Fun in February!

It is the last day of February and it has been quite a month. Not only did we have visitors, but Sarah also had to begin preparations for her return to the work force. For both of us it is hard to believe that 11 weeks have already passed since Reese made her appearance in the world. Yet as you will see in the pictures that follow, she has grown quite a bit already.

In order for Reese to continue to grow, she needed to be able to take milk from a bottle. We were a bit anxious about this because you never know if it is going to be a smooth transition or not. Apparently Reese doesn't necessarily worry about the vessel for the nutrition as long as the dinner bell rings on time and the meal is delivered quickly. This was her first bottle and she was more than happy to drink it up. The only issue, which is the same one we deal with when Sarah nurses her, is Reese's irritation with the mid-meal burp.


One of the big events in February was the visit from Nana Banana and Sport. Nana Banana was able to fly in early and stayed for a week. This meant that she got a ton of quality one on one time with Reese and Callie.



Reese enjoyed all of Nana Banana's funny songs and sounds. They had some great conversations over the course of the week, though only the two of them know what they really talked about.


Callie loved having Nana Banana around. What made her parents especially happy and proud was that she had no problem sharing her grandparents with her little sister. It seemed that Callie just wanted everyone to be involved - at least as long as everyone was following her directions about how to play, what to play, and so on.


Sport arrived a couple of days after Nana Banana, but he came by car. He jumped right into the thick of things. When Callie wasn't occupying his time he was getting to know Reese. And Reese dressed to impress with her finest pearls and handbag. She knew that Sport was the only one in the family who could truly appreciate her outfit and attitude. Perhaps she was just hoping that Sport would recommend her for membership at the old Bowes stomping grounds in Mamaroneck, NY, the Orienta Beach Club.


We would like to insert this picture in a blatant attempt to post as many pictures of Reese at this age as we did of Callie. It's tough trying to make sure you don't forget about baby number two. But it does happen. Life is definitely a bit crazier. Fortunately Reese is a mellow girl who rolls with the punches. Perhaps she is still trying to figure out if we are worth the trouble.




Speaking of necessary pictures, here's a great one of the grandparents with their two granddaughters. It is still crazy to believe that we are the parents of two little girls. But pictures like this make it real. We can't wait to compare this picture to the ones we'll take in the future with Sport and Nana Banana.



It is obvious that we are not the only ones who need to keep staring at little Reese. The great thing, though, is like Callie she is alert and taking in the world just as much as we are soaking in all she has to offer.


It was a great week with Sport and Nana Banana. More often than not, Callie and Reese kept the two of them on the go in separate directions. But every now and then the grandparents got to focus their love and attention at the same time on their youngest grandchild.


As we have already mentioned, Callie has been wonderful with Reese. Yes, Reese has endured her second cold, been knocked in the head by Callie's flailing foot, and has been squeezed like a tube of toothpaste more times than we can count. But it is all out of the intense emotional love that only Callie can express. Callie also wants to take a picture with Reese every time we pull out the camera. More evidence of this appears below.



In the end, Callie is a big sister in every sense of the word. We can only hope that as Reese grows older she has the same passion for Callie as her big sister has for her.

Once Nana Banana and Sport headed back to Connecticut we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Fortunately, like her father, Callie is easily amused. Nothing says fun like making ridiculous faces while sitting on the couch. And if she inherits her father's sense of humor then Sarah is really in trouble.


And while Reese grows like a weed, Callie continues to show off her developing skills as well. One day while we were driving in the car, out of nowhere came a recitation from the back seat. We made her repeat the performance for the camera.



And for the record, we have two books with that nursery rhyme. One says "the little dog laughed to see such sport" and the other says "to see such fun" so who knows which one is the official version. In any case, we think its pretty awesome. In other words, we are just another set of gushing parents.

Every now and then we have to include a picture of the four of us to show that we do spend time together. Callie has gotten used to her parents being paparazzis. However, as you can see from this picture, Reese has yet to grow accustomed to life in the spotlight. She will learn with time.





Sarah heads back to work on Wednesday, which means Reese will be joining Callie at daycare full time. Callie's former teachers are ready for the new arrival. In fact, Miss Donna says she will spend extra time teaching Reese to walk so that she can advance into her classroom sooner. It definitely makes us feel a bit better about the transition. It will still be tough, but it is good to know that a lot of different folks will be looking out for her.



