A Look Back at July

It is hard to believe, but it has been more than a month since the 4th of July. Heck, we are almost halfway through August. Time is flying by and shows no sign of slowing down. So it is definitely time for us to spend a few moments talking about some of our activities from last month. It all started with a great day in downtown Lexington when we watched the 4th of July parade with the Johnsons.



Seth and Jessica certainly come prepared, as the picture above shows. Here we see Callie, Vivie Ann, and Mason all riding in style on our way to the parade.

This year it was obvious that Callie not only enjoyed the parade, but also got really excited for each float or group as they made their way down the street. We didn't have the heart to tell her that this wasn't the most exciting parade in the world, because even the random politician in a convertible received a squeal of delight. We better keep going to parades to build her tolerance before we hit the mother of all parades - the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Based on our current rotation, that should be November 2012 so we have some time.

Every year at Easter we take a picture of Callie in her bunny ears to mark her half-birthday. It is only fitting then, that we start a similar tradition for Reese. The only holiday that makes sense is the 4th of July. So each year we plan to dress Reese up as Uncle Sam.



The first year was definitely a success. She's not old enough to have the beard yet, but that will come in time.


We are happy to report that July marked a big turning point for Reese when it came to finally accepting solid foods. To be honest, we need to thank her teacher at daycare, Miss Janet, who pushed through the pain and many tears to get Reese to understand that solid food is a good thing. It makes a world of difference to be able to feed Reese her dinner without feeling it's a wrestling match that you are losing. And at this point Reese's menu contains sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, spinach, acorn squash, and apples. We are hoping to expand the options starting next week.

A year and a half after she first entered our world, Bitty Baby remains a big hit with Callie. In fact, last Christmas Callie received several additional outfits for Bitty Baby, although she still tends to spend most of her time naked. That's Bitty Baby, not Callie, by the way. However, Callie enjoys every opportunity she gets to have her and Bitty Baby wear their matching dresses. So far we have managed to have Bitty Baby dress for, but not officially attend, Sunday church services or other formal occasions.


July witnessed a significant breakthrough for our evening routine. Bathtime had often become a struggle with Callie, who had to be persuaded at great length to take one. But now that Reese is in the tub with her, we barely turn the water on before Callie has hopped in and is ready to go. It is awesome. And they both seem to enjoy every second they get to spend in the tub together, splashing around and having fun. Hopefully it will only get better as they get older.


Words cannot truly introduce this video. We must first say that we have no idea how Callie came up with the main subject of her song. It came out of nowhere. However, the rest of the routine is not abnormal these days. Callie loves dressing up in her princess dress and dancing. She dances to anything and everything, showing a remarkable diversity of styles. Take a look.



Since Callie's interests have only grown this year, we have decided to sign her up for an official dance class. She will be in the same class as Vivie Ann, which will be extremely helpful since Callie still has to overcome her shyness at times. We hope that by the time the big recital comes next year that she is as comfortable in front of a lot of people as she is with us at home.

Reese is making all sorts of progress these days, and in July she was sitting up by herself and showing the first signs of wanting to crawl. In fact, when Sarah left for four days for a weekend with friends, Reese fast forwarded her development and not only began crawling but also pulled herself up to a standing position using the coffee table for support.



On top of all of that, she decided to pop out two teeth as well. You can tell from the look in her eye in the picture above, she intends to make our lives very interesting. And yes, if you have been keeping track, she continues to look a lot like her big sister did at this age. It's quite impressive.

As this first picture in a three part series shows, Reese has a little attitude. She is ready with a big smile when she wakes you up at 5am, and there is definitely a bit of sass in her. She is very determined, and unlike Callie has already indicated the desire to possibly climb out of the crib. We have a feeling that we will need to keep a closer eye on this little bugger.



One of Reese's favorite pastimes lately has been sticking her tongue out, perhaps as a means of communication. Who knows what is going through her mind when she does it, but in any case it is fun to interact with her. She loves to laugh, and more and more is becoming entertained by her surroundings. This is especially true when it comes to Callie. Reese loves to watch Callie, and Callie loves to find ways to make Reese laugh. We are very lucky and can only hope it continues as they grow older. And yes, we know we say this every post. But maybe if we keep saying it we can make it happen.


