Bowen

(aka: Bobo, Bowie, The Kid, Baby, and Fussy Guy)


 

http://www.susanneashby.com/



It's happened. The Cutest Baby In the World has been born. He's perfect in every way. Bowen was born on Thursday, December 30th at 4:45 a.m. after about 8 hours of labor and 15-20 minutes of pushing. Not too bad! And, yes, you better believe that I had me some delicious epidural! I can't imagine doing that without it. Seriously - the most excrutiating pain I've ever been in my entire life. Anyway, he was 7 lbs., 1 oz., and 21" long (although a couple days later when I measured him, he was only 20". I think his head was slightly swollen and cone-shaped when they measured him at birth).

He is just the love of our life, the apple of our eye, and a dream come true. All the pain and discomfort of pregnancy and labor were 110% worth it. I whined and complained so much during the pregnancy, and back then, I couldn't understand how I was ever going to do it all again for my other kids. But now, four weeks later (heck, back at only a week later), I am more than happy to do it again.

My mom came for about a week to be at the hospital with us and to teach us the ropes, and it was so wonderful having her here. (Not to mention, she brought our Christmas presents - yay!) She was a great support (and photographer) in the delivery room with me, and she was a lifesaver when Brett and I were both desperate for a nap after a sleepless night. We had so much fun watching shows on Netflix and playing with Bowen! We miss her. Come back to us, Grammy! Bobo misses you!

Aunt Maddy came for a day at the end of that week, and we took Bobo out to a quilting store in Pacific Grove, right next to my favorite knitting store. Awesome store! I've been wanting to start quilting, and now I really want to! While Maddy was here, she waxed my eyebrows and cleaned our kitchen, both of which were much needed.

Now, I need to talk about Brett for a second. He has been AMAZING. He was my rock during labor, and then for the ten days that he was home from work with us, he was a great baby assistant. We discovered that the only pacifier that Bowen will take is daddy's finger, and only if it's upside down (fingernail on the tongue). If anyone knows of a pacifier with a huge nipple please tell me where to get it! Also, Brett is an amazing cook. The first day, he made some chicken noodle soup from scratch, and it was the best I've ever had. Then, he made his famous veggie lasagna and later, some awesome green enchiladas. Holy smokes, he's good! Plus, he sings the Fussy Guy Song, which Bobo loves.

Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure. You've probably seen these all on Facebook already, but I have more from his newborn portraits coming soon!

I LOVE this shot that my mom got of Brett cutting the cord. Agh. I get teary-eyed looking at it. Look at that baby's face!

Brett and Bowie in the hospital room.

Bobo with Grammy.

Cuteness.

This picture cracks me up. He does this straight-leg thing, and he's done it since he was in the womb!

I took this picture of him with my phone, and it's one of my favorite pictures of him ever.

Cuteness from the side.

Naptime with Daddy. He's done these adorable newborn smiles since day one. I know he doesn't mean anything by them and doesn't know what he's doing with his face, but it still makes me melt. I was lucky to catch this one on camera!

We had to get him these little onsies (size 5-8 lbs) because they were some of the only ones that fit him well for the first couple weeks, and they have the mitten cuffs on them, which he really needed because he was scratching the crap out of his face when he'd get all pissed off. Look how loose it is on him in this picture, at nine days old. He's exactly four weeks old as I type, and he's grown out of these onesies already, and it kills me!

Well, there ya have it, folks. So, what have we learned today?

1) Bowen is The Cutest Baby In the World.

2) Epidural is our friend.

Tangled

This week, we had a chance for a little date night. We went to Babies 'R' Us (totally romantic, I know. Be jealous.) and used a gift card we were given for our baby shower (thanks, Aunt Karen!) and got our diaper bag. Actually, we got two!

