The Perfect Life

I really do have the perfect life! Let me tell you why...

I have a husband that loves me, 2 amazing little boys, a supportive family, the most generous friends you could ask for and a church that truly cares about my family.

Honestly, does it get any better than this? I have been blessed so much more than I ever could have imagined. God is good! Sometimes I think about my life and I can't believe how great it is, how fortunate we are and how much I love being a mother and wife. I have found my purpose in life.


That's not to say that Bailey doesn't drive me nuts sometimes, but I enjoy trying to teach him how to use his listening ears and good manners, even when I want to beat my head against the wall because he is more stubborn than a mule.

He is a great kid! He has such a tenderheart. And he really loves his brother (regardless of what he might tell you when you ask him). It has been such a joy to watch the two of them together. My cousin Dallas, told me when I was pregnant, that that would be one of the best parts of having two kids. She was right! Bailey is always asking to hold Blake (then a few minutes later says "I want him off of me"), he loves to give him kisses. The other day Blake was in his crib listening to his mobile and I saw something on the video monitor. Bailey had brought his stool up to the crib, was standing on it, reaching into the crib, holding Blake's hand and singing Rock A Bye Baby. It was so sweet. The other day Bailey told Blake, "I love you Blake and God loves you too" Those are the moments I live for. It's a perfect life!

Blake is here!

Blake was born today at 3:03pm. He weighed 8lbs 3oz and is 22 inches long! I cannot believe he is so big! He is a full pound bigger than Bailey was. Even my doctor was shocked. He looks so much like Bailey did when Bailey was born. The only real difference (except for the fact that Blake is "solid") is the hair color. Bailey's was dark brown and Blake's is a sandy blond color.


The delivery was so much better than I could have imagined. I was started on IV at about 9:30 and got my epidural around 11:30am. By 2:55 I was pushing. 5 pushes and less than 10 minutes later he was here! I only got to hold him for a second because his body temperature was a little low. About 97 degrees. After about 1 hour, I got to feed him and then by 4:30 they had to take him to the nursery to try and get him warm. They weren't able to bring him back until about 8:15. His temp is now where it needs to be and he is doing great.


My blood pressure has been a bit of an issue, but it seems to have stabalized. With Bailey I had to have my IV until I was discharged, but this time, my BP stabalized a lot faster and by 5pm I had it out.


I have already changed an incredibly dirty diaper and so far he is a great eater (note his large size). Already a big difference between my two boys :)


Unfortunately, Jay has some sort of virus and feels terrible. So, he has been sleeping most of the evening and I have had to fend for myself (the ice machine was further away then I remembered)...and take care of Jay. Not exactly what I had in mind, especially, since the pain of childbirth has started to set in. That's life, I guess.


I hope everyone enjoys the pictures! I hope to get more tomorrow when Blake can be in the room more. Look closely at the last two pictures. He is the spitting image of Bailey at that age.

Big Changes Coming

As you know, very soon we will have a new addition here at the Newton house. Blake is scheduled to arrive in a little over 2 weeks; on the 20th. We are getting ready, but in some ways are no where near ready! There is still so much I want to do first, clean the carpets, organize kitchen cabinets, etc. Of course, these things aren't at all neccessary, but I am feeling a little compulsive about it.

Those who know me well, know I am a planner. Because of that, our birth annoucements are ready to order. Of course, I still have to input the time of birth, weight and of course a picture. But the announcement is picked out and what I can do on it has been done. My goal is to order these the day we get home from the hospital. I don't want Blake to be 2 months old before people get their announcements!

Bailey seems to be getting ready for his little brother. He talks about Blake more and more. He is ready for his baby brother to get here. Hopefully, once Blake is here he will feel the same way :).

This will probably be the last post until the baby comes so I will leave you with some recent pictures of Bailey. Also, I am thinking about having someone re-design my blog once Blake is here. So, if you know a good person, be sure and tell me. I don't want to spend a fortune though.

Playing Catch-up

It's been a while since I have blogged, so there are several things to post about.

Bailey is as cute as ever. He is such a big boy! I still can't believe how quickly time flies. He loves to ask me "Mommy, what are you doing?"

He also has learned some stall tactics. If I ask him to do something (pick up his toys, get in the car, etc.) he usually replies with "In just a minute" or "Okay, I'm doing it" He loves to tell me little bits of info, such as, the sun's awake or Daddy's at work and ends all of these sentences with "do you know that?"

I love this picture of Bailey. Don't worry, I took the goggles off right after I snapped this picture.

Last weekend, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and 2 close friends gave me a great baby shower! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. Otherwise, you would see pictures of beautiful table decorations, delicious food and lots of gifts! I had a great time! Here are two pictures of Baby Blake's room.