This final picture is a demonstration of Reese's alter ego, someone John and Callie have labeled, "Grabby McGraberson." John is lucky enough to get to spend a couple of hours with the girls every morning, and during this time Reese not only gets her morning bottle, but John, Reese, and Callie get some good play time together. Out of this morning fun has come numerous alter egos for Reese, including "Stinks McGee" and "Sneezer McSneezerson". Who knew we had such strong Scottish blood? In any case, Reese likes to grab everything within reach, and her grabbing fixation is enhanced whenever she gets sleepy. Apparently she has decided that grabbing her parents necks or other reachable locations is soothing. That's fun.

So that covers most of July. But there is more to come. As the picture of the girls sleeping in the Vegas airport indicated, we also made a trip to California. Stay tuned.

What Five Minutes Can Mean

This is a random post and it takes us out of order from a chronological standpoint. But it was critical to post this picture asap. After a wonderful trip to Los Angeles for Auntie Robin's wedding (more pictures to follow soon), all we needed to do was make our connection in Salt Lake City. Apparently we didn't run fast enough from the C terminal to the D terminal, and the plane had pushed back from the gate. Three hours later we were on a plane to Las Vegas, where we had to wait for three more hours. The picture below shows what you can do to try and keep the kiddos on their sleep schedule in stressful circumstances.



Not picture here are the numerous slot machines yards away shouting "Wheel! Of! Fortune!!!". It truly was a wondrous experience. Amazingly enough the girls slept through it all. And we made it home safe and sound, just in time to get the girls to daycare and the two of us to work. Isn't cross-country travel fun? We can't wait for Auntie Pi's wedding in just a couple of weeks. At least this time we have a direct flight both ways.

Where Did June Go?

From 2007, when we started the blog, to the end of 2010, we failed to provide a posting a month only three times. We are only halfway through 2011 and we have already missed three months. June was the most recent victim. We have a series of excuses lined up, but when it really comes down to it, we are clearly having a tougher time with the one-on-one defense than we expected. In any case, although we were not busy writing blog posts in June, we were definitely busy.

June is a special month for the Bowes family, because it means we can make our annual visit to the glorious blueberry bushes at Reed Valley Orchards. We have written about the place often enough that we need not repeat previous statements. But this was Reese's first visit, so that made this particular trip even more important. Needless to say, she enjoyed the experience, and was happy to relax on the porch with John after spending some time in the sun.



It was pretty darn hot in the month of June. Fortunately we have the technology to set up a pool in our backyard very quickly. Who knew that a $5 purchase could provide so much fun for a 3 1/2 year old. Of course, as the picture shows, it also provides a lot of fun for a 38 year old. This action shot captures one of Callie's favorite moves, running across the yard and jumping into the pool. It's a move that is more difficult to pull off if you are over six feet tall.


Reese also had no problem joining in the fun with the pool. After spending the first several months of her life in cold weather apparel she was excited to break out the summer gear. Early indications are that she is a water bug, whether it's the pool or the bathtub, she's a fan.



Hopefully in the upcoming months we will get both of the girls to the community pool that is just a bit bigger than our backyard deal. Then we will see some serious swimming and splashing.


This was the first year that Callie was able to take part in the Music and Arts Camp put on by our church. She spent four hours a day for a week doing crafts and learning songs for a big performance on Friday. The big show was quite impressive - and we have a number of pictures of Callie sitting down watching it while every one else was performing. We certainly don't have a little girl who strives to be the center of attention when she is outside of our house. One of the best things about camp is she got to go with her two friends, Vivie Ann and Murphy. This picture is representative of their distinctive approaches to life. We look forward to watching them all grow up - they could be trouble in the years to come.


Lately we have been living for the weekends around here. This is in part because John spent half of June traveling for work and Sarah has taken on extra responsibilities at work. So when we have the time to relax and be together as a family, we take full advantage of the opportunity.



