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I'm the worst dad ever...or am I?

I have to confess. I missed the birth of our second child. Not like, I had to sneeze, I turned around and there she was....like she was 5 weeks early and I was on a trip and didn't make it back in time....AAAGGGHHHHH!!!!

In the grand scheme of things...now that I'm here and have held my baby girl and seen for myself that everything is OK I think I'm over it. I mean...what does she care...she's just wants to know why she now has to work to eat and where the Yanni like ocean noises went. But for a while, I was carving myself atop the Mount Rushmore of worst parents. From left to right...Travis Henry, Lynn Spears, Michael Jackson, & Me.

But then I got to thinking, as I'm sitting there thanking the good people of American Airlines for doing everything within their power to stop me from returning to Austin, including not letting my row of the plane board until it was 2 minutes before takeoff because it was dirty (I'm not making this up)...there had to be at least 5 things worse than missing the birth of your daughter...right?

1. Showing up to the father daughter dance as drunk as Shooter in the movie Hoosiers yelling random Harry Carry quotes...twice.
2. Attending parent teacher conferences in nothing but a yellow polka-dot thong
3. Tatooing "daddy's girl" backwards on her forehead so every time she looks in the mirror she'll know how much I love her.
4. Pretending to have a British accent for the first 13 years of her life and then during her Bat-Mitzvah speach, switch cold turkey and tell her we're actually from France, not England.
5. Call Jose Canseco and have him swear that I was at the birth and then accuse Ivy of "mis-remembering" when she questions me about it later.

So...now I feel better. The whole world...or at least the 3 people (including my mom) who read this blog...know what a terrible father I am. But just think about how much worse it could be...and if anyone thinks it can't be...watch out for me wandering in from right field at your daughter's softball game...with no pants on.

Ivy Grace Newman

Ivy Grace Newman joined the rest of the family today at 10:45 AM. While still a few weeks from her actual due date, she decided she was ready for action. And, not unlike her mother, when her mind is made up...watch out!

Ivy weighed in at a petite 5lbs 10oz and was 18" long.

And, also like her mother...she's a bit cranky before dinner...so she's eating like a champ.

Mom, Dad, Bryce, & young Ivy are all doing great.
Stay tuned to the blog for pictures once we get home.

Neighborhood Party

Our neighborhood had a summer kick off party on Saturday. Russell is in New York so my mom came in to play. Bryce hated the clown, to be honest, he was pretty bad but loved the snow cones.

Watching the clown show

Grape snow cones are the best!

Throwing the ball to Gabby

Playdate at Central Market

We met up with Missy and Avery on Tuesday to play at the Central Market playground. After Bryce warmed up to the new place he had such a good time. We had such a good lunch too. It's not easy for me to go out these days and find things to eat that won't make my blood sugar get too elevated. Missy was nice enough to share this picture. I had my camera but just didn't have the energy to take it out :)

Memorial Day

Every Memorial Day weekend we go to my aunt and uncle's house in Port O'Connor. It's a mini family reunion. I think that there were around 40 people this year. Bryce had fun playing with his cousins. I had fun letting other people take care of Bryce. In case you're not currently 9 months pregnant and living in Texas, let me tell you, it's hot and I'm tired!

Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day, Bryce decided to take over the housework. Here he is doing a great job sweeping the patio.

Round Rock Express

We took Bryce to a minor league baseball game on Sunday. He hasn't been since last year. He was less content to sit still this time around so Russell worked hard entertaining Bryce. I think we lasted about 2 hours before Bryce pulled us up and marched out towards the gate.

BRYCE-TIONARY

Bryce talks. A lot. Like...can you find a mini muzzle and stick it on that kid? He really enjoys holding a good conversation...with himself. A lot of times we'll find him chattering away in the back seat...quite content with the answers to his own questions. Anyway...for anyone who happens to call the house or who gets an "accidental" cell phone call from Bryce...we thought we would provide a Bryce to English dictionary or Bryce-tionary if you will. Clearly this is a fluid document, but this should help a little for now.

