A Christmas to Remember

Well, all said and done, we had a great Christmas. And, we got a great story that we can blackmail Dave with for years in the future.

It all started Christmas Eve. We hung out with Josh's family all day. Josh and I fried a turkey.

Here's Josh injecting it with a delicious Cajun mixture.






Turkey is really un-appetizing when not cooked.






We ate a ton of delicious food.




Sophie with grandma and grandpa.









Dave and Sophie hanging out while we played games.






Then we opened our presents since we had to work on Christmas. Dave and Sophie both really enjoyed his presents from Auntie Em.










Anyway, once we made it home on Christmas Eve, the fun really began. Right before his bath, Dave puked a little on Josh. We chalked it up to eating something funky (like fried turkey). So, we gave him a bath. Immediately after his bath, he puked all over me in the bathroom. Okay, back in the bath really quick.

We were really optimistic that we had come to the end of the puking. We got him dressed, and Josh sat down to read him a bedtime story. Cue vomiting. All over Josh and his pants. Josh hands pukey boy over to me while he gets ready for a shower. Dave then puked all over me and his room. Josh decided to take a shower with Dave while I cleaned up.

Now, this alone would be enough to be a pretty traumatic Christmas Eve. But, I kicked it up a notch. I remembered Josh mentioning that his phone was on the bookcase, so didn't think anything about just throwing his puke pants into the washer. Yep, his phone was in his pocket still. Ruined phone. It kind of all worked out because Josh wanted a new phone anyway. So our new phones will arrive tomorrow.

No worries, Dave ended up being fine. We have no idea what made him so sick. He never even exhibited signs of feeling poorly. But, we stuffed him full of Pedialyte and he was good to go. I'm pretty sure I'll always remember this Christmas as the one where Dave puked everywhere. His room still has a hint of the smell left-gross.





As proof of his recovery, here he is on Christmas afternoon chilling on his new toy.





We split up our day with another houseparent couple (thanks Mike and Jean Ann!), so we had the afternoon off. We went over to Logansport to see Josh's aunt and uncle and then on to visit with his great-grandma.





Family picture on Christmas Day.









13 months old! I completely forgot to take this on the right day. Oh well.










I had to do a scene change to get him to smile at the camera.








That was quite a post!

Our internet is currently not working well enough to upload videos-check back in soon for some!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas-we certainly did! We're looking forward to my brother coming up to hang this weekend...safe driving Tony!

First Play in the Snow

This past weekend, my dad, stepmom, step brother, and his girlfriend all came up to visit with us. Josh and I had to work, but I was able to hang out quite a bit while Josh watched the cottage. We celebrated Christmas with them since we won't be able to go down to Evansville until the middle of January.

Present opening:





Is this for me?! One of Kyra's coworkers painted a Grinch ornament for Christmas. She is the same one who painted the Dr. Seuss paintings in his room. I'll try to remember to post a picture-it looks awesome!









Dave takes present opening very seriously. He looks so concentrated in every picture!





Dave received lots of cool stuff, including a giant tub of legos. Of course, he insists on either climbing into the tub or onto it when the lid is on. I think his favorite activity is causing my heart rate to increase.



Speaking of heart rates increasing...

My mom bought this for Dave for Christmas. (It's one of those play gym things with a slide). Anyway, I took this picture only seconds before he tried to "slide" down while standing up. He really is quite the daredevil.






The weather has been extremely cold up here. Today we had a reasonably warm morning and it was snowing, so I decided to take Dave out to enjoy it.





Here he is after falling in the snow. I think he likes it!












Dave's a little self absorbed. He's checking out his reflection in the door.
You can also see his cowboy camouflage snow boots-so cute!







Whew, it sure feels like we've been busy lately! One last thing-Dave absolutely LOVES nutcrackers for some reason. I have a bunch for decorations at Christmas and we have huge ones in the cottage. Dave snagged one of them, and I got it on video. Nutcracker and Dave.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Countdown

I forgot to post our solution to keeping Dave out of the Christmas tree. Works like a charm! The giant baby gate doesn't quite fit into my Christmas decor, but it beats Dave busting all of our ornaments!







I spent a lot of time this week researching, brining, and finally baking a turkey for the cottage Christmas party. I used Alton Brown's turkey recipe and it turned out great! Here's my turkey in all its glory.













Otherwise, we've been gearing up for Christmas. We have all of our shopping done, presents wrapped, and I've been baking up a storm. I love this time of year! Here's Dave in his Christmas shirt Josh's mom got him.






It was impossible to get him to sit still!











Having a blast in the bath.










Anytime he gets quiet at Josh's parent's house, we check the stairs. Usually he's about half way up. I think he knows he's in trouble!






Dave received a fisher price barn toy from our friends (fellow houseparents) the Lauers. He loves it...here he is playing with it. Playing with barn.

And he finally knows how to give kisses. Kissing the Lorax.

Sickly family

Well, this past week has been a rough one in the Bowyer household. Josh and I both came down with the stomach flu (along with his parents and several guys in our cottage). Thankfully, Dave hasn't caught it as of yet. We're really praying he doesn't get it! So, I haven't been as good about taking photos/videos lately.

My mom visited with us last weekend to hang with Dave. Josh went to visit his buddy in Cincinnati for a night and then we went shopping and out to lunch on Saturday. We even bought a new couch! This was a big time purchase for us (we're not known to buy big-ticket items!) so we're really excited. I'll post a picture when it comes next week.

This next series of pictures documents Dave going after a book of matches in the cupboard. Don't worry, he wasn't allowed to play with them.














Flexible huh?








He's getting too good at his annoyed face.










