Everyday

Everyday I pray for happiness, patience, and kindness. More often then not I end up falling in one of those three areas. And that is when I turn to my Heavenly Father and tell him I am sorry and recommit to do better the following day. And then a new day begins and the process of becoming happy, more patient, and a kind person continues.

I birthed a baby

Stella Fay Bowman

October 29, 2011

6 lbs 1 oz

I finished my last day at the salon on Friday October 28.  It was 3 weeks before our baby girls due date.  That evening we picked up some clothes for the babe and ordered some of the important things like: a pack n play, crib mattress, sheets.  You know those things that are helpful when you have a little one.  

I woke up at about 2 am Saturday morning  feeling a little damp in my nether-regions. I never my entire pregnancy had peed my pants and was pretty sure my water broke.  I laid back down and at about 4 am had Vance up running around (he was more freaked out than me) getting things put together.  

We got to the hospital and checked into triage.  The nurse was pretty sure my water had NOT broke.  So she stuck her hand up me and low and behold I gushed water everywhere, which I profusely apologized for.  The nurse quickly changed her mind and got me officially admitted.  I was given my epidural and Vance and I both fell asleep.  Around 9 am the nurse told me it was time to push.  Vance got up and put his game face on, seriously he was so into this whole birthing thing. At 9:55am Stella Fay Bowman was born.  Vance quickly declared that she was his child, like there was some kind of doubt.  Love him so much.  

There were some complications after the delivery so I got to hold my sweet baby for about 10 seconds.  My body wouldn't clot properly and my uterus wouldn't contract.  I was given a medication that was supposed to help the clotting but instead I almost stroked out.  The pain I experienced from my blood pressure skyrocketing was far worse than having a baby .  When I stabilized they brought us our sweet baby girl and that is when we named her. She had the most beautiful red hair and blue eyes.  She was tiny and perfect. Shortly after the nurse took her back to get checked by the doctor.  They found that her oxygen levels weren't stabilizing, so they admitted her to the NICU.  Upon further testing they found that she had 2 holes in her heart.

We were eventually discharged and sent home.  The first year of Stella's life was chaotic.  One of the two holes in her heart has completely closed. The other will be checked again when she is around 6 years old.  She wasn't really growing or gaining weight.  We realized that she was allergic to milk protein.  But when we eliminated that she was still struggling so we were sent to the GI doctor.  After specialists and tests for things like cystic fibrosis, we discovered that she reacted severely to corn and any byproduct of it. At 10 months she had tubes put in her ears. 

 I was overwhelmed as a new mother.  But luckily I have an amazing husband, family and friends who were there for the entire journey.  They were on the other end of the phone listening to me freak out and cry about the "what if's" that came to mind. 

Stella is now 19 months and the craziest little red head.  She is all muscle, not little fat rolls to be found on her.  She is an insane dancer.  She loves to brush her teeth and hair.  She babbles and runs around everywhere. And she manages to drive me crazy and melt my heart all at the same time.  I love her.  And her daddy loves her.

Testing testing 1,2,3

My last post was roughly 3 years ago and I'm sure many of you have lost hope in me ever blogging again...
But I'm here and alive! And have decided that I need to do a little better. So updates will be coming on hopefully a weekly basis. I'm not promising pictures or long stories, just something. Lets be honest I don't really even know how to work this blog!!!  No biggie though I'm sure I will figure it out OR make someone else figure it out for me. Peace out and good night.

crafting...

I have been a crafting fool latley! I love mod podge and there is a blog dedicated to it! And I am so excited to get some pictures posted of what I have done. My wonderful sister Adrienne gave me the letter "B" for Christmas a while back. After several moves poor "B" got beaten up. So I stripped it of its beauty and re-beautified it! But the wall it is hanging on needed a little more umph. So I was chit chatting with Adrienne brainstorming and she gave me an awesome idea via her sister in law Tori! So drum roll....I now have a "B Wall"...SOSOSO cute and fun. So I spent afternoon with my friend Jeni and collected some "B" s. And then last night I went crazy and stayed up way too late fixing them up.

So next two projects are a door wreath and mod podging my kitchen table with fabric (I did a small test run on one of my letters and works great!)...