A
AAHPOO – Apple
AH EE – I See
ANK OO – Thank You
AHHHAYIGT - Alright


B
BEE – Blanket
BEEBEE - ????
BUBBOH – Pretzel
BUBBLES – Bubbles
BOLF - GOLF
BOLF BALL – Golf BallBEEBALL – Basketball
BAABALL – Baseball
BABBY – Gabby (Paige’s mom)
BOOK – Book
BRRR – Cold
BYCE – Bryce
BOB – Bob (Russell’s stepfather)
BABAH – Barbara (Russell’s step mother)
BYE – Bye
BUHBYE-EE – Bye Bye
BITE – Bite
BEEP – Beep
BATH - Bath

C
CRACKER – Cracker
CD - CD

D
DEE – Dirty
DAH – Down
DOG – Dog
DUCK – DUCK
DADDY – Daddy
DAAHHR – Darnit
DAAAHH – Dominate
DEHRRR-AH-IZ – There it is


E
ELMO – Elmo
EE EE – Cookie
EGG – Egg
EYE – Eye
EAR – Ear
EETH – Teeth
EE V - TV


G
GIGI – Josie (the dog)
GOLDFISH - Goldfish

H
HAPPY – Happy
HOT – Hot
HEEP - Sleep
HEP - Help
HELP YOU – Help me
HO – Hold
HOVEL – Shovel
HOOS – Shoes
HAPES – Shapes
HI – Hi
HAT - Hat
HEMMY - Hammer

I
ICKY – Sticky
IRCLE – Circle
IX – Sticks

J
JUICE - Juice

K
KNEES - Knees


L
LARA – Lara (Paige’s cousin)

M
Mama - Mom
MOMMEEEE - Mommy
MONEY – Money
MUH – More
MUH MAH – No More
MUFF MUFF – Muffin
MIMI – Music or Mimi (Paige’s grandmother)
MEETBALL – Beach Ball
MILK - Milk
MOW - Mow

N
NAHNAH - Banana
NANA – Russell’s mother
NO – No
NO NO – No, I mean it
NOODLE - Noodle


O
OH – OH
OH NO – Oh no
OH BOY – Oh boy
OH BRYCE – Oh Brcye
OH TAY - OK

P
PEE BOO, BYCE – Peek-a-boo Bryce
POOPIES – Poopies or Pee Pee
PEE PEE – Pizza
PEAS – Peas
PEEES – Please
PAPA – Papa (Paige’s grandfather)
PAPER - Paper

R
REE REE – Raisin

S
SIP - Sip

U
UMMY – Tummy
UP – Up or Open
UNDEES - Underwear

W
WAFFLE – Waffle
WAWA - Water

Y

YACK – Jack (Paige’s dad)
YUMMY – Yummy
YEAHYOH – Yellow
YES - Yes

Passover

This weekend was Passover and we went out to my parents to celebrate with family. Bryce loved seder and Aunt Barbara and Uncle Arnold's house. Not only did he eat everything put in front of him, he also got to play with 3 basset hounds and 2 8 year old boys. He was going strong well after his bedtime.

On Sunday my mother and I took him to the San Antonio zoo. Since this was our 2nd trip, we knew right where to go. The zoo just completed a great Africa exhibit and we also spent time at the toddler discovery area and even fit in a train ride before Bryce needed to crash. Even though I took terrible pictures, it was a great weekend!

Wildflower Center

Bryce and I met up with our friend Jen and her 2 kids today at the Wildflower Center. It's right by our house but this was the first time we have been. Bryce liked walking around and looking at the ponds. Jen and I worked hard to get some cute pictures of the kids by the bluebonnets.

Friends from NJ

My friend Sarah brought her family to visit us this weekend. This was her son Nate's first trip and the first time we got to meet each other's child. While we were excited about the visit, I think we were focusing on everything that could potentially go wrong. Expectations were low but this was one of the best visits we've had. The boys did great and it was so fun to hang out with old friends in a new way. Here a little view of our weekend:

Any given thursday...

