Three's company

 

It’s amazing what a tremendous difference a few pounds can make around here. Baby Emily Brooke, as Jenna and Bo almost exclusively call her, is doing very well and is a pretty good kid, but has forced a lot of changes in our routine. Lix has transitioned into the role of mother of three pretty well. She has to balance feedings and naps with all the other things she was already doing, like park days and preschool. Jarom tries to help with what he can here and there, but the sad truth is that he has become less involved with the day to day care of each successive child. With Jenna he was a pseudo-stay-at-home dad in school and with Bo he was at a slightly closer and slightly more relaxed job. He would be lying if he said he wished he got to change more diapers, but he does try to keep Lix from getting overwhelmed. The support staff around here has been amazing. Jarom worked from home most of the week after Emmy was born, and the second week Jarom’s sister Kristi was nice enough to fly out and give us a hand for a week. It was awesome to have her around and be able to visit with her and have another adult on hand to help with the other kids for a bit. Her stay went mostly without incident, except for the one time that Sonic got a little out of hand and attacked her giant headed baby Sawyer. Do me a favor and don’t tell David about that.

 Alixa's new double stroller, with one spot to hold the carseat

The local help has been great as well. For the first few weeks Lix didn’t have to cook any dinner because of the great friends we have here, and she even got to have a maid come over to clean up the house for her one day. It feels like we had people lining up to babysit Bo and Jenna, and some of our older friends who haven’t had a newborn for a decade or so even offered to take Emmy off Alixa’s hands for an evening so she could go out and party like it was 1999.

 Swimming at the beach

The best baby gift that Lix received came a little after Emmy. Lix has been asking to get a minivan for a while, and now that there are 3 kidlets and because Lix does a fair amount of carpooling with additional little ones it made sense to get one. So we looked around and found some sucker who was willing to give us some money for the best car Jarom has ever had and rolled that cash straight into a down payment for a new Toyota Sienna. It is a pretty awesome vehicle, and we are hopeful that its functionality and convenience will be a nice family addition for a long time. The only real downside is that the additional room in there is only going to act as encouragement for Alixa to add more children to this ever growing clan. That and now we have to deal with a car payment.

 In an effort to crash the new minivan as soon as possible here is Alixa drinking a green smoothie and taking pictures with her phone while driving. She was probably also reading a magazine.

Around the house everyone is doing great. My little terrarium doesn’t change much, but that’s just the way I like it. Sonic has gone from a little kitten and turned into a cat seemingly overnight. He got fixed last week, but much to Alixa’s dismay that did not cause him to stop being a playful, rambunctious troublemaker. He got a shiny new tag with his name and Jarom’s phone number on it this week, and it immediately paid off. The next day at work Jarom got a call from a sweet little girl who told him that she had found his cat. He was very grateful and began asking a few questions to find out where he had been found. It turns out that the girl was walking back to her house, which is on our street, when she found Sonic hanging out in the front yard. In fact, she was still standing in front while she called. Jarom thanked her for finding Sonic and told her she could just set him down right there and that he would be fine. The next day Alixa answered the door to find a nice man holding Sonic. He said “I found your cat.” She thanked him and told him he could just set him down. I guess people here in Texas see a cat with a tag and assume he should be inside. Or maybe it is because Sonic is a snooty Siamese cat and not some shabby tabby. I guess we can just be glad that people aren’t trying to steal our cat.

Jenna is doing a pretty good job as a big sister again. She continues to amaze us with her smarts. This week Lix asked her to write down all the letters in the alphabet, and was shocked when she was able to do it without any help (other than K and Z). We are going to try working with her a little to see if she is ready to start reading.

Bo keeps talking more and more, stringing longer phrases together. He has started to memorize books and will beat you to the lines in a lot of his favorites. The story he likes the most these days is Where the Wild Things Are, which he got for Christmas. He loves Max and the monsters. He always wants to play angry birds, even though he is terrible at it and can almost never hit anything without help. He also turned two recently, and got to have a big party with all of his best friends. His are mostly the Ogden and Hendrix family, which is weird because all the kids are 10 or older, but they seem to like Bo too. He got a fleet of new cars, an awesome Indiana Jones hat to replace the pink one he’s been sporting lately, and a new fishing pole.

 Not to be outdone, Bo is seen here beginning to spell his last name with his hands

He made Lix very sad the other day when she commented that he doesn’t ask her to hold him like he used to. Before Emmy arrived he would come up to her at least once a day and say “Hold you, mommy?” with his arms extended. In an effort to make her feel better, Jarom went and told Bo to go have mommy hold him. Bo promptly went over and said “Hold me, mommy?” As all of you mothers know, this did not make Alixa feel better. Her little boy is growing up too fast. He has also graduated from saying “Bake Onin” to “Blake Owen”. But he is very cute with Emmy, even though he sometimes isn’t as soft as he needs to be. He is constantly updating Alixa on the baby’s status. “Baby crying, mommy!” whenever she is sad. “Baby all better” whenever she stops. As if there is anyone in the house that can’t her that little girl when she is crying. Why is everyone in this house so loud?! 

 Birthday cupcakes and new Lambos and diggers

Emmy still doesn’t do much other than eat, sleep, and be cute. She seems to be very much in the mold of the other Winn kids. She is a pretty good sleeper and usually well behaved. She is a third child, so she is already getting used to sleeping during an earthquake and generally dealing with whatever it is that is going on.

Alixa is adjusting to non-pregnant life. She will start back at the gym in a few weeks, as soon as Emmy is old enough for the daycare. She is anxiously looking forward to the new season of The Bachelorette (t-minus 23 days). She is taking the kids out to the beach and parks and seems very excited about summer and pool hopping. She can’t wait for the family trip out to North Carolina this summer.

A great photographer from our ward did a newborn photoshoot with Emmy. Here a few of them

Jarom is finishing up the season as an assistant coach for an U12 lacrosse team. It was fun, but it is a daunting task to try and teach those little rats how to play a game that most have them have only taken up in the past year. Work is going well and keeping him busy, which is a good thing. They also recently evicted Alixa’s parents, which was a bittersweet day. It’s certainly nice to have the space back and not have to share the house, but it is sad that Mars won’t be around as much to play with the kids and do stuff. They have a nice little apartment in McKinney, so it will just be a 25-minute ride whenever we want to go see them. Close enough to visit whenever we want, but far enough away to discourage unannounced pop-ins. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Lix wanted a comparison of all three kids as infants. Emily, Jenna, Blake