she can get out and try to come downstairs, where she knows she is not supposed to be. So both Jarom and Lix have caught her quietly tiptoeing down the stairs and crouching behind corners and furniture as she tries to avoid being detected. Once she is caught she will sheepishly grin at you as you ask her where she is supposed to be, to which she will answer “in my bed” before heading back upstairs. On days when she doesn’t nap this will happen repeatedly as the parent sends her to bed and she sneaks back down. But it is pretty hard to get mad at her when she is so stinkin cute.
Here's a little clip of Bo laughing. Bonus points if you can name the song that Lix sings to him to get him to start.
Now that Jarom is over the hill he no longer does birthdays in the same way that he used to. Where once he had huge parties with tons of presents and all of his buddies and the occasional bounce house, now he has destination birthdays with his wife. And for their first destination birthday the decided to head down to Dallas and find a new home, since they have to be out of their current home by next Tuesday. So they arranged for some baby sitters, sending Jenna off to the Bleyls and Blake to stay with the Hoffmans. The original second honeymoon plan called for a Saturday afternoon departure, but Hurricane Irene canceled their flight and they had to bump it up to 6 in the morning to get out before the rain came. They felt a little bad about leaving town while the kids and I stayed here to weather the storm, but the fact that they could sleep on the plane and not have to wrangle any toddlers as they walked through the airports made them quickly forget what terrible parents they are.
In Dallas they met up with Nate and Kenz, who had already been there for a couple of days without Kenna, who had been staying at our house. They had already visited about 40 houses and had narrowed the search down to two areas, which made Alixa’s job much easier. The Winns instantly fell in love with Frisco, which is a relatively new suburb about 40 minutes north of Dallas. It reminds them very much of Las Vegas, in that the communities are all planned, with running trails and community pools and playgrounds, the roads are ample and well built, and the schools are spread out inside the neighborhoods. It didn’t take very long before they could see themselves spending a lot of years there. The house hunt was great. All those long hours of research that Lix has put in watching House Hunters and HGTV’d and My First Place really paid off. Their first love was a house that wasn’t actually on the market, but had been recently. It was pretty much perfect, but a little bit more than they were hoping to spend. Day one ended with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory, a Winn birthday tradition, with Nate and Kenz and a lot of thinking about the many houses that they saw. Day two started with second visits to a couple of their favorites from the first day and then a few more new houses. And it was in those new ones that the Winns found their new home. It’s a lovely 4 bedroom place with a cute backyard and close proximity to a pool and a park. And they really liked the way it was decorated, so they decided to put in an offer that day and asked for all of the furniture with the house. Sadly, the sellers didn’t go for that, but they did agree to leave some nice couches, a grill, and the coolest little girl bed you have ever seen. And now we will have a place to stay when we eventually get down to Texas in a few weeks. Happy birthday, Jardog! Enjoy paying it off for the next thirty years!




After a very successful house hunt and 3 day break from the kids both Jarom and Lix were very excited to see Jenna and Blake again, and they were ready to have their parents back as well. Both babysitters were excellent and we couldn’t be more thankful to have such nice folks as our friends here in Richmond. It will really be sad to have to leave them when we go. Courtney was great and took Jenna down to the river and let her sleep in her bed with her every night. I’m sure Erik was just thrilled about that. And the Hoffmans did great with Bo, although they may have decided that they can wait a little while before they decide to have a second baby.
Now the focus is on getting out of this house. We have started to pack up, and decided that since we are picking up some furniture in Texas we can leave some here and sold a few pieces to the guy who is buying our house. It’ll save on moving expenses and keep old man Jarom from throwing out his back as he carries heavy dressers down the stairs.
The only real negative development that has happened lately is that Jenna has sort of quit taking naps. It has become quite a struggle to get that girl to lay down and go to sleep. She will scream and cry bloody murder until you open up the door to get her. After some trial and error we found that if you explain to her that she needs to stay in her room and offer to let her keep the door open a little, she does okay. Perhaps she just doesn’t like the feeling of isolation. However, now that the door is staying open she can get out and try to come downstairs, where she knows she is not supposed to be. So both Jarom and Lix have caught her quietly tiptoeing down the stairs and crouching behind corners and furniture as she tries to avoid being detected. Once she is caught she will sheepishly grin at you as you ask her where she is supposed to be, to which she will answer “in my bed” before heading back upstairs. On days when she doesn’t nap this will happen repeatedly as the parent sends her to bed and she sneaks back down. But it is pretty hard to get mad at her when she is so stinkin cute.
Here's a little clip of Bo laughing. Bonus points if you can name the song that Lix sings to him to get him to start.
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