My first Christmas!!!!

I love her cheeks!!! You just want to kiss them all day long!!

Grandma Pam got her a cute little outfit! The fur around her mouth is always matted from all her drool. Her first Christmas outfit for her first Christmas. I'm so excited this year! She interacts alot more now and it will just make it fun when she reaches for all the gifts and wrapping paper. This year all she needs is a box to keep her occupied. But almost all the presents under the tree are hers. Maybe 4 for Enoch and I think I have 1. It's funny how Christmas becomes all about your child, you don't even care about yourself anymore.

Tonight auntie Raquel is coming into town and it will be the first time she's seen Ashlyn. We're all excited!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

16 weeks!

She's 16 weeks today! And we are still without internet....so I am updating when I can at work. She's been growing like crazy! She's learning to grab things and they go straight to her mouth. She's still getting over being sick so she's still not able to sleep.
She's super happy in the mornings just playing by herself and talking to herself.

After we all stuffed ourselves with dinner, she decided it was exhausting watching us eat.

She woke up from her little nap and was Miss Grumpers. Not everyone was paying attention to her so it made her mad.

She's a big girl now sitting in the grownup chair!

She has the cutest pouty face! It's blurry but she'll stick out her bottom lip and just quiver. I know it's terrible but it is just so cute when she does it. We can always get her to keep from crying and usually we get smiles a few seconds later. She just has to make sure everyone is looking at her

3 months old!

Sorry it's been so long since an update! I ended up getting swine flu so I was out of commission for a week. And between work and a baby with a cold, there hasn't been time for much updating. She's all smiles now!! It's so fun! As soon as she sees me she gest all happy and loves talking to me and telling me about her day. I think she likes mom more than dad...maybe it's just because I'm the source of food...

She's almost pushing herself up all the way. She can't quite figure out how to do it. But she's reaching for things now. She has to really want it though. But she's just too much fun! She's drooling now more than ever!

She was totally passed out last week. Her cold was starting to settle in and she was just wiped out. It's still going on...sleepless nights and napless days, not much more mommy can take. She will get so congested not even saline and suction help. A humidifier doesn't do anything for the poor girl. She's just so miserable but still forces smiles for us. She's such a trooper! This morning she woke up for good screaming her head off and choking and within 5 min she was still coughing but smiling in between. So for being sick, she's really being tough.

Not much else is new with the Bowler's. Ashlyn is experiencing her first snow and she just looks at it like, what is this stuff??

Her first thanksgiving is coming and we are so so so grateful for our precious little girl and how much joy and love she has brought to our lives!

She's getting so big!

We can't believe how big Ashlyn is getting. My mom says she's just like me. Looked like my dad, was always standing up, physically and mentally ahead of the norm and super strong, like a little super baby. They're twins! Yeah the wall is an ugly yellow....we can't paint them...and we didn't paint them...we want to paint them....that yellow gives me a headache...

She will do this for hours during the day and gets all happy. She was very grumpy last night because of her shots and teething. Usually she is all smiles. Excuse the mess...we are crammed into a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with Enoch's brother and his wife and have been since she was born.

Her happy moment last night followed a little later by frantic fussies.

2 month shots

Ashlyn got her 2 month shots yesterday and was such a big girl! She screamed her head off right after her shots and it just killed me!! So as soon as the nurse was done I scooped her up and cuddled her and quieted her down in a few minutes....poor thing!

Her stats are
12.5 lbs 70%
23.5 inches 64%

AND she's TEETHING!

She's been chewing on everything from her blankets to her fist to my knuckles to her paci to her bottle and drooling like mad so the doc took a look and said, she's an early bloomer...congrats......

But as far as her physical develpment she's quite a bit ahead of the norm I was told. She can prop her self up and almost scoot herself across the floor when she kicks her legs. She's learned if she digs her toes into the carpet while she's on her tummy she can acutally move and she'll pick up her arms and move them under her. She loves to stand and move her little hips but now that she's getting stronger, she doesn't hula as much anymore. She will "walk" across the floor but doesn't know what she's doing.

Update Finally!

We have been all smiles lately! She's 10 weeks old today and growing fast! She's already fully fitting into her 3 month clothes. She's just so happy all the time now and cooing and giggling and trying to talk to us.

She has such a great personality. She's not high maintenance at all, just dramatic. She'll start smiling and then go into her version of crying. She starts to almost cough and then just lets out a whine. She's doing pretty good at night. She goes to sleep at 8 30 or 9 and then wakes up usually around 1 to eat and then will wake up at 5 or 6 to eat again then clonks back out until 10 and is all smiles and coos and happy for a couple hours until she gets tired. I know they say not to let your baby fall asleep while eating since they depend on that later on to get back to sleep, but I cannot wake this child up for anything...I've tried tickling her nose, undressing her, changing her diaper, playing with her ears...all she does is make some goofy noises and stretch and then is quiet again....I think we're doomed. Mom, WHAT IS THAT!!!

