Newt

I was talking about Asher the other day and said something along the lines of, "Oh the other day Newt did such and such..." and the person I was talking to looked at me like I was crazy.

"Who's Newt?" she asked.

It was then that I realized that my son's nickname might be a little confusing to the casual observer, so let me explain.

When Kyle and I got our first sonogram, Kyle and I looked at the pictures and thought, "Our son looks like a lizard!" The picture showed his spine all curled in the fetal position and he looked like, well, like a lizard. Kyle said, "There's my little Newt!"

Since we weren't telling anyone his real name we had picked out, "Newt" stuck and we always just referred to him as our little Newt. I guess old habits die hard.

Now Kyle likes to tell people that he's named after Newt in Lonesome Dove. I guess that works too.

Abilene

I've been a bad blogger lately (sorry Stephanie) so to make up for it here are the latest and greatest bunch of Newt pics. We spent the long weekend in Abilene visiting Kyle's family. They hadn't seen Ash since Thanksgiving so of course he is about twice the size he was then. He gets more and more fun every day. Lately he has been babbling a lot and when he gets really excited he makes the most adorable squeaking noise. Nothing makes me happier in this world than seeing my little guy smile!

Here's Newt in his Mr. Roger sweater that Daddy bought him for Christmas.

is it bad that this pic makes me laugh?

ahh much better. this is more of what we were going for.

newt and grandmommy. look at that smile!

Kyle's old roommate Adam was in town and got to meet Asher for the first time. We haven't seen him since our wedding two and a half years ago! A lot has changed since then!

life is good.

beautiful smile. is it just me or is there a tinge of red in his hair?

My mom's friend Charlie has a little boy a few months older than Ash and has been kind enough to give us some hand-me-downs. Our favorite item by FAR has been this baseball hat--have you ever seen anything more adorable?!

We hope that everyone has enjoyed their long weekend as much as we have. Thank you MLK!

Back to School

Today was Asher's first official day of school and my first day back at work since September. I cried when I dropped him off this morning, but other than that the day was pretty uneventful. I swear he grew since this morning. Here are some pics of his first day; his shirt is courtesy of "Aunt" Stephanie and doesn't he look handsome in his big boy jeans?!

handsome boy

Ash and Mommy...not sure what is up with my hair

so good looking

These aren't from his first day but I just thought they were funny. We tried to put him in his Bumbo seat the other day. His head is still a tiny bit too unsteady to use it on a regular basis, but Ash seemed to dig it. He makes the goofiest faces!

not so sure about this....

what are you looking at?

Why am I surprised?

Wow. I've been doing some blog-stalking lately (let's call it "research" for my own blog) and I have to say that I am surprised by the eloquence of some of my friends (and friends of friends....and friends of friends of friends). This should not surprise me as I tend to associate with fairly smart people...but they like, use big words and stuff when they write. I have to admit that I am a little intimidated.

I have a long way to go in the blog-o-sphere.

Goodbye 2008...Hello 2009

Happy 2009! I hope that everyone had a fun (and safe!) time ringing in the new year.

As for the San Antonio McLeods, we had a good time celebrating with some old friends we hadn't seen in a while. Nana was kind enough to babysit, so Kyle and I had a night out for the first time in a while. An old friend of mine from college, Bethany (she lived across the hall freshman year), and her husband Caleb, were gracious enough to host a New Year's shindig at their home here in SA. There were a lot of old faces from ACU that were good to catch up with--plus, any chance I get to brag about my beautiful baby boy is a chance I'll take :o)

In honor of the end of 2008 and the start of 2009, I thought I'd put together a list of highlights from the past year, as well as some resolutions for the coming one. Here goes:

Best of 2008 (in no particular order)

• peeing on a stick and watching that little blue plus sign appear.
• reading the responses after Kyle sent a picture of that plus sign to everyone in our phonebook.
• not needing to keep a Bill Miller bucket in my car after the first four months of pregnancy.
• Melissa's wedding
• ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD
  
• knowing that Kyle now has only one semester left of school (!)
• no longer having a car payment
• maternity leave
• ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD
  
• having Kyle surprise me with a new MacBook
• Kyle taking me on a date to see this guy ...wow.
• Monday night pizza nights
  
• standing in the shower after my water broke in the middle of the night while Kyle runs around yelling, "What do we do?! What do we do?!"
• the second epidural
• ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD
  
• seeing my son for the first time
• bringing Asher home for the first time
• seeing Asher smile for the first time
• watching Kyle play with Asher
• taking Asher to Abilene to meet Kyle's family for the first time
  
• ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD, ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD, ASHER THOMAS MCLEOD

Resolutions for 2009:

Kyle:

• "I don't really have any...it's your blog, you put your resolutions up."

Asher:

• sleep for eight consecutive hours through the night on a consistent basis
• roll over
• sit up
  
• eat solid food

Jamie:

• keep up with the blog and get better about taking/uploading pictures
• continue nursing for a full year
• stick to our budget...okay, first make our budget, then stick to it
• actually make it to church on Sunday
• lose the last 10 (okay, 15!) lbs of baby weight

So there you have it...out with the old and in with the new. Here's to wishing everyone a FABULOUS 2009!