Friday, September 12, 2008

David's Trip to California - LOTS of pictures

Last week we went to California to visit family and friends and introduce everybody to the baby. He was such a trooper. He met person after person and spent the week in and out of the car...and he did it all with a smile and a good attitude. (most of the time) We had such a great week and we miss all of you so much. Enjoy a few of the pictures from the trip.

Mommy and David at the beach

David and Grampy

Baby David meets Baby Eric

They were wearing the EXACT same outfit...total coincidence! How cute are they!
David with Uncle Greg


David and his Great Grandma Coughlin


Just lounging around at Great-Grandma's


David and Hana

David and Amanda

John and David

Four Generations!


David, Daddy, and Great-Grandma at Mc'Donalds after mass

David with Grammy and Grampy at Huntington Beach


David with Grandma before his big party


David and Aunt Kathy

David with Barbara

David with Linda







Sunday, August 31, 2008

The Grand and Glorious Start to the Football Season

So it has finally begun. I have had the greatest day ever.

August 30th, 2008.

My dad and my newborn son hanging out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
A brand new high definition television.
Coffee and fresh bagels in hand.
ESPN College Gameday on promptly at 10:00.

David was glued to the breakdowns of Georgia-Georgia Southern; Florida-Hawaii; USC-Virginia... best. day. ever.

The season has begun, and Amy died a little inside seeing her husband and her father-in-law and her new baby son all glued to the College Football season. I'll be sure to bring her flowers and black-and-white cookies as peace offerings from time to time...

I will update this blog regularly, as I fully anticipate this to be the best year in history.

-kb

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Visit to Grandma and Grandpa in Charleston


Dipping his toes in the ocean after church on Sunday.


Tummy Time!


David and Uncle Mark.


David got a little cranky on the car ride home. He was pretty tired of sitting in the car seat.


Mommy and Daddy with baby David at the beach.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Baby's First Swim!

At two months and twelve days, David Michael Bowman got in his first laps at the pool. They weren't quite 50 meter "Olympic" distance. But for a two-month-old, his backstroke was pretty strong on those three foot circles he was swimming. He knows he needs to work on his flip-turns, but we'll address that technique issue later. Right now his mom and I are just proud of his effort.

He only began crying after we took him out of the pool... the day after Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal... coincidence? I think not.

David Michael (Phelps?) Bowman's first swim.

Olympic 400 Meter IM Champion 2028



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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Baby Vocabulary

As much as we promised not to be those annoying parents who start using ridiculous words when speaking to/about our baby...some words have managed to become quite common in our day-to-day conversations. Most of these words are resurfacing from my own childhood. I find myself forgetting that most people have no idea what it is I'm talking about when I use them...so here's a sampling of the Bowman family baby dictionary so we can all be on the same page.

Funja (foon-jah) - word used to describe a sour or grumpy facial expression. When David is pouting or being generally crabby....you could say..."Wow look at that funja face!"

Inky (In-kee) - another word for naked. When David is ready for his bath, we call him "Inky baby"

Poopers - shouldn't need to explain this one. What a great world when you get praised for how much "poopers" you produce.

Panza (Pahn-za) - a stomach that sticks out very much relative to the size of the rest of the body. Babies are famous for having great "panzas." This word is used especially when the tummy sticks out the bottom of the shirt...sort of like a beer belly.
Zerber - also commonly known as "rasberries." Perfect for baby panzas!
Fuss Pot - used to describe some one who is particularly crabby. Also callled "crabby-mc-crabby-panths."

That's all I can think of for now. Here are some more pictures of adorableness.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

lounging around

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one more cute picture we couldn't resist...

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Recent Bowman Family Activities









Amy's been putting together the "Baby David Scrapbook" courtesy of Ellie Sherman's awesome box of scrapbooking goodies...






We've been doing a lot of staring at the boy recently too. Lots of funny faces, pretty much daily...





And we've both gotten pretty active in the Guitar Hero game on the Wii. David has started practicing his chords as well from time to time...