The above picture captures a morning when we made blueberry pancakes, stayed in our pajamas until noon, and enjoyed some good playtime. It is awesome that Callie is still so over the moon for her sister.

Speaking of her sister, by missing June we missed posting some important numbers. On June 11 Reese turned six months, which meant it was time to visit Dr. Warner to get some measurements and shots. So here we go. Reese weighed in at 12lbs 14oz, which placed her in the 5th percentile. Her height of 25 1/2 inches put her in the 45th percentile. And finally, her head circumference of 42 1/4 cm qualified her for the ranking of 45th percentile.



So what does all of that mean? It means Reese is one tiny little girl. Healthy as can be, and cheerful like you dream of...but tiny. Other developmental notes include that she is successfully sleeping from about 7:30pm to 5am each night. She still has an aversion to eating solid food (aka pureed veggies) but we hope that changes soon. She is also starting to babble a lot, which is fun, and she is sitting up by herself. Crawling may not be too far away, but we shall see.


While John was away in Oklahoma City, Sarah, Callie, and Reese returned to Reed Valley for the Blueberry Pancake Jubilee with Vivie Ann, Mason, and their mother Jessica. Vivie Ann and Callie were ready and raring to go when the berry picking began. Although this was the Johnson family's first visit to the orchard, they were quick to see the appeal of the place.


The Blueberry Pancake Jubilee is something we have wanted to do for the last couple of years, but for a variety of reasons we have always missed it. This year we were able to not only pick blueberries, but also enjoy the pancake breakfast and a horse drawn carriage ride. Needless to say, we had a blast. Callie and Vivie Ann were very good workers while picking. Mason managed to eat far more blueberries than he placed in the containers.


So here's a picture of the four kids relaxing after their picking efforts. We have had a ton of fun hanging out with the Johnsons this summer, and the kids are a fun handful.



It's also important to share that Mason's love/affection for Reese almost surpasses Callie's in intensity. Indeed, he cannot be left alone with Reese if she is in reaching distance. It's pretty enjoyable to watch Seth and Jessica constantly restrain their son in Reese's presence.




The final picture for this post shows Callie and Reese in matching outfits sent to them by GA Teri. Callie loves the dress and is tickled that it matches her sister's outfit. We hope that this is only the beginning of a growing relationship between our daughters. We already have pictures from the 4th of July, so hopefully our next post won't be too far in the future.

California Graduation

In the third week of May we made what is the second of five schedule trips to California in 2011. But this was a big one. On Saturday, May 21 we had to make sure we were in Sacramento to celebrate the graduation of Zac Lucas from Sacramento State with a degree in Construction Management. So we boarded the plane and prepared ourselves for a great weekend.

Before the festivities in honor of Zac began in earnest, we made a quick stop to see Sarah's high school friend Wendy to meet her newest addition, Emerson. Here's a picture of Wendy, her husband Rony, and their kids Chase and Emerson. When they graduated from high school twenty years ago, neither Sarah nor Wendy could have imagined they would be getting together to nurse their newborns and talk about parenting. Although we could not imagine it, it's been fun to do it.

Saturday was the big day, and the whole family was there to celebrate with Zac. Well, almost everybody. John missed the ceremony because he was presenting a paper at a conference in downtown Sacramento. But the important people were there to see Zac get his diploma, and the picture below captures the whole gang.



You may notice in the picture that Zac is not wearing the typical graduation cap. He and his Construction Management colleagues wore hard hats with tassels for the ceremony. It looked great and certainly made it easy to spot them from afar.

Here is the graduate with his proud parents, Dan and Gayle. We are all so proud of and impressed with Zac's accomplishments. He has worked incredibly hard to earn that degree and we know that this is only the beginning of the next chapter in his life. We wish him all the best and can't wait to see what he is going to accomplish next.


This trip also allowed Grandpa Dan to see his newest granddaughter Reese for the first time. The two of them had a great time hanging out and getting to know each other.



After the graduation ceremony the party adjourned to a local restaurant where Gayle treated us to an incredible feast. No one went away hungry, that's for sure.

