Trick or treat, the trick is to get a changing without being wet down. Of course it does help to get the new diaper on before the new outfit. This one is special for today as it is baby's first halloween. Should be fun carving the pumpkin today, though im not sure she will care much for it.
Either way she is a cute sweet heart isnt she. Mommy and daddy are getting used to her morning and nightly feedings and on a good night can get three hours of sleep in a row. Not to bad some nights are worse. Happy Halloween!

Avery went out for her first stroll this afternoon which was a quick walk around the block but at least she was bundled up to much to even notice. Her nice hat slipped down over her eyes once in a while. This might be the last of the nice days before winter kicks in then she will be nice and bundled inside. Shes doing great, keeping mommy and daddy busy all night long and then sleeping most of the day. Need to work on that.

Its great knowing when I am up changing my little one at 1am or feeding her at 11am that my best friend Jon out in California is doing the same thing for his own new little one. We met in highschool and have been bestfriends ever since then. We got married within a few months of each other and now have had our first babies within days of each other. His daugther and mine will hear about the Lord and how to put trust in His name and love. I know out of all the children born in this world these two are greatle blessed and loved.

Little Avery enjoys her life of feeding and changing and not so sure she enjoys bath time. The only thing she likes is when we scrub down her head must be something about the massaging. Well i need to get off to check on pictures.

The joy of being a daddy means i have a new life to take care of and someone new who is completly dependent on me for her wellbeing. It is an amazing thing to watch her grow even hour by hour. She passed her first doctor appt today with flying colors. (Ever notice that in the story of Noah and the Ark he was the first ever to really get through with flying colors in the sense of the rainbow in the sky). Maybe i have been up to much, actually we are trying the shift thing out as much as possible and keeping Avery close and watching her sleep. She is so adorable. I look forward to the days ahead as i press on to be the best daddy and husband i can be.

Avery declined any comment on how she enjoyed her nights sleep in her new crib. We think it was just the light from the camera but either way doesn't she look too adorable for words. Mommy and daddy enjoy their new bundle of fun inbetween feeding, changing, and burping. She actually does let us get a few minutes of sleep if we are good, but not much more.

Little Avery is home at last with her mommy and daddy snug in her new little world. There is so much excitment and wonder about today. The air has never been as sweet nor the sun so bright. What a day, now we are home and trying to figure out what to do next :) Change, sleep, feed, pretty much that is her schedual for a while. Sounds like fun!

She knows her daddy and mommy love her. This is me feeding my rosebud and enjoying every drop.

The greatest few minutes of Hollys mommy life. She got to hold our little rosebud last night for a feeding which Avery was too tired to actually do any feeding. But there is our little girl sleeping soundly with her oxygen tube in her nose just in case she needs it. The doctor says she might be able to come home friday but we just have to wait and see as she needs to make sure all is well before she can head home. But at least we are close and can be with her.

Little Avery Diane Bowlby born at 11:39am Oct 19, 7lbs and 15oz. 20 and 3/4 inches long. She has beautiful dark brown hair. She has her daddys eyes and her mommys face. She is so beautiful and we love her so much already. We do need your prayers her now. She came out and had a little problem with asparating some blood into her lungs. She is now in the nicu. They are taking really good care of her there but please pray for her as she has to be given oxyegen and has other stuff to help her keep feed. At the moment we just got home from the hospital for the moment to grab some dinner at Hollys moms house. They told us we are discharged but we can still stay in one of the rooms they set aside as a transition room. So we will be going back to the hospital tonight. Avery is still in critical condition in the neo natel unit but is under very good care, the best in the state. She is on oxygen still about 25% at last check. Her main problem is high respiration which just means her lungs are in pain from her initial asperation and they are trying to get better. When she is asleep she is calmer so that is good cause it means she can heal. She speant a while holding my hand fingers and Hollys as well. She knows our voices and crys like a banshee but she is adorable as ever. She looks so much like holly and has my eyes, she just takes our breath away. I cant wait to get pictures to you all. Hollys work is going to get us a room at a hotel near the hospital until Avery gets to come home so that we can be near her. Its still a moment by moment thing so keep praying for her. She also has beautiful dark brown hair as well and is the most cutest baby in the world!

Thank you for your prayers and I will update you more later

David, Holly and Avery

With the final snap in place the last of the needed baby items is complete. We now have the pack and play together which is a play pen\changing table\bassinett all in one. Pretty neat item too. Along with the other things we already have. Now we just awaite baby and hope to get through today as quick as possible. Of course there will be much excitment tommorw.
Todays word from the Bible i read was Psalm 17:18, "Keep me as the apple of the eye;
Hide me in the shadow of Your wings"
The Psalmist knew what it meant to cherish something with absolute devotion and love. Within the midst of this love there is protection and security. This verse speaks to the awesome presence of the Lord and how He sees His children. Perhaps I will understand even more when I first hold onto my new baby girl and look into her eyes. From that moment on, if not already, she will be the apple of my eye. There would be nothing I would not do to show my love and to protect her. It is the same kind of feeling you have when getting married but so much more intense and powerful as well. Realize something beloved, the Lord loves each one of us in this way and even more. He holds us like a Father holding onto a new baby. He keeps us as the apple of His eye forever.