In other news we are doing super duper great. Vance is still busy with sports, work, young mens, me...His other best friend is engaged and talking about getting married in October. By that time he will have exhausted all of this time off for the year probably. So we will be having a Texas Thanksgiving and Christmas! Ok I guess I should get back to work...Love you all tons

Guns

Here in Texas it is HUGE, to the point of people canning their ammo. Guns were not a topic in southern California. I remember being told guns are bad. So to my dismay Vance has become friends with some gun lovers. They have tried to sway me to let Vance get a gun. I have ferventley said no, no oh and NO!
Unfortunatley there have been some events that have caused me to question our saftey, especially since we are considering having children. SO...we will be getting a gun as well as installing a security system...

I love my husband

I love that he feels it would be SO funny to put of picture of snot hanging out of my nose on the blog. But it will stay there for all posterity to see, because I promised not to remove it before I saw it! In all fairness he did have to deal with all of the snot coming out of my nose for two weeks...

In other news I have been in a crafty mood! I am in the process of decking out some tanks and making some jewelry inspired by something I saw from Anthro. It is just a matter of assembling it(better yet figuring out HOW to assemble it). Once I am done I will take some pictures. I am REALLY excited for the out come.

At 4:45am we will be heading to the airport via our amazing friend Jeni! Our destination is Portland, Oregon. Vance's best friend is getting married in the Portland Temple on Saturday. Before the wedding festivities begin we are going to Yakima, WA to see Mason and Kim and their cute boys!!! And we are hoping to see little Tessa. This trip is much needed and Vance and I are so excited. It is truly going to be a special week.

On the downside today is going to be crazy busy! Vance and I are both working. After work I have to run some errands, do my cousins hair, mow the lawn, run more errands, having a family over for dinner and the pool (they are watching the pups while we are gone!), pack, clean up, shower! I can do this right? YES I CAN!!!

Cold

So Julianne had a cold. She was blowing her nose in the car. Well, the picture tells the rest of the story.

Quick Note

I look nothing like that picture above...I really should update this thing.

Vance

He is just really great. The poor guy has to deal with crazy me. For example my parents are coming to town at the end of the month. My house HAS to be perfect! So I decided that would be a great time to set some goals...like getting our tile laid before they come. However before that can even be laid what is currently on our floor has to be ripped up...what is there has been there for 27 years. I attempted to help rip up stuff but to no avail. My lack of muscles makes it really difficult. SO once again the poor guy is doing all of the hard stuff. So just to list off a couple of the things he has done all by his lonesome: all of the closet organizers, texturizing the dining room and both bathrooms, sanding all the woodwork, staining and sealing the majority of the woodwork, installing all of the pulls and knobs....WOW he is pretty great.

Ode to Lolita

So I love all of my sisters. I mean if you know my sisters how can't you, really? But there is Loralee and of all of my sisters we are most the most alike, kindred spirits. So I just have to say that I miss her like crazy. I call her at least once and day if not more. I have to tell her all of the nutty random things that I do. And of course talk to her about all of my frustrations. So I love her SO much that I get jealous when she is with other people, even if they are my own sisters that are with her.
She is the most amazing person ever. I LOVE HER!!! All right I am done now...
And to my other sisters, I love you just as much too. I am blessed to have such an amazing family. And I am so excited to see you all so soon for our Girls Getaway!

New Goal

So my new goal is Birthday's. If I physically see you I am great at remembering them. But everyone else is neglected. So starting May I will be doing my best to get cards out! I love getting a card and I love giving cards so I am super excited!!!

So yesterday I didn't have to work. We decided to have some fun. YARD WORK (the joys of owning a home)!!! While Vance was working in the backyard I took on the front yard. I did an amazing job at mowing my front yard. Because I am SO nice I decided to mow my neighbors yard(Nice meaning I didn't want an ugly yard next to my nice yard). Well half way through their yard I feel this burning pain on my foot(Did I mention I was barefoot?). I looked down to find fireants on my left foot. I killed the mower and in a panic ran to the front door, which was locked. Ran to the back gate to find the padlock locked. I was in such a panic that I was not capable of getting the code in properly to open the garage door. So I am running frantically back and forth my house yelling crazy things trying to get him to open the door. At this point I am thinking my neighbors think that there is some domestic dispute occuring.
**So side note some of you may not know but I have severe reactions to pretty much any biting bug. Hence the dislike for camping or anything like that.**
So I ended up going to Care Now and got two shots. And have since been doped up on Benadryl. And my neighbors yard is only half mowed. And that is my exciting story.

