It's a....

baby! :) Yesterday we went in for our 20 week ultrasound (I am techinically 19 weeks this week). It went well and the tech said that everything looked normal. He was very thorough and I felt like I as getting an anatomy lesson through the entire procedure. It was very interesting and it is a relief to know that the baby is growing normally and healthy. William came with and was interested for about half a second and then spent the rest of the time trying to get onto the bed with me or asking for more "nacks." I don't think he completely understands what is going to occur in his world in the next few months. :)

We decided to not find out the gender as we did with William. Ricky has always been adament that he does not want to know but I was on the fence with this pregnancy. The planner in me wanted to know but in the end I decided that I really enjoyed the surprise last time and I think it makes it more exciting (a little extra incentive to get through labor, right?). So we are all just going to have to wait another 4 1/2 months to find out who this little one is. I would love to hear what everyone thinks. Most everyone I know who is due around the same time I am is having a boy. Any guesses?

This pregnancy has been so different from my last one. More nausea, achiness, mood swings (my poor family), exhaustion, and hunger. All things I did not feel with William. I've heard people say that every pregnancy is different so I guess this is normal. It is a wonderful and amazing thing to be growing a life but this whole thing definately is not glamerous! I am starting to feel little kicks now which is my favorite part.

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I know that it makes it a little less interesting. We don't have a scanner or access to one so I can't post any of the ultrasound pics. You'll just have to take my word for it that it is a baby and has all of it's appropriate parts. :)

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I will try to keep everyone updated with blog posts as often as I can. Right now I am going to try to squeeze in a nap before my little 2 year old bundle of energy decides to wake up. Oh, I think it is too late...

Here we go again!

Most of you already know but William is going to be a big brother! Baby Newton #2 is due early February of 2012. I am 15 weeks today and we are all very excited to welcome the new addition to our family.

William's 2nd Birthday

First, I want to apologize for being a little behind on my posting. Our summer has been crazy so far. Between Ricky's music schedule, sickness, and business trips, we have not had much time together and my down time has been spent catching up on housework or taking a nap. :) Things should be calming down a bit for us in August and we are hoping to have more family time and enjoy the rest of our summer!

All that to say, I am going to try and catch everyone up on what we have been doing the past few months, starting with William's 2nd birthday that happened at the end of May. We had a fun family party for our little man with both sets of grandparents, an aunt, an uncle, and a cousin (we missed Aunt Ruth and Uncle Nate!) a great aunt and uncle, and a great-grandpa. It was simple but perfect for our little 2 year old.

Blueberry birthday pancakes!

Trying out his new tricycle with Papa.

Dessert table.

William's second year in pictures.

Mommy helping William open presents. He did not have much interest in opening his own presents so Mommy did most of the opening.

Mommy and Daddy got William his own drum set for his birthday. He LOVED it and immediately gave everyone a special concert. I think he will be taking after his Daddy!

Ricky and Great -Grampa Jim.

Cake time!

Mmmm! Chocolate chip cupcakes with peanut butter frosting!

Since William and Daddy have birthdays a day a part, we also made cupcakes for Daddy and sang to him.

Grandma, cousin, and auntie.

Playing piano with Mama (Grandma) and Papa. Maybe he'll take up piano too? Mommy can hope!

Happy birthday to our precious boy! We love you!

Easter 2011

We spent Easter in Northern California with my family and had such a wonderful weekend! On Saturday we went to the annual Easter egg hunt at the Lang Twins Winery. William participated in his first Easter egg hunt and had so much fun. There were also bubbles, cookie decorating, bouncy balls, and an Easter bunny for all of the kids. William had a blast! For the adults there was wine tasting so Mommy and Daddy had fun too. :) Easter day held church, a wonderful meal with family, and a warm Central Valley Spring day. It was great to see our California family and I am already looking forward to our next visit. Here are some pics of our weekend. There are quite a few but, in total, I took about 300 pictures so I had to try and choose the highlights. Here is what I came up with. Enjoy!

The long drive down to California. William did great considering he was in his carseat for 8 plus hours. We watched lots of Elmo, sang lots of songs, and ate lots of "nacks." Here he is drinking his morning cup of coffee. We start them young at the Newtons. :) (Don't worry, the cup is empty. We don't really give our 2 year old caffeine. Think we're THAT crazy?)

Watching Papa clean the patio. I loved the high tops with PJ's look he had going.

My beautiful sister and Momma!

