October Update

Sorry that it has been a while since I've last updated this blog. Things get so hectic with a baby and I kept telling myself that I will post one day soon. Two months has been long enough!

Chris and Hannah

Chris has been super busy the past two months. He has had done two rotations in Intensive Care and Internal Medicine. Both of these rotations required a lot of time commitment at the hospital and at home. He's looking forward to his next rotation because he'll have more free time to spend time with us and also work on his residency project.

Chris finally has his ninja turtle buddy

I've been doing good. I feel like I am enjoying my time at home with Jacob a lot more. It's so much fun to watch Jacob grow and learn. Jacob has finally gotten old enough where he can go on playdates and I'm starting to arrange playdates with other moms at church. Now that Jacob is taking longer naps, I've been enjoying having time to sew. Still working on a cross stitch Christmas stocking for Jacob. I joke with Chris that the number of kids we have will be determined on how frustrated I get with making these Christmas stockings. They are so much work and the idea of having one or two kids just so I can stop cross stitching sounds pretty good.

Jacob and I hanging out 

Jacob

Jacob is doing great! He is the sweetest boy in the world. Constantly happy and social, it's fun to see different aspects of his personality come out. He loves to play games all day, especially games of anticipation like peek a boo. He also enjoys being scared, you would think a person jumping out of no where would scare him but he thoroughly enjoys it. Jacob is starting to turn into a bashful little flirt. Whenever someone comes up to him and says hi, he'll smile and the bury his face. He does this with women all the time. He loves to smile all day. He is the easiest baby to get to smile. All you have to do is smile yourself and he immediately gives you a big smile. He is also good at smiling and acting cute in front of the camera. You can tell that he is very smart and intelligent. He is constantly aware and alert about his surroundings and wants constant stimulation. He loves playing with household items and is always wanting to explore new things.

My sweet, bashful little boy

                                       
Last month at his 6 month check up, Jacob weight 19 pounds and 5 ounces (I think now he's close to 21 pounds) and 28 inches long. His weight percentile jumped from 23rd to 80th! He's such a chubby chunk now, but in the cutest way possible. On his 6th month birthday, Jacob cut his first 2 teeth. Then with in two weeks, 2 other teeth broke through. He now has all four of his front teeth visible and he's starting to have a toothy grin. Jacob is currently working on learning how to walk. All he wants to do is to stand all day long and recently he has figured out how to walk forward with help. He refuses to learn how to crawl and he is determined to walk upright just like his parents. He has started eating solid foods and he is such a great eater. Everything that we have offered him, he has been open and great with eating it. His favorite foods are squash, sweet potatoes, pears, oatmeal and banana cracker wheels. He's especially likes eating crunchy things since he has big, sharp teeth now.

Jacob loves helping Mom out with laundry 

Cute in my backpack! 

Don't I look so cute? :)

Love playing with the washing machine! 

I'm big enough to be in the big tub all by myself

Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa Newman came to visit us. We had a wonderful time with them! Jacob instantly bonded with both of them and thought it was the greatest when Grandma Newman talked to him. It was really funny watching Jacob converse with Grandma Newman. While they were here we went to the zoo and Jacob had a blast. He loved seeing all the different kinds of animals. His favorite parts of the zoo were the bird house, corral fishes, and goats in the petting zoo.

Jacob with his Newman grandparents, Curt and Teresa

Having fun at the zoo with Grandpa! 

Riding the train after a fun day at the zoo!

Thanks everyone for your patience. I know it's been awhile since the last post. I hope in the future I will do better with updating, but it's kinda hard to do when you're having so much with this little guy!

Home Sweet Home

It's been a crazy few weeks. We have moved into our new apartment and Chris took a bunch of licensing tests. It feels so great being out of transition and finally into a place we can call our home. Although it was so nice to live in my sister's apartment, there's just something about having your own place with your own stuff. It was crazy trying to get moved in with a baby and Chris studying like crazy but we some how got it done. Especially from our friends and family that were so sweet to help us out during this time.

Here's a quick update on what's going on:

Chris and Hannah

Chris has been studying for his pharmacy licensing tests the past few weeks and it has been very stressful for us all. Chris would go to work and come home and study all night long. On top of that, there was this pressure that if he didn't pass either of the tests he would lose his job. Poor Chris was having such a hard time. But I am happy to report that Chris pass both his tests! It is such a huge relieve to us all, especially since we have a child and everything. Now Chris can now get his reward of a Mac Book Pro.

