Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas! Are you and your elves busy getting ready for the holidays? My family sure is! I know I haven't been very good about this blog but here is our update and I entered in all the kids new pictures too!!
A lot has happened this year. Let’s go from oldest to youngest. Peter started working at NNP which makes the gummy vitamins for Costco and Target. It is less than 3 min from home! He gets to come home for lunch and we feel like we get to see him so much more since he doesn’t have 2 hours of travel time every day. He has also been called as the Elders Quorum 2nd Counselor. He also spent the summer months making the kids Halloween Costumes. They were very cool!
I have been busy with a part time at home job, being a counselor in the Primary in charge of Cub Scouts and a taxi driver to all the kids’ different events. I have also been doing some home improvements. I have installed a ceiling fan where there was no light, I also installed an over-the-range microwave where there used to be a hood and did all the electrical related to both of those. I am hoping to start my next project in Jan after the holidays. And of course my 5 kids have kept me hopping. Speaking of hopping, I have started eating healthy and doing Zumba 3 times a week and have lost 30 pds since July!
Logan is now 11yrs old, in 5th grade and just earned his Weblos with all three compass points and his arrow of light. Logan has done wrestling, soccer, and track this year and has done well at all of them. He’s now old enough to leave him home with the other kids for a little while and I have enjoyed having a little more freedom. He is growing into such a wonderful young man that the women in the ward are telling their daughters to marry him; we’ve had 2 offers already! LOL! We’re in trouble!
Speaking of trouble…Kira just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade. She is my “little mother” to all the boys. She is such a good helper. She had a rough start at the beginning of the year when she got sick and had to have her appendix taken out. It was her first surgery(as compared to the
rest of the boys who have all had more than 4, except Jake who’s only had 1 so far) She also did Wrestling, soccer, track and also tried Basketball this year. Heaven knows she’s got enough energy! It has been fun seeing her grow and mature this year. She has become a beautiful young lady inside and out!
Dallas will turn 6 in January and started Kindergarten this year. He is my mild mannered child who has always been very low key. We never have to worry about him, except when he rides his bike, then he turns into Evil Canevil!! He tried soccer for the first time this year and picked it up pretty quick. We love our Dallas!!!
Kaden will be 4 in January and has started going to Pre-School. He is finally talking to where you can understand a little over half of what he says, but with him it’s “how” he says it! He has 4 different voices he uses throughout the day. He is very funny and those dimples get me every time!!
Jake just turned 18 months and is a busy guy. He has gotten the most beautiful red hair! He has learned how to climb both bunk bed ladders, and sadly has not learned how to climb down yet! ;) He says “Mom” a lot, as that is the only thing he can say. If I am not careful he sneaks away from me gets into everything! Bill Cosby once said, “You know you have a two year old when they have a right hand reach of 8 ft!” This is so true for Jake but he needed to say 18 month old.
Happy Holidays and have a very merry New Year!
Love,
The Newman Family
Peter, Jen, Logan, Kira, Dallas, Kaden, and Jacob

I am going to lose it!!

I grew up being generally athletic. I was on the swim team by 8 yrs old and did that till my senior year, when I tried Diving and Water Polo. By 18, I was slim(135) and muscular. I got married and had my first child at 20, now 10 years and 6 kids later I have some weight to lose. I have always tried to eat right, but have never found the time(after my 2nd child) to exercise consistently. Yet you would think that chasing after the kids and carrying my HUGE babies(they are usually 24pds by 4 months) I would loose alot of weight, but oh well.

I do not hold any false hopes of making it back to 135, but I would like to make it to a "healthy" weight. I started www.myfitnesspal.com, a calorie counter and its been nice for the last 3 days having to account for everything that I eat. I find myself eating smaller portions and not snacking as much. I started exercising last Friday night and this week I made a commitment to exercise at least 3 times a week. This morning I got up and ran for 15 min, it felt so good!! I just hope that I am able to keep it up. Peter wants to loose weight too, so I think I'm going to start a competition with him, to see who can loose the most by May/June.

