“Say time is a bandit” (Hairspray)

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Updating the blog has been a little challenging lately. Free time is down to almost nothing, and my early mornings sitting at the computer have been replaced with getting up at 4 or 5 to feed Max. We have had some great times with all three kids, and realize there is no way we could do this with out the help of Grandparents  Asperin, grandparents Bowik, and of course Matthew  -  who has been amazing -  helping out in every area at any hour of any day!

Max at 1 month

Max at 1 month

Sophie with her sunglasses eating a snack

Sophie with her sunglasses eating a snack

Evan and Sophie enjoying a family picnic in west Marin.

Evan and Sophie enjoying a family picnic in west Marin.

Max at 20 days

Max at 20 days

Max at 25 days

Max at 25 days

Daddy'o', Evan and Max enjoying lunch in Fair Play

Daddy'o', Evan and Max enjoying lunch in Fair Play

Nanna and Sophie at Lunch in Fair Play

Nanna and Sophie at Lunch in Fair Play

“We’re ’bout as happy As babies can be” (Chicago)

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

It’s all about babies these days at home. Daddies are taking care of baby Max. Evan and Sophie have also developed a little “obsession” with babies – and want to help with Max, and take care of their own babies. Feeding babies is fun, changing babies is fun, and sometimes poking at babies is fun!

Sophie feeding her baby a bottle

Sophie feeding her baby a bottle

Sophie feeding her baby a bottle  - not the way here Daddies taught her.
Sophie feeding her baby a bottle – not the way here Daddies taught her.
Sophie checking out the real baby
Sophie checking out the real baby
Evan feeding his baby some baby food
Evan feeding his baby some baby food
Evan takes his eye off his baby to smile for the camera
Evan takes his eye off his baby to smile for the cameraSANY0031
Our Real baby- Max!

“I don’t want to show off” (The Drowsy Chaperone)

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Evan was in the mood to do a little acting in front of the camera – so we caught this on video. Typically he, like most kids I assume, would never ‘perform on command’ so we felt lucky to get!

Evan counting from David Bowik on Vimeo.

“I studied all the pictures..” (Thoroughly Modern Millie)

Monday, October 26th, 2009

All three kids are napping at the moment, so I have a few minutes to put a post up about our first few days with Max. Everything is great – I’ll let the pictures tell the story!

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“Our son will ride – On the wheels of a dream” (Ragtime)

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Maxwell David Bowik was born on Wednesday October 20th, 2009 at 2:51 PM. 8 lbs.  8 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. He is doing great and was able to come home at just 46 hours old.  We are all thrilled. Evan and Sophie are totally thrilled. Evan keeps asking when he is going to cry because he believes that once he cries, that we will give him a bottle. Sophie is just practicing saying “baby” over and over and putting her finger to her lips and saying “shh”.

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Daddies with Sophie, Evan, and Max

“Our lives will change when tomorrow comes” (Miss Saigon)

Monday, October 12th, 2009

It’s been a full weekend!  To pick up where the last post left off, it turns out that Evan has “hand, foot, and mouth disease”. That’s my self diagnosis, but it seems  right on. Not a big deal at all, but the symptoms are “general malaise and lack of interest in solid foods” which is exactly him over the last 3 days.  Matthew arrived from Switzerland on Friday night. We kept busy the whole weekend, and despite Evan not being himself, the kids both made progress in bonding with him. We couldn’t be happier with our first experience with an “au pair”!   Over the weekend we had Maren’s 5th birthday party, a trip downtown on the trolley, a trip to Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch, and a party to celebrate Lolo’s birthday, and Matthew’s arrival.  On top of all this – we are still waiting for little Max to decide he wants to come out of Mom’s tummy!

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Evan and Sophie help Lolo blow out candles

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Our family portrait - we feel so blessed to have our wonderful parents, Angela - who has given us the gifts of our lifetimes, two and a half wonderful kids, and the best au pair in the world!

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Very pregnant Angela!

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Evan giving Sophie a big hug and kiss!

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Evan relaxing at the end of a long day

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Matthew checking something in his English/German dictionary.