Sarah's cousin Haley, her husband Ryan, and their daughter Skyler joined us for the dinner. Callie and Skyler really had no interest in eating but wanted to walk around the restaurant and check everything out. Although we provided plenty of distractions to keep them at the table they were hard to contain. At least until dessert came, and then it was difficult to stop them from eating the cake and canolis.


The next day the whole clan headed to San Francisco to take in a Giants game at AT&T park. Grammy Gayle did her granddaughters well by providing each one with full Giants regalia. Here Reese is sporting her new outfit with her cousin Keith. It appears that Reese will love her cousin as much as her big sister does. You'll notice that Keith is pretty photogenic, which will hopefully help further his fledgling modeling career.



The whole trip was pretty fun, but Callie probably enjoyed the ferry trips more than anything else. We parked in Alameda and took a ferry to San Francisco. And when the game was over we hopped on the ferry that was parked right next to the stadium. Seriously, you couldn't get a parking space as close as the boat was. It's the only way to go. Although we didn't see a home run splash into McCovey Cove, we still saw an exciting Giants victory in extra innings.


The weekend also made it possible for Callie and Reese to spend some quality time with Grammy Gayle. In fact, Grammy watched the two of them while we went out to celebrate with the graduate. You can tell that this was a big deal since Grammy took a big risk by staying at home with the two wild ones. Although she didn't need to worry too much about Callie - she was excited to sleep every night in the tent Grammy had set up in the bedroom.



All in all it was another great trip out west. Next time we head to southern California for the first of two big weddings. The fun never ends. In the meantime, we should probably get to sleep.

Kentucky Girls in the Spring

Once again we are coming in under the wire. It is the last day of May and we are going to catch you up with events from the end of April into May. Our whole house is still getting used to having four residents, but we continue to be in awe of the way that Callie has handled the situation. She truly loves being a big sister and thinks the world of Reese. The hugs, squeezes, and kisses are both intense and plentiful. And we can tell it is going to be a lot of fun when Reese becomes more able of reciprocating the love.

Although Callie doesn't usually get the opportunity to participate, she loves giving Reese a bath. And for the most part, Reese loves getting a bath. It is only a matter of time until they will take their baths together. We actually tried it last night, but Reese was not exactly pleased with the situation. It will be an important step in streamlining our evening routine.


Like us, Callie enjoys just watching Reese grow. And like Callie, Reese is happy to stare at people. It's like a match made in heaven. Reese continues to look like Callie did at her age. So perhaps for Callie this picture is like looking into the past.



Of course appearances can be deceiving, and Reese is definitely her own girl and is willing to demonstrate this whenever possible. Even though she can't talk yet, you know very well when she does not want to do something.

Easter morning this year was especially exciting because the Easter bunny left a series of clues for Callie and Reese. They had to follow four different clues to find the gifts the Easter bunny had brought. As you can imagine, Reese went along for the ride while Callie's excitement grew with each discovery. Here's a picture of both of them enjoying the prizes at the end.

If you have followed our blog at all during the springtime you know that Easter is also the time to size Callie up. In other words, it's time for the annual bunny ear picture on the stairs.



This is the fourth picture in that series, and it is pretty crazy to look back over the previous years and see how Callie has changed during that relatively short period of time. We have definitely passed the baby and toddler phases of her life.

After our Easter morning adventures we headed to church. And we were fortunate enough to grab a seat next to our friends the Abrahams. Let's be honest, if it weren't for them we might have not gotten a seat at all. And Callie was more than happy to squeeze in between the two Abraham girls, Ella and Claire. We can get Callie to do quite a bit if the reward is getting to hang out with Ella and Claire. Here's a picture of the four girls after church and the big Easter egg hunt.


Our Easter celebrations continued with another tradition, dinner at the Chrismans. In fact, Sharon told us that if we do ever end up leaving Lexington, she would like Easter to be the holiday we travel to see them. Sounds like a good idea to us!



Reese looks lovely in her Easter dress as we prepared to enter the Chrisman's house. But this divine little child made her presence known clearly when she let one loose as Chris was saying grace. Despite our best attempts to hold it together, not a single adult at the table could keep their laughter in. It was just another wonderful and memorable meal with the Chrismans.

