Twins??

Hello all!

There have been quite a few people who have asked for "side by side" pictures of both Alex and Zach, and we finally have the pictures! (Alex's baby pics were on a CD in the safe deposit box at the bank, so it took a little while to get it....)

Here they are: (answers are below as to which boy is which.....in case you need it) I know it's hard to tell - they are fairly "newborn" pictures.....

Picture A

Picture B

Picture C

Picture D

Answers:

Picture A: Alexander

Picture B: Zachary

Picture C: Alexander

Picture D: Zachary

Easy way to tell - - look at the hair....Alex had LOTS, Zach has a little, but not nearly as much. The faces have similar features, but, of course, I can tell because I'm the mommy. :)

Doctor Day!

Today was a BUSY day for us!

Zach had his 1-week checkup, and all was wonderful! :) He was back up to birth weight (8 lbs. 8 oz.), and his length and head circumference were still the same (20 inches and 14 inches, respectively). Dr. Lawrence said that he just looked perfect (which I already knew!), keep up what we are doing!

Then this afternoon Alex had his 2-year checkup, and again, all was wonderful! :) He is up to 34 and 1/4 inches, and 29.4 lbs. He was a little timid at letting Dr. Julie look into his ears and mouth, and especially didn't like when she had to check out his hips, etc. She was able to hear some of his language, which she is always amused at. His newest phrase is, "Come and get it!" when we are ready to eat - but he almost always leaves "it" off of the end, which is amusing. She decided NOT to give any shots today, because the only one that he is due for is the chicken pox, and she didn't want to give that to Alex with Zach so little, which I understand. She would like him to get it naturally, because the vaccine isn't that great....so we'll just hope that he holds off on the pox until Zach is 6 months old (then he'll be okay to get it, too). Dr. Julie thought that the rash that Alex got may have been stress related - since there wasn't too much else that had changed in his food or environment....poor little guy. (Now I am starting to worry about this weekend, because we are having his birthday party and Zach's baptism this weekend, so we will have a LOT of family here!! Hopefully all will go well and Alex will continue to be the trooper that he is! I also hope that Zach will "mellow" just a little - I think that his temperment is allowing him to be overstimulated quite easily, so hopefully he can have a good weekend as well meeting all of his new relatives! Here I go.....worrying again!!!)

So I think that it's all the news we have from here....just in case you are wondering, Andy and I voted absentee ballot a number of weeks ago - just because we didn't know for sure where we would be today. Turns out we could have gone to the polls today, but in case I was in labor or whatever else - we were able to have our say and vote. :) (Grandma Le and Grandpa Dave did, too!) :)

Family Update!

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while, life has been a little busy lately. :)

Right now we have lots of company, Grandma Le, Grandpa Dave, Grandma Annette and Grandpa Daryl are all here, so we have two very spoiled boys here now!! (I must admit, I am being very spoiled as well!!)

So, we have a few shots for all of you of the "happenings" that have taken place around here......

Alex on the ottoman, notice the hammers in the pockets of his pants, he and Grandpa Dave were on a tool kick....... Alex helped Grandpa Dave assemble a new chair for his garage, Alex took a juice break and tested their work.

Naptime - it just so happens that after I took the pictures, I noticed how similarly the boys slept....
Friday was ALEX'S SECOND BIRTHDAY, and Grandma and Grandpa took him to the park to help celebrate his special day.

Alex on the swings - -

Then Grandma joined in.....

Grandma was swinging sideways and trying to "catch" Alex - his giggle echoed throughout the entire park! Grandpa HAD to join in on the fun!
So Grandpa tried to catch Alex with his legs.....
Then all three tried out the merry-go-round....
Alex in the tube - -
HI Mom!!
At the bottom of the slide - you can see from the grin how much fun it was!! :)
And then it was naptime - Alex got this cool new bed/couch from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Le, so he tried it out for a nap!
Such a comfy bed! Here's the really cool part - there's a sleeping bag attached to the bed part!!
Sad thing right after naptime - Alex woke up COVERED in a rash! You can see part of it on his arm in the picture above - it was raised and ALL over his arms and legs. We called the Dr. and they said a viral rash was going around, just monitor his breathing and bring him in right away if his breathing became irregular or labored. So far, no breathing problems, but we have had to re-administer the Benadryl three times because it seems to be coming back each time. Luckily, the medicine clears it up every time.

Now on to pictures of Zach - -

WIDE awake and looking around....

Another angle....

Close up of the pretty blues - -

Zach has blended in really well so far - Alex LOVES giving him kisses - but still has to try hard to remember to be gentle. There have been a couple of "jealous" times, once when we put Zach in the stroller to go for a walk - Alex melted down and we ended up driving Zach while Alex rode in the stroller.....and my lap also seems to be the place to be. Tonight, Alex climbed up onto the couch, touched Zach's foot, and said, "move". I handed Zach off to Grandpa Dave and Alex then assumed the SAME position that Zach had been in (only he took up a little more room).

