Our Baby is 6 months old!

Our wonderful baby girl is 6 months old today. She has been the light of both of our lives. She has made life worth living. After being in labor for 56 hours and not being able to deliver and going through the C-Section, her smile makes it all worth it.

(A Whole Day Old)

(6 Weeks Old)

(3 months old)

(5 months Old)

(6 months old)

It’s hard to believe that when we brought her home from the hospital she couldn’t even lift her head, her hands were closed and she slept 18 hours a day. Now she is rolling all over my house, sits up on her own, and is trying to talk. It’s just amazing how much she has learned in such little time. We are very thankful for her. She makes me smile after a bad day. She loves her daddy and when he is gone for a 24 hour shift she always greets him with a smile, hug, and now an open mouth kiss (since she has learned to do that).

The Home Tones....In the Middle of the Night

I am writing to share with you my middle of the night/early morning scare!!!!
I am very proud of what my husband does, but when you are sound asleep and thankful that Ava is sleeping, the dog isnt wining, and you still have a couple hours until you need to get up for work and you are woke up by a loud alarm and then a woman's voice stating "All personnel report for working structure fire at ......" it scares you a bit.

We have only had a few instances when the City of Martinsburg has called all the firefighters in to work in the middle of the night when he's been off, but every time it goes off I'm like "Holy Crap".
Kenny gets up and gets dressed, we get kisses and goodbyes and hes out the door...when will he return...when the fire is out....

Its beginning to feel like spring!

These past few days have been beautiful. I haven't had Ava outside just yet but I have been making sure that the little she is out (from the house to the car and to the car to the house) that she is in 'springy' clothes. Heres a few of her newest outfits. I love putting her in dresses.

My First Night with Patton without Kenny

So last night was my first night while Kenny worked that I had Ava and Patton all to myself. Boy, was it tiring. Patton wants just as much attention as any other puppy would want but has to share that with Ava. But I think I did pretty well. Ava fell asleep as usual on the way home so I ran in and grabbed Patton and tied him outside before taking her inside. That way he wouldnt start howling and wake her up. I let him stay outside about a half hour while I played with Ava.

Once he was inside, I made sure he had food and water and let him play a little. I tried to keep the boundaries between him and Ava. He still has sharp nails that need to be cut and he's starting to nibble at her. But she wants him just as bad as he wants her so I bent her down to him so she could pet him, however she grabbed his hair and had a tight grip. So I ended up smacking his nose for the nibbling and tapping her fingers trying to teach her you dont pull the dogs hair.

Ava's bedtime is usually somewhere between 7-730, so around 630, I had Patton go back outside for a while so I could feed Ava her bottle in peace. She ate and feel asleep. So I put her in bed, turned on her monitor and went out to get Patton. He was very excited to see me and had wrapped his leash all the way around the tree so I spent what seemed like forever in the cold untangling him and the leash.

I spent about 45 minutes with him, he followed me around the house while I got Ava's bag together for the next day. He followed me into the room everytime I went in to check on her. He watched me change into my pj's and clean her bottles. He was right there for everything, right underneath my feet. He wined everytime I left the room without him but would eventually find me and wag his tail in excitement.

Soon it was his bedtime and mine. We were all tucked away and snoozing by 8pm.

This morning as soon as my alarm went off at 5:30 I thought how am I going to get all 3 of us ready and out the door by 6:45. Sooooo I got up....

I made sure not to disturb Ava and had her sleep as long as she could. I put Patton outside around 600 and began getting ready for work while Ava who had woke up by then was playing on the bed...laughing, rolling, and talking....

I left Patton out there for about 20 minutes, howling and barking the whole time, he sounded as if someone was stabbing him. He acts as if we have left him for dead when I just dont want him pooping in my house.

He got a chance to play with Ava, who was super excited to see him. Again, I was smacking his nose and her fingers. And they were just looking at me like 'What? I just wanna play!"

I put Ava in her walker while I went out to start the Jeep. I figure she's not on the floor but sitting up in the chair so maybe he wont bother her as much while I run outside for a minute, well the goofball followed me out to the kitchen and I thought "Well good maybe he'll stay here while I'm outside and I dont have to worry about his chewing on her"

NOPE...he followed me out to the Jeep, wined while I started it and jumped on me twice for attention and to be pet then back in the house the both of us went. I was worried he'd run..no leash, no fence...but he stayed right at my feet. So at least Ava wasnt being bothered.

He went into his crate before I left for Becky's with Ava and he was not howling when I left so hopefully he is getting used to the schedule. Hopefully he'll learn that he will be let out of the crate when someone gets home and relax while he's in there.

So my first night and morning while Kenny worked wasnt too bad. I am hoping as we can continue to work with him and he gets more and more used to the "Rules of the House" it'll get better. Puppies can be challenging but so is Ava at times. I am glad we have both of them now to grow up together and to take care of one another. And if I am going to be teaching my 5 month old stuff such as crawling and sitting up on her own and talking, might as well spend the time teaching a puppy to go to the door before peeing on my kitchen floor and to not chew on the furniture and to hopefully follow a few simple commands.