There is no doubt that life is a little crazier with two little girls instead of just one. But as we sit here at night, with both of them sleeping soundly (for now), and look at this picture, we couldn't be happier. We truly are fortunate to have two amazing daughters. And we have only begun this adventure.

Reese at 4 Months

So last week was Reese's four month checkup with Dr. Warner. We found out two things. First and most important, Reese is a healthy little girl. Second, our country's recession has affected more than just our pocketbook. Just like the housing market, Reese is experiencing limited growth. As Kai Ryssdal, host of NPR's Marketplace, likes to say, let's do the numbers. Her height is 23 3/4 inches, which puts her in the 28th percentile. Her weight is 11 lbs 7oz, which places her in the 10th percentile. And her head circumference is a whopping 41 1/4 inches, which is smack dab average at 50th percentile.




As you can see from the picture, none of these numbers seems to bother Reese. At the end of every long day she leans back and savors her hot baths while a team of two attend to her every whim. Indeed, the bath is her one consistent quiet time of the day, especially since she has learned to squawk in a very loud, high-pitched, and overall piercing manner. Think bald eagle meets velociraptor. It's quite impressive.

In any case, all's well with little Reese. Hope all is well with you.

The Balestraccis Visit

This April we were lucky enough to get the Balestraccis out for a visit. This was a particularly special visit because it was the first time all the Balestracci boys got to meet Reese. Once they survived extended delays at O'Hare airport on their way to Lexington, we had a great time together. We start with a picture that will only represent the grandchildren of Jay and Taffy Bowes for another five months or so. Reese's stint as the youngest grandchild will be short-lived, but we don't think she'll mind because she'll be gaining a cousin in Colorado.



The four kids were enjoying the sunshine in the backyard, and the weather was a huge improvement over the previous day when we lasted all of twenty minutes at Keeneland because of the strong wind, cold temperatures, and persistent rain.

Neither wind, sleet, snow, rain, wind, or sunshine has any bearing on Callie's love for her cousins. Brendan has a special place in Callie's heart because he is willing to give her the attention she so desperately desires. It was pretty amazing to see how much they entertained each other over the course of the weekend.



Michael also took advantage of the visit to get to know Reese. Even though he is finishing up his eighth grade year and getting prepared for high school, Michael seemed to enjoy hanging out with a baby and a three and half year old. As a true high schooler to be, he was a man of few words. But he was so good with Callie and Reese, and Callie made sure he received his fair share of hugs, squeezes, and attention.

When you look at the picture below, compare the heights of the members of the Balestracci family. Who knows exactly when it happened, but Michael is now the tallest member of the family, even without the baseball hat. This picture, by the way, was taken in the beautiful gardens of Ashland, Henry Clay's estate just a few blocks away. If you visit us you can also walk there while getting a history lesson on Henry Clay from John whether you want it or not.



You can therefore prepare for your visit by taking long walks and reading up on both the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. We take our local history seriously in these parts.

The visit occurred the week before Easter, so we also had to take some time for decorating eggs. There was a lot of creativity at work around the table as we each had our own idea of what the perfect Easter egg should look like. To insure that we had enough eggs, we hard boiled two dozen. Although we had a lot of fun coloring them, we will be eating them for weeks. We'll have to keep that in mind for next year.


This was a picture we simply had to include. Chris is an amazing father and a terrific uncle. Just like he did with Callie when she was a baby, he enjoyed soothing Reese throughout the weekend and didn't let her crying intimidate him. And Callie enjoys Chris's silly side more and more each time they spend time together.


We have mentioned it a few times that Callie was born on Chris's birthday and Reese was born on Katie's birthday. But this recent visit provided us with the first opportunity to take a picture of the two cute birthday bandits and their hostages. Callie knows she has to keep a close eye on the shifty fella in the green vest. Reese is just wondering why the heck she's wearing a napkin on her face.



We cannot thank the Balestraccis enough for making the trip down to see us. We had a great time and it's crazy to think that we won't get to see the East Coast crew again until Christmas.