Things are going nicely, mostly because we have so many loving people around us to help us out. The REAL TEST will be next week after everyone is gone......I'm already stressing!!!

Rest assured that all is well, sorry that the posts aren't as frequent as some would like, but we are trying to enjoy every moment as our family grows and changes. Good night!

Home, Sweet Home

Today was the day we got to bring Zach home from the hospital. After Andy's little alarm clock slept in until 7:35, he showered and headed on back over to Broken Bow.

Zach had already been taken by the doctor and circumcised. You feel so bad for the little guy (and his little guy), but we take solace in knowing he won't have any recollection of the whole thing.

After lunch, the lady from the lab came and took Zach down to do his blood work, and then all that was left was the discharge paperwork. Our nurse and doctor were quick getting the discharge orders all ready to go, and we were out the door at 2:45.

Zach slept most of the way home, and has spent a good part of the night sleeping. Meanwhile, Alex is keeping his grandpa awfully busy, and he even took a few opportunities tonight to kiss his little brother on the head. Unfortunately, he frequently tries to head-butt Zach after kissing him, but we're working on that.

One funny Alex story before I close the blog for the night. I have mentioned in the past the little boy's club at daycare, which consists of Alex, Dawson, and Jake. Through our visits in the past, we have noticed that Jake (who is a few months older than Alex) is a little on the naughty side (he's two, so that's not all that unusual). Anyway, the past few days, we have noticed that while playing Alex will say (sometimes to himself, sometimes to myself or grandpa) "NO JAKE!" or "MINE JAKE!". Needless to say we all really get a kick out of this, and thought a few of you might enjoy that as well.


Until later, enjoy another group of pictures.

Zach in his carseat after the ride home.

Momma and her little boys.

The kiss before the headbutt.

Grandpa Dave getting some time with his 3rd grandson.

Happiness is a boy with a brownie.

Zach's Hair

Sorry, again we realized that there were no pictures of Zach's head - - so here are a couple of shots of Zach and his Daddy, with no cap on, so that you can see the little bit of "fuzz" that Zach has.


He doesn't have as much as Alex had, but still has more than most newborns (in my completely unbiased opinion, of course!)

The Dr. thinks that we will both be able to go home this afternoon, around 3 pm. They will be putting Zach's picture up on the hospital's website - www.melham.org if you would like to check it out. Don't know how soon it will be up there, so check back if it's not up there right away.

That's it for now - - have a great day!!

Baby-Picture-Palooza

As promised, I have posted several pictures to tonight's blog. Here they are, in no particular order...

Alex meets Zach up close and personal for the first time.

Alex and Zach

Alex gives Zach a kiss on the head

Alex meets Elmo, the gift "Zach" gave him for being a good big brother.

Two pictures of a very newborn.

Grandma Le meets Zach.

Face in a blanket.

The happiest aunt in the world.

Exhausted, relieved, and most of all, happy.

It's over. And it was all worth it.

Here At Last!!!!!

The title of this post says it all.

At 1:04 PM Central Time, Zachary Michael Bowin was born.

Zach was 8 pounds, 8.5 ounces, and 20 inches long.

Mom and baby are both doing very well.

Tune in later for more pictures.

Update for Monday

Well, I wish that I could say that the little man is here - - such a wish will have to wait for another day.

When the Dr. came in to check Christine around 5 pm, she hadn't changed much since the beginning of the day. Needless to say, this has been incredibly emotional for her....the Dr. said that nothing would be happening for the rest of the evening, but they want to keep her here overnight just to be sure, since we live an hour away. Her contractions were very regular, every 2 minutes, and they have all but stopped now. She could really use your thoughts and prayers, today was very rough on her.

So I guess the plan for tomorrow is that they will start again first thing in the morning, and see how it goes tomorrow. Other than that, we don't know too much else.

Wish we could have pictures and happier news on here, but that's just the way that it goes sometimes.

Maybe tomorrow.

Update from the hospital

Hey faithful blog readers. This is Andy giving you the quick update from the hospital.

We got here just fine this morning, got checked in, and taken to the delivery room. Dr. Lawrence came in about 7:30 and started the induction process. At this point things are progressing well. Christine's contractions are about 2-3 minutes apart, and are getting stronger. As for the other things the doctor checks (which I will not go into details on here), things are progressing a little more slowly, and it sounds like they are preparing for the possibility of a birth tomorrow.