I have pictures from Valentines Day, just haven't posted them!
I have pictures of the puppies, just haven't posted them!
I have pictures of all of the things we have finished on the house, just haven't posted them!

I am pretty sure that I am a lazy bum. In other news Vance turned 27 on Sunday. We had a birthday bash that was totally wicked. Good food, great people and lots of laughs. Tuesday night he left for New Mexico (somewhere near Santa Fe, and yes I started to sing the song) to go snowboarding. He will be back sometime on Saturday...Sunday...maybe never. He LOVES snow + boarding just about as much as me. I had to pleasure of taking Chuck to the vet for his last shots. I felt bad leaving Elsie home that I thought what the heck lets take them both...I am stupid. My puppies may be small in stature but they are crazy. They love people and other animals. So naturally they wanted to meet everyone and thing. NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN. That was the longest hour of my life. Chuck now out weighs Elsie by 2 pounds! Love it. Elsie is just crazy and became more crazy when she got spayed. The doctors say she won't calm down for about 6 months. Chuck is the snuggler of the group and also our little guardian. I will find him in his room next to the window barking at the people outside. Can the people hear him, no! But the poor guy can't catch a break from Elsie. She will wait for him to come outside to go to the bathroom. He has to brace himself for the attack he faces once he leaves the house. And no matter how fast he runs he can't keep up with her yet. Elsie prances around the back yard with her head in the air like a brat taunting Chuck with "you can't catch me." Ok enough about my pups. I love them but no one really wants to read about that. I am going to sleep now I think.

It is official!!!!

Vance and I will be going to Cancun, Mexico in September!!! And this is all thanks to two amazing sisters who we will be going with. By the time we go we will be married just about 4 years and not had a real trip of honeymoon and I am thinking that this is long over due!!!! And I am pretty sure that there are not enough exclamation points to show how excited I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my checklist to prepare is this...
Save, save, save money (Starting the budget tonight)
Work out a ton (I have my work out buddies and am getting my gym membership today)
Get a tan (People tell me how much they like my porcelain skin)
Find cute swimwear and sundresses (would love suggestions)

Ok now I need to take some very deep breathes...

I came home from a long day of work to this...

a trip

So Vance and I have been thinking that it is about time that we take a trip together, alone! This has been attempted many a times, but people just seem to want to get married. So yesterday I spent a good half of the afternoon looking up various vacation spots. We are thinking of going to San Padre Island down in southwest Texas. YAYA!!!!! BUT we got a call late last night ...Kent (Vance's brother) is getting married in June. Go figure. I pretty much screamed.

Weight Update

So Vance decided to find out how much Elsie and Chuck weigh. They are about 8 months apart so you think there would be a big difference, BUT there isn't. He is able to eat all of his food and then goes in search for hers in one sitting! So here are the weights...
Elsie : 14lbs.
Chuck: 10lbs.
He is a fatty but so cute!

can you tell that I suck at this?

My name is Chuck

Chuck(above) and Elsie ---->

Hey you guys...
Here is the little guy. His name is Chuck and he is hilarious. He doesn't back down from Elsie and sometimes even runs her off. He manages to eat all of his food as well as hers. The awesome thing about him is when he gets tired he lays in his bed!!!
Anyway things for us have been great. Kimmy and Garrett are here in the Dallas area and we have been having a ton of fun with them. They were even WILLING to help us around the house!!! So here are pictures of the pups and soon to come will pictures of the house, promise. Hope everyone is well. We loved seeing all of you guys!

Love,
Vance and Julianne

I feel disconnected from everyone and everything. I do read all of your blogs to keep myself updated! I am thinking of all of you and want to let you know that I love you. I working a lot and to make it more hectic Vance and I both have new callings in the ward. I am so grateful for the holidays coming up because I need them.