525,600 minutes

Today Jenna turns one. Looking back on it, we are pretty glad that she came to live with us, because she has been quite a bundle of fun over the past 12 months. I’ll put some birthday pictures up next time, but wanted to make sure and wish her a happy first birthday via the internet.

How old is Jenna?

The past week around her has been a pretty interesting one. It began last weekend when Jarom’s asian work-cousin Karen Nguyen offered to babysit Jenna for a few hours while he and Lix went and played some golf together. Jenna loved Karen and was not the least bit sad when Mom and Dad left or the least bit excited when they returned. Even though that hurt their feelings a little, they are glad that she plays well with others. As for the golf, Alixa beat Jarom 5 and 4, which for those of you who don’t know golf scoring is the absolute worst beating Jarom could possibly receive. The rematch has already been scheduled, and Jarom has promised me he will restore his honor.

Sunday was Father’s Day, and all Jarom wanted was breakfast in bed. Unfortunately, breakfast was pancakes and Lix thought that maple syrup and clean sheets didn’t mix well, so he had to have breakfast at the table. But he did get a wonderful nap and an awesome custom-made tie from his wife and daughter that he will definitely wear all the time, so it was a pretty good day.

I'm not entirely sure why the month and year needed to be on there, but it looks great

On Monday, Jarom got the following text message from Lix - Jenna fell off the bed. Worst mother of the year award. Im sorry. She seems to have recovered. Lix had set her up on the bed while she put away some laundry, and Jenna was a little too quick in getting to the far edge. Alixa almost grabbed her foot, but not quite. So we are continuing to test the limits of Jenna’s durability. So far, so good.

Since the heat wave has continued here in Virginia, the Winn’s have been taking some field trips in the evenings to take advantage of other people’s air conditioning. One day they went to the pet store, where Jenna always has the time of her life. She loves seeing people with their dogs, and enjoys all of the pets, from fish to lizards to birds to mice. They were pretty lucky with their timing as well, because they got to see the hamsters right in the middle of mating season. Even though they felt a little bit dirty watching what was going on, it was just too funny to turn away.

Enjoying the pool on the deck

Another day they went to Dicks Sporting Goods, where Lix needed a headband to keep the sweat out of her eyes while she works out. While they were there Jenna played with an assortment of bouncy balls. They also spent some time at the practice putting green in the golf section, where Jarom putted balls and Jenna chased them down and brought them back. It has also been about 5 years since the last time Jarom got some new t-shirts, so they picked up a few while they were out.

Playing around at Richard's

As far as Jenna’s habits go, she continues to be a very neat baby, perhaps borderline OCD. She loves to put things away, which is nice because her toys are usually in their basket or in drawers out of sight. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really know where anything goes, so Jarom has to regularly check the trash cans, where he often finds Jenna’s toys, or his phone, or other things. Her favorite thing to do is read books. She will walk around the house until she finds a book, then she will bring it to you and raise her arms so that you put her on your lap and read to her. Her favorite book is That’s not my Teddy, which she has read approximately 14 trillion times. But she doesn’t get tired of it, and Jarom and Lix like reading to her, so it’s okay. Lix has also been working on some sing-along songs with hand actions, like patty-cake and open-shut them.

Toys in the basket, reading a book (upside down), happy as a clam

Jarom paid a visit to a local hospital this week to see the Labor and Delivery Unit for work, and it was amazing to see all the newborns and remember that Jenna used to be that size. Alixa is a little bit sad that she isn’t a baby anymore and we have begun to see some signs of independence, like intentionally disobeying and fake crying to get things, but we all love her very much and think that she is a pretty sweet and very fun little kiddo. Hopefully her next year is even better than her first.


In honor of USA Soccer's moving on to the knockout round, a youtube video about "football."