And what does Reese think of all of this? As you can see in the picture above, she's still trying to decide. We'll let you know how things go soon.

Reese Hits the West Coast

It is clear that so far Reese lives a deprived life. Callie had her first flight at the age of three weeks. Reese had to wait until she was six weeks old. Tough life. In both cases, however, they visited California in style. Reese, Callie, and Sarah went to Sacramento in January to introduce the newest member of Team Bowes to her California family. Needless to say, Sarah snapped a few pictures.

The first stop was at the home of Great Grandma Lucas. Crazy enough, at six weeks Reese wasn't the youngest great grandchild, but we'll get to that in a few pictures. Great Grandma enjoyed bonding little Reese, and Reese couldn't take her eyes off of her great grandma. Fortunately, this was just the first of many visits the two had during the course of the trip.


Callie also enjoyed her time with Great Grandma. In fact, we took a trip to the park so Callie could show off her running/sliding/swinging/climbing skills. But before she did that, she insisted on helping Great Grandma to the bench by holding her hand. They were so good together.



And the picture above shows how cute all of them are together. That picture captures one of the main reasons Sarah was willing to fly by herself with the two little ones.

However, getting some additional time in with Grammy Gayle was very important as well. One of the first stops was Fairytale Town. As Reese hung out with Grammy, Callie and Sarah hit all the main attractions the place had to offer. You haven't lived until you have gone down the slide made out of the shoe of the "old woman who lived in a shoe" fame.



We finally stopped for a bite to eat in beautiful Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his Merry Men had thoughtfully placed some chairs for us to eat lunch on.



Although it was a little chilly, it was still better than the single digits and the snow of Kentucky. And the next item on the agenda was a visit with GA, GU, and an abundance of cousins.

Our first pictures shows Callie and Skyler taking the mini-F150 out for a spin. Skyler has a look on her face that John expects to have when he teaches Callie how to drive. We were cracking up watching Callie so passionately drive the F150 all over the place. She was truly enjoying herself and we are lucky she hasn't asked for one of her own since she has been home.


Callie and Brady are at an age where they wanted to play together as opposed to just playing in the same vicinity. We can only imagine that this will get better and better as the years go by and all the kids get older. Here, Brady and Callie shared lunch at the Lucas Diner, conveniently located in GA and GU's living room.


As we mentioned, Reese is not the youngest grandchild. Chase Lucas was born on Christmas Eve to Tyler and Sara. It is crazy that the youngest two are only two weeks apart, and there are now five grandchildren who are all within three years of each other. Family gatherings over the next decade or so are going to be fun but chaotic, that's for sure.

Because the two little ones were photographed together, we insisted that the three older ones also get together for a picture. This was a little trickier, and honestly, this was the only time the three in one spot long enough to get out the camera and snap a shot. National Geographic probably has an easier time taking photos of cheetahs in the Serengeti.


Speaking about getting the impossible shot, below is our attempt to get Great Grandma's four grandchildren and six great grandchildren in one photograph - looking happy or at least looking at the camera.



Great Grandma Lucas was in seventh heaven. Although these opportunities don't come often, we are happy to admit that we maximized the opportunity by spending the entire afternoon together.


The last big event of the visit was a trip down to La Selva to visit the Nice family. But such a long journey needs to be broken up by a cool visit here and there. The time was clearly ripe for a tour of the Jelly Belly factory. We were given the factory hats that we had to wear the entire time. This was made tolerable by the multiple stops where we got to taste jelly beans at each stage in the process.


It is unclear which sweet tooth enjoyed the factory tour, or at least the free samples, more. All in all the trip was a success, and it was great to see our West Coast family. We will be back in May, and this time John gets to come. This time the focus of the trip will be Uncle Zac and his graduation. We cannot wait!

Getting to Know Reese

We've been very bad. Needless to say our New Year's resolution should have been to keep up with the blog. Apparently life gets a little crazier when you have two kids. Who knew? Reese is already nine weeks old and we have a ton of pictures and stories that have yet to be shared. Hopefully this post will be a step in the right direction. Believe it or not, we have to start our post way back in 2010.

