Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Cinco, Seis

In my last post I told you all about Jenna’s transition from the crib to a bed. This time there is a less obvious, but far more tear jerking example of just how big she is getting. You may already be aware of Jenna’s borderline psychotic obsession with Disney’s The Lion King. This classic has accompanied her pre-nap and pre-bedtime milks for a number of months. And for most of these months she lovingly requested to watch “Seeba.” It was adorable, as most childhood mispronunciations are. But kids are pretty smart, and after a while they start to figure out that they aren’t saying things quite right, and they want to do better, even if their mother wants them to continue to sound like a cute one-year old until they are deep into their teens. So when Jenna recently climbed painstakingly up onto the couch and with milk in hand, clearly requested to watch “simba”, Jarom and Lix shared a surprised and sad glance. A few days later, as the family was leaving Target she took it even further, asking to have some milk and watch the “lion king” when she got home. She is almost 2, folks. In addition to breaking Lix’s heart by speaking properly, Jenna has become quite a letter wizard. She has the entire alphabet in her bathtub and can accurately identify about 80% of them, depending on the day. Counting to 10 in English is still a struggle, but she can do it better in Spanish.

Still hasn't used it effectively, but it's a start

Jenna was helpful and gave Bo a blanket

Jenna is SOOOO big!

Her first time wearing a headband

Bo is hitting his milestones too, although Jarom is definitely noticing a lower level of excitement as he reaches them. The ability to roll over just isn’t as impressive to him this time as it was the last time around. By the time they get to kid number 5 he is going to have to be writing advanced mathematical equations in preschool in order to get any parental praise. I guess that’s why Kristi and Jolene are such overachievers. But Blake has begun to do some rudimentary rolling over, and at his first doctor’s visit he was in the 90th percentile for height, which will be great when he is someday playing pickup ball at the church on Tuesday nights, desperately fighting to stave off father time and cling to what little remains of his past athletic glory. He is also starting to smile and put on some weight, which means that he looks like more of a cute baby and less of tiny old person.

Assorted Bo faces

To celebrate summer’s arrival the Richmond Winns took a day trip out to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. There were lots of beautiful flowers and trees, and it has a fairly significant kid’s play area that the Ennas took advantage of. But as the morning wore on it started to get hot, so they moseyed on back to the parking lot. On their way they had to walk over a bridge, upon which was sitting a Brown Watersnake enjoying some sun. Kenzie was the first to spot it, as she nearly put her hand on its head. Jarom picked Jenna up to give her a better look, and she immediately reached out to touch it, which made Jarom glad that there aren’t any poisonous snakes around, lest having a pet snake would lead Jenna to do something rash like want to play with a cobra. That afternoon, like so many of them these days, was spent watching the kids splash around in the inflatable backyard pool while sitting in the shade of the backyard. Like everywhere else in the country, it’s been really hot here in Richmond, and the girls can’t get enough water. Plus it is nice to sit down and relax after working out at the gym, something that all 4 Winn adults are doing. Nate got this crazy idea that he should run a half marathon, and he had little trouble pressuring Jarom into participating. So Jarom now has Nate scolding him whenever he does not meet his assigned mileage, which has been every week since this shenanigan started. They are still figuring out which half marathon to run, mostly because they can’t seem to accept the fact that they will have to pay over $50 each just for the right to run farther than they have ever run before. There is an early leader with one in November in Richmond. The most appealing aspect of that particular run is that it is sponsored in part by McDonalds and has 3 “Junk Food” stops along the route. Now that is the kind of marathon that Jarom and Nate can get on board with.













And last but not least, Jarom and Lix honored the brave men and women of the armed forces by finally painting the dining room on Memorial Day. Over a year ago Lix and her dad put up crown molding in there, and since then it has just been sitting as is, with various paint splotches on the wall, looking like a mess. Monday morning the family took a trip to the Home Depot to get just the right shade of blueishgray, and a few hours later it was all finished. For those counting at home that makes 5 rooms painted, with only 2 more left to do (master bedroom and mine/Blake’s.) Everyone who has seen it thinks the color is great, and now the room just needs some curtains, which Lix is already planning.