This is the main one:



And this is the smaller one:

The first one is going to be my main diaper bag, you know, the catch-all that will likely turn into my purse which carries some baby stuff. The second one is much smaller, and it'll only have necessities for baby. We like that it matches the big one. The smaller one will kinda be our daddy diaper bag, for Brett. Honestly, I could see myself using the smaller one as much if not more than the bigger one, but we'll see! They weren't super expensive, so if we decide we don't really like either of them and want to try something different, I've got time to save up for my Petunia Pickle Bottom bag that I've been dying for, maybe in time for the next kid! ;-)

After we were done shopping, we went and saw Tangled:

This movie was SO GOOD! Remember back in the old days when there were Disney movies for kids with lighthearted stories, fun annimation, songs, and were completely clean of any adult jokes? Well, this one fits the bill. It was rated PG, but we have no idea why. Maybe the movie people just don't want to put a G rating on anything anymore. But whatever, we will definitely own the DVD when it comes out. 

These days, I can't sit for very long anymore. I just can't get comfortable. If I sit still for too long my back and pelvis ache. Church is killer on my back, and we've been playing hooky after Sacrament Meeting as it is, so we were taking a chance on seeing a 90-minute movie. I did pretty well for the first half. I think I only had to cross and un-cross my legs a couple times. Then suddenly, I was completely uncomfortable and felt like if I didn't change possitions RIGHT THEN I would die! After that I spent the last half of the movie getting as creative as I could in the theater seats. Oh, and I REALLY needed to use the bathroom, but I wasn't giving in to that because there was no way I was missing part of the movie! Just a few more weeks to go... Come on, self, you can do it!

51

That's how old my dad would be today if he was still alive. I miss him so much. It's been six and a half years since he died, and some years, December 8th comes and goes without me even realizing the significance of the day. I'll get to the 9th or 10th and think, "Oh, crap, Dad's birthday was the other day and I didn't even stop to think about him or 'talk' to him." (Sometimes I talk to him in case he can hear me or somehow know my thoughts.) But then again, I don't think that they pay attention to earthly birthdays where he is. I'm sure he's got much more important things to worry about.

I don't usually write about stuff this personal and close to my heart, but today I felt prompted to share some thoughts, in case someone comes across my blog who needs to read these words. I am so greatful for my knowledge of The Plan of Salvation. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father's wonderful Plan of Happiness, I know that I'll see my dad again. I know where he is, and what he's doing. I know that everything happens for a reason, and everything is part of Heavenly Father's plan for me - and you. Families CAN be together forever.

I also know that through the Atonement, I have someone who knows exactly how I feel when I get a little sad about my daddy. When Jesus Christ was suffering in Gethsemane, He not only suffered for each of our sins, but He also suffered  - in a very specific way - through all the pains and heartaches we would each encounter in this life. Jesus knows EXACTLY how 18-yr-old Morgan Wilfley felt when her papa left this earth, and because of that, He is able to succor me exactly the way I need it, the way no one else possibly could.

OK ok ok...

Fine. I'll say it. I'm pregnant. It's a boy. He's due on Jan. 6, 2011, which puts us at 35 1/2 weeks along. Nope, no name yet. Yes, we have two or three options, but we ain't tellin.

Wanna see some proof? Here ya go, and you can click on the picture for more at Susanne Ashby's blog. She did an AMAZING job on these pictures. Seeing these pictures go a long way with helping me to not feel like a total heffer. Actually, Susanne does an AMAZING job on ALL her pictures. She did the pictures that are in my blog header too, and I can't wait for her to do our newborn pictures! Also, my makeup for this shoot was by my sister, at http://www.maddybirdmakeup.com/. She always nails it!

Although, I'm sure most of you reading this have already found out because you:

a) Came to/were invited to my baby shower
b) Are my friend on Facebook and saw my maternity pictures
c) Know my mom or sister (or other close relatives of mine)
d) ARE my mom or sister (or other close relatives of mine)
e) Saw me lookin' a little thick around the middle
f) Noticed my "The Kid" button on this blog and knew it meant something
g) Were on our ever-so-exclusive "Happy 4th of July, love Morgan and Brett and Baby Werner" text message list

(I know that was a lot of choices. That's how easy it is to know about this whole thing before now because I've let it go for so long.)

I know I've been really weird about the whole thing. I just wasn't ready to talk about it. It's not that I wasn't happy about it or anything like that. I guess I just feel like the baby growing in my body is kind of a private, personal thing, and I didn't want to go blasting it on the WWW. You night have noticed that I made no formal announcement on Facebook. It all started out with our first trimester furtiveness. We didn't want to tell anybody until we were clear of the first trimester because of the posibility of losing the pregnancy early on. Then, at I think ten or eleven weeks, (or was it as early as 8 weeks? I can't remember) the doctor heard a really great, strong heartbeat and said that she was confident that the pregnancy would survive, and the chances of miscarriage were next to none, so if we wanted to tell people we could.