This was his outfit for church on Sunday. Also, the only other picture I took all week. Definitely not a good week for documenting.






Here's a video my mom took while we were out and about: Where's Dave?

And one of him running around: Running around Dave.

Busy Toddler!

Dave has been in an excellent mood lately-I think it's because he's getting more sleep. I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm pretty sure we've found a solution to getting him to sleep through the night. I made some fleece liners to wick away the "moisture" from his body at night. Seems to be just the thing! And I made four for a dollar. Pretty good deal.

He is also finally cutting his fourth bottom tooth-he won't be lopsided anymore! He loves to dance around to Christmas music and stare at the tree.







He came out of his room carrying his extra crib sheet.











And proceeded to wear it around like a cape.








We keep a squirt bottle of water/soap on his changing table to use on his cloth wipes. Apparently this was something Dave just had to have. So he used his conveniently placed rocking chair to gain some height. Here he is climbing.




























See how happy he was once he accomplished his goal? After this picture, he used the space heater (that you can see in the previous picture) to climb over to his changing table and grab the squirt bottle. Pretty inventive huh?





I didn't take many pictures this week, but I took a ton of videos.

Dancing to Christmas Music.

Playing on the rocking chair.

Saying mmm for his food.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!!!

It has finally come and gone-the baby boy turned 1 on Friday. I suppose I can't really call him a baby boy anymore...so sad! Anyway, we celebrated at Josh's family's Thanksgiving here on campus at White's.





Here's his official 12 month/1 year photo. He totally sat in this chair for all of 20 seconds.












Here's Dave with Great-Grandpa Dave.










Dave and Sophie playing. My dad and stepmom got him that toy for his birthday. He loves it (and so did she!)








Sophie's dad (Chad) raced them around in a beanbag. Sophie loved it. Dave was a little more timid.







Dave rocking his new hat. Such a thug.






We had a great time at Thanksgiving. Of course, Dave loved all the food. He received lots of cool stuff for his birthday, including the last piece to his bedroom set-the toy box! Grandma and Grandpa B were very crafty in getting this a putting it together without me (or Dave) finding out! Here he is in his new "toy".











Thanks to everyone for making Dave's two week long birthday extravaganza amazing! We love and appreciate all of you :)

And finally, here's the last birthday song of the year. Thanksgiving birthday song.

Birthday Countdown

We are 6 short days away from Dave's first birthday. This cannot be happening! To help ease my pain, I decided to post some pictures of early Dave. So, around this time last year....

I was really counting on him not being born on Thanksgiving. That didn't work out! Here's the last picture of my bump before Dave:




That sure was a lot to carry around. I look at him now and wonder how he was ever small enough to fit!






Dave did an excellent job and came extremely quick-remember the anesthesiologist didn't get there in time for an epidural. Here's one of his very first pictures:











First family photo:















First day at home. That was a crazy time!








And finally, one of the first videos of him. This was taken in the hospital, I think the day after he was born. Hiccuping at the hospital.

Happy Early Birthday!

As I mentioned last week, we spent the weekend hanging out in Evansville with my family. We were able to do quite a bit of stuff in a short amount of time!

On Friday, we had my mom take pictures for our Christmas cards this year. We went over to my grandpa's property-very picturesque. Here is one of many attempts!


Trying to coax Dave into a smile with a stick...clearly not working.
Don't worry, Josh was ready. This is how most of our pictures turn out. One of us is smiling at the camera and the other is getting Dave to focus.




We scheduled our photo shoot right before Dave's nap-not the best idea we've had. Anyway, we got a good shot, but I don't want to spoil it to all of you getting our card this year.


Then Josh went golfing, and Dave and I headed over to my dad's to hang out before he and Kyra went to Indy for a meeting.




While there, Dave got to play in a bunch of leaves...he really enjoyed himself.











Granddad and Dave discussing his new vacuum (found it cheap at Once Upon a Child, love that place)








Showing off his newest obsession-Touchdown! He was doing this all weekend and would clap for himself if he didn't get the praise he was after.




On Saturday, we had Dave's party on my mom's side. Happy Birthday Video 1.





Uncle Tony entertaining the birthday boy with a ride in a metal bowl.











Dave wasn't quite sure about the whole cake thing. Papaw stepped in to feed him some.









I think he finally got the hang of it!








Then on Sunday, we had his party at my dad's. More cake for us! Happy Birthday Video 2.






This time, Dave wouldn't put get his fingers messy, so Josh helped him out.







We really had a great trip! Thanks to everyone who hung out with us. Dave received all kinds of new toys (that I'm sure you'll see in upcoming posts).


One more video. Dave has started sticking out his tongue at people and finds it hilarious when you do it back to him. So, here's a video. Dave laughing at mom.

Cold Weather

Dave is finally feeling better, as are Josh and I. Another weekend of work-it actually went really well and Dave was pretty easy to entertain. Now we're getting through this week (working Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), then we have a four day weekend!

We are heading down to Evansville to visit and celebrate Dave's birthday (a little bit early).

That's all the updates I have, so here are some pictures!






Dave all dressed up in his winter garb. He is so confused by the mittens.








First snow of the year! It was pretty short-lived though. Of course, nothing stuck, and now it's supposed to be in the low 60s this week! That's Indiana for you.









Dave found the chocolate sauce in the cupboard and figured out how to open it. I wondered why he was being so quiet in the kitchen...











Really checking it out before eating!












Sophie and family came to dinner the other night. They play so cute together.




Well, that's all for now. Here's a video of Dave doing "touchdown". He learned to do this on Sunday, too bad it didn't help the Colts win! Touchdown!