I know that's not exactly how the saying goes, but that's what this post is. Just another weeknight in our house. Dinner around 530, 30 minutes of playtime, E! News at 6, more playing, and then bed. Why E! news? Why not...you can't tell me that Bryce is getting any more from Elmo than he is from Seacrest and Guiliana. I mean, I'm all for the ABC's and counting, but let's be honest...he's sure to get more mileage out of knowing that Amanda got voted off Idol last night. However, tonight was one of those nice nights where Bryce willingly ate his dinner, was feeling good since he had a reasonable nap, and was really interested in just getting down to some serious playing...sans meltdown. Anyway...I got a little carried away with the video, but chances are you've got nothing better to do for the next 8 minutes anyway...and if you do, just hit pause on the Tivo and catch up later...you'll thank me since you'll most likely have skipped a commercial or two letting you know what to do if your Cadillac turns you on for more than 4 hours. Enjoy.

Visit from the grandparents

Russell's dad and stepmom decided to take a vacation to the Lake Austin Spa and then spend a few days with us. The weather was cold and rainy most of the visit so we didn't do too much. We did go shopping in Boerne one day while the men played golf. Bryce is walking now and really enjoys shopping. At one store he stood in the door way and told people "hi" and "bye". Pretty funny to watch...

Go fly a kite

So I guess one of the fun things about having kids is that we get to go to these places where if we didn't have kids, and were just trolling around on our own...I'd kind of be a little leary of a reporter from Dateline popping up asking me "how long I've been stalking young children?". Luckily, since we've got the hip ornament...we can cruise the kids' festivals and enjoy some of the activities of our own youth guilt free.

Today we got to go to the Austin Kite Festival. This is the largest longest single running centrally located family operated with more than 10 port-a-pots kite festival (have we given enough qualifications yet to make this sound impressive?) in the World. This is a time when people from all over take time away from playing World of Warcraft or SIM City to see what the outside looks.

Now...while the term "flying a kite" may sound innocent enough...apparently the urban dictionary thinks that phrase can mean any number of things. So, since this is a family blog, from here out I'll refer to this festival or the actual activity of based on the Wiki definition as flying tethered objects that depends upon the tension of a tethering system (actually that has kind of a catchy ring to it for a festival name...mmm...maybe not).

The whole set up is very family friendly with games and vendors and plenty of kites. We were lucky enough to run in to several of our friends...the McClures, the Tishgarts, the Grays...and stake out a prime viewing spot to see all of the people flying tethered objects that depends upon the tension of a tethering system. Well..while a fair number of people were flying, those that hadn't figured out the tension part of the equation were crashing...right on us. While kites may seem harmless enough, who ever thought it was a good idea to let a cotton candy crazed six year old run around in a crowd with a Spiderman kite with a 14ft wingspan (again the lack of tension thing)?

At some point...a nice lady came by and gave us some free kites which we had a blast with. Bryce helped me fly a tethered object that depends upon the tension of a tethering system. He really seem to enjoy the randomness of the movement, but he probably enjoyed making me chase have the loop of string even more. Well, who are we kidding, the thing he enjoyed most was stealing goldfish crackers from Jen and Steve's lunch.

Fathers be good to your daughters...

Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers so mothers be good to your daughters too. So says John Mayer anyway. I'm not sure where in my life I stopped singing the lyrics to Pearl Jam's "Daughter" and started appreciating the lyrics of John Mayer's "Daughters". I can't quite pinpoint it exactly...probably some time between Brenda Walsh's pregnancy test on 90210 and today. Why today? Well...today we had our 20 week sonogram and learned that #2 won't stand up to go pee. Perhaps I should back up a minute...for those of you that didn't know...Paige is pregnant. How did this happen you ask? Well...we were so inspired by Seth Rogen & Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up that we decided to play the home version. So...now you're caught up. 20 weeks in, 1 sonogram, 1 baby girl.

At this point, even though a fair majority of our friends have children...with the exception of 1 or 2...they're all boys. So for the dads of boys...you remember how you were looking at the sonogram trying to make out some recognizable body part and then "BAM"...the doctor shows you a familiar protrusion? Well...today I was ready...so sure that it was a boy...I jumped at everything that moved proudly announcing "is that what I think it is" or "Whoops...what's that". And, with 100% certainty...every time...it was the umbilical cord. Then...that little girl modestly shifted positions and well...there was nothing. To her credit, my 20 week old baby girl, naked and still in her mother's womb announced her femaleness with more modesty than any of the Spears girls...although somehow she'll still end up on YouTube (see below). Regardless...I think we're off to a good start.

