Meeting Luke

EJ & Jack met their cousin Luke!  This was the only decent picture I got because a second after this Jack was trying to grab Luke's face.  EJ, on the other hand, did awesome with Luke.  He was gentle and sweet.  A very good cousin if I do say so.  Luke is two weeks old in this picture and he continues to thrive!  He is so precious and I cherished holding him and hearing about Kellie's expereinces as a mom so far. 

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11 months!

Jack is 11 months old now.  It's hard to believe he will be one in a few weeks.  He is a master crawler. "He's fast!" as EJ likes to say.  He pulls up and can stand independently but hasn't taken any official steps yet.  While he can't walk yet, he can already open doors. He has quite the reach and thinks it's a fun game to open the bedroom door and crawl out.  We call him the escape artist!

Jack loves dogs, meeting people and just being outside in general.  Here he is with Grandpa meeting some people on a walk by the coast one afternoon.

 

Jack loves water and will take a bath anywhere as evidenced the kitchen sink bath. 

Jack loves to laugh and he is quite devious...he was the mastermind behind crawling in the cupboard and then his brother wanted to give it a try!

 The boys are a lot of fun and Jack is showing to be much more devious than EJ ever was at the same age.  I can tell I am going to have my hands full with Baby Jack Jack!



 He likes to mimic sounds you make and when he hears music he likes to dance. He took his first road trip to Phoenix and did a great job in the car in spite of being off his daily schedule.
Here they are as I was packing up.  They loved riding around on the luggage cart. When it was time to start packing up EJ begged me to let him get the cart by himself.  I was hesitant because he would have to go down to the first floor using the elevator.  He promised he could do it so I let him.  It wasn't long before I heard the elevator and here he came!  I couldn't believe he did it all by himself!


He thinks his big brother hung the moon!  They are sweet friends.  Just the other night EJ had Jack on his lap and said, "You are my best buddy."  It was completely unprompted and it melted my heart right then and there.

Here we are on Valentine's Day.  Mom and I took our little loves to Red Robin.  They were crazy but we made the best of it. 

Eric helped EJ pick out a dozen roses for me and a dozen roses for Grandma.  It was really sweet!

10 Months!

Jack has hit double digits!  He is as busy as ever.  He is a proficient crawler and will be taking his first steps any day.  You can see in the picture below how he is only holding on with one hand.  Surely he will be running in my next monthly post!  He started waving and saying "bye-bye" in the last week.  He is amazed by his big brother and laughs at everything he does. 

One day last week I walked into their bedroom and found both boys in Jack's crib.  EJ was reading to him.  Precious!  Baseball season is among us so we will be spending time at the Triton baseball field and the t-ball field for EJ's games.  Since we will be outside so much I am even more thankful for the weather here!

The Year of the Stingray

A 2012 Reflection

Jack

This year was a year of blessings. The biggest blessing was the birth of Jack!  John Andrew Newman has changed our lives for the better and we are so thankful for him!  It wasn’t an easy start as he cried and fussed on a consistent basis.  The reflux/colicky behavior lasted four long months.  He finally started doing better when he started eating solid food and then really came around after Eric spent three nights sleep training him when he was six months old.  To train him Eric would tend to him when he cried during the night so he wouldn’t expect to nurse to fall back asleep.  Sleeping is like any other skill a baby has to learn and thankfully Eric’s patience and ability to live without a lot of sleep helped Jack turn the corner.  Now he has a delightful demeanor and a darling laugh.  His favorite “thing” to laugh at is his big brother.  He thinks everything EJ does is funny and loves waking up from afternoon nap to go pick EJ up from school.  Jack is very busy crawling and pulling himself up.  EJ walked at 10 months and Jack will likely be walking around the same time.  While the boys resemble each other to a great degree, they have very different personalities.

E.J.

In June EJ had to say goodbye to his beloved Preschool teacher as we decided to send EJ to kindergarten in the fall.  We had a wonderful preschool experience and I hope EJ’s teacher is still there when it’s time for Jack to start school.   EJ is “red-shirting” kindergarten since he will go for two years.  He is a very “young” five year-old but he was academically ready to start school so we decided to let him try it out and thankfully he loves it.  He has a lot of friends and really likes the structure of the daily routine.  He is learning how to read and do math but his favorite part of the day is “recess.”  

Living in San Diego gives EJ many opportunities to experience really neat things.  We went to Sea World several times with our annual passes.  EJ also went to Legoland with Eric and San Diego Safari park with Grandma Bobbie.  EJ and I also spent two days at Disneyland/California Adventure Tricia.  Here are some pictures from our time there. 

EJ took swimming lessons and gymnastics in the spring and played soccer this fall.  He is gearing up for t-ball this spring.  He is very active and he loves being outside.   He wants to be a police officer when he grows up and his favorite TV show “Lifeguards” on the Weather Channel.  He also loves to go bowling and drinking pepsi (which is a rare treat)!

Baseball

Eric’s inaugural season at UCSD was a great success.  He lead his team to a regular season championship, tournament championship and a NCAA West Regional appearance.  Eric was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Coach of the Year and his players won several awards.  This fall Eric hired two new coaches and both guys played for Eric (one at DBU and one at NU).  The season starts February 1st and we are hoping for another great season.

Eric turned 40 this year and we had a fun party for him on the beach.  It won't be long and I will be joining him in the Big 4-0 club!