Thanks to my mom for helping me finish it!

Speaking of Blake, Bailey is SO ready to be a big brother. He talks about Blake all of the time. He thinks Blake can see if I lift up my shirt, so he always has me go into Blake's room and lift up my shirt while he shows Blake all of the toys that are waiting for him. He does not think that I am Blake's mommy. He says he is Blake's brother, Blake will live with us, but, NO! You are not Blake's mommy. We can work on that later :)

I had a Dr.'s appointment today & we have scheduled me to be induced on February 20th. It's hard to believe that it's only 5 weeks away! The nursery is ready, the clothes are washed & I am tired of being pregnant! I think all of the requirements have been met.

Christmas

We had another wonderful Christmas! This year, Bailey understood the concept of opening presents and he waited very patiently for weeks to open his. He was equally excited about giving us presents to open. In fact, there were several days he would bring Jay his present and say "daddy, I brought a present for you".

Christmas Eve Jay worked, but we picked him up in time to get to church &

then we came home & opened our presents, made pizzas & decorated our cookies for Santa. Bailey was much more interested in eating the icing than actually decorating. I think Bailey's favorite gift of the night was his Mr. Potato head.

Christmas morning he was so sweet. He came into our room & I said "do you know what today is? It's Christmas!" And Bailey said "and it's Daddy's birthday!" He really liked all the things that Santa brought him, and surprisingly, didn't want to eat any of his stocking candy. The rule in our house in Christmas morning & Easter morning are the 2 days each year where you get to eat candy for breakfast! Instead, he ate Christmas cookies. I it's guess pretty much the same thing.

Jay's favorite present was getting rock band for our Wii . His dad gave him a GPS system which he was also really excited about! He got several other great Christmas & birthday gifts. Needless to say, he makes out like a bandit every year! So, no one needs to feel sorry for him that his b-day is on Christmas!

We had a great time at Jay's parent's house & my aunt's house. We had several Christmas celebrations on Thursday & had a lot of fun. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was all worth it.

Too Cute!

Okay, I know I am partial, but this really was cute!

Yesterday we were at the bank and were walking towards the elevator to head to the parking garage. There were 2 women already there. Bailey runs up to one of them and says "hey, wait for me!" She very sweetly says "I'll wait for you". It is 5:30 pm, so a small crowd of people ready to leave work have gathered. Bailey then tells the woman "my name is Bailey. My name is Bailey Andrew Newton. want my number?" I am very surprised to say the least because I have never heard him say this. The woman laughs and says "do I want your number?" Bailey then says "I'm 2" It then dawned on me that what he was trying to do was get her to ask him how old he was (probably because he is very used to people asking him this wherever we go...and may I add, they usually say, wow, you can really understand what he's saying) and instead it came out "want my number". He then continues on with his conversation with this very indulgent woman. He starts jumping up and down and tells her he likes to jump. She says she wishes she could jump too. He replies with his famous "yeah, it sure does" (which means, yeah, you sure do-this is something he can't quite get in the correct context yet).




Needless to say, mommy, this woman and the small crowd all thought he was pretty cute. I am excited that he is starting to come out of the shy phase he has been in for the past 6 months. Although, occasionally he says "I'm being shy"- which I know he gets from a Backyardigans episode:)

A great Thanksgiving

I know that Thanksgiving isn't here yet, but I was thinking about everything I have to be thankful for this year. Of course, Jay, Bailey & baby Blake! However, this year is extra special. This year I am thankful that a near tragedy missed our family.

Here is a list of all the reasons why I am so thankful:
-I am thankful that Jay got one more great run in before his accident
-I am thankful that my sister found Jay and was able to provide him some comfort. Without her there, I would have had no idea what hospital to go to
-I am thankful that the ER doctor said "it wasn't his day to die"
-I am thankful that our sweet son still has his daddy
-I am thankful that through this ordeal, Jay & Bailey have had some amazing bonding time while Jay has been home so much. That is, by far, the silver lining!
-I am thankful for the reminder that life is precious & can change in an instant
-I am thankful for all of our friends & family that have shown us so much love & support the past 3 weeks
-I am thankful that Jay's work has been amazingly supportive through all of this
-I am thankful that Eric got released from the hospital today

I hope your Thanksgiving is equally filled with thanks!

Halloween

Sorry I am just now posting Halloween pictures, things have been crazy around here :)


Bailey had a lot of Halloween parties to attend; Boo at the Zoo, my mom's group party, Ft. Worth Club Carnival and then trick or treating, of course. He had a great time and never got tired of wearing his spiderman costume.

We're home!

