big boy boots

Life in the Bowen household is so fun!  Jace keeps the smiles & giggles happening often.  I know, it will come as a big surprise, but Jace is a talker!  ;)
You all know his first word was "tractor", of course Dada & since then he has added "Mama" (FINALLY), other simple ones are- dog, duck, down, up, door, bubbles, buh-bye, hat, ball, hot, broom, shoes, socks, boots, deer.
Jackson (his buddy at day care)
shone (which is Phone),
and his new favorite is,  Uh-Oh.  I think he purposefully drops things just to say it!
And he doesn't say the animal (lion or tiger) but he loves to growl like them!  It is quite cute! 
He loves reading his 1000 word book and others that have fun pictures of things that he can recognize. 
He also knows where his HEAD, EYES, EARS, BELLY & FEET are! :) 

I know, most of you warned me that once he started walking, look out he would be running!  So, here's how we slowed him down!

Put him in Big Boy Boots!  ;)

BIRTHDAY BOY!

It's so hard to believe that one year ago, our world changed.  Changed in more ways than we'd ever know... The best of life was yet to come!  This past year has been unbelievable!  Jace has brought so much Joy, laughter, smiles and love into our lives. 
To Celebrate the past year we had a fun gathering on his birthday.  Here are a few pictures to show how much Jace enjoyed his cake.

It was such a beautiful day and we were blessed with wonderful weather, great family and friends who joined us in celebrating Jace's 1st Birthday!! 

11 months old (Already?)

I can't believe it... in 1 month Jace will be 1 Year Old!!!
Crazy how time flies!! 
His newest "tricks" are: opening ANY door, drawar, cupboard he can.
Standing on his own, until he gets "wobbly legs" then he plops down.
Saying, "Tractor"- it sounds more like, "tra-to"

Baptism

July 31st, Jace was Baptized! 
It was a great service. Jace did so well.  Being the "talker" that he is...you know there were a few fun "Jace" noises during the ceremony.  ;)

Great Grandma Kean, Grandma and Grandpa Bowen, Aunt Lindsay, Grandma and Grandpa Whiting, Bethany, Trevor, Gwendalyn & Harrison Judd were all there to celebrate with us! 

10 months

I know, I'm a little late.. But as you can imagine, things are a little busy around here.  I have no idea how all the other mothers find time to get their postings up in such a timely fashion!! ;)

Anyway, life around here has been a blast!  Jace loves crawling everywhere, pulling himself up, chewing on almost anything, finding EVERYTHING he's not supposed to!
He is a big fan of anything that "crinkles"- tissue paper, wrapping paper, newspaper, anything!!
He loves immitating you when you laugh at him. It is quite comical. 
He also loves it when you sneeze, he tries that too.  It is basically him spitting all over himself!

My last post was about his "little white line" and his crazy high fever... Well, the little white line has since disappeared!  AHHH, the poor little guy!  I just hope that when it decides to come back again it isn't so painful and miserable for him! 

We will be celebrating his baptism this weekend!!  Lots has happened this month in his world & we are so excited to end the month with a fun Celebration of Baptism!!

Here are some fun pictures:

Playing with paper, it makes a fun noise

So big!

"ohh, what's this??"

Ha! I LOVE my highchair, especially when you are feeding me

:)

The little white line

So, a little while ago I posted that I thought I was starting to see the little white bumps in Jace's mouth... FAKE OUT. Thougth he might have been teething?  FAKE OUT.. He had woken up in the middle of the night a few times... FAKE OUT! 
Yeah, I don't know WHY I was even slightly concerned that Jace didn't have teeth and he is 10 months old.  Note to self... no more bragging!
Poor baby!!! Day 2 of a feverish, sluggish, miserable, trying to smile little boy.  I feel terrible!  Yesterday when I picked him up from Day Care they said, "Well Katie, this is it... he's really teething."  He had a runny nose, fever, rubbing his ear & he was making the cutest little whimpering noise! 
The BEST and worst part about it... HE SNUGGLES!!!  My little man never snuggles anymore and I've been quite vocal lately about him NOT snuggling with me, not even before he goes to bed.  So, I'm getting my snuggle time in now. :)
Tonight his fever got kind of high so we gave him a lukewarm bath.  I felt like I was performing some sort of child abuse.  He screamed the whole time but his fever broke!  Yippee!  But, while he was crying it gave me a good chance to look in his mouth and see... the little white line!! 
 I'm hoping only a little while longer and these teeth will be through and this awful torture for all of us will be over!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!! 

I hope you like your present, I like the tissue paper!!  Thanks for letting me play with it!

 This is what we found when we checked to see if Jace was sleeping during nap time...

"Look at what I can do Mom & Dad!"  I think it's time to lower the matress...

"Ha, Ha!  This is fun!!"



Melts my heart... Too Cute  <3



The white spots are getting whiter...