Teaching, Research & Writing

I continue to teach for DBU and I have been developing curriculum for my department this year.  I am still working toward my doctoral degree, albeit slowly.  This fall I took a major step forward when I proposed my research project and passed my oral defense.  I have been working hard this fall to complete the research so I might graduate in 2013.   God has been so gracious to me throughout this project.  I wouldn’t be as far as I am without my mom’s help.  She comes to town periodically to help with the boys, she paid for house cleaning this fall and she has also transcribed several of my interviews.  

Life in California

We have enjoyed our time in California and especially like anything near the ocean.  We spent a lot of time at the beach this summer and even went on the Seal Tour (a bus that drives on land and floats on water)!   We love having friends and family visit and have made great memories with all of them. 

We have found a great church to attend and get involved with.  Eric is working with the pastoral staff to get a ministry started to help men struggling with addiction. It’s been interesting to watch how God is working!  I’m really proud of Eric and the work he is doing.

We still contend with the "sticker shock" of California living but we are thankful for what we have and how beautiful it is in La Jolla. 

 

Travel

With Jack’s birth we didn’t travel as much as year’s past.  We spent a week in Colorado over the summer, the boys and I visited Lincoln in August, we took a long weekend in Austin with Eric’s mom and stepdad and celebrated Christmas in Colorado with both sides.  Grandma Carol will be in California more in 2013 as we will be adding another family member!  Andy and Kellie are pregnant with a baby boy due at the end of January.  Eric and I are so excited to have a nephew and we look forward to making a lot of fun memories with him. 

The Year of the Stingray

I don’t think the Stingray is on the Chinese New Year list of animals but it sure was our “animal” this year!  Stingrays never crossed my mind until I moved to California.  Sure, I had seen them in Grand Cayman and possibly an aquarium at some point but they aren’t really impression leaving animals.  Unless, of course, you are stung by one.  That was Eric’s fate one sunny fall afternoon.   While EJ and I were at Disneyland with Tricia, Eric took Jack to see Uncle Andy and Aunt Kellie.  They went to the beach and upon entering the water Eric stepped on or near a stingray and he got stung.  He said it was incredibly painful.   It took hours of soaking his foot in scalding hot water for the pain to subside.  He also had to do a round of antibiotics and get a tetanus shot.

EJ was quite worried about Eric but quickly found a humorous way to tease his daddy.  He found a plastic stingray in his bath toys and put it on Eric’s pillow.  It was a cute gesture. 

Ironically, Seaworld’s main ride this year was the Manta (the manta ray is in the stingray family) and at the member’s only night they gave each family a stingray ornament.  I asked if they had any other options because my husband had an unfortunate run-in with a stingray recently but they didn’t so we were left to live with irony. 

One of the Lifeguard episodes EJ watches is about a stingray sting.  We've watched 25 times at least (thank you Andi Clark). 

At the end of the year we visited the Denver Aquarium where Eric made peace with the sea creature.  Here he is explaining to us what he went through and then petting the stingray. 

So there are some highlights from the year.  It’s so important to reflect as it leads to a heart of gratitude.  In light of the New Year I am thinking on Lamentations 3:22-24, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

We hope and pray that 2013 is another good year full of blessings for all of our friends and family.

Colorado Christmas

The winter fun started upon our arrival!  We beat the storm coming in but woke up to a nice snow.  My mom had found snow suits for the kids so we took them out to try sledding.  EJ was so cute with Jack!

EJ was hesitant to try sledding at first but he got the hang of it.

EJ liked using grandpa's shovel.

On the Saturday before Christmas my parents treated us to breakfast with Santa at the Denver Aquarium.  It was so fun!

One whole wall of the restaurant was an aquarium that even had a shark.  The boys loved it!

 

Santa came around and greeted eveyone.  EJ was shy but knew he wanted the Hot Wheels Power Tower Wall Tracks.  Jack was mesmorized by Santa!

After Santa came around and greeted people he jumped in the aquarium!  It was so cool!

Santa was very busy!  After breakfast and diving he met with each family.

After Santa we went to see the sharks and stingrays.  We made it to the shark feeding and EJ wanted to know why there weren't any divers in the tank.  They put fish on sticks and lowered it in.  Smart way to do it if you ask me.

Here's Eric explaining how the stingray stung him at the beach.  EJ was scared of them and would not put his hand in the water to "pet" one.

My mom had this wagon from an old work project.  Jack loved it!  Nothing cuter than a naked baby in a wagon.

Christmas cookies for Santa.  EJ helped bake and decorate them with grandma.

On Christmas Eve EJ got to open a present.  He got a Furby and he can feed it from our ipad.  The Furby doesn't have an off-switch which is really unfortunate.  He has to have a quiet room so he's been hidden a lot.

Uncle Brian spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with us.  He was such a trooper.  He was woken up VERY early and spent the day putting toys together and entertaining the boys.

The boys in their Christmas jammies looking at the white Christmas!  It was beautiful outside.

Santa brought Jack this ride-on puppy.  He loves it!

Grandma Carol flew in so we had the rare opportunity to get a picture with both grandmas!  How fun for the boys to have them both with them on Christmas.

Family Christmas pictures!

The boys with their stockings that my mom hand made.  They are so cute!

It's a tradition for each stocking to have an apple and an orange.  Jack was ready to take a big bite of his orange!

It was a wondeful Christmas in Colorado.  We were so thankful to see our friends and spend time with both sides of our family.