Dear family and friends,
Greetings to all of you that I have yet to meet and of course greetings to those who I’ve already met. I have only been around for 5 months, but my parents have already put me to work. They said each child needs to work to keep this house going and the family somewhat sane (harder than you think), so here I sit, well lay, and type the letter. My name is Quinn King Barry and I am the newest Barry here. I was born July 9th, early like my brother and sister, but large like my siblings as well. I was 8 pounds, 7 ounces…the smallest of the three! Despite being related to everyone in this house, I have been very unique. I slept 20 hours (seriously!) or more for the first six weeks. My parents, okay…my Dad, was really worried and wanted to run tests on me! I even had 4 days on the Bili Blanket to help my yellow skin turn white. Mommy and Daddy called me their little glow worm! But after my due date came and went, I started to wake up more. Guess what?! Now, I don’t sleep much at all besides my solid 10-hour interruption-free nighttime dreamy time. A 20-minute nap here and there is all I need to get through the day. People say I am like my Dad, and I look like him too! My favorite things to do right now, besides lay wide awake all day, is to growl and screech for joy, spit up everywhere (I’m on Soy milk right now and I have become the world’s happiest baby), and look at the indoor cats with much curiosity. I’m thinking their tails look like fun pull toys and I hope to try this out soon. What is the worst that could happen? Well, enough about me, I want to tell you what I have learned about my family….
Abby is my older sister and she is 3 and loves to dance and sing. Lately, she likes music even more and is hoping for a pink guitar or a keyboard for Christmas to continue practicing her budding music career. She is quite the helper and sometimes feeds and changes her 30+ dolls after she finishes with me. She is not in school yet, but loves going to Tracy’s daycare and not having to take naps this year. She is getting over her fear of dogs rapidly (more on that later!). I find Jack the funniest, but I think my parents find Abby’s looks and energy the funniest of all. She wears me out just watching her. But I am kind of excited to play with her as I get older.
Jack goes to school full days now as he is in Kindergarten, so I don’t see him much. But he makes up for it by sleeping in “my” room. He loves me and I love him and we make faces at each other a lot. I love how he decorates my room with Star Wars, Transformers, and Happy Meal toys. He also keeps EVERY piece of paper he draws on and hangs it up. Daddy says our room is just a large trash can, but I love it. Jack cracks me up by dressing up as various Super heroes, talking in strange voices, and rarely being Jack. I am not sure who Jack really is, but I know I like him. During the summer, he likes to help Dad mow our large lawn and Jack is completely over his fear of dogs. So, about the dog…
Since I have arrived, our family has experienced a loss and an addition. My Mommy lost her grandfather in October to cancer. Grandpa Jim was a great guy and even came to my baptism. With his loss, their family dog needed a new home. Luckily, my family was looking for a dog, preferably an adult dog that needed a home and lots of love. One problem: my siblings are deathly afraid of dogs!! But not now because they now realize that Avus loves kids and is fairly calm for a black lab. She wears a collar that keeps her inside our acreage, but loves the fact that she can run free all day long and no longer has a kennel. My parents changed her name to Avus because Avus is Latin for Grandfather. Sure she has chewed through $50 of leashes and collars, has eaten more plastic than a landfill, and drug a 40-pound bag of dog food across the yard to her house because she wanted a snack, but we still love her tons!
Then there is my Mommy and Daddy. They are awesome, but so busy! My mom took 12 weeks off of work when I was born and Daddy loved me so much since I was his first child born during his summer “off”. Even better, he didn’t coach or take grad school classes as he claims he is done with that for awhile. He still coaches 7th grade girls basketball, so he has been gone a lot lately, but I hear his team is pretty good (A and B teams are combined 11-1). He has been at Carlisle for 10 years and worked as a counselor for the last 2. He meets with lots of kids and families who don’t have it as good as I do and I think he attempts to help them. Sometimes I giggle at the thought that my Dad who has so many issues himself is the guy helping 460 middle school kids each day! (He thinks I am giggling at the ceiling fan….nope, just my Dad and his mental issues!) Mommy is back to work at Mercy for her 8th year. She continues to do amazing and scores very well in patient satisfaction. This year, she is learning to do everything on an IPad because her clinic is going “electronic”. To be honest, watching my family, I didn’t know anyone still did things without electronics or technology. She is a great Mommy and helped organize more fixes to our new home. In the past year, we have torn out and replaced our shower, basement bar, garage door, and water heater. Daddy said the next two items to get replaced are his sanity and his bank account. I don’t get why Mommy laughed and Daddy started to cry, but then again, these adults I live with are weird. They love me lots, but dang, they are nuts. As kids, we just laugh.
Well, I’m due for another 24-minute nap, so I better sign off. You may think a newborn writing a letter is weird and maybe even amazing, but I don’t. You see, I know that I am writing a CHRISTmas letter and Christmas is all about the birth of Christ….a newborn who gave the world hope and people the promise of eternal life. So don’t think of what I do as amazing, just use it as a reminder of the real amazing newborn this Christmas: Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas and God Bless this Holiday season!
Quinn and my family (Ben, Reagan, Jack, and Abby. Plus Bo, Jangles, Avus, and the fish and the deer)
10980 Cleveland Trail, Norwalk, IA 50211, 515-480-3939 or 515-306-1415)
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