But, we still weren't ready to alert the press. First, we needed to wait until we had told all of our family in person, and then we sent out a mass text message. But, even then, I didn't say anything on FB about it. If any comments were made to me on FB, I immediately deleted them from my wall. I think the FB secretiveness was to avoid people going, "OMG! Post some preggo pics! I wanna see your baby bump!" Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhh no. I am not posting the lame, take-a-picture-of-myself-standing-sideways-by-the-bathroom-mirror-to-show-how-big-my-stomach-has-gotten-each-month-photos on FB. I've been taking some for our own personal viewing pleasure, but you ain't gonna see them. Heck no. All the people at work who were constantly rubbing my [still basically flat] stomach back in my second trimester as if it were public domain was enough attention for me. (Word to the wise - ASK before you start feelin' up a pregnant chick!) It's not that I'm ashamed of the way I look. In fact, I'm quite pleased with the way I look so far. I haven't put on a ton of weight, and everyone is telling me how small I am for over 8 months pregnant (although my doc says I measure perfectly, so I'm not worried. Not having cravings, waiting tables and walking around the restaurant for four hours straight, and then finishing the night off with lots of salad and protein will keep that extra baby weight off - let me tell ya! Eating for two is so five minutes ago). Not to mention, my hair and skin are so healthy right now. Nope, no stretch marks - yet. Knock on wood, right?

It felt really weird to say, "I'm pregnant," so I let people find out through the grapevine, except for the people we texted on the 4th of July. Finally, in the second trimester pretty much everyone knew. And now, Blogworld, you know. Enjoy.

It was really easy to keep my mouth shut about it until we were ready to blab. I had my mom to talk to about it, since I told her right when I found out. I couldn't have gone through the whole thing without her support and wisdom from the very beginning. Plus, my best friend/4th cousin once removed (no really, we're 4th cousins), Lissy, knew about it too. I couldn't not tell her! So, for a week I had her to talk to about it. Then, a week after I found out, she found out that she was in the same boat as me, and at the time, based on online due date calculators, we thought she was due a day after I was. (We live two states apart and our cycles are STILL in sync! Ridiculous.) But, her first ultrasound showed that she was actually 11 days behind me. Whatever. Close enough! It's been so nice to have her to talk to and go through this with. We were both totally sick in our first trimester, and there were many a "uuuuuuugh this sucks" text sent between us. She was also pretty quiet about her pregnancy, so we could trust each other to not blab except to our husbands and moms. Plus, that way, our moms could talk to each other about it and not explode.

Wow, I just barfed out a long blog post. I can't believe I just told you all that stuff. I guess I made it to 35.5 weeks keeping my mouth relatively shut, and since my blog is more of a journal than anything else I have, I should start talking, you know, for posterity. Or whatever.

Time for bed now. Hopefully I can sleep tonight. I have a really hard time getting comfortable. I can't lay on my back for more than a few seconds before I get a really weird, achy, almost numbing sensation in my middle to lower back. It's kind of the same feeling as restless leg syndrome, if you know how that feels. Imagine "restless back syndrome" and that's how I feel when I lay on my back. That leaves me with two options - laying on my right side or laying on my left side. Both get old after about five minutes, so I pray for sleep to find me before I have to turn over. And over.

Ooooooh man, I can't wait to sleep on my belly in a few weeks. It'll be heaven.

For the sake of evasiveness...

Sometimes, there are things that I'm just not ready to talk about. I've got a couple personal projects in the pipeline, and I'll tell ya bout them soon. Some of you know what I'm talking about, some of you don't. But for right now, I'm just gonna be evasive and vague and not address those subjects. So, stop asking! :-P

For the sake of egg nog...

I freakin' love egg nog. Every October, whenever it appears in the dairy section of the grocery store, I always buy a carton of it. I make sure I always have some in the fridge until January when the store stops carrying it. And the cool part of it is that Brett doesn't really like egg nog, so I get it all to my self all Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! Woohoo!

