Avery's 1st Video

Addition Successful

Welcome with us Avery Marie Bowman born Friday, April 17th at 8:09a at St. Johns in St. Louis, Missouri. A very healthy 7lbs. 12oz and 21 in. long and perfectly adorable.

Ashley and Avery are doing great after this planned C-section. To avoid the high likely hood of another emergency C we went with the hospital's advice to plan this one. It has been a great experience and we couldn't be happier with both mom and baby healthy!

The hospital staff has been amazing and we are thankful for the prayers and well wishes from all our friends and family. Ashley's parents David and Gwenda are helping out a ton with taking care of Clay through the weekend. We are looking forward to bringing Avery home this Monday as all things continue to go well!

Big Brother Clay came by to see the new addition and did great. They exchanged presents: Clay got Avery a stuffed bear and Avery got clay a few new books and "Space Buddies" the movie. Unsolicited Clay asked, "Can I hold her, can Avery sit on my lap and watch Space Buddies?"

I am blessed,

Jason

What's that noise??

I can't believe the end of summer is approaching. We leave for our last trip of the summer on Thursday. We will be visiting Jason's family as well as fundraising for The New Life Project! I am very excited for the trip, especially escaping these hot summer temps! In fact, I just checked the forecast out, and it looks like I may need to pull out the winter clothes! We are beginning to feel more settled in St. Louis and still looking forward to the re-launch of New Life Community Church on September 7. We closed on our house in Springfield, which means we can begin looking for one here which is exciting! Clay is doing great, but has finally decided he is going to show his parents what being two is all about. For the most part, he is still a very sweet well-mannered two year old. But, the other weekend when my parents came to visit, I got to be the parent that had to literally carry my screaming, kicking child out of the mall. Why was he screaming? Honestly, I have no idea. It all started when I told him it was time to go from the playland at the mall. But, then it just started escalating into such a tantrum that I don't even think he knew why he was throwing it. I hope this is not the startof the terrible twos. On the other spectrum he is as curious as ever right now. We jokingly call him Curious George. His favorite question to ask right now and he literally asks it at least twenty times a day is, "What's that noise?" He has the best hearing of anyone I've met. Half the time I don't know what noise he is referring to until I listen closely to see what noise he is hearing. He is just so curious! His newest fun thing to do at home is pile all of the cushions off the couch on the floor, stand on top of the couch and jump off. I just know he is going to break an arm because he rarely falls on top of the cushions, but Jason has assured me that I am just overly worried:) He is so much fun right now. I really love this age and it is so fun this summer to be able to do so many fun things with him! We are really looking forward to our upcoming trip! We will have to post pics soon!

101 Things every St. Louisan Must Do!

Well, we are well on our way of accomplishing the 101 things every St. Louis Must Do, which was posted in the St. Louis magazine May 2008. Since we arrived we have accomplished 3 and this weekend alone we completed 3 more. For me, growing up in Springfield, it is amazing that there really are 101 amazing things to do in one city. It is still dawning on me how fun it is to live in a big city. Last night we went with friends to The Hill, which is the Italian district here full of restaurants on every corner with amazing Italian food. It was amazing. We then drove to Ted Drewes, which is famous for their custard. When we pulled up, the place was FULL of people standing around and in line for this custard. I have to be honest maybe I got my hopes up too high, but I was not that impressed with the custard. However, somehow they are so famous that people are willing to wait in huge lines to get some. Today, we went to Grant's Farm, which is owned by Budweiser, and has a tram ride where you can see several animals and a lot of interactive areas where the kids can pet/feed different animals. We have had a great family weekend with a lot of needed rest built in!! I love these kind of weekends!!

Real quick I have to share some Clay stories as well! It is interesting for me to raise a boy since I have only one sister and was raised around mostly girls even in my extended family. It is so interesting to me to watch him play, knowing that as I girl I would never have thought to play in that manner. Of course, I was definitely a girlie girl when I was little:) For example, the other morning I decided I would be a "creative" mom and build him a fort in our living room with sheets and everything. I was so proud and so excited for him to see this fun thing I had built for us to play under. Notice I said under:) Well, Clay had a different idea. He immediately thought I had built something for him to jump on top of. Needless to say, my effort quickly turned into a huge mess of sheets and pillows in our living room. At least he is creative!! My other favorite story of the week happened last night outside of the restaurant in The Hill. Clay had been given a string on a balloon from one of the waiters. He was playing really nicely with it until all of our friends came outside to meet us. He then shifted into show off mode and started shaking his balloon and dancing around saying and I quote, "Shake Your Body! Shake Your Body!" Where does this kid get this stuff? Of course there were lots of jokes about him being a pastor's kid and yelling Shake Your Body, but honestly I love his enthusiasm for life!! He has his toddler moments, but for the most part he makes everything so fun because he is so energetic about everything!! He is such a blessing!