I love when mommy makes silly faces!

Blessing Day and family wedding

Ashlyn was blessed yesterday by G-pa bowler and it was so amazing! My dad made it for the blessing and it was so nice to have him. I hadn't seen him since Enoch and I got married!! We went to Enoch's parents ward and it was cool too see some of his old family friends. It just made it more real that we're parents...Funny story...she starting fussing while she was up there and everyone is the congregation snickered because she was making the funniest noises. She doesn't like to cry much so she'll just belt out one good waaaaa and that's it....and then it was silent for 10 seconds and then another waaaaaaa.

Grandpa Steve!! This is his first time seeing his granddaughter and he was so so happy!

My cousin Breanne got married on Saturday to Addison and they make such a cute couple!!!
Brings me back to my wedding day and just everyone is all smiles! I love her colors of red and cream. The reception was so fun at the Salt Palace. Good food too! It was a mini thanksgiving dinner complete with pumpkin pie!

Oh the day I got married! I almost want to do it all over again. With the same man of course!

I love the happy auora that floats around weddings. Maybe that's why I love to go to them.

Advice please!

I want to buy a sling for Ashlyn so it makes shopping and stuff easier...any favorites from people??

Also, what games did you play with your 6 week old to further her development??

Look at me go! I'm 6 weeks old!

Look at me! I'm 6 weeks old and love to do squats on daddy's lap to work my little bum!

Hollywood here I come!!

She's getting so big! I can't believe all she can do now. She coos at us and loves to spit. She's discovering her hands are great things to suck on instead of a pacifier. She can scoot herself around the floor with her legs if she can get something under her feet or get a grip on her playmat. She can push herself up daddy's chest when he's laying down. She LOVES bath time. She loves starting at the sky and being outside and loves being social, even when it's bedtime and she's so tired. She fights sleep because she wants to explore the world.

Schedule

Ok so I've been looking all over trying to find tips and hints on setting a schedule for the little one for eating, sleeping, playing and whatnot. Any suggestions from you "veteran" moms? I need HELP!

Her first photo shoot!

We procrastinated a bit with Ashlyns newborn pictures. I'm a moron and didn't schudule them for a week after she was born. So 4 weeks is ok right? My friend at work has a sister in law who takes amazing pictures. She's a natural light photographer, so no flash ever. If you're around Rexburg, have Tracie Howard take your pictures. She is amazing! Can you believe these were taken without a flash and with just sunlight??

This is the picture where I got peed on..

1 month full of naps

She's sleeping less and less. I am starting to miss the times when she slept, ate, then went back to sleep. Now she's getting colic at night and it can be very very long nights lately. Survival mode for sure. She gets really upset when she can't hold her head up and see what's going on.

She gave me a smile today. Must've been a good dream. We can't wait until she starts smiling back

She is all tuckered out after her photoshoot yesterday.

She really likes sleeping like this. She was zonked as soon as I put her like this.

She's getting bigger!

All tuckered out after eating. She always falls asleep. Then shes wakes up mad because she's still hungry.

She was wide awake when we went on a little drive. She loves being outside and looking around. She gets really mad when she can't see what's going on. When we brought her home from the hospital she only came halfway up the little head bumper thing in the car seat. Now we are about a week away from moving it up.

Update! Almost 4 weeks

Well we are now settled into Rigby but still no internet there :( So we stole the inlaws computer again. There isnt too much that's new. She's getting even bigger. I can't believe how fast she's growing and I can't believe she's almost a month old.... Enoch's sister had a baby girl 9-9-09. Francesca Torres. She was 7lbs 4 oz and 20 inches, so bigger than Ashlyn but look at the size difference! She's 3 weeks behind Ashlyn. I can't believe Ashlyn was that tiny but she has a good 3 inches it lookes like on her cousin. But I'm a first time Auntie!!

Ashlyn and cousin Francesca

She just looked too darn cute in her carseat. Her wakeup routine started after the flash went off. 15 min of stretching, grunting, yawning and cooing and her eyes finally open. At least we have a 15 min warning before she gets cranky when it's time to eat.

She was totally passed out on my chest and looked like a little gangster in her hoodie. She's starting to fight sleep a lot more....so about 9 at night she just howls and we just can't keep her awake during the day.

Here she is today passed out on daddy after an oh so hard Sunday. Her socks are huge on here. They are for a 3 month old.

Mommy and daugter!! My little gangsta

My grandma had her 90th birthday party at Maddox and everyone turned out for it. She's already a great great grandma but now with our side of the family she's a great grandma. She couldn't get enough of Ashlyn. It was so so cute. Ashlyn was a hit! And she was so good the whole time. She was passed around like the treat bowl in Relief Society but she was such a trooper. She slept the whole way to Brigham City and the whole way back.

We hope to have internet sometime this week so no one has to wait until next Sunday!