As for us, we are in the hospital until he gets here. Please check the blog for updates. Christine's cell phone is still in Ord with Dave, Le, Sarah, and Alex, and my battery was dying quickly (constantly looking for a signal here in the heart of the hospital), so I had to turn it off. I wanted to be sure and have enough juice to call everyone I need to call.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers coming this way, and stay tuned for more updates.

Ready or Not....

Yep, still here again tonight. :)

Unless the little man decides to make his appearance before tomorrow morning at 7 AM, I will be induced at that time. Thanks to all of you who gave phone calls, e-mails, and sent prayers our way, we certainly appreciate your thoughts.

We will keep everyone updated as soon as something happens. The hospital does have wireless internet, so we should be able to e-mail and update the blog periodically. Yes, there will be pictures, so no need to worry about that. :)

However, I do need to get to bed and "try" (key word is TRY) to sleep tonight. We have to leave at 5:45 to be at the hospital on time to meet the Dr......so it will be a short night at best.

Until he's here........... :)

Still Here!

Yep, still here and "with child" - -

I have learned a few lessons today, though......

1. No matter how many times you tell an almost-2-year-old "No" or "Don't do that" or "Let's go out here and play" or.....(fill in your own phrase here, because I probably used it today), he is still going to dip as many pairs of socks that are in your drawer into the cat's water dish. Good thing I was doing laundry - my socks needed "freshening" anyway......

2. Standing on top of anything is the best. Tip over the laundry basket, stand on top, and yell AS LOUD AS YOU CAN at the cat. Then tip over Mom and Dad's hamper, stand on top of that, and point at the ceiling as you yell AS LOUD AS YOU CAN. Becoming instantly taller gives you that much more power over the cat, and yelling let's her know that you mean business.

3. When Daddy is gone at work all morning, it's a great time to hit your head, face, arm, leg, toe, stomach, etc. on anything that you can. Because Mom can't cuddle you the way that you like (because her HUGE belly is in the way), you get even more upset and holler even louder for "DADDY!!!!"

4. Jumping onto and off of Daddy (once he gets home) is the world's best game. Sure, Daddy makes all sorts of odd noises, but the giggles drown out the groans.

5. Making a mess just for the sake of making a mess isn't Mom and Dad's idea of a good time.

6. Even though you can push ALL of Mommy and Daddy's buttons mulitple times throughout the day, once you flash them that smile, say "love you", blow them a kiss, or walk up to them and say, "Want you", their hearts melt all over again and they forget about all of the crappy stuff you've done.

So, yes, it was a good day. Exhausting, but good. Grandma, Grandpa, and Sarah (Aunt Rah-rah) all get here tomorrow, so then we can have this baby!! :) We'll see if it will be tomorrow or Monday! :)

....until Dec. 8!

Well, today was the last day of "work" for me until I go back on Dec. 8! It was a pretty good day, but I was so very tired. I haven't been sleeping well at night (surprise, surprise), and I just seemed to be dragging today. Today was the last day with the volleyball girls, and three of them especially seemed to have a little bit of an attitude today. We were going to have a "fun day" and play "blind volleyball" (you hang a sheet over the length of the net so they can't see what's happening on the other side) - but the three decided that since they weren't on the same team, they were going to pout.....good grief. I was ready to make them run for the hour since they obviously didn't want to participate, but then I thought, "There's only 30 minutes left in the day, do I really want to deal with it?" The other coach came in, and said not to worry about it, so we began playing some two-on-two ball.

That was about the extent of my day - - most of the snow is gone, it's just wet here now. Tomorrow they are predicting 60's, so that should help dry everything up. This is the most ridiculous weather I think that I have ever seen......but at least I don't have to worry about how to get to the hospital anymore. :)

It's hard to believe that in three more nights the little guy will be here (hopefully!). I still can't believe it's time, but when I listen to my body for three tenths of a second, it says, "Oh, yes, we ARE ready!!" I just hope that something happens naturally before Monday morning.....but if not, then plan B works too.

I'll try to do a daily update until at least Monday, just so you know what's going on. If you don't see anything on here, then I guess you can assume that something happened. :)

It's OCTOBER 22!!!

Wow - October 22, and this is what it looks like outside........

Yeah, I was sent home from school at 1:40 today, they dismissed students at 2. There are already a number of schools that have a late start tomorrow, but we are forecasted to get between 6 and 12 INCHES! I am REALLY hoping that the little guy decides to wait until after the snow melts - because it's supposed to be 60 degrees on Saturday! (But I am REALLY hoping that we have a snow day tomorrow - - that would be AWESOME!) :)

That's about it from here - - Alex is doing well, Andy's staying busy with work, I'm still GINORMOUS and pregnant - - all of us are just trying to stay warm. I think that we'll have Broccoli Cheese Soup or Potato Soup tomorrow.....yum! :)