I look forward to that as does my wife and truly this is a gift from God and to Him be the glory for this new creation and thanks for allowing us to have her in our lives.

Last week i spent a day reorganizing my garage seeing as how we were not able to get a car into it. When we moved in back in May the weather was very hot so i had never been able to get everything put up into the attic properly. Now that we have that taken care of i can get a car in without a problem. We also have four shelves full of books, mostly from my college days. Kind of nice to have all of it at once place incase i need to find a book. Of course i still have two more shelves ready for books to come.

This week is cleanup time as we make the last minute steps toward a new baby in this house. Of course there is much to do but much that has already been done. I look forward to the moment when i first hear her little sounds and see her face looking up at me. I can't wait. Of course its just another 48 hours or so depending on when she would like to come out and say hello to the world. We have had her name picked out for over a year now. Avery... it is a beautiful name.
Well i better get on with my day so i get make it hurry along. I will let you know how everything goes!

This is my last weekend before Avery's birthday and the nesting has really kicked in. Suddenly we are struck with this amazing realization that we are going to be parents now and all of the ideas and theories we had will be out the window on how to parent. Learning from day one will be the key and of course our little one will give us a lot to learn. We just can't wait as you can tell. We keep thinking she will come before her due date, or induction day i should say. But i think she is pretty content where she is at. We have just been doing some house maintaince today getting last minute things ready. There is still much to do but i can get some stuff done on my day off this week as we prepare for her arrival. Wow what a thought. You know it has been about seven years since my wife and I first met. Actually it was through an email.

In November of 1999 Holly sent me an email because she sound my name through a Yahoo friends search. I think I was the only boy around her age and we had the common interest of both liking the Left Behind Novels. We got into the emailing and chatting online back and forth and finally met in December of 2000 in person. Of course i did ask her out first back in August of that same year. After several trips back and forth I asked her to marry me in December of 2001. Then after even more trips around to see each other we were married in June of 2003. Now here we are in Oct of 2006 and our little Avery is going to be born to us any moment. So madly in love with my wife and so ready to be a Father. I pray the Lord will give us strength and wisdom in all the areas we need as we press ahead.

Our doctor set the date for Thursday for Avery to be born, so unless she wants to come out on her own that will be her birthday. We will soon see and are very excited as well about it. Nothing much new in the way of waiting we will continue to go to work and enjoy the weekend, possibly clean up and get ready for what is ahead. I heard the best place to get diapers is at Sams Club so that will be a good plan. Waiting is not easy, but we have been waiting far more than 39 weeks so a few more days should be just fine. Our little one is stubborn just like her daddy. Cant wait to meet her.

Having a day off for once is actually very rewarding. This one was spent trying to get the car in the garage, or to be more clear, getting the doors open so someone can get into the car while in the garage. We moved into this house back in May and have a one car garage (one thing to avoid in future house plans). I finally have a schedule which allows me a day off during the week and it is also much cooler then it was during the summer so I could get some work done in the garage. I was able to move much of the junk and other boxes of stuff into the attic portion which is easy to get to. I moved on inside to do some much needed cleaning and did not accomplish to much before it was dinner time and Hol came home. I did however learn a easy way to clean up the kitty litter which my youngest cat seems to manage to get everywhere but in the box. I simply swept all of it into a pile and soaked it down with water, then I took a towel and it all came up right away. Now while doing this I realized that idea must have come from God because He always teaches us that He is the water of life. As the water comes into our lives we are to unite with our brothers and sisters to form a closer bond in the Church. It was an interesting thought either way.

As for tonight Holly has had some serious back pain and contractions that are at least 8 or so minutes when she can tell through the pain that they are there. So we will wait this out and see what is to come. I will be letting you know...

David

This is our little nursery waiting and ready for our baby to be born!

If you had known me six years ago then you would wonder why this is my first appearance in a blog. I say this because much of my time was spent on computers growing up and as the internet over our daily lives I was very much involved. Message boards are where I spent much of highschool and just a little bit of college. Then I got married and moved far away from the life of busy message boards and computers, though you will still find us around from time to time. Now Holly and I have become busy with new adventures of our own including buying a new house back in May and having a new baby who is due any day now! Because we are getting into some new adventures I thought it would be best to remember how much fun it is to share life with others and get online again. Sadly my front page software is missing so I cannot work on my web page, but the blog is still a good spot since most of what we like to do around here is talk. So hopefully as this thing gets off the ground you will come by often and see how things are going with us.