North by Northeast

There was a time not too long ago when I thought it was going to be really cool to have a little boy join this particular branch of the Winn clan. Don’t get me wrong, Jenna’s great and all, but deep down it is every snake’s dream to have a little boy owner who will do things like hide you in his teachers desk drawer or his mom’s makeup bag, and bring all his little boy friends over to see me because “it is so awesome that you have a pet snake!” or whatever the kids will be saying 10 years from now. And I suppose in the long haul, it will be great, but right now the only change that I am seeing is less attention from the family and more stuff in the room that I am now sharing. Since it was going to happen sooner or later, Jarom and Lix decided to pull Jenna out of her crib and give her a big girl bed, which is really the futon that used to be in my room. Jenna has never been much of an escape artist when it comes to her beds, so they didn’t think that she would have any trouble adjusting to a bed without bars on it. And they were right. So far the switch has gone as smoothly as they could have hoped. The first night it was a little tough to get her to calm down enough to actually sleep, as she spent about 30 minutes jumping and running all over the gargantuan mattress. But she likes spreading her animals out all over it, and can be found sleeping in a different corner almost every night. About three nights into the experiment she had her first fall. Jarom and Lix were watching TV at about 10 when they heard a very loud thud. Jarom dashed upstairs, expecting to find a sad, crying Jenna. But once again he passed the paternity test, as she was lying on the floor at the foot of the bed, sound asleep. Since then they have been careful to line the non-wall side of the bed with a few pillows to act as a buffer.

Jenna and Pete giving her new big girl bed its first test run

We are all continuing to get used to having another kid around. He is still pretty good, mostly staying calm and sleeping and eating regularly enough. It has been a big help to have Nate and Kenz and Kenna so close the last few weeks. Lix will often get calls or text messages asking if Jenna can come out and play, and then she will vanish, sometimes for an hour or two and sometimes all day. Alixa has really appreciated the time that she gets to take naps and not have to worry about chasing Jenna, who never seems to get tired. The other Winns have also recently joined the YMCA where Lix and Jarom work out, which means that Jarom now has a lifting partner and fewer excuses to not exercise, and Jenna has her best friend to hang out with in the daycare. Lix and Kenz might start working out together whenever Lix is feeling up to it again, which will likely be sooner rather than later. In fact, she went jogging for 50 minutes a few days ago, running up and down big hills 3 weeks post-delivery. That girl is a little bit crazy, but it is great that she feels so good already.

Annie did some at home salon work by waxing some noses

Nate was the biggest sissy of the bunch and nearly cried

Lix is trying her hardest to prevent Jenna from feeling like she has been replaced, and that isn’t always easy to do when you are constantly nursing and burping and holding the new little one. So her amazing husband insisted that she have a mommy daughter date and watched Bo while they went to the local high school production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. You might be thinking to yourself, “Self, that doesn’t make any sense. Why on earth would you take a 2-year old to a 3+ hour play where she has to sit in the same chair and behave herself lest she receive menacing stares from the snooty art patrons sitting a few rows up?” And if that 2-year old was anyone other than Jenna, you would be correct. But Jenna is a strange breed of 2-year old and she could not have been happier to sit and watch and listen. And it was great for Lix to not have Bo bothering her so she could just focus on her favorite daughter for a few hours and remind herself that this new baby hasn’t diminished her capacity to love Jenna in the slightest.