I have been doing alot better lately when it comes to staying at home with Jacob. I will admit that when Chris was studying for his tests it was really difficult. When Chris was at home he would have to study for work or for his tests, and it made it hard for me to get support with Jacob. But I learned how to rely on myself when it came to Jacob and find a way to persevere. Now I feel happy to stay at home with Jacob. We have a routine down during the day where I can get out of the house and also have time to myself. I am also making a better effort to enjoy him during the day and cherish the time we have together rather than going through the motions.

Jacob

Jacob turned 4 months old on Tuesday and I am really enjoying this age. He is learning to stand up and sit up all by himself. Now that he has a stronger neck and back, it makes doing things around the house so much easier. He finally rolled over from his back to his stomach and we are so happy. But at the same time we're sad because this is the first milestone where it has hit us that he's growing up so fast. We want to just hit pause to enjoy him just alittle bit longer.

I can sit in my Bumbo now! Mama is so happy!

Meeting Aunt Rachel for the first time

Singing my way through church.

 
He continues to be a little chatter box and loves talking during the day. A recent development is that he is learning how to sleep through the night all by himself. It has happened for the past week and we are really hoping that it sticks. The only bad thing that is happening with him sleeping  through the night is that he has trouble getting to sleep in the evening. It's almost like he knows he's going to be alone all night and wants to spend as much time with us as possible. Lately, we've had to put him down 2 or 3 times in the evening before he'll go down for good. But that's okay with me!

Last week we took Jacob to go swimming. It was really fun to see him get confused about the water and try to figure out what to do with it. Once he got over the initial shock, he had a great time it the water. He especially likes bouncing in the water and being dragged through the water. I am trying to take him swimming as much as possible, maybe he'll turn into a little fish!

Dad about to take me in the water....

Loving the water! 

We have some cute videos of Jacob that I will post soon. We are stilling getting use to our new life but life is still pretty sweet. Till next time!

Working Towards the New Normal

Life has been pretty good for the Newmans lately. Things are continuing to constantly change all the time but at least the changes are working towards a new normal. We are enjoying being close to my family and having a new adventure of living in Texas. I'm not sure if our update will be as exciting, but I'm sure someone will enjoy it.

Chris and Hannah

Chris is really enjoying being at Baylor All-Saints. He is enjoying working with his co-resident Nolan and it seems like they are becoming really good friends. He still is working with learning the hospital's data entry program but he is half way through his training. He is already getting swamped with projects and we're trying to learn new time management skills with having a baby around. It's really hard especially since I've been at home all day and I really want to spend time with Chris. But more importantly I want a break from taking care of Jacob. We're trying to figure it out but we're already looking forward to next year when Chris can come home from work and leave work at the hospital.

Things with me are doing pretty well. I am just trying to take it one day at a time. I honestly thought that staying at home with Jacob I would have time to do things like reading and sewing. Well I've learned that is not the case at all. I do the same thing every three hours during the day: feed Jacob, play with Jacob, put Jacob down so he can play with his toys and hope that he doesn't get fussy, and put him to sleep. When I do have time for myself, I am usually doing housework, getting myself presentable or taking a nap (I don't care what anyone says, taking care of a baby is tiring). There's really not alot of time during the day for myself. I'm really hoping that will change when Jacob is older and we don't have a three hour feeding schedule.

Jacob

Lately Jacob has been growing like a weed. Last week he went through a growth spurt, I think. He has out grown alot of his clothes and he has been sleeping like crazy, but compared to the first two growth spurts, this one has been nothing. He wasn't hungry or fussy all the time. Which is great cause he wasn't strapped to my chest the whole time. Probably sometime next week we'll switch all his clothes to the next size up.

Mom had to buy me new clothes, cause I'm huge now!