I'm not trying to brag... but Jace has been an exceptional sleeper his whole life (all 9 months of it) except whe he is sick or... teething, I think.
Three nights ago he woke up 3 times.  Each time I would go in his room and he'd be sitting up, crying, searching for Colby (his cow pacifier).  I was told the "teething tablets" were amazing so I gave them a try. Once I gave him the tablets then Colby, he'd flop over & go back to sleep... poor kid. 
This has been going on for the past 3 nights.  Last night I got a little smarter & gave him 3 tablets BEFORE putting him to bed instead of waiting for him to wake up in the middle of the night and "WOALAH!!"  He didn't wake up!! :)
So I keep looking in his mouth and feeling around for teeth. I can't feel anything but when he smiles, there are 2 little white spots (that to me, have been there for what seems like FOREVER) but, it seems like they are getting a little whiter! ;) 

9 Months old & crawling all over!

Where does the time go??  It's crazy to believe Jace is already 9 months old!  We went to our 9 month check up and he is weighig in at 18lbs  (they say he's a little on the light side) and 28" long!! 
Still NO teeth and not much hair.   People keep saying it's ok that his teeth aren't in, so we are just patiently waiting. :)

Look out... He's on the MOVE!!!

Thank goodness for baby gates, and saftey locks, outlet covers... Since he has figured out how to get from A to B, it seems that all of the 50 baby toys we have are no longer fun and he MUST play with everything that is not his!  ;)

8 Months Old!!

Can't believe it!!!  8 months old already!  Crazy,time is flying!!  I just had the honor of celebrating my first Mother's Day & now we get to celebrate Jace turning 8 months old!

Fun things Jace Does:

Smiles
Giggles
Talks non-stop
And...


"HI 5!!!!"



Happy Mother's Day!!!

Crazy to think 1 year ago, I was pregnant for a little baby,  unsure if it was a boy or a girl, just super excited for my new chapter in life as a MOM! No matter what it was, I just prayed that I would be the best mom I could be. 
Here we are 1 year later and we have a beautiful baby boy that brings us JOY every day with whatever he does!  (even cry or show off his little boy temper)  It has been such a great ride to be a parent (Mom) and learn all that goes in to being a mother that NO ONE tells you about.  ;) 

This was a wonderful way to spend my first Mother's Day!! 

Yay for the weather, Yay for Mothers, Yay for Sunshine!!!
We spent our weekend as a family outside as much as possible.  Mom and Dad cleaned out the garage & Jace hung out on the lawn, playing with his toys & trying to figure out what he thought about grass. 

This is what Jace made for me at Day Care  :)  Best Mommy's Day present ever!!!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!  The Easter Bunny made a quick stop here for Jace's 1st Easter. 

 What a great day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!  What a beautiful day to spend with family, which we did. 

Quick snooze before Church

After church we went to brunch with Grandma and Grandpa Whiting where we had delicious food and stuffed ourselves.  :)
Since we over consumed, Todd went out turkey hunting and Jace and I went for a walk. 

Can't leave home without Sophie!



So excited about his new stroller!



What a beautiful day for a walk!

After our walk, we snapped a few more pictures of Jace in his "Easter duds"

Such a happy boy!

laughing at Daddy

All smiles!!

Beautiful Blue Eyed Boy

A Mother's Love <3






We are soo blessed and have so much to be thankful for...  Everyday is a gift and Jace is a perfect reminder of that. 

Roll, Roll, Roll...

Here are a few pictures of Jace with his 7 month sticker.  I had to share them, he is super cute!!  I will also try and post some Easter pictures. 
His biggest milestone right now is rolling & rolling & rolling, in both directions.  It's fun to watch him roll around to get to the toys on the ground.  He still continues to say, "da da" and many other sounds.  Recently he has now added little grunts to his vocab. 

getting stronger



Look Out, I'll be on the move real soon!!



Cousin Isaac turned 1!

So, I'm going to back track a little bit to the beginning of April.  We went down to Columbus for our nephew Isaac's 1st birthday.  He had such a neat cake, spaghetti and meatballs!  Here are some wonderful pictures of him eating his cake.

Looks like he had a "choc-o-lot" of fun!!!

During the party the sun came out so here are a few pictures of Todd and Jace playing in the grass in the back yard.  We had such a nice time with family. 

First Experience with Grass!

My Boys in Blue

Always Smiling :)

Happy Boy!

Yay for sunshine!

So, it's finally warm enough outside to enjoy the sunshine.  So, last night after Todd got home from work, he took Jace outside to sit in the grass.  Here are a few cute photos of Jace in Todd's work hat.

YAY for Sunshine!!! (& cuz I look cute in Daddy's hat)  :)

7 Months today!

Time flies when you are having fun!  Today was a travel day home from celebrating cousin Isaac's 1st birthday in Columbus, Ohio.  Jace has always been such a good traveler.  On the way home we stopped by Great Grandma Kean's to visit and stretch our legs.  It was nice to see her, Grandma Bowen, Grandpa Bowen, Aunt Lindsay, and Troy.  It was unbelievably warm...I mean HOT today!  Michigan weather is crazy. 

So as of today, Jace is 7 months old.  His big accomplishments to date are: saying dadadada...of course he doesn't know he's saying dada, but Todd seems to think he does, he is sitting up on his own, he rolls over, grabs his own toys, puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, no teeth yet, but lots of drool, LOTS of drool!!  He is all smiles almost all the time!  He sleeps like a champ!  He is eating yummy foods, like sweet potatoes, squash, avocado, and green beans.  Here are some pictures of him while eating:

Umm, I think I like it...

Yummy!!

Mom's not fast enough!