Just Another Manic Monday

Today is officially the first day of the last week I get to be home with Bowen. I am really sad, not to mention the Monday after Christmas. Although I am relieved that all the festivities are over, its always depressing when you realize Christmas is really over for the year. Boo!

About a month ago, we got Bowen's pictures done. They are posted at carleajphotography.com. But here are a few of our favorites.



This year we had Four Christmases. Yes just like the movie. Our first one was on Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncles house in Dripping Springs. The second was at Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Mandy's in Luling, the third at Aunt Kelley's in Wimberly, and the fourth in Corpus at Grandma's. All of us were worn out from traveling, but as always it was great to see everyone.





Its almost 2010! I can't believe that either. I am not sure what the plans for New Years are yet but I hope they involve a toast at midnight. That's all I really ask for. And a kiss for good luck! That will also be 10 years that Justin and I have been together. 10 years is a long time, but it also seems like just yesterday. We have seen and done alot in the last 10 years. And now we have Bowen to share it with. We love him so much its ridiculous.

Coming up shortly Justin will be 30. 30 is the new 20 right? haha:) Birthdays are a big deal around here, so I am sure something huge will happen. Here is a pic of Christmas at 29.


As I sit here after just getting Bowen to sleep(he's a fighter!), I think about how he will never be 11 weeks again. 11 weeks! Can you believe it?! Here are some pictures last week getting his two month shots. :(

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I am off to grandma's to get everything situated for Bowen to be there next week. I am very thankful that she will be watching him. But it will still be sad:( Wish I could freeze frame time...

The things legends are made of

So the laptop is down. I know its a huge bummer! Back to using the desktop for awhile. Thank goodness it is now running, cause life without technology for a week is WAY TOO LONG! So over the past few weeks we have had more fun times. Just by chance Bowen and I got to meet Darryl and Edith Royal and visit them at their home. I just happened to have the camera. Hooray!! I can't wait tell Bowen what an awesome opportunity this was.


Bowen is smiling and talking alot now. He is almost laughing. Its really the cutest thing EVER! He will be two months on Saturday. Its flown by, he's already too big for his britches, literally!

Last weekend we got the family together down in San Antonio. These are our first pictures of all the cousins, but I am sure one of many. We decided to start the tradition of doing Christmas every year. So here are the 1st annual pictures.


The countdown is on to go back to work. Of course I am dreading it. I can't believe this time has come already. But a full income of course will be nice to have again. Oh well, it was inevitable right? Justin and I are going out tomorrow for our Christmas present. We decided to have a night out instead of gifts this year. All I know for sure is we get to go eat at Moonshine. Its one of my favorites here in Austin. I can't wait!

Its beginning to look alot like...

CHRISTMAS! We are so excited for Bowen's first Christmas! We went and got our tree last night. When we picked it up, they trimmed and bundled it for us! We were so excited! Well, go figure when we got home the base was way too big for our stand, so here is Justin trying to make it thinner to fit. Well he doesn't have a hand saw, so yes that it is hammer he is using. You should have seen the mess!

Since our little elf was asleep for the Christmas parade, and helping Mema decorate her tree, I finally snapped a pic of him awake while putting ours up! :)


Practicing with the self timer, first Christmas pics. haha


Yesterday our friend Amanda came over and brought her son Rhyder(see previous post). How cute! They are already great friends.

I can't believe Christmas is already here, and hopefully some snow today! How awesome would that be on Bowen's first Christmas?!
Merry Christmas everyone

Thankful for so much

Over the long weekend, we really enjoyed having Justin home. We went to my sisters for Thanksgiving. Bowen had a "thanksgiving" outfit but I bought it a long time ago, so it was huge. He was NOT happy about taking these pics, but of course I still had to have them!




We also went to the Blue Santa "Chuys Giving to Children" parade downtown. Bowen slept the whole time! Through the bands, Santa, and everything. So we didn't get any picstures of him, but our niece and nephew Jamison and Abbigale came down to watch it, and we really enjoy every second we get with them. And they LOVE their new cousin! Here are some pics of us, and my cousin Aaron. He was Peter Pan in the parade.





While they were down we took the kiddos over to DKR. We couldn't see much, but we also couldn't pass up a photo op!



This week we are going to get our tree, and commence the Christmas festivities. So many new pics to follow!

When I see you smile

I can face the world, oh oh,
you know I can do anything
When I see you smile I see a ray of light, oh oh,
I see it shining right through the rain
When I see you smile
Oh yeah, baby when I see you smile at me

We are in Longhorn country!

In honor of Colts last home game and Bowen's one month "birthday" we thought we needed a family pic. Bowen bleeds orange already, He already comes (wakes up) early, stays (up) late, he is loud, and wears BURNT ORANGE! Mack Brown would be proud.

Our baby is almost one month!!!

Since Bowen will be a month old in a few days we wanted to share some of our favorite moments of the past month. Enjoy!

First family photo

Coming Home


First Bath



Sweet sleeping baby


Mommy and Bowen

Daddy, Bowen, and football is a winning combo

Most recent fam pic

Knowing us there will be so many more. He was born into a family known for their camera:)! Thank you for sharing this time with us!!!

What's in a Name?

So we have gotten alot of questions and comments about Bowen's name. So we thought we would take a moment to explain. Bowen is a last name that we have seen several places and love it. I had a friend in high school with the last name. Some good friends of our named their little boy Rhyder after one of our favorite Texas music artists, Brandon Rhyder(see previou post). So that made us start thinking about what we wanted to name our son, and it be something that was important in our lives and represented his parents well. So of course Justin wanted to name him Daytona, lol. That got nixed quick! haha. We then started thinking about Texas music artists as well, and all we got was names we couldn't use like Larue and Roger. So we gave up on that idea and had a list going of names that we both liked, including Carson(it had car, hah), Aiden, Jacob, and Blaine. I jokingly said one day the we could name our son Bowen, and then we both laughed. But over the next few days we both grew to like it and our name list got shorter and shorter. We narrowed it down to Aiden, and Bowen. I have always loved Aiden, and I wish it wasn't so darn popular right now! We finally settled on Bowen after I started calling him
"Bowen bear".
As far as his middle name goes, it was always going to be Matthew. For several reasons actually. First of all, after my cousin Matthew (who I felt was like my brother) who is no longer with us. Secondly, I like the idea that all of our initials are JMS, KMS, and BMS. We will definitely try and keep that tradition!

Freeze Frame Time

Hi! Our inspiration for starting this blog was the song "Freeze Frame Time" by Brandon Rhyder. The lyrics really touched us and pretty much describe our life up to now. We hope yall enjoy them as much as we do. We are a very busy family and before we knew it 10 years had FLOWN BY!

It’s a beautiful morning, to see the sun rise
It’s moments like this that make me wish I could freeze frame time
I got a hot cup of coffee, gonna watch the world come alive
Surrounded by nature likens the innocence of a new born child

CHORUS
Sometimes we laugh, and sometimes we cry
Some days it’s hard to figure out our way in this life
But it’s moments like these that make me wish
I could freeze frame time.

VERSE 2
I got a picture in my pocket, of my baby boy
He’s growing up so fast I swear he thinks he can conquer the world
Just yesterday evening, he come running up to me
He said he made his momma mad and that she said he was just like me

CHORUS 2
And I laughed until I cried, all swallowed up with pride
You should have seen the concern in that little boy’s eyes
Yes it’s moments like this that make me wish
I could freeze frame time

VERSE 3
You are and angel, you taught me how to fly
You picked me up when I was down turned me around and you made me fly high
We’re a little bit older now, together we’ve seen some change
But I love you more now than I did on that very first day.