Spring forward

The hectic, jam-packed, not-quite-comfortable lifestyle around this place has continued for the last few weeks. In my last post, I mentioned some of the little quirks around the house that we had discovered, such as the schizophrenic electrical system. Well, about 30 seconds after a visit to ServiceMagic.com Alixa had contracted an electrician to come by and fix the problem. She was so thrilled with the results that she used the site again, this time to find a plumber who would come and install our brand-new kitchen sink, which was the only item in the kitchen that hadn’t been updated. Jarom and Lix had been spending a fair amount of time furniture shopping, and were happy to find a cute kitchen table with four stools that would fit nicely in the kitchen eating area. While they were at the store, Jarom found a bedroom set that he thought was great, but Lix wasn’t sold on the color (she thought the stain was too light.) However, two days later when they went to the warehouse to pick up their new table, they again saw the bedroom set and decided to purchase it. Lix was still a little tentative about the color, but it was delivered today and she hasn’t stopped talking about how much she loves it. She is very excited to become a “real person.”



So things were starting to settle down a little bit as we all got moved in and started to really live in this new house of ours. What is the next step? Why it is making a big mess of everything and painting some rooms, of course! So last week Lix started getting paint samples for the living room. She began painting last week and finished up today, and has done a pretty great job considering it is her first project. Now she just has to put stuff up on the walls and then add crown molding and then put in new drapes and then add the accent wall in the dining room and the new vanities in the upstairs bathrooms and the paint in Jenna’s room and the………………… Jarom has tried his hardest to simultaneously encourage Lix’s creativity and emphasize that she can do all of these projects, just not all of these projects this week. But he sure is glad that she is so excited to do all of these things. In an effort to fund all of these projects, we did our taxes. Between making basically no money and having a kid and being a full-time student and buying a house for the first time, Uncle Sam will be treating us okay this year. Hopefully the tax refund arrives in time to pay off the credit card bill for all these upgrades on the house.



The other new development in Alixa’s life is her membership at the YMCA near our house. She has been a very dedicated gym rat the last few weeks, dropping Jenna off at the childcare and sweatin’ to the oldies with the middle-aged women of Richmond in the assorted classes offered at the Y. She has renewed her post-baby weight loss, which had stalled for a few months while we were nomadic and she wasn’t able to be in any sort of workout routine.



And since the Winns hadn’t been on a vacation since January, they decided to make the four-hour drive up to Delaware for the weekend. The weather was awful, with temperatures in the 40’s and monsoon-like rain all weekend. So of course Jarom took the opportunity to go play some golf with JD and Bruce. They were the only car in the parking lot when they arrived, and the only car there when they left. The guy at the pro shop told them to feel free to play as much golf as they wanted for the nine-hole price, but by the time they hit the turn there were some numb fingers and toes so they decided to call it a day. They all played pretty well, considering. But as JD wisely pointed out, the important thing is that “this is what memories are made of.” The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with cousins and grandparents, all of whom were thrilled to see Jenna. Jenna has learned some new tricks that she was all too happy to show off. She is now a proficient waver goodbye, and gives wonderful open mouthed kisses. She will also spit her pacifier out, with rather impressive distance. These are all on unique verbal commands. We are at the stage of her life where Jarom feels oddly like a dog trainer, but can’t help smiling proudly as his daughter masters each new feat. Her most impressive trick of the weekend was that she sprouted a few bottom teeth, which understandably made her a little bit of a grump. She is also beginning to show signs that she may soon crawl. She will lunge forward at items that she wants to get too, and will also pull herself up to a standing position if there is an object nearby. She is still way behind her cousins, who are both motoring around like pros, but have you ever heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?

As for Jarom, he is still enjoying his job, which is a good sign. He recently went with Alixa to give his wardrobe a little makeover. It turns out that while five dress shirts might be enough when you only wear them once a week, it is not sufficient when you have to wear them every day. So he got some new work shirts at Kohls, an experience that couldn’t be over fast enough for him. But he must admit that the shirts do look good and it is nice to not wear the same thing each Tuesday. He also got a calling in the ward – Assistant to the Den Mother. At first Alixa thought he was kidding when he told her, but now she believes him and just thinks less of him for having what she thinks is “an embarrassing calling.” Well, like an old bishop of ours always said, “There are no small callings in the church, only small people.” And at his current weight, Jarom certainly can’t be accused of being the latter.

I will leave you with a funny graph that I found regarding water usage (read: toilet flushes) as it compares with the USA-Canada gold medal hockey game during the Olympics a few weeks ago. Those canucks are crazy! Good luck to all of you in your March Madness brackets!