Way too precious!

Monday night Jason and I took Clay to the pool here at our complex. It is something that we try to do often and although it takes Clay awhile to warm up to the idea, he usually loves splashing int he water. Then, he always wants out and wrapped in a towel with a snack and his juice. We left the pool Monday night and had just pulled out of the parking lot when Clay says, "That was so much fun! That was so much fun! Thanks Dad. Thanks Mom. Thanks for taking me to the pool!" Jason and I just kind of looked at each other in pleasant surprise. I am not sure if Clay at the age of two knows how much those words mean to us unsolicited like that, but they mean the world to us. I think we might have to take him to the pool every night!:)

It's Been Way Too Long!!!!

Well, I hate that blogging has become a thing of the past now. But, moving/transition has prevented me from writing as much as I would have liked too. It is a crazy thing because while we were moving I wanted to write to catch everyone up on the adventure, but finding the time to write was a different story. We arrived in St. Louis on May 6, and I wish I could say we are all settled in. Actually, there have been a few bumps in the road that honestly at times made me want to forget what God had called us to do and turn around and head back "home." We knew going into this adventure that God had called us to something that would be difficult, but we had no idea what we were going to face once we arrived to the house we were suppose to live in on the church campus. The house had been vacant for a year. It is an older house, but we came to St. Louis the two weekends before arrival to clean, paint, and renovate, and it turned out looking fairly good. However, after we arrived I saw more bugs than I ever care to see again. We thought it was strange but not a huge deal. However, we hired an exterminator to check it out and spray. What he found is honestly my worst nightmare: a bad case of brown recluse spiders!! I had a very hard time sleeping the night we found that out, but he told us he would treat them and get rid of them. Well, unfortunately, the case of spiders was even more severe than the exterminator first thought. After giving the exterminators and ourselves time to rid the house of the brown recluse and getting expert advice on the matter, we decided it was not in our best interest to stay in the house. We found a huge one right under Clay's bed and that is what did us in. It is a long story but basically we were told it would be very hard to get rid of them for a long time, so after moving in with a wonderful family in the church, we finally found an apartment and moved in! I actually kind of like apartment living right now. I am sure I will be ready for a house soon, but we found a great apartment here and it is kind of like living on a resort for a few months...lush green landscaping, 2 swimming pools, workout facility, tennis, basketball....it is fun! So, things are looking up for the Bowman family! We are getting settled in our apartment, our house in Springfield just sold, the church plant is going great, and we really like the West County area of St. Louis. I will share more details regarding all of that another time. Before this blog turns into a novel, I wanted to share a few recent pics of Clay. He turned 2 years old on June 21 and we had his party at Chuck E Cheese's. Several people from the church and my parents celebrated with him and he had a blast. We also got some recent pics taken at Portrait innovations here. And Chrissy next time I write I will follow up on your tag.

March events with the Bowman Family

As you know, things are a little crazy for us right now with the move approaching. So, blogging has become something that get left out of my schedule right now. However, for those of you who have asked me for updates, I thought for sake of time I would list off a few of the fun events over the last month!

*My parents paid for the whole family to spend an extended weekend at Tan-tar-a, a resort on Lake of the Ozarks. The weather could not have been better, and the break was well needed and a lot of fun! I will post pics soon.

*Through the help of friends and family we got our house ready to sell and on the market in record time. Thanks everyone who helped make this possible!! It has been on the market for a week with great interest, but no offers yet. We are praying an offer comes in soon:)

*Clay had a wonderful time at our church's Easter egg hunt. Here are a few pics...

*However, he was sick with a fever on Easter. So, we both wore are Easter outfits last Sunday:) I will have to post pics soon. He looked adorable!!

*Clay is now counting to 12. It completely took me by surprise. I mean I count things with him a lot, but he has never appeared to show much interest in my little education game. About a month ago, I picked Clay up for my parents house and my mom told me he counted to 10 for her. ( I can't tell you how many firsts have happened at my parents house:) The next day I was carrying Clay down the hall and he started counting to 10 for me. Then this week he added 11 & 12. It is so fun to see him grow!

*Clay has also started calling me Ashley and Jason...Jason, instead of Mom and Dad. I thought this was a teenage thing:)

*Despite the busyness, we are having an amazing month. The Lord has been truly faithful through this transition. We also have created a website for those who are interested in hearing more about where we are going and what we are doing. Check it out:

http://www.thenewlifeproject.com/

We will continue to keep everyone posted on our upcoming move and transition!