Grandma with her favorite grandchild

Lix with her favorite son

Jarom with his favorite daughter

Jenna playing on the swingset, with no pants

And Jenna decided to test that capacity just a few days later. Lix had wandered into Kohls to use a $10 gift card she had gotten in the mail, and was checking out cheap jewelry when Jenna decided that she wanted to run away and play hide-and-seek. Before Lix had a chance to react she had dashed into the forest of clothes racks, which just happens to be the most perfect design for hiding a toddler known to man. This promptly sent Alixa into a panicked state of terror. She told the workers that she had lost her kid and they called a code yellow, which means that they locked down the exits and recruited a whole lot of employees to start wandering around looking for Jenna. They found her after a short while hiding in a corner over in the Men’s department, no doubt in a form of protest against Lix constantly shopping without considering her husband’s need for clothing as well. There were some stern words about staying with mommy and some big hugs, and she has actually been doing much better about staying nearby whenever she is at a store or a park or any other open space. Lix wants to get her one of those animal backpacks that works as a leash, but Jarom is still convinced that they can train her properly.

Kristi and all the grandkids in their wedding outfits

The Winns also took a vacation recently, heading up to the site of their first meeting to attend a wedding reception for Kristi and David, whose actual wedding they had missed due to Blake’s refusal to be born a month early. Every trip up to Delaware is a good time because there are so many old friends and family to hang out with, but this one was even more so because Jarom’s mom, who is serving a mission in Utah, was coming out for the event. Nancy was very excited to meet Bo and Bo was excited to constantly swaddled and rocked by an endless stream of doting aunts and grandmother. The extended weekend was wonderful. The weather was just warm enough that the kids could swim in the pool, although they had to be forcefully removed and sent to the hot tub after a while to avoid hypothermia. Jarom was able to play some golf with the boys, which he loves, and was able to beat JD, which he loves even more. Lix got to leave the children for a few hours and have a little Vietnamese lady rub her feet and draw flowers on her toes while she chatted with the womenfolk. She got to visit Carters, her favorite store in all the world, and the kids now have more clothes than Jarom can even comprehend. There were wonderful group dinners and lots of visiting with cousins and siblings that don’t get seen enough. Plus, Kenna and Natie and Kenzie were there too, and that is pretty much all it takes to keep Jenna excited. And the fun weekend was bookended by visits to the Eastern Seaboards greatest new attraction, the Café Rio that was built just outside of DC. They are about 100 times slower than the Rios in Utah, but the food was great, as was the idea of being able to eat at Café Rio while observing eastern daylight time.

Three amigos

Adri was the youngest of the people who lined up to snuggle with baby Bo

Jenna wanted to help out in the reception preparation. She did good, but then tried to run on the slippery, wet floors and fell and bonked her head. Twice. She's a fast learner.

Her first attempts to eat cereal by herself. We might need more milk.

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.

And then there were 4

Most of you have heard the big news by now and are surely interested to hear about the new tenant in my room, but chronologically speaking, there are some things to cover first. Since the last post Jarom has been spending a lot of time around the house thanks to some fortunate scheduling at work. Things went pretty smoothly at the most recent facility installation that Jarom was working on, so his boss decided that they didn’t need to provide 24-hour on site help any more. But they still needed to be available to help whenever needed, so Jarom was assigned to be on call every night for a little while. This was good because it meant that he was able to spend the days with Jenna and Lix and help chase the little one around while Lix finished cooking the baby. He had a great time hanging out with Jenna, especially in the mornings. Jenna has recently kicked her reading habit up a notch, so the first thing that she says to you when you go into her room in the morning is “Book!” She will then sit in a bed, either hers or yours, and read book after book after book, even forgoing breakfast until she has read them. Then it was breakfast and bath time, and then off to visit a store or the children’s museum or the petting zoo that had been set up at the mall. Naptimes were accompanied with more book reading and some of Jenna’s other favorite pastime, jumping on the bed. Every day she got to watch an episode of Dinosaur train, a newfound love that she got from her cousin Luke on her last trip up to Delaware. The weather has been pretty nice so they could usually play outside, smashing dandelions or going on a bike ride. All in all, Jarom had a great week hanging out with her, and was very sad when there was no kid and he had to go back to work on Monday.