Hmmm... let's see, what else can I ramble on about tonight... Oh! I know! In the year since I last posted, like REALLY posted, a few things have happened to us and for us. This spring, Brett got promoted to General Manager of the Islands here in Monterey! That was pretty awesome. He got that promotion pretty fast, considering he's only been a manager for less than three years now. He's doing so well at it! I'm so proud of him.

Also, my brother, Harrison, left for his mission this last March. He is serving in Uruguay, Montevideo West. He seems to be having a blast down there, and appears to have adjusted pretty well. (Eek, I need to write to him!) I can't wait to hear him speak spanish when he comes back! I just can't imagine my big, football jock little brother speaking another language fluently. It's so funny to see all the pictures of big, white Harrison with all the little, brown Uruguayans. He towers over all of them - even his American companions! He said that when he first got there, the locals thought he was a body builder, because they'd never seen such a big guy before. If you haven't seen Harrison in a while, he's 6'5", a gargantuan. He's got less than 500 days left. No, no, we're not counting down or anything.

Last year, Brett's mom, Judy, taught me how to knit, so I've been having a lot of fun with that. I need to take some pictures of my projects to show you! Right now, my biggest project is a huge, cable-knit blanket. I've been working on it since this summer, and I vowed to finish it by Christmas. I think I can, but it's just so big that I get bored with it easily and start on smaller projects, like baby beanies and scarves and stuff. I have a list as long as my arm of small projects that I want to try. I'll post some pictures of my blanket soon!

Ok, more later... maybe...

For the sake of newness...

Wow. It's been a year since I last posted. I am sooooo lame. I have to finish cleaning the house now, but I'll write more later. I promise. Maybe.

Help a sista out!

We are getting our pictures done soon. We'll definitely get some beach pictures but I'm hoping to also go to Carmel Mission. What should we wear? Here are my ideas for our outfits. Please leave me some comments and tell me what you think we should wear! Most of you probably know that I am very indecisive. I need some help! I think I want to wear olive green accented by some jewel tones. I'll probably wear my dark-wash botcut jeans from VS Pink. I tried to find you a picture of those online but they don't have a picture of that exact wash.

Top #1: Here's a top at Target that I like {BTW, I've seen this top in Target and it's greener than this picture, more like the color of the shirt below}:

Top #2: Another Target find:


Top #3: Cute! But it doesn't go with my color scheme {Besides, if I wore this shirt, people would probably get our Christmas cards and think I'm pregnant. I'd have to save it for a maternity shirt.}:


Top #4: Me likey!


Top #5: HOW FREAKING CUTE! Although I couldn't wear it with jeans. I'd have to wear it with some khakis or something: American Eagle:



Ok, now I need a jacket or sweater or something... I think I want a khaki or brown safari type jacket. Anybody have any ideas? I just don't know where to look. For this, I am calling on all of you to help me find something!

Accessories:

Gloriousness! But not really the style I have in mind for these pictures. Maybe to go with my Elizabeth Swann dress:


Ok, so I can't find any pictures of what I have in mind. But basically, I want a chunky necklace of colorful beads in jewel tones and browns. Possibly earings to match. I'm going to look around at Target and Claires and see if I can find anything there. I wouldn't mind a scarf and/or beanie to wear too. I have a whole skein of brown wool yarn. Perhaps I'll make myself a set really fast. I have at least five days. I can make a scarf with big needles so that it'll come out holey.

Now on to Brett's outfit.

I think I want him in a dark, cranberry red and/or brown.

Shirt #1: This could work if I accented it with a colored undershirt. I REALLY like this style. They also have it in tan. (But, good grief, $40 on CLEARANCE? What do they think I am? Made of money?) Do you think the gray or tan would look better with a cranberry undershirt?