He is learning and moving around alot more recently. Last week he finally figured out how to roll over all by himself from his stomach to his back. He also figured out how to roll on his side from his back. He is continuing to figure out on how to scoot around the house. He is controlling his head a ton better, I think we can remove all his head restraints in his car seat really soon. He is continuing to try to find his thumb. He's gotten really good at sticking his fist in his mouth and now he's trying to isolate just his thumb. Sometimes he succeeds and other times he just sucks on one of his other fingers. He is turning into a thumb sucker and there is little I can do to stop it. Jacob's personality is slowly starting to come out and he is so much like his daddy. We joke that Jacob looks and acts just like Chris, only he is a lighter version of him. Since he inherited my eyes, skin and hair.  He is such a chatter box too with his grandparents. Whenever he is with my mom, he'll just talk her ear off. It's the cutest thing! I've posted a video on the bottom of this post of him talking to his Mama Sugar (aka Grandma LaFerney).

I love eating books!

Playing in my swing!

Happy Independence day!

Where's my thumb?!

Well that's it with us. I wish there was more to tell, but like I keep warning everyone, we're really boring. Till next time!

New address: Texas!!

 These past four weeks have been crazy. Last week we finally moved to Texas, back to God's Country. Chris is trying to get use to the heat and learning how to drive around without the grid system. He doesn't like how all the streets have names and not numbers. Here's a quick update of everything that has happened the past few weeks that I have been too busy to write about.

Moving

Moving was such a hassle! Chris and I have moved once before and it really wasn't that bad. We moved across town and so it was easy to just throw everything into a box. But since we were moving to another part of the country, we had to be more organized and be efficient packers. I have learned two lessons through this process. First, if you evaluate your stuff you think, "oh it will only take us X amount of time." Reality is that it will take you at least 3 times longer. We really thought that we only had to do a couple days of packing, but we quickly realized that it was going to take us a couple of weeks to get it all done. Why did it take us so long to pack up our tiny apartment? Jacob. Which leads me to the second lesson we learned, packing is practically impossible with a newborn. Some one once told me that I should wait to move until after I've had Jacob, it would be so much easier to move with a baby than being pregnant. Now I didn't move while I was pregnant but moving with a baby was hard. Packing took so much longer cause Chris or I had to take care of Jacob while the other one was packing. While I know I couldn't lift or do a lot of the manual labor during pregnancy, I still couldn't do that cause I had Jacob strapped to my chest (breastfeeding is fun...). Luckily for me, I married a man who didn't mind doing all the packing and organizing and loading of all our possessions without his wife's help :)

I would like to thank Chris's parents, his sister Brittany and her fiance Steve for all their help with our move. They went above and beyond when it came to helping us pack, load and clean our old apartment. Also to Chris's parents for driving our car down to Texas, that was such a huge help!

Jacob

Jacob continues to do wonderful. He is now almost 12 weeks old and the best way to describe him is how his Mama Sugar (a.k.a. Grandma LaFerney) describes him: a monkey. At his two month appointment he measured in the 96th percentile for length and head size. He is over 24 inches long and his head is over 15.5 inches in diameter. But he is in the 28th percentile for weight, coming in at 11 pounds 4 ounces during his check up. So he is just a long and skinny baby. What's worse is that he has the longest arms and legs, giving him the nickname monkey much to my dismay. (I was attacked by a monkey when I was 9, so naturally I don't like monkeys).  Oh well.

Jacob's first documented smile

Jacob the day after getting four shots. He was such a sad little trooper.

Other big news for Jacob was that he was blessed in church this past Sunday. Chris did a wonderful job in blessing Jacob and he looked so cute in his blessing outfit. Thank you to my mom for creating this beautiful outfit, people thought it was so pretty that they congratulated us on our new daughter ;) Thank you also to Chris's parents for taking time out of their busy schedules to also be there.

Don't I look cute?! Many people thought I was a girl ;)

Jacob continues to grow and develop. Lately he has been talking like crazy and started to laugh on purpose, especially when you make funny noises. He is getting better at his hand-eye coordination and can now grab toys and stick them in his mouth. He can now recognize people, especially Chris when he comes home from work. He is still struggling with rolling over, but he makes up for it by scooting around the floor on his back. His hair is starting to get thicker and he definitely has my hair color. He continues to be a joy and it amazes Chris and I on how much we love him.

Jacob trying to kiss the camera

I'm NAKED!

 Chris

On June 8th, Chris graduated from pharmacy school. After three long years of Chris studying for hours on end and losing hours of sleep, he graduated with his doctorate. I am so proud of him and all his hard work. He has definitely earned the title of "Doctor". Now I am proudly Mrs. Dr. Chris Newman :) It feels good to be a doctor's wife.