I know people are always over-zealous at the beginning, but somethings gotta give and I am making the change.

I started MFP Thurs Dec 3rd at 189.
I am hoping that I can hit 150 by May or June for the Miller Reunion!

Random Pics

Jake's First Smile on July 10, 2010

Does this picture remind you of anyone?!?!? :)

Kira and Kaden lovin on Jake at the beach...LOVE IT!!

Bryson and Jake, love them both!!

It was so fun having Bryson and Dad come for Jake's baby blessing!

Jacob Asher Newman Blessed on August 1, 2010

We found Kira like this, perfectly balanced on the top of the couch, asleep watching a movie...funny huh!?!?

How Jacob Asher became part of the Nuthouse....

***Warning...I am long winded...sorry for the length but I had to write it down somewhere***

I woke up the morning of June 18th feeling a little uneasy. Not queasy, but just feeling unsure about something I couldn't put my finger on. I had been staying in bed or sitting on the couch for the last week since I had been in the hospital with contractions. I figured if I took it easy I would be able to keep this baby in the oven longer seeing as we still had 6 weeks till the due date of July 25th. Kira had a friend spending the night, and we were all playing a game sitting at the table. The contractions started about 11 am. and by 12:30 I could tell they were not going to stop. My contractions were 4-10 min apart and getting stronger. I was able to arrange for the kids to go to a friends house while I took myself(I know, not the smartest thing to do) to the hospital for one of those lovely shots they give you for stopping contractions. My friend could only watch them till 5 pm because they were going out of town. I was so grateful that even though she was trying to pack up and leave she was willing to watch 4 more children added to her 5! I figured that by the time they gave me the shot and got the contractions stopped I would be home by 4pm.

By the time I got to the hospital at 1:30 my contractions were 2-2.5 min apart and REALLY strong. It had been over 9 years since I've been in real labor and I don't remember it hurting that much. Well, they gave me the shot and while the intensity of the contractions lessened, they still were every 2-2.5 minutes. By this time my Mother and Father were looking at flights, either I was really going to be on bed rest or I was going to have a baby...either way they figured I would need some help. After a half an hour the contractions were very painful again and still 2-2.5 min apart. By 4 pm Peter and his Father had arrived at the hospital and gave me a blessing. As soon as they were done, my doctor walked in and told us that they were going to have to take the baby in an hour. We were shocked. She said that with 5 previous C-sections that she was worried my uterus would rupture and we would have MAJOR issues on our hands. We asked if they were going to check on the baby first and they said that it was too late, that they would just have to deal with it when he was born.

At this point, Peter and I were terrified for the baby. (Peter was also a little nervous about me...the doc wasn't painting a pretty picture...something about making sure she had a hemorrhage kit close at hand) Our last three children were all born about a week early and they all had to be taken to the NICU for breathing problems. The head nurse in the NICU came to see us and explained that because this baby was going to be born before reaching the 35th week, the baby would be taken directly to NICU. We told her how grateful we were that he would be taken care of. She then told us that it was the first time she ever had a patient that was happy about that news! I guess losing a child can make you not worry about "holding" your baby for the first time and making sure that it gets oxygen first! I was sure that if my last three had breathing problems at 39 weeks that this one would have to be in the NICU for at least 1-2 weeks!!

Now that the doctors had left the room we had to get our children to Peters mother and get Peter back in time for the surgery. I couldn't believe he was leaving me when we only had an hour before they were going to wheel me into surgery, but his mom needed the van to take all the children, and she didn't know where they were. Peter was sure he was going to miss this baby being born. He made it though. Luckily we were delayed getting into surgery a bit and he was able to make it with 20 min to spare.