Only a few days after Christmas we were fortunate to have more visitors. Suzy and Brian flew out to Cincinnati to spend time with Brian's family, and they made a valiant effort to come on down to Lexington for an afternoon. Reese did her best to charm her Aunt and Uncle despite the fact that she was still working through a cold. It was a great visit, and Callie certainly enjoyed getting to play with Suzy and Brian.



When Callie was first born, we loved taking walks in the morning and afternoon in the stroller. Unfortunately, Reese's birth has coincided with one of the coldest and snowiest winters Lexington has seen for a while. However we wanted to get a few miles on the new double-stroller we received from the generous and thoughtful California aunties. We had to bundle up, but it was well worth it.



Callie loved to have Reese sitting next to her. And we loved getting a little fresh air. Sad to say this was the only stroller ride we have been able to take in the two months we have had it in our house. Hopefully this will change soon as spring marches closer. One thing we have been able to do a lot is spend time with both Callie and Reese. In fact, we kept Callie out of daycare for all of January for a month of Team Bowes bonding.



The month was great, but having Callie around also meant that serene moments like the one pictured above were few and far between. The typical day was more of a crazy attempt to multi-task - answering a never-ending litany of questions and changing a never-ending litany of diapers.


Through it all Reese has managed to be mellow and fun. And as happens with babies her age, she continues to grow and change. Her two month visit occurred only a few weeks ago and she is doing well. Her height came in at 22 1/2 inches, which is the 55th percentile, and her weight was 9 lbs 11oz, which is the 22nd percentile. Those are some good Bowes proportions so far. The fine head of hair she had at birth has gone the way of the Dodo and her eyes appear to be grayish-blue. At the moment she is smiling relatively often. But more than anything, she's a bit squirrely. Unless she is sleping her arms and legs are constantly in motion.



John started back to school in mid-January, but has a very good schedule. Because he only teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays he has been able to be home quite a bit and hang out with the ladies in his life. It's been fun, but in the back of his mind he's already trying to figure out the best way to get two little ones ready for daycare each morning once Sarah goes back to work. Fortunately, he'll have some time before he has to do two sets of ponytails.



January also brought some sad news when John learned that his Aunt Mary Gay Peltier had passed away after a year-long struggle with cancer. We were determined to be in South Bend for her funeral to join the Peltier, Malpino, and Bowes clans for the memorial. It took a long drive through a snow storm, but we made it.



The return trip had its share of intrigue. The picture above was taken at 1am at the Waffle House off of I-275 in Hebron, Kentucky. It is a long story involving an oil light, a tow truck, and a taxi driver named Stan. If you have already heard about the Knoebel's water slide incident or Bill the Vietnam veteran who was John's neighbor in White River Junction, than you should just know that the story of Stan makes this quite a trilogy of stories. And if you haven't heard any of those stories, buy John a bourbon and he'll start chattin'. It is also important to note that Callie in particular was phenomenal throughout the whole ordeal.


The end of January brought another welcome visitor to our home. Auntie Gret flew out from Los Angeles to meet Reese and hang out with us. We love having Gret around and her visit meant that she was the first California auntie to meet Reese. This made sense she was the first one to fly out to meet Callie. For her efforts we rewarded her with a beer and a sleeping baby.


Gret rewarded us by introducing Callie to every piece of technology known to modern humankind. Yes, in this picture Callie has on headphones listening to music while playing with an iPad and waiting for a call on the Blackberry by her side. Unreal. Callie now asks to type any time one of us is working on the computer.


There are more pictures and stories to come, so stay tuned. Reese is changing daily, so we will have a lot to share.

A Kentucky Christmas

Christmas preparations began before Reese's arrival. We purchased the tree a week before she made her appearance. And we also had a very special opportunity to visit with Santa Claus himself. As opposed to previous years where we met the jolly old man at the mall, this year one of Callie's friends had an evening with Santa gathering. This meant that we didn't have to wait in line and Callie could get used to the idea of being near St. Nick.



We managed to get a pretty good family picture. Unfortunately, Callie never got comfortable enough to sit on his lap by herself. But she did get up the courage to tell him that she wanted a baby sister for Christmas. This made her parents heart melt.

And as we all know, Santa came through early on Callie's wish when Reese arrived a full two weeks before Christmas. And as you can see, she came ready to deck the halls and spread holiday cheer. Actually, the hat was a gift from afar, as the days before Christmas brought to Kentucky some of Santa's elves from Sacramento. Grammy Gayle, Uncle Zac, and Keith arrived just in time to put the finishing touches on the holiday preparations.