Oh yeah...in between me playing Jacques Cousteau on the search for the missing wee-wee...the Dr. did tell us that the baby looked great and she was even a little big (that's a good thing at this point so don't go giving her a pre-natal eating disorder).

So...without further ado...the first pictures of babygirl Newman at T minus 4.5 months...enjoy...I'm going to go put in my John Mayer CD.

Family Time

My grandparents were at their lake house on Saturday so we went out for lunch. My cousin Polly was celebrating her birthday this week and also stopped by. While Bryce is still not walking without encouragement, he did show off that he his perfectly able to take steps unassisted between 2 people. My grandparents are having some electrical problems at their house so this was the big entertainment for the afternoon :)

Why do the men always fall asleep after lunch?

Austin Marathon

Russell completed his 3rd marathon on Sunday and he did great! The Austin course is very hilly and Russell ran it in 3 hours and 51 mintues. According to Russell's GPS the course was too long so feel free to tell your friends that he ran it 2 minutes faster. I'm proud of him for finishing no matter what the time was.


I would also like to congratulate Bryce on being sucha trooper. I woke him up at 5:30am so that we could take Russell to the start. I hoped he would fall back to sleep in the car but he was too excited for some reason. He had a great time waiting for Russell to finish. Lots of people and dogs to keep him entertained.

Visit from Nana

Russell's mother came to visit for a few days. Bryce loved all the attention that his Nana gave him.

Bryce planned a full agenda from an afternoon of shoppng in Wimberly to taking Nana to music class...and of course plenty to eat. Unfortunately Grandpa Bob couldn't make this trip so we ate some extra barbeque for him. And, thanks to a small ritual involving some small farm animals, a unicorn, and the sacrificing of local weather woman Maureen McCormick, we even escaped this year wtihout an ice storm

Family Fun

We went to Houston for the weekend for a 90th birthday party. Lara was nice enough to let the Jones family and us all stay at her house. Marty and Bryce had such a good time playing together. I had good intentions to take a picture of all of us dressed up to go to the party but when it was time to leave the boys started crying so we just ran out of there. Oh well...

Big boy bed

Since we are going to need Bryce's crib for baby #2 in a few months I decided that we should start the process to move Bryce to a twin bed. I thought it may take a while for him to adjust. It only took 1 nap. He loves it! He's been napping in it for a few weeks and I think he's going to sleep in it for real this week. He doesn't know that he can get out of it yet so let's hope it takes a while for that to occur to him.

He also loves that he has a chair in his room. He likes to take books out and climb up on the chair. He will flip that pages just like he's reading. It's very cute.

mmm...mexican food

After Russell ran the other morning he brought home tacos and chips. Bryce raced downstairs and climbed into Russell's lap so that he could share. Bryce loves to eat!

Garage Upgrade

My great uncle kindly offered to design and supervise the installation of a workbench in our garage. Russell and my dad spent today carefully following Arnold's instructions. My mom and I just tried to stay out of the way. After a long day, our fabulous new bench is constructed. We just need a project now to put it to the test. Thanks everyone who worked so hard on this!

New York Newmans

Russell's parents were visiting over the weekend. Bryce enjoyed entertaining some fresh faces!

My parents came in to help celebrate Barbara's birthday.

Bryce enjoyed the fountain while we went shopping at the outlets.

Family Party

We went to my parents' house today for our annual get together with my Dad's side of the family. The party started at noon which is Bryce's nap time. We got there and just planned to leave when he was ready to crash. Luckily all the food and people kept him going until 2pm. Thanks Mother and Daddy for a great day!

Happy Hanukkah!

I had a work trip on Wednesday so we were able to spend the 1st night of Hanukkah at my parents' house. Barbara and Arnold were nice enough to come over and say the prayers and bring latkes. Bryce liked the latkes but he really liked the applesauce. I think he ended up eating the whole bowl instead of sharing it with the table. Oh well....

