Bowman West

WOW!!

It's been a while and a long one at that. Let's hit this post running...

1. Melody (my sis) and Michael got married!! It was hectic and beautiful all at the same time. It takes something like a baby, a wedding or a medical emergancy to get my family here at one time so I didn't mind all the chaos.

Cousin Landon, Aunt Melody, & Charlie (looking very much like Chris Farley)

2. Our sewer backed up on Christmas Eve (when five extra family members, several with a stomach virus, were staying at our house) so the poor plumber had to come out and climb on our roof (yes, the house is old and the clean-out is on the roof) at 10:30 that night. It seems that when someone ran out of tp the day before and his yelling for more proved fruitless, he grabbed baby wipes and flushed about 5 of them down our tree-root infested sewer line. Sorry to pull you away from your family on Christmas Eve Mr. Plumber man. I'm not really all that sorry though because my husband was working too. Plumbers and doctors don't get to close the business for the holidays.

Charlie & Daddy on Christmas morning.

3. Charlie's favorite Christmas gifts were a Tonka dump truck, a red ball, his new rocking chair and a John Deer tractor. He scoots around like a madman on that tractor and likes to scare his grandma by standing up backwards in his rocking chair. Andy and I love to roll Charlie around in the bed of his dump truck.

4. Andy gave me two c.d.s and a golf lesson for Christmas which literally brought me to tears. Why? Because after our miscarriage before getting pregnant with Charlie I distracted myself by becoming obsessed with two things: finding the perfect pair of cowboy boots on eBay (never happened) and learning to play golf (also never happened). I got new golf clubs, went to the driving range a few times and even drove a golf ball through my neighbor's window. Then a month later we found out we were having Charlie. I put aside my clubs and got distracted by much better things! That golf lesson means a lot more than just helping me with my swing. We've got our family now and I can get back to my golf!

5. We spent after Christmas and New Years with Andy's family and it was wonderful. For the first time in a while we stayed up past midnight and rang in the New Year with actual plans outside of the house. We had a late-night dinner at Simply Fondue and toasted over lobster tails and chocolate fondue (not mixed of course). How fancy of us!

6. Charlie is so easy to be obsessed with these days. He's so easy and funny and is a pure joy. Within the last two weeks he's really embraced his bedtime. When we approach his crib to put him down to sleep he dives in and snuggles down to sleep with no protest. It's amazing! He's 11 months old and still has no teeth but he insists on eating when anyone else is eating. He's discovered that he loves dogs and says "ruff ruff" when he gets near one. He does the twist when we sing "Twist & Shout" and loves pat-a-cake to no end. My favorite is that he's totally in love with his daddy and instead of giving Andy kisses he chews on his nose when he wants to really say "I love you."

7. Last but not least, before we headed for home the other day we stopped by Andy's old jr high where his mom happens to teach. On the wall was Andy's portrait from when he was given the "Bulldog Award" in the nineth grade. I had to take a picture for this post! I am pleased to share it with you now. Feel free to be amazed by his hair. Man, I love this guy!