Whenever I have C-sec, I am very uncomfortable while they have me strapped to a sterile table, but I know that it is nothing compared to real childbirth so I count my blessings and just tell myself that it won't last forever. I was a bit nervous for some reason for this one. I HATE the feeling when they poke you to do the spinal block, and then I feel nauseous for the next hour or so. So when the doc walked in that was going to do the Spinal I was shocked, when I knew him! His family had just moved into our ward and I had spoken with his wife about a month or two previously, saying how it would be funny if he ended up doing my C-sec.! I hadn't ever met him face to face, and what a way to met a person for the first time...in all my glory!! I just hope he doesn't remember me like that!! But after it was all said and done....I don't care how he saw me...he was the best doc ever!!! I never even felt the poke for the spinal block, and when I started to feel queasy he gave me something that instantly took it away. I've never felt more at peace while being cut open...I don't know if it was the blessing saying everything would be fine...or those wonderful drugs! :)

When we entered the room my OBGYN kept saying things like...we are singing Kumbiya(sp).....this is a room of healing.....we are thinking healing thoughts...and....YOU are thinking healing thoughts right??? Your not going to bleed on me right!?!?!?....I sure hoped I wasn't. She did say that since I was having him so early that he might be a normal size baby. Peter guessed he was going to be 6 pds 5 ounces and I guessed that he would be over 7. I knew he was bigger than Kaden at this point in my pregnancy and Kaden was 7 pds at my 36th week check up. When he was finally born, she said he was defiantly a normal size baby...but not for a 6 week preemie!!! The NICU nurses whisked him away and while they were still "working" on me we waited to hear how he was doing....it was the longest 10 min!!! The Head nurse came back in and said his Apgar score was 8.9, and that he was on a C-pap machine and they were monitoring him, but he looked great and was doing great! WHEW!!! Then we asked the big question all of us in that operating room were waiting for....How big was he??? She looked confused for a moment and then said..."Oh, I don't know, I just got all the important information." I laughed...she was so right! Anyway, they let Peter to go back and look at him while they were still "working." He came back and told everyone that he was 7lbs 5oz and 18.5 inches long. He was HUGE for a preemie!!!

Needless to say the rest went very smooth. My mom was at the hospital by midnight and he ended up on the C-pap for only 12 hours. He said in the NICU for 2 days and then 2 more days with me in the hospital...then we both went home together! It was truly a miracle. I still look at him and am shocked that I am still supposed to be pregnant!!!

The kids are doing great with him. Kira of course mothers him the most but the boys are just fascinated at how small he is. Kaden and Dallas aren't as nearly as jealous as I thought they would be....matter of fact...they aren't jealous at all(yet)!!!

A little about Jake: He as such long fingers and feet!!! I finally got a child that has my feet instead of Peters block feet(I call Peter my own hobbit). Jake has very light grey eyes, which means we might have a chance at having a kid with eyes a color other than brown!! He also has strawberry blond hair, which shines bright red in the sun. You can kind of see it in the pic with Kira above and in the pic with Logan below.

Jake had his 2 week check up last Friday and he was 7lbs 6 oz!! Preemies usually have a hard time making their birth weight at their 2 week, but once again Jake beat the odds! He is such an angel and we are so glad to add him to our Nuthouse!!

Grandma's Visit

Flying Grandma(thats what they call Jen's mom since we have to fly to see each other) got to come visit for a whole week! We got to do some very fun things. We played games and went to parks and just got to spend time together. It was a great week. The pictures I have are of us going to the zoo and circus. That's right, the kids got to go to their first circus! They loved it. Here are the pics, enjoy!

Logans head is in the Lion that Kira's riding. I guess Kira was mad at him that day! ;)

Logan, Kira(in the back), Dallas, and Kaden all got to ride the Zoo train. Dallas and Kaden were super excited to ride on a train!

Logan's feeding a Loraket, with Kaden and Gma in the back, Kaden did not want to get very close to the birds.

Dallas feeding the Lorakets.

The birds LOVED Kira for some reason, once she had 4 on her at the same time! Dallas is in the back.

Kira, Logan, and Dallas on an Elephant! It was so cool! Kiras trying to touch the Elephants ears.

Flying Gma and all the Kids. We had such fun. Thanks for coming and seeing us!!

Baby News

ITs A BOY!!! The person doing the ultrasound didn't get very good pics, so this is the best one.