Patton-The newest Member of the Bowers Family

We have adopted a puppy from our cousins Davey and Sara Pappas. Their dog Daisy delivered 11 puppies unfortunely one passed leaving them with 10 puppies to raise. They were born the weekend before my birthday in December. They were a couple days old when we made our way to their house to take a look at them. They are coon hound/chocolate lab mix but most of them look like black labs.

With all this snow and bad weather we have not been able to pick him up but finally the weather is good enough Kenny went and got him this past weekend. I must stay it was love at first sight for Ava and Patton. We put Ava on the floor and encouraged Patton to come to her. The first night together was a little shaky for him, getting used to a new home and being away from his family. But his bond with Ava I think was immediate. She was crying for a bottle and he starting wining. If Ava was on the couch, then Patton was on the floor by the couch.

Patton has now been a part of our family for 4 days and I think he is finally getting that he is not going anywhere, he is getting comfortable running around the house, following us everywhere and getting under our feet. We are crate training along wtih trying to teach him not to pee all over my house. Soooo it should be fun. Its like having two 5 month olds in the house. But they will grow together and love each other and take care of one another. Patton is already so protective of her, I love it. Last night when I took her back to her bed for the night, he started looking around for her and wining. Im sure it wont be long when she gets older that he is right there beside her bed, if not in her bed....

Mirena

I had the IUD Mirena inserted December 11, 2009. I decided to have the IUD placed because I have had bad reactions to several different pills. I thought that this would be a easy way to protect myself and regulate without having to remember the pill everyday. I would love another baby but not yet, I couldnt imagine trying to keep up with my active 5 month old and battling morning sickness. A friend of mine had hers placed more than a year or two ago and loves it.

About a month ago I began feeling sick and thought 'oh no' and took a pregnancy test...negative...hmmmm...but sick every morning for a week or so. Then my leg muscles began to ache, really for no reason, just sitting on the couch, they would ache so bad I would have to take alieve. My hair had been slowly coming out but the doctor told me that was normal with my hormones going back to normal and all that wonderful thick hair I had received while pregnant was shedding. Well I began losing gobs of it and soon my thick hair was strangely thin. I havent had thin hair since I was around 2 years old.

As time went on, I felt more blah! I didnt want to do much of anything and had no energy. I felt bad all the time with bloating and pain in my side and a DULL headache that has been with me since December 11th. So I began researching. I knew there were side effects, but could I really be dealing with all of them? The research I found scared me, there was message board after message board of women that have been dealing with the same things I have been.

So I decided it was coming out. Nothing is worth what I had been dealing with. Yesterday around 3:30 my doctor removed the IUD and guess what? Most of those symptoms including my 3 month long headache was gone by 8 pm. My doctor believes that either I was allegric to it, which wouldnt surprise me or my body rejected the foreign object. Either way it is out and I am happy. I even have some energy and actually did a few things in the evening besides play with Ava and play on the internet. And I was up longer than 8pm. I hadnt seen 9pm in a long time. I just felt so worn down.

I am not going to discourage anyone from getting it because it could work of someone else but just didnt work for me.

What Do I do for Living?

I get asked that a lot. I say I work for a contractor of the United States Coast Guard and people look at me like 'Okay and that means...." So I thought I would try to explain it.

This is the most complicated job description I have ever had. In the past I could just say secretary or director's assistant and people were like "Okay,you push paper and play on the internet all day doing nothing at a desk" and they smiled and went on. When really those positions are hard and tiring and usually the secretary is the backbone of the office even though many might disagree with me. (My dad in particular who works on his feet all day and sweats for a living.)

I am an evaluator. I am given applications from the mariners of the United States and must professional qualify them for the rating in which they have requested. I must comply with the Code of Federal Regulars written by the United States Coast Guard and the United States Congress. We are given checklists that give us a outline of what is acceptable and what is not and we must make sure that everything in that application is acceptable and legal.

When given an application we must make sure the the legal name and address are correct, that a drug test is provided and is signed off by the correct doctor, and that the sea service matches the necessary requirements for the rating in which the mariner is requesting. A complete evaluation can take anywhere from 15 minutes to almost 4 hours depending on the application request. Once I can show that everything is in the application and complete I am able to either send it to be printed and sent to the mariner or send it to be reviewed by a government employee and then be sent out. It can be very fustrating if the mariner did not include all the required information and I have to try to get in contact with him about it. Especially if he wants to argue about the required information or state that he didnt think he needed and will have to obtain it, making it a longer process for him to receive his credential.

Customer Service is a huge part of my job. I communicate through email, fax, and phone. Some of my guys can be pretty nasty but some are so sweet and I wish I could work with them throughout their career.

My position is complicated and the rules and regulations change a lot so I have to always be on my toes but I enjoy it. My experience here has made me grow and allowed me to become a more critical and analytical thinker.