Top #2: Here's a jacket version of that style. How rugged would Brett look in this? Too bad it's 99 bizzles:


Top #3: Now this is what I'm talking about. Perfect color and style for my hunk!But, it's like $50. I might have to splurge. It's just too good. {EDIT: I have since shown this sweater to B and he has pooh-poohed it. He says it's gay. This makes me unhappy. Someday he'll be my dressable Ken-doll. He'll see!}


I don't know what pants I would want him to wear. He has some chocolate brown, flat-front Dockers-style pants. But I don't think those would look that great with a red sweater. I think he needs to wear jeans, too. I need to find him some cool, distressed jeans. {What about some olive green cargo pants? I must find some.}

Found some! But what's goin' on with the bottom parts of the legs? Are they just a tad tapered? I think so. I'm not a fan. And would I be able to iron out those weird factory-made wrinkles in them?:



Oh my goodness! I cannot forget about shoes! Oh dear, what shall I wear?

Shoes #1: I've been checking these out for a while:


Shoes #2: Or, how about these cuties?:


Shoes for Brett:

Shoes #1: Love these. Once again, the rugged thing. These would look great on him, but OUCH - $90!:


So, where do all of you shop for your husbands? Does anybody have any ideas for either of our outfits? Please, Help A Sista Out.

Glorious to behold! (Brett says I'm gay.)

Actually, Brett only thinks I'm gay for posting about this. He actually thinks these things I'm about to tell you about are pretty cool.

I am in love. True love. LOOK at these diaper bags. (NO I'm not pregnant. Don't get excited.) I served a table today of two moms and their kids. One mom had a really darling purse up on the ledge, out of the way, and I had to comment on it. She said, "It's not a purse. It's a diaper bag." I said, "No way!" She told me it was by Petunia Pickle Bottom. (So I wrote it down, because I knew I wouldn't remember that name if my life depended on it.) I looked it up tonight, what what did I find on their website? That's right. Millions of AWESOME diaper bags. I told Brett that we needed to have a kid so that I could accessorize it with these awesome bags. Check it out:

(Well, I tried to post pictures but it won't let me upload the pictures from the website and it won't let me right-click and save the pictures, so you'll just have to click on the links.)

Super Cute

Also Super Cute

HELLO! I almost can't handle it!

You guys, they have diaper bags for MEN! Masculine diaper bags for when Daddy has to take the kid somewhere and doesn't want to carry around a chick bag. (Brett didn't think this was gay. He thought it was cool. We shall purchase one for him someday.) Look here.

How cool is this stuff? Freakin' expensive, but totally worth it, right? I'll need a pair of high heels to go with it, you know. Oh yeah, and a baby too.

Sadness.

My computer is in the shop til who knows when. I miss it so much. No yahoomail, no photo editing, no advertising (!), no Facebook chat and Gmail beesnis meetings. Our Playstation 3 hooks up to the internet so we found a keyboard and mouse to use, and now we can get online minimally. But, not all websites work on this "browser." I can check my Gmail but my Yahoomail doesn't work, and when I get the computer back I'll probably have 5 million emails at Yahoo. I just miss my lappy-top so bad. It's been gone for almost two weeks now, and they quoted me up to 3 weeks til it comes back. I have three sessions to edit and I can't look at them on anything bigger than my camera screen. Well, I guess I could hook the camera up to the TV or stick the memory cards in the PS3 and look at the pictures on the TV screen, but that would just depress me since I can't edit or crop where necessary. I definitely can't blog any of them.

Gayness. Pure gayness.

HAHA

Updated

My brothers. Click on Harrison.

Ladies and Gentleman

Please tip your servers 15% at the VERY minimum. If you get a discount of some sort on your meal, it is proper to tip based on the original total, not on the discounted total. If you get 50% off of your meal, does that mean that your server worked 50% less? No, they worked the same amount. Servers earn their money through tips, not the minimum wage that they are paid by the restaurant and is depleted by taxes paid on the tips. And, at the end of the night, they have to share a portion of their tips with the busser, bartender, and hostess.

Please tell this to your foreign friends, as they are some of the worst offenders.

Oh, and a lame tip cannot be justified with compliments about how great your server was. You can't pay bills with compliments.

That's all for now.

I like this

This came in a forwarded email from my Aunt:

American Citizens

April 17, 2009

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Mr. Obama:

I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.

You are so obsessed with appeasing the European and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.

I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?

Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don’t show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you!

You can’t find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don’t want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What’s the matter with you?

I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.

You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.

What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members – on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven’t said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn’t! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million – not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven’t you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

Sincerely,



Any American or should I say True American