On a side note, we tried something new while we were there. Bryce hates sleeping in a pack n play so I bought a bed rail and we tested it out on the trundle bed. I know everyone says to wait to take a kid out of a crib until you have to but I've always thought that the earlier you move them, the less likely they are to figure out that they can get out. My logic held true and Bryce slept great all night. He's still going to be in a crib at home for a little while longer but this was a great way to get him to sleep away from home.

Tool Time!

Bryce has been fully entrenched in his second Hanukkah. Wait...can that be right? Hanukkah doesn't start for another week? Well...thanks to the unpredictability in internet shipping, the eight nights of Hanukkah kind of start when the first gift arrives and end when they stop coming. All told it's probably more like the 17 1/2 nights of Hanukkah, but it would be really hard to make a menorah that big. I guess in theory we could stock the presents until the right time, but when a 16 month old sees a carboard box...LOOK OUT.

Anyway...tonight, Bryce got a tool bench from Nana. He played with it for a solid 30 minutes until it was bed time. I was able to capture him putting his tools away, but he was hammering and working on the gears long before I got the brilliant idea to film some of this.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving week in our family starts Wednesday night...although now that Bryce eats his dinner at 5 and goes to bed by 7, Wednesday night turned in to Wednesday late afternoon. Our whole crew gathered at Mimi and Papa's lake house (you may remember this as Paige's living quarters while we were between houses). Wednesday dinner is Chili, Queso, Guacamole, Tamales, and Bunuelos (a mexican pastry which we think is a fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar...sound good?...it is). Bryce got to play with our cousin Pam's youngest son Cooper. Cooper was a big hit with Bryce...somehow we think Bryce knew that Cooper was his age (ish...Cooper's 8...I guess that's closer to Bryce's age than we are)...Bryce kept crawling over to him and trying to hug him...very cute...sorry no pictures...you'll just have to imagine.

Thanksgiving day started off at our house. The beauty of our new house is that it's close enough to the lake that we can drive there and back pretty easily. So this year...we get our own beds. As you can see, Byce got to play in our bed before thinking maybe a mid-morning nap might be a good idea.

Once we got out to the lake, Bryce got right to work cooking...right after he fixed his car

While Bryce worked hard in the kitchen, the rest of us had time to pose for pictures...clearly we weren't much help

Finally...time to eat...Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, jello mold (Peggy can explain since I don't eat it...but Bryce loved the stuff), & sweet potatoes...delicious. I carved the turkey because Papa was busy doing quadricept stretches (I'm not making this up...that's what he said). I did such a good job...I'm now the official turkey carver (that means I get to keep the good pieces for me).

After lunch...Bryce enjoyed some quiet time by the fire while the rest of us napped. After that some dessert and then back home. Tomorrow we'll have everyone over to watch the Texas game...Hook 'Em Horns!!!!

Sandbox

My grandfather gave Bryce a sandbox over the summer. We were slow to set it up because we were working on the yard, didn't think Bryce was ready, too lazy...Anyway, about a month ago I decided to Bryce's shoveling skills were coming along and he was ready. I take the thing out of the box, line up the parts and discover that there is no hardware in the box. After multiple phone calls to the company I received a few random screws that really didn't seem to go with the instructions. I sweetly asked my crafty husband to see what he could do. With a quick trip to Home Depot, Russell had put the whole thing together. Bryce loves it!!!

Austin Zoo

We went to check out the Austin zoo with the Taylors today. The zoo is a non-profit rescue zoo, very different from the zoos we are used to. I went once in college and remember seeing some dogs and chickens. Not very exciting...Well, the chickens are still there but they have a lot of animals now. We saw everything from peacocks to lions and tigers. The kids had fun watching my mom who made animals sounds at all the animals. Bryce who has not been napping well lately was so worn out from this event that he slept for 2 hours today. It was a miracle.Bryce is looking at the giant turtles here.

Below is a bad picture of the tigers but at least you get the idea.

Children's Museum

Bryce and I went to the Austin Children's Mueseum today. We went with our neighbor Kelly and her son Tristan. The museum is only open on Mondays to kids under 3 so we thought it would be a good time to check it out. I can't believe how many people were there. Bryce was fairly overwhelmed but enjoyed the exhibits that had water. No big surprise there!