A small collection of Jenna's books, and reading them in bed

But his return to work wasn’t long lived. After several contractional false starts over the weekend, Alixa decided to take matters into her own hands and schedule a sewing date with one of her buddies for Wednesday evening, thus assuring her that she would go into labor and be unable to make it. Unfortunately, Wednesday was April 20th, or 4/20, which as we all know is the international reference to cannabis consumption. Alixa’s fear was that should the child be born on that day, he would be predestined to waste his life in the manner of Harold and Kumar on their search for the nearest White Castle. This trepidation was so significant that as they headed to the hospital and sat in the delivery room between nurse visits there were real discussions regarding whether or not to lie about the child’s birthday if he should arrive before midnight. Fortunately, they didn’t have to face that hopeless reality. The contractions didn’t get too intense until around 2 on Thursday morning. About that time Lix once again came to the conclusion that if there is a drug that can make all this pain go away, she should take it. So the anesthesiologist was brought in and an epidural was given. At 3:47, Blake Owen was born. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 2 oz, and was 22 inches long with a lot of very dark hair. He is a very calm and quiet baby, aced his apgars and barely peeped throughout the initial examinations. The only real complaint that the happy parents have about the entire process is that he came in the middle of the night instead of in the afternoon like his big sister. But St. Mary’s has a nursery and a lot of wonderful nurses who are happy to take your baby off your hands for a few hours while you sleep. Sadly, baby or no baby, there is no sleeping in a hospital because every 15 minutes someone is coming in to pick up the trash or drop off a tray of food or ask to take your baby’s picture or check your vitals or whatever else. And thus went Alixa’s 60-hour stay in the hospital. By the time it was over on Saturday morning, she was quite ready to leave. And of course there were lots of delays in the discharge process, as the doctor was busy and then the nurse was busy and then they couldn’t find someone to take her to the door in a wheelchair, and so on.













Once they were home they called the Bleyls, who had been kind enough to take care of Jenna for a few days. I’m pretty sure she missed her mom and dad, but she had a great time being away. Jenna got to hang out with Courtney, who is one of her favorite people, and also got to adopt three older brothers who were equally excited to have a new little sister around. She took a trip down to the James River, got to eat French fries while sitting on the floor in Courtney’s room, and got some sweet new pins that let everybody know that she is now a big sister. Now that everyone is back in the house, Jenna is slowly getting used to having a new baby. At their first meeting she was a little confused and mostly indifferent. Baby brother had always been an abstract idea that lived in mommy’s tummy, and now it was a real live person. She would look at him a little, but refused to give him a kiss. She has since grown to like him. Today when Lix went in to her room to wake her from her nap, she was excited to see mom carrying baby Bo. She has also started referring to the house as “Bo’s house” and will give him kisses. It looks like she is going to be a great big sister. All in all it was a pretty wonderful Easter weekend and we are all excited about the expanding family and very grateful that everybody is healthy and recovering well, and a special thanks to all the people who have graciously helped us out during the past week in so many different ways.

The Big Sister pins were courtesy of Conner and Courtney

He may have avoided 4/20, but it looks like he is still going to be a troublemaker

Happy Resurrection!

We are now entering the final stages of baby prep, which means that the kid will probably hang on in there for another 2 weeks, making all of our lives as uncomfortable and difficult for as long as possible. Jarom and Lix have been busy getting his room ready, which means changing what used to be my room into a nursery. When you don’t have a person occupying one of the rooms in the house it tends to be a collection point for all manner of things that you don’t really need or use, but you maybe don’t want to get rid of either. So the past few weeks have been a giveaway spree as Jarom has cleaned out the attic and gone through all the stuff that we don’t need. He got rid of several lamps, a whole bunch of old wedding presents that still hadn’t been used, a bookshelf and its corresponding books, including an especially painful delivery of Alixa’s treasured “Twilight” collection to the local library. But there is a lot more space now, and I am pretty sure Lix wasn’t ever going to read those books again anyway. And after much prodding and correction, Jenna has stopped calling the new baby brother Horsey and has returned to Bo. So that’s a plus.