We got home around 7:00 last night. It is nice to be home and sleeping in our own bed. Bailey will be home tomorrow and we are looking foward to him being back with us!

Jay is doing pretty good. He is still in a lot of pain, but has been doing his physical therapy and walking around a little bit. He had a shower today and it was quite the ordeal. We may not be doing that every day:)

Car Accident

**UPDATE**
Jay is still in the hospital, but is making progress. He has had 2 physical therapy sessions and will have 2 more today. He even took a few steps using a walker and help from the therapists. He is still in a lot of pain, but it seems bearable now. We still don't know when he will be released. I heard a murmer of Thursday, but they seem reluctant to look past today. It all depends on how his therapy goes. To be honest, Jay is not sure when he will feel ready to go home. Your continued prayers are appreciated.


Today, Jay ran a half marathon in Dallas. As he and a large group of others were crossing the street, at the crosswalk, with the walk sign flashing, he and 2 other people were hit by a car. Jay was thrown 15 yards and broke both legs. He also has many staple, stitches, cuts and scrapes. He has surgery earlier today to put a steel rod in his right let where 2 bones were broken. His left leg only had one broken bone.
Jay is in a lot of pain and has a slow recovery ahead of him. We are so grateful that he is otherwise okay. As his doctor told me, today was not his day to die. Praise the Lord for that!
We have no idea how long Jay will be here. Right now his legs are wrapped in a fabric wrap and we have not been told if they will put a hard cast on his legs. I will try and update on his status as often as I can.

Backyardigans, where have you gone?

Yes, I admit, my child watches t.v.. Not a ton of t.v., but he does get to watch a little each day. His favorite thing to watch is the Backyardigans. For those who don't know, it comes on Nickalodian and is about neighbors who use their imaginations to go on adventures. They always end the show by going to one of their houses for a snack. This is Bailey's favorite show. He can sing the theme song and everything. Up until Monday, Backyardigans came on at 8am each morning. Bailey would get to watch it (& then if we were not running out the door as it was ending he would get to watch Diego, which he also loves). He gets to watch these two shows and then after nap time he gets to watch super readers-which I consider educational since they learn about their letters:) Anyway, Backyardigans has stopped coming on at 8am! It has been devestating- for both of us! It now shows only at noon, and we don't have the t.v. on at that time and I refuse to adjust our schedule to be home at noon or be stationed in front of the t.v. at that time. Grammy did let us borrow the Backyardigans DVD, but I am hoping they will return to their regular schedule soon.

In other news, Bailey came up to me today and said "my name is princess" I said, "oh really" he then said that daddy's name was princess too. Later, once Jay got home he told Jay "my name is saucy". Exactly what are they teaching him at this school of his? :)

We are gearing up for Halloween. Tomorrow night we have a Halloween carnival at the Ft. Worth club and then Friday we have a morning Halloween party and then of course, trick or treating. I will post pictures from those things and Boo at the Zoo from last week.

Our Week

We haven't had too much going on lately. We have been taking it easy and getting ready for Halloween. Bailey is super excited to wear his spiderman costume! I wanted him to be mickey mouse or donald duck, something really cutsie. I figured it would be my last year to wrangle him into a cosutme like that. No such luck! He barely knows who spiderman is, but insisted on going as him. He does know the song "spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can"- thanks to daddy and he can also pretend to shoot a web. I know regardless of what he wears he will be cute! I will be sure to post pictures after Halloween.

Bailey has started singing songs lately. Not just humming along or throwing in a word here and there, but full songs! He knows twinkle, twinkle little star, rock a bye baby & row, row, row your boat. He loves to sing these songs over & over. His other 3 songs that he likes to sing and has almost gotten all of the words down are Jesus Love the Little Children, Jesus Loves Me & the ABC song. I did get the first 3 songs on video, but have no idea how to upload that to blogger, sorry.

Jay & I had our high school reunion this past weekend & we had a lot of fun seeing old friends. We stayed in Weatherford to make things easier, so we got some cute pictures of Bailey playing at the Newton house

As Promised

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch over the weekend. We had a good time, although Bailey's alter ego came out a few times. It took quite a while to select the perfect pumpkin. Overall, we had a great weekend hanging out as a family. We went to brunch at Mimi's Cafe, then to the pumpkin patch, home for naps, then out again for a few errands and dinner out. It was a relaxing weekend and it was nice to hang out just the three of us.








I think we have finally selected a name for our new baby boy. We had narrowed it down to 2, but just couldn't seem to committ to one. We have decided on Blake Jay Newton. Both my boys will have their daddy's name-I'm excited about that!

