Newton Notes

June 28, 2011

Weekend Visits

In the last month we have had the chance to visit with some of our favorite people, both to the north and to the south. Early in June, I went up to Portland and squeezed in time with all of my favorite ladies. My wonderful hostess and I got to spend the whole weekend together, and we had so much fun just hanging out, walking around Portland, and of course squeezing in a few baby-related activities. (Love those baby legs, thanks Auntie Nicole!) To recap the weekend, on Friday we met Merissa and Mo for lunch and walked around the pearl afterwards. Saturday I helped one of my oldest friends, Jessie, at her studio's annual dance recital. To wrap things up, on Sunday I celebrated the graduation of a fellow teacher and great friend as well. I LOVE my visits to Portland and am always sad to leave, but I was excited to return home to my man who couldn't make the trip up do to work (boo).

Auntie Nicole makes me smile big!

I can blow bubbles now

Baby legs project

Good thing my auntie can sew since my mama can't!

Nicole, Baby Simmons (in belly), Maddie and I :)

The following weekend we went down to Central Point to visit Jessie, Lukie and Wyatt. We were looking forward to one last visit before they became a family of four, but were delighted by the serendipitous timing as Jessie went into labor just as we arrived! The next morning Jessie gave Luke the best father's day gift a guy could ask for- a beautiful baby girl. While Jessie and Luke were at the hospital with Rowan, Joe and I had a practice round as our own little family of four while watching Wyatt. He is so much fun but a HUGE ball of energy! And although we are looking forward to having more kiddos one day, we decided we'll stick with one for at least a little while longer :) Congrats to the Newton-Neal family on the addition of beautiful baby Rowan!

I love Aunt Janelle because she feeds me bacon

Sooo happy :)

Jack made a new best friend

Haha... not quite bacon there buddy

Uncle Joe makes a great jungle gym

Having fun

Ha! Love Joe's expressions in these

Beautiful day for a walk with our "kids"

Proud papa Luke with Rowan

Joe and his little niece

She already has eyelashes and eyebrows, so pretty

Smitten

First family pic

Daddy and his little boy

Mama and her little girl... good work Jessie!

June 15, 2011

Maddie's 2nd month

Wow, time sure is flying by! Our little girl is already 2 months old and changing so much every day. She now not only smiles, she can hold up her own head, "talks" to us, and is getting HUGE. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 7 oz. (90 percentile) and measured 24 inches in length (95 percentile) at her 2 month appointment. The doc said she is "socially gifted" because she talks so much and she has even rolled over once already! (Although, she hasn't done it since so I think it was kind of a fluke.)

Needless to say, our little girl is growing up quickly and we are enjoying every bit of it. Still not getting a whole lot of sleep, but she is waking up only 2 times per night instead of 3-4, so I am hoping that trend continues. She loves to go on walks in the Baby Bjorn (facing out so she can look at things) and meeting people. It is so fun to introduce her to all of our family and friends, so if you haven't met her yet I hope you get to soon! Here are some of my favorite pics from month 2 with Maddie...

Family cuddle time before bed

Love the hair ;)

She loves to sleep with her arms above her head, so funny!

Bath time


Watch out for those fists, they'll get ya!

Tre holding his little cousin

Sinah LOVES her "Baby Madeline" time, so sweet

Love my baby girl

I sleep with my arm up just like daddy does :)

All smiles

Double chin, ha!

Gnawing on her hand... we might have a thumb sucker soon

So happy :)

Looking mischevious

Love

Flailing around

Fascinated with something... lint, perhaps?

Our chubby-cheeked 2 month old!

June 9, 2011

Friends

It's funny how hard it is to make new friends as you get older. When you are a kid, it is easy. Any neighbor, fellow teammate, or classmate that is not a bully can become one of your best buddies. It doesn't really matter what they look like, what they wear, or what their other interests are. If they will "play" with you, they are your friend.

Dogs seem to be no different. Jack is not "breedist", does not care about age, or even if another dog likes him in return. If he meets you, he wants to be your buddy.

But somewhere along the way, making new friends gets significantly more difficult. In middle school and high school, cliques form and we become more judgmental. By the time you are a full-blown adult, you also judge people on their careers and lifestyle choices, in addition to other things. The list of potential friends keeps getting smaller and smaller, until you are left with only a select handful of people. This is probably not a bad thing if you live close to those people and can see them on a regular basis, but for Joe and I it is kind of tough right now. All of our closest friends live 3 hours away or out-of-state. Needless to say, we miss them a lot.

So, I am trying to learn from Jack and other little kiddos with seemingly less intelligence than us educated adults. Although we love our "old" friends dearly, it is time that we try a little harder here in Roseburg. Jack reminded me of this important task last week when we had a visit from one of my besties Nicole and her pup, Olive. Jack and Olive had never met, but it took approximately 10 seconds for them to fall in love with one another and become buds. Here are some pics from their visit, along with some of my oldest and bestest friends. Love you all and hope to see you soon!