William LOVES his Grandma and I am pretty sure that the feeling is mutual!

Excited for his first Easter egg hunt.

Found one!!

On a mission.

William with his cousins and the Easter bunny.

William loved the Easter bunny and was not afraid of him at all!

Playing with the bubbles. This was one of his favorite activities. It was fun and interesting to watch him interact with the other kids. He is not the outgoing one in the group but instead likes to sit back and watch. He is content to play on his own and will play with others only after he feels comfortable. Once he is, he will walk up to each child and say "Hi!" He has a very sweet and sensitive disposition and and I just love him!

Our dapper young lad in his Easter outfit.

My sista and me!

My family.

Love the Central Valley!

Playing with the "beeballs" (Easter eggs). For some reason he called them "beeballs" all weekend which usually means baseball or basketball.

Excited about what was inside.

We tried to spell out "2011" with eggs and take pictures with the kids by them. It was a nice thought but the reality of making this happen with kids under 5...maybe in a couple more years.

My Daddy and me.

All the cousins eating dinner. Mac and cheese after a long day hits the spot.

Mommy's Little Helper

William loves to help Mommy sweep. When I get the broom out I hear "Peas, peas, peas..." until he gets a turn. I have been reading that it is important at his age to start including your toddler in day to day tasks to help them learn independance. I am trying to do this more and more with William by giving him the chance to help me do things around the house such as put laundry in the dryer, hand me dishes out of the dishwasher (nothing breakable!), etc. He seems to love being included in these tasks and I enjoy having a little helper, and such a cute one at that!

An Update

With William approaching the 2 year mark (really?!?) I felt like it was time for an update. Hard to believe my little man will be 2 in just a 2 short months! He is becoming such a funny, cute, wonderful little person. I love each day I spend getting to know the person he is becoming. I will get more time to do that since I have recently quit my job working with Dexter Music Academy, my employer for the last almost 6 years. Even though the job was an in-home position, I always felt my time torn between attending to the needs of the school and attending to the needs of my son. One was always suffering (usually the latter) and so Ricky and I decided that, right now, my priority is this family and that is where my sole attention needs to lie. I am excited that I will be able give more attention to my little Mister but will miss the school I have been with since it started 6 years ago. Here's to a new phase of life and to the adventure it will bring! I mean, how can I complain when my time now gets to be spent with this little guy?

Showing his teeth.

Playing with Mama's phone.

Now back to William. I mentioned earlier that we are seeing more and more of his personality. He is developing quite a sense of humor and his little will is also starting to shine through. Probably the most insteresting part of his developing personality, to me, is his need for everything to be in its place. Anything out of place is very distressing to him. For example, he has a book of colors that has a picture of a coconut that is broken open. Everytime we come to that picture he points to it and says "uh-oh!" He does not like the fact that it is broken. If we are out at a restaurant and there is food dropped on the ground we hear the same exclamation. He also does not like his hands being dirty and will protest until I wipe them clean if he gets anything on them while eating. So funny!

William is starting to talk more and more and I love hearing his words. He is very persistant and will say a word over and over again until you acknowledge what he is saying (usually getting louder and louder with each repitition). Some of the words we hear the most include:

Dada

Mama (either Mommy or Grandma)

Papa

Nana (Banana - his absolute favorite!)

Bapple (Apple)

Teese (Cheese)

Petol (Pretzel)

Doddy (Doggie)

Melmo (Elmo - He is OBSESSED with Elmo right now and all day long we hear Melmo? Melmo? Melmo?)

La La (Big Bird)

Nernie (Ernie)

Ba (Bath)

Bebe (toothbrush - have no idea where this came from)

De (deer - He then points out his window because we saw deer once outside in our backyard. Amazing what he remembers!)

Ball and BeeBall (Basketball or Baseball)

William has always loved being outside (one of the only ways I could calm him as an infant) and with glimpses of Spring here and there, we have started to move outdoors. I am so excited for the summer and being able to utilize our backyard. The last couple of afternoons have been pretty nice, so I have bundled W up and let him play outside a bit before dinner. He loves throwing the ball for Coda and the fresh air does us all some good!

I love this little person and am so thankful for his presence in my life. He certainly is a blessing to Ricky and I and I am looking forward to all that his second year of life will bring.

Facelift

The Newtons got a facelift! I am still learning all the ins and outs of this blogging thing so I thought I would play around a bit. I was getting bored with the basic boring fonts and so I decided to jazz them up a bit and add a few other fun things. Hope you like!