Monday, July 7, 2008

More family visits for Baby David

Baby David got a chance to meet more of his family this past weekend. Uncle David and Aunt Erin came down from Chicago for the holiday, and we all drove to Alabama to visit Uncle Corey. Big David and Erin were even nice enough to babysit for us on Saturday night so Kenneth and I could have a date. All's still going well. He's starting to sleep a little more during the night and he's getting more and more expresive every day. Enjoy the pictures. (Just a small sampling of the hundreds we take every week...the poor dogs have been replaced in our camera)










Wednesday, July 2, 2008

This kid is growing like a weed!!!

























Seriously, I know everyone says that their kid is the (enter superlative here) at everything. And I swore to everyone that I was going to stay a low-key dad and not freak out on much of anything... but honestly, this kid has gained like a third of his own body weight in the last two weeks. It took him nine and some months to become eight and a half pounds. IT TOOK HIM TWO WEEKS TO GAIN TWO AND A HALF MORE!!! For the love of god I'm going to have to get a second job just to keep this kid in food.

I am reminded of my grandmother's words of advice - "Buy a cow now so buying milk doesn't make you go bankrupt."

But he is amazing. Good sleeper, good eater, relatively mild-mannered for the time being. Amy and I joke that we've got it easy right now because when we set him down he really just does stay there. No moving at all. Let alone have we found him toddling down stairs with a bottle of drano or anything... We're in trouble when he becomes mobile and when his diapers start getting really nasty. I will gladly accept donations of time, money, psychologist appointments and air freshener once he reaches that age.
One of these days I will get around to saying thank you to everyone (you're all unbelievable, by the way) who has sent us notes, gifts, and good vibes these past few weeks. We treasure every one of you and everything you've done for us and David, so thank you again. I'll get formal thank yous out there at some point, and your patience is much appreciated in the meantime while I try to get my head above water.

Enjoy the pictures. More soon!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Some more Pictures

Today is David's two week birthday. It's amazing how much he has changed already. I feel like every time he wakes up he looks different. The past two weeks have been wonderful. We've been so blessed by friends and family. Grandma St. John is still in town and that's been a huge help. I've been able to take a long, uninterrupted shower every day and I've even been able to get to the gym a few times and get my nails done! What a treat. We've also been blessed with home-cooked meals every night care of numerous friends and family members. All David does for now is eat, (and eat and EAT!!) sleep, and go to the bathroom...so he's pretty easy for now. What more could we ask for!

Also, we've officially introduced David to the dogs...huge success!! They've been WONDERFUL with him, so that's a big relief.

Here are some of the latest pictures. (We've only taken about a thousand at this point!!) Enjoy!











Sunday, June 8, 2008

Baby's Arrival at Home, and some thoughts on the process of birth...














Great news is that we're all done with the "labor and delivery" process! (though some moms I've heard say that their "labor" doesn't really begin until the teenage years with some kids...) Baby David came home last night, and his daddy finally got his computer hooked up for the first time since the delivery.

So now we're home, and David's doing well and Amy's doing well and I'm doing well and Grandma's doing well... (and the second wave of family arrives tonight, and we've had all sorts of friends and visitors over the last couple of days...) This is all wonderful news. But it's funny the stuff you reflect on once a great event in your life has taken place - the color of the floors in the delivery room; the feel of the bleached-beyond-all-possible-shred-of-a-bacteria "dad's bedding kit" that I slept on for a couple of nights; the constant hum of activity in Amy's room (nurses; techs; nutritionists; the auxilliary volunteers; the lactation specialists; the baby's doctor; Amy's doctor; the "environmental" crew; the food services staff...); and how much sleep I would like to get now vs. how much I have actually gotten in the last four days. I think I will always remember taking David outside to watch his first sunrise while Amy got an hour of much needed sleep (since she'd let me sleep all night, which is amazing.) I think that nurses in the regular post-delivery nursery might have the best jobs in the whole world. I know I've never driven so slowly as I did when taking David home from the hospital (and I swore up and down that I would never change my driving habits just because a kid was in the car.) And I know that today is one of the hottest days ever and I will not be going outside for the forseeable future.

More annoying ruminations later. Amy and David need some sleep. Enjoy the pictures below.