“The more he make you cry” (Avenue Q)

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Thursday evening started out pretty normally. Daddy picked Evan and Sophie up from Lola and Lolo’s house and got home in time for Daddy to make some dinner. Just before dinner was ready I noticed that Evan was holding his hands on his lower stomach. I asked right away if he wanted to sit on the potty. Evan said “no” so I left him alone. In the next few minutes i heard some “unusual” noises coming from Evan’s diaper. A few minutes later it was obvious that Evan had experienced a rather unpleasant bowel movement. I picked Evan up and changed his diaper and noticed at the same time that he was a little “off”. I asked him if his tummy hurt and he said yes. Sophie was an angel the whole time, sitting at the table , drinking her milk and waiting for dinner. I got dinner on the table, Sophie ate, and Evan didn’t touch a thing. By this time I knew for sure that something in Evan’s tummy was not quite right. Sophie finished and Evan was drifting away, quiet and not himself at all.  I got them both on the couch and Evan curled up on the pillows and put his head down not even caring what i turned on the TV to. At this time I could tell that Evan had quite a fever, and got the tylanol. Evan was happy for a moment that he got “cherry drops”, but quickly just laid back down and was happy to have his back rubbed. Daddy JP got home and it was close to 7. The fever started to go down, so we took them both downstairs get ready for bed. Evan was quiet, and unusually happy to just lay in bed next to Daddy. Sophie played around as usual, and soon we gave the “1 minute till bedtime” warning.  Two things happened right at that moment. Sophie (who had been a little gassy) pooped in her diaper. Evan sat up in bed. Now, this is the last time i will make this mistake, but i thought to myself “hmmm., maybe Evan is feeling a little better and this is his effort to avoid bedtime.”   I was sitting on the bed next to Evan, and two seconds later, Evan vommited all over everything in sight!  (ok.. in hindsight I should have known exactly what was happening). I made a noise of surprise and disgust that I wish I hadn’t, and both Evan and Sophie started to cry.  Daddy’s worked together to try to comfort both babies, and strip the bed of all bedding, stuffed animals, and clothing as quickly as possible.  I held Evan in the rocking chair until he calmed down, and then took him upstairs and layed him on the bed while i changed my soiled clothes. All was good and calm upstairs, but Sophie was still crying downstairs. (already with a new diaper.) Evan and i started downstairs, when Evan said in the sweetest voice, “Daddy, why Sophie crying?”  I said, “Sophie is crying because she doesn’t know where you are and she wants to make sure you feel ok”.  Ten minutes later, both kids were fast asleep in their beds, and slept soundly through the night.

Friday morning was pretty normal. 7:00 AM came and Evan started calling for a ‘daddy’. I walked into the room, and Evan said, “daddy, i like apple juice”. This is very unusual for Evan, who normally will run upstairs for breakfast. I asked Evan if he wanted to go upstairs to get apple juice, and he said, “no..me stay here”.  Three minutes later i was back with apple juice, and Evan was drinking hungrily. Sophie started to stir in her bed, and began to babble. At this point Evan, still curled in my lap, said “Daddy, Sophie like apple juice too”.

It’s hard to put in words the warmth that i felt at that moment.  What kind of little boy, who does not feel well, still thinks about what his little sister needs because she can’t say it herself?  Evan is going to make one heck of a good big brother!

“Up where they stay all day in the sun” (The Little Mermaid)

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

The pictures below are from last weekend. It was a warm weekend in SF, and the kids spent a great afternoon playing in the backyard, splashing in the pool, eating popcorn, and monkeying around. The “new” thing in the house right now is “The Little Mermaid”. We were playing around in the guest room a few weeks ago, and there happened to be a pile of DVD’s that Evan decided to go through. After looking at them, he held up “The Little Mermaid” and said “me watch this one”. As far as we know, he had never seen or heard of this movie, but history has shown us then when he requests a certain video in the car, he usually seems to know what he wants, so we though “what the hay?” and put it on. Well from the very first time they saw it, they were both absolutely absorbed in Ariel! It has become the ONLY thing they want to watch – even Calliou is barely interesting at this point!

Popcorn picnic in the backyard

Popcorn picnic in the backyard

We put especially warm water in the pool this day...

We put especially warm water in the pool this day...

It's fun to have a child who will pose for the camera instead of "charging and grabbing" it!

It's fun to have a child who will pose for the camera instead of "charging and grabbing" it!

Sophie enjoying a rather dangerous game of 'tug of war' with Evan!

Sophie enjoying a rather dangerous game of 'tug of war' with Evan!

“I mean this joint is jumpin’” (Ain’t Misbehavin’)

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Sophie’s music from David Bowik on Vimeo.

“who wouldn’t ask hard questions” (I Love You Because)

Friday, September 25th, 2009

We have been talking to Evan and Sophie every day about “Max”. Evan definitely is prepared. His latest thing is going around saying “goo goo gaga” because he knows that is what Max is going to say. In this attached video, Evan talks about baby max and how he is going to help his daddies take care of baby max.

Evan’s talks about Max from David Bowik on Vimeo.