Playing with Kenna's new AWESOME kitchen set

Jarom’s nesting phase hasn’t just been limited to the indoors. He also noticed, by himself and without any prompting from his wife, that the Crape Myrtle and Dogwood trees in the front yard needed to be pruned. So he swung by the Home Depot, got some pruning shears, watched a Youtube video and got to clipping. I don’t think they look any better right now, but much like every lesson you learned from your parents, apparently it’ll be good for them later.

Hanging out at the Children's Museum

While he was out in the yard working, he happened to catch a glimpse of the state inspection sticker on his car and remembered that they are good for one year, followed by the memory of moving to Richmond exactly one year and 2 months ago. So it was off to Midas to get that little oversight corrected. But as often happens at the auto repair shop, things are never as simple as you might hope. I guess after 120,000 miles sometimes the muffler needs to be replaced because it has rusted a hole in itself. No big deal, throw down a hundred bucks or so and get it taken care of. Well, not exactly. You see, Jarom’s parents lovingly bestowed upon him a luxury car, the likes of which he could never afford on his own, and for which he and his family are forever thankful. But this type of snootymobile can not be bothered with your standard, run-of-the-mill muffler. No, no, it needs the special $550 muffler that also cures cancer and has to be specially ordered from the manufacturer, and we all know how renowned manufacturers are for their discount pricing. But in a few days the part will arrive and Jarom will once again be driving a legally certified vehicle around the state of Virginia.

In their Easter dresses, pre-hunt

This past weekend the Winns of Richmond celebrated Easter. What’s that you say, Easter isn’t for another two weeks? Are you sure? Well, what’s done is done. Due to upcoming travel plans for the Nate Winn family and upcoming family expansion plans for the Jarom Winn family, they decided to hold their easter egg hunt a little early. They figured the kids don’t know what day Jesus came back to life anyway, so no big deal. Alixa and Kenz “hid” some eggs and assorted other dollar store treats out in the yard while Jarom and Nate played on Kenna’s new kitchen set, and then it was off to the races to see who could collect more loot. Much to Alixa’s surprise, Jenna seemed to be the more aggressive gatherer. But both girls had a lovely time and the adults sat around in the nice weather and chatted for a while afterwards. It is a nice time of year here in Richmond.

Savoring the fruits of their labor

The other cool thing that has been happening around here is Jarom’s long distance participation in an old friend’s conversion process. Carrie Fitzpatrick (now Fisher) was a friend of Jarom’s at good old AI dupOnt high and for about 8 years afterwards had been lost. But the miracle of facebook brought her back a few years ago, and they have emailed each other sporadically since then. Then a couple months ago he finds out that Carrie is getting divorced and has been hanging out with (and for a time, dating one) a bunch of mormon folks. Not long after, she started meeting the missionaries and wouldn’t you know it, she got baptized this past weekend. Now if you were to ask high school Jarom to provide the odds on each of his friends being baptized into the LDS church later in their lives, and you put $1 down on Carrie Fitzpatrick, you would now be very wealthy. And Carrie would tell you the exact same thing. But she did go with Jarom to seminary once, and I guess Sister Rice brought her A game that morning, because I doubt there has ever been a person more excited about joining the church than Carrie is. And it has been very cool for Jarom to be able to talk to her and listen to the changes that she is making and the excitement she has for her family’s future. It has also caused him to look back at some other people from his high school days and wonder what they may have become. I guess you never really know what sort of stuff is possible.

Hopefully, the next post will have a baby weight to go with it.

In case the first video wasn't enough for you. Notice that the documenters outnumber the documentees 1.5 to 1.