Jay & I have our 10 year high school reunion this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing old friends & showing Bailey off. I will let you know how it turns out.

It's a ......

Well, it's a healthy baby! Everything measured great. We were able to get great pictures, saw both legs, arms, hands and feet. Every organ looks good and we are thrilled!

And in case you're wondering, it's a BOY! We are so excited for Bailey to have a brother. We hope they will be the best of friends. Clearly, I will be out numbered here- especially during the day! We have not yet decided on a name, but will let you know when we do.

Flu Shots

Unfortunately, it's that time of year again. Today I took Bailey to get his flu shot. Since he is almost 2 1/2 I thought it would be mean not to prepare him for what was about to happen. So, I told him he would get a shot and that it would hurt, but just for a minute. That mommy would be holding him and after his shot he would get a sucker, which luckily, I had remembered to bring.

So, I sit down with Bailey in my lap and when the nurse holds down his legs he starts saying "don't hurt me!", "don't hurt me!" He gets the shot and from the second the needle goes in his leg he starts yelling "OW! OW! OW!" "that hurt!" It was sad and funny at the same time. He said this during the shot, while he is picking out a sticker and when I give him his sucker. Tears are rolling down his face and he is crying "OW! That hurt" out of the office, through the waiting room and to the car.

Happily, afterwards we went to his haircut, where he received another sucker and then we went to play at the park. Somehow suckers and parks fix everything! So far, I haven't even had to give him tylenol. Hopefully his constant movement today will keep his leg from getting sore.

Here are some random pictures of Bailey. We are going to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, so hopefully I will have some cute pictures to post.

A great book

I just finished reading a book for my mom's group book club. It's called Reconstructing Natalie by Laura Jensen Walker. It is about a 28 year old woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer and follows her through the decisions she has to make. It is a very quick read and it tackles the subject of breast cancer with lighthearted humor; although, it does have some very serious moments too. I both cried and laughed while reading this book.

If you are looking for your next book to read, I highly recommend this one. It was Women of Faith's 2006 novel of the year, so you know it's a good one! If you get the chance to read it, let me know what you thought! Have a great Thursday!

Bailey has an announcement...

Yup, we're expecting! As you can tell, Bailey is very excited:) Actually, he has no idea what's going on & we aren't really talking about it with him. His world will change soon enough. For now, we want him to be blissfully ignorant to this life altering event that's just around the corner.

We are 16 weeks along & the due date is February 28th. If the baby cooperates, we should know the sex on October 9th. We have not yet decided when/if we will be sharing this news. :)

So far, everything is going well & my doctor is very pleased. As most of you know, I have a history of ectopic pregnancy. So, my first visit was at 6 weeks & things looked good. At my 7 week appt. we had a little scare, but at my 8 week appt. my doctor was confident that things looked "better than perfect". We are very blessed! Please keep us in your prayers as we go through the next 5 months.

First Day of School

Yesterday was Bailey's first day of school. This year he is going twice a week. He had a great time on Tuesday! He got to paint and learned how to walk down the hallway (at his school the 2 year old class walks with one finger on the wall and sing a cute song while they do it). I'm sure he did much more, but those were the two things he told me about. Next week they will start going to chapel. I am excited for him and all of the fun things he will get to do!

We had to get Bailey 2 new pairs of tennis shoes for school because he went through a growth spurt. 3 months ago I bought him 3 pairs of summer shoes in a size 5 1/2 and his toes had started to hang over the sandles and were squished in the others. We went back to the mall and had them measure his foot again. 6 1/2! I could not believe that he had grown an entire size in 3 short months. I am hoping these shoes will last the entire school year. He also got a new haircut for school and he looks so grown up!

Getting So Smart

Bailey is always telling me stuff. What he did that day (when really it was last week), who he had fun playing with, etc. Sometimes he says stuff that never even happened. I am sure all of you with 2 year olds have experienced this.

However, Monday night we were in the car on our way home from the gym and out of the blue Bailey says: I hurt my knee at the gym. Bailey cried.

Mommy: You did? Did they kiss it and make it better?

Bailey: Yes. All Better. Bailey's ok.

I wasn't sure if this had really happened, so I looked at his knee and sure enough, it was skinned! When did he get old enough to tell me about real things that happened to him? I am glad he can tell me about things that happen when I am not there. Especially, since he is about to start back to school.

Missing his cousin

Conversation with Bailey

Mommy: Bailey, are you playing with your Legos?
Bailey: Yes, Bailey's Legos. Nora's Legos too.
Mommy: Oh, those are Nora's Legos too?
Bailey: Yes. I want to go to Nora's house.

Bailey is going through Nora detox. At least he was willing to share his Legos:)