Chris and I finally making it through pharmacy school

Jacob celebrating with his daddy

Chris started his new job as a resident this week. He did orientation where he learned all about the Baylor goals and values. He even did some team building exercises. He wishes that he spent that time learning more about his benefits, but why would your want to learn that when you can build paper towers?

So far he is loving his new job. Everyone there is super friendly and welcoming to him. He is going to be spending the first few weeks in the central pharmacy (the place where all drugs go in and out throughout the whole hospital) so he can learn the ropes of the system. Then he will start specialty rotations sometime in August and start working weekends. It will also be the time where we say good bye to Chris for a few months, we'll miss him.

Hannah 

I'm pretty good. Currently I am  taking on the full time mom job all by myself. Chris has been home with me and the baby since Jacob was born and I've really enjoyed having him around. But since Chris has to go back to work, I'm on my own now. So far Jacob and I are trying to get a handle on it. We're trying to establish a routine and learning how to do things without Chris. I have found it to be really hard to get anything done without Chris around. Jacob is trying to get use to sleeping without Chris's chest as his bed during the day. What's worse is I'm trying to train him to sleep in his crib during the day. I don't think Jacob appreciates that. Once I get the hang of everything, I hope to start finding time to read, exercise and sew during my free time (if I ever get any).

You can't tell but I've been a sour puss all day

That's what's new with the Newmans! Hopefully now all the craziness is over I can start updating this blog more frequently, but I don't know how much that will happen since we're kinda boring. Well at least we have Jacob to keep us on our toes!

The May Update

Sorry that I have not been keeping up this blog the past month. At the end of April, our neighbors moved and they took their internet that we’ve been sharing with them. While it has been fun not having internet (NOT), it has been hard to update everyone about our lives and Jacob. Hopefully this post will catch everyone up.

Latest News

We are moving to Texas on June 9^th! We are so excited to be finally moving out of our tiny apartment and moving into our brand new apartment. We are thrilled about this new apartment for a couple of reasons. First, we’ll get a bigger apartment. Jacob will finally have his own room, instead of the living room being his room. Second, we’ll get better amenities: dishwasher, air conditioner, washer/dryer, and a larger kitchen. Yes, we have been living in a cave the past couple of years. But this apartment won’t be available until July, so my sister has been so kind to let us stay at her place until the apartment is available (Thanks Rach!).

Chris is starting his capstone course this week at pharmacy school. After Jacob was born, Chris did not have to go back to doing his pharmacy rotations and was able to spend the last 8 weeks at home with Jacob and I. Having him home has been such a huge blessing, but he has to go back to school now. Only one more week of school for him and then he officially graduates with his Doctorate of Pharmacy (PharmD) and starts his residency.  He will start his residency at Baylor All Saints on June 17^th and we are very excited!

Jacob

Jacob is continuing to thrive. It is amazing how fast he is growing. He has past many development milestones. He can hold his head up 90 degrees on his tummy. He recognizes when I’m asking a question and coos back to me. He can follow a large object around when it is held in front of him. He is starting to explore objects with his mouth, mostly his hands. He is starting to smile spontaneously; it always melts our hearts when he does this. He went through his 6 week growth spurt and has gotten noticeably bigger. This week he is going in for his two month appointment so we’ll find out how much he has physically grown. He continues to be a wonderful baby and we love having him in our family. 

Isn't that the cutest sad face?

Look at the monkey!

Hanging out with Grandma Newman

Cute and hanging out

Jacob and I having fun under the trees. He loves looking at the  light and shadows the trees make.

1 month down... 18 more years to go!

This past month has been quite an adjustment for me. Having Jacob home and trying to get use to all the new challenges that come with being a mom has tested me in so many ways. There have been many days that I wanted to quit, but there have also been so many good days. I wanted to share some of the positive things that I have observed this past month. 

Jacob

Jacob just chilling

Jacob is the sweetest baby in the world. I thank Heavenly Father every day that he inherited Chris’s temperament (I had a horrible temperament as a child, every single member of my family has a horror story about me. I dare you to ask them.) Jacob rarely gets fussy for any reason. The past week he’s learned how to coo and make other cute noises at us. He is currently smirking and smiling but he’s stilling doing them randomly. I can’t wait till he smiles at us on purpose. I love it when he is focusing his eyes really hard on something and he goes crossed eyed from it. He is so observant about the world about him and I know that he’s a gentle little soul. I truly do think that I have the best baby in the world. 