We moved!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. On Thursday last week we sold the contract to our apartment in Rexburg and started moving down to Rigby into a house that Enoch's grandpa grew up in. Rent is $150 a month instead of the $575 we were paying so it was a fast and furious move since we had to have everything moved out by the 31st. You really don't realize how much junk you have until you have to pack it all. The move went as well as it could've gone with a new baby you have to haul around with you. My mom helped out so so so much. I took care of Ashlyn and she would pack and then we would switch off so grandma could have some alone time with her.

We had a doctor's visit on Wednesday and here are her stats:

Birth 3 days old 2 weeks old
7lbs 6lbs 10 oz 7lbs 15 oz
19 inches 20 inches long 20 3/4 inces long

We don't have internet at the house in Rigby yet so I can't update too much :( Can't find the cord for the camera either so can't get any pix up here...

More pix of ms. Ashlyn

She totally passed out after eating for 20 minutes. I can't get over those lips!

We got her all ready to go to run errands and she clonked out again.

She finally woke up and was quite ready for some food! She gets so squirmy she always kicks off her socks somehow. She is really strong for only being a week old. She can hold her head up for 5 seconds now and not let it flop back down on my shoulder.

She is just so cute I can hardly stand it!

1 week old!

We've had some fun this past week! Mostly sleeping and eating. She sleeps like a rock. I found out that we cannot wake her up for anything...even if she hasn't eaten for 4 hours....so we just let her wake up on her own now. She has a bit of a routine. Every 2-3 hours she wants food and lots of it....I feel like a cow! We also discovered no lasagna and no cheese for mommy. We're keeping her off formula as long as we can.

She had her first walk about town!!! She couldn't quite figure out what was going on but it knocked her out that's for sure. She was totally zonked. This is right when we started.

She had her first walk about town!!! She couldn't quite figure out what was going on but it knocked her out that's for sure. She was totally zonked. This is right when we started.

This was the absolute cutest picture! Look at those lips!!!! Look out boys! Here comes a heartbreaker!

Now this is the way to sleep!!!

She's Here!

Here she is!!! Ashlyn Michelle Bowler, 7lbs 19 inches, born at 10:19am 8/18/09!!!

Labor started for me Monday morning, pains lasted all day, dialted to a 3 until at least 11 pm on Monday night. But from 1pm Monday until 3 am Tuesday morning, I was in such intense pain from the contractions I couldn't move, stand, talk, anything. It was so so intense. The contractions stayed 5 min apart since 1 on Monday. Finally at 2 am they got to 3 min apart and we headed to the hospital for real after another false alarm. I was finally at 4cm and and was certainly in very active labor so they prepped my delivery room at I got my epidural at 4:30. HEAVEN!!! Of course, right when he's putting in the general anisthetic, major major contraction. The worst one I had felt....But it kicked on and felt so so so good. They gave me an extra boost of some narcotic something that made me totally high. The induction was still scheduled for 7:00 am so I was able to sleep finally. Enoch and I had pretty much been up since 6am Monday morning...So we had been up almost 24 hours. The few hours of sleep we got were so nice. At 7:30 people started moving around getting ready to juice me up with some Pitocin. I'm so so so glad I got my epidural first!! Dr Meredith showed up at 8, checked me before he broke my water. I had gone to a 5 in just a few hours but he went ahead with the Pit. At 9:30am I started feeling alot of pressure. I just kept quiet for a few contractions but then I was thinking, wow....um I think we need the nurse. She came in and checked me and SUPRISE! 100% and 10 cm and baby's head was right there! She had me do 2 practice pushes and said WOAH STOP! I have to call Dr. Meredith. He told us when he gave me the Pit that he would be back around noon to check up on things...yeah he really didn't think I would go that fast at all. The nurse had be labor down until about 10 and then called Dr. Meredith. He got there at 10:10 and started prepping everything to get ready and of course he said the same thing the nurse did, WOW baby is RIGHT there! Laboring down made this next part so so easy. I pushed thru 2 counts of 10, one count of 5, took a pause, a 2 second push, and she was out!! That was it!!!!!!!!!! I was stunned. I thought for sure it would be a couple of hours at least. Dr Meredith and the nurse were both just like, um ok...that was really quick....and the other amazing part, I didn't tear at all....The nurse kept saying that I was so lucky and this rarely happens. I'm still shocked how fast the actual delivery went. No joke, 5 min and she was out. She was about as perfect as a newborn can be. She turned pink right away. My mother in law is a NICU nurse and was as shocked as everyone else, especially at how fast she turned pink. She swore she came out half pink. She was screaming before they really got her all the way out so that probably has something to do with it. As soon as she was on my chest, she stopping crying all together and just stared at me.....I was amazed...I could believe it. Enoch looked like he was half in shock, half about to cry and laugh at the same time. She could already lift up her head! When she was laying on my chest on her tummy, up came her head and she stared right at me....and she was a kicking fool, actually pushing herself around under her own leg power. She's very strong and very healthy, chubby cheeks, blue eyes, very long legs and long fingers.

I'll get more pictures up. Things have been a bit crazy the past couple days!