The first order of business was putting the construction management specialist in charge of the assembly of the gingerbread house. Zac led a solid team of workers who overcame some icing issues to put together a great looking piece of gingerbread architecture. And this time around Callie's candy decoration intake was kept to a minimum by Dad, the safety inspector. A good time was had by all.


Grammy Gayle enjoyed meeting her newest granddaughter and jumped at the chance to take a photo with Reese and Callie. The only girl missing from this picture is Cheyenne, but we can get a better group photo next year at Thanksgiving.



Also included in the picture is our fully decorated tree, which managed to keep all of its needles on until Christmas. We have realized, however, that with all of the ornaments we have collected over the years, it is time to start bringing home bigger trees. We'll keep that in mind next December.

As you can imagine this Christmas morning was special in a number of ways. But perhaps most special of all, both our girls gave us sleeping presents. Reese had a five-hour stint, and Callie didn't wake up until 8:45am. It made for a more enjoyable morning for everyone. But Callie was also very excited to get downstairs to see if Santa and his reindeer had visited and eaten the cookies and apples we left out the night before. She was not disappointed.

Once we made it downstairs, true to form, we made Callie and Reese take a family picture before they could touch their stockings. We have a picture like this at Callie's first Christmas when we were in Madison. It's fun to have our first one with Reese in front of our own fireplace, stockings, and tree.



Once her obligations to her parents were met and the flashbulbs dimmed, Callie was allowed to take down her stocking and begin the serious business of unwrapping.

It is important to note that Callie's stocking is almost as tall as she is. We may live to regret purchasing such monstrosities for stockings, but they are quite attractive. In any case, Callie was very excited to reach in and pull out goody after goody. And this was not a short process. All in all it took about 45 minutes for her to pull out and open the gifts Santa put in there for her. But her favorite was definitely the glitter Hello Kitty lipgloss. Somewhere out there are photos of her making John put on some of this wonderful stuff. We chose not to include them here.


Another prized possession was a wind-up musical matchbox deal that received attention from everyone in the room. Grammy Gayle took on the responsibility of showing Callie how it worked. Overall, we spent a lot of time admiring Callie's presents long after we had opened our own.


As we moved on to the gift exchange portion of the morning, Callie was once again overcome with joy. Uncle Zac and Keith gave Callie the tree tent pictured here. They set it up immediately and Callie needed everyone to get in the tent and hang out. She also moved all of her remaining presents in there. And it was quite nice to see that she was happy to leave quite a few presents wrapped while she played with those already opened. All told, it took her three days to open all of the gifts she received for Christmas.

Overall, this was a great Christmas. We had a great visit with the California crew, and Kentucky came through and provided a white Christmas for us all. This post could have been even longer if we had included all of the great pictures of snow shoveling, game playing, and just hanging out. The only problem, as always, was that the visit ended too soon.

There's a theory out there that you should always lead with your strongest story, argument or photo. We say, end each post with a bang. Or at the very least, give a prize to those who stick with us through the whole thing. You may remember a picture of a young Callie lying next to our Thanksgiving turkey. We did not want Reese to feel left out. With that said, we now present to you a special composition we call, Reese with Christmas Ham.



As we write this there is just over an hour left in 2010. It has been an amazing year for our family and we are thankful for being blessed with two beautiful and healthy girls. We look forward to watching them grow in 2011 and wish you and yours all the best. Happy New Year!!!

First week with Reese

No matter how long it lasts, a hospital stay is never easy. With Callie, we entered the hospital on a Monday night and didn't leave until Saturday. With Reese, it was a much shorter experience, lasting from Friday night to Monday afternoon. But it may have been a bit crazier because we weren't only dealing with the constant interruptions of nurses or the newborn who had joined our lives, but also had to make sure that Callie was adjusting well to our new reality.

Reese seemed to adjust quite well to her new reality. Here she is, resting on an afghan knitted by Sarah's Great Aunt Lorraine. Although Reese is only two days old in this picture, she was already showing signs of being a pretty mellow baby who is able to endure the love of all of those around her - especially her big sister Callie.