Chris

Dad has successfully put Jacob to sleep!

Chris is turning out to be such a pro when it comes to parenting. He’s already gotten a super power of putting Jacob to sleep. I swear that Jacob could be screaming his head off but a couple minutes on Chris’s chest and he is out like a light. He is also very patient with Jacob and can handle every little thing that goes wrong. I still can get flustered when Jacob cries and there is no relief in sight, but Chris is cool like a cucumber. Chris has also been the most wonderful support to me. Every time that I doubt my abilities as a mom or I am just having a bad day, he is always there to reassure me and gives me strength. Because of this experience I will always attest that I have the most wonderful husband in the world and no one can beat him. 

Me, myself and I 

Mom is learning how to put Jacob to sleep. 

Although this past month has had some struggling moments for me, I have seen some positive changes within myself. I am learning how to anticipate Jacob’s needs. I can now tell if he is tired and needs to get some extra rest, when he is hungry and when he is getting bored of something. I am learning how to interact with him. I had very limited experience with babies before Jacob and it always made me uncomfortable being around them. But now I make up songs, have conversations and play with Jacob all the time. I also feel comfortable now giving Jacob lots of love. At the first of the month I was still uncomfortable around Jacob and I wasn’t sure what kind of affection was okay to give him. I didn’t want to be one of those helicopter moms nor abnormally strict either, but I wanted him to feel secure in our relationship without being overly dependent on me. I think now I have found that level of affection that I feel comfortable with and from that Jacob can grow to be a social competent individual. 

In all, our little family is starting to grow use to each other as each of us fills different roles. Things have gone by so quickly this month, I can’t wait to see how things are in another 4 weeks.

2 Weeks Old!

Today Jacob is 14 days old. It has been a whirl wind ever since he was born. There has been such a learning curve with Jacob. At first it was daunting the amount of things you have to do for one little baby.   It's not just meeting Jacob's physical needs, it's also adapting to the new mindset that you have as a mom. I now don't sleep as much as I use to, I struggle with emotions and hormones. Especially when he first came home, it was such a struggle for me being up all night long. On top of that, feeling inadequate at being a mother and often wondering to myself if I should have had a child. No one really tells you how crappy you feel the first week. At least for me I'm trying to learn not to give myself a hard time about the little things. For example, there have been days when Jacob would just be fussy all day. When I held him he would still continue to fuss (sometimes even more since he knows that I am the milk machine). It was so overwhelming to me because I feel that I'm his mother and he should calm down when he's around me. But apparently that's just how babies are and I just need to accept that. It's still a daily struggle for me not to get overwhelmed and put myself down when it comes to taking care of Jacob.

Breastfeeding has not been as much of a challenge as I thought it would be. At our first meeting in the hospital, I made the first attempt at breastfeeding Jacob. I was fully expecting for Jacob and I to struggle with breastfeeding for at least a couple of days. But Jacob immediately latched on and it seems like he hasn't left my breasts since. Some days have been more painful than others and it amazing to me how much Jacob has to eat, but I'm really glad that I have made the choice to breastfeed.

My two boys :)

Chris has been absolutely amazing ever since Jacob was born. It's so amazing to see Chris transform into this incredible father. During the night, Jacob will only fall asleep if he's on Chris's chest. Chris is always more than happy to take Jacob whenever I need a break and it's so adorable to see those two interact together. They are already little buddies. Having Jacob has given me a greater appreciation for my wonderful husband. He has truly gone above and beyond as far as taking care of Jacob and I. I wish I had the words to describe how fantastic he is. Everyday I am grateful for everything that he does for me and I could not as for a better husband or father to my little boy.

Mama Sugar with Jacob the day he was born

I want to thank my mom for everything that she has done for my family after Jacob was born. She came here right after Jacob was born and taught me everything I needed to know in order to be a good mom. My mom even extended her trip here when she saw that I was struggling with everything. She did a wonderful job of taking care of us and lifting us up when we needed it. I miss having her here but I'm grateful that she helped me get to this point so that I can be the best mom to Jacob.