We managed to have Callie visit every day. Thanks to a mid-December snowstorm that closed her daycare, Callie even spent most of the last day with us. It was enlightening to entertain a three-year-old in a hospital room for over five hours in the midst of everything else.



But there were moments of beauty in the chaos, and the above picture is evidence of one of those moments. It was awesome to watch how Callie was excited to meet her little sister. She constantly wanted to hold her and kiss her. And although we tried to keep her runny nose away from her face and hands, the love was simply too much to contain. And while this is moving beyond the first week, we can report that Reese is only now recovering from the first cold she caught from her loving sister.

Of course, maybe if Reese kept her mouth closed she wouldn't catch illnesses so easily. We kid. This was just a picture that needed to be included. Both Reese and Callie seemed to sleep a lot like most infants do, but also had numerous instances where they were awake, alert, and aware of their surroundings. And in those moments we could not keep our eyes off of her.


There comes a time for every parent, a moment of truth, when you realize the hospital is going to let you leave with the kid. Then there's the time when you realize you are going home with a big kid and a newborn. Life is truly going to be different from this point forward. Fortunately, Reese is already buckled up for the ride. We should probably do the same.



Although you cannot see it, Callie is proudly sporting her "Big Sister" t-shirt. She is very excited about it. In fact, she wore it to daycare her first day back and told everyone who listened about Reese Harper, her baby sister. it's pretty cool.


Although this is round two for us, it is still incredible to see how tiny a newborn is. It's also wonderful to see how easy it is to pose them for pictures. Put on a cute outfit, prop up a few pillows, and instant cuteness. Here Reese is wearing her 2010 white penguin sweatsuit from Carters. And she wears it well, if we must say so ourselves.


The more things change, the more they stay the same. A newborn tires everyone out. And there is nothing so sleep inducing as a baby sleeping on your chest. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved. Indeed, we are happy to be home and have successfully begun the adjustments to life as a family of four.

Fashionably Late

The big day finally arrived on Saturday December 11. At 4:25am, Reese Harper Bowes came into the world at the healthy weight of 7lbs 1oz and the height of 20 inches. She was five days past her due date, but we are happy to report that she joined the world of her own free will. As was the case three years ago, we get to report on our joy from the comforts of Central Baptist Hospital.



Sarah went to work all week, but left after lunch on Friday when her contractions started to become regular. We spent the afternoon at home making the final preparations and getting Callie ready to spend the night at the Chrisman's house next door. After a good dinner with Sharon and Chris, we made a last visit to the frozen yogurt place at the Fayette Mall and then entered the doors of the hospital around 8:30pm.


By 2:30am, Sarah was pushing and just under two hours later, Reese gave us a first taste of her lung capacity. Fortunately, she wants to be just like her big sister Callie. Unfortunately, that means she spent the first four hours of her life in the NICU under observation to monitor her breathing. But she was brought to our room with a clean bill of health and we got to have some quality cuddle time.


We have often said how fortunate we are to have neighbors like Sharon and Chris. And once again, we find ourselves so appreciative of their friendship and support. Because as all of the above took place, they were taking care of Callie. Of course, it wasn't as if Callie was all that upset to have a sleepover at their house. They are so good with her and from all reports she is listening to them and behaving. They brought Callie in to meet Reese on Saturday afternoon. At first Callie was not sure what to make of the whole scene. She was happy to see her parents, but remained unsure about the little baby.




That changed pretty quickly, and soon she wanted to hold her little sister. Over the next couple of hours Callie bounced between curiosity about Reese and telling us about her day. The picture above was definitely taken during one of the few quiet moments when Callie was staring at her sister and not trying to tickle her.


It's safe to say that Callie won't truly understand what it means to have Reese in our lives until we are all at home. For the time being, this just means that she gets to stay with Sharon and Chris while Mommy and Daddy are in the hospital with a baby named Reese Harper. Hopefully the quiet moment pictured here will be the nature of their relationship moving forward.



As you can imagine, the first day was pretty exhausting. Between 7pm Friday and 7pm Saturday we went to the hospital, Sarah delivered Reese, Callie visited, and we all tried to get used to being a family of four. Out of everyone, Sarah and Reese deserved rest the most, so it is fitting that we end with a picture of the two sleeping and cuddling. Once again, the experience has demonstrated how absolutely amazing this whole process is and how incredibly strong Sarah is. Words will never truly capture all of that.