HeAPPENINGS

In August Addy and Ethan started doing a rotational preschool with two of our friends from our old ward. Being a bad Mom, Addy never took a picture or blogged about it. Until today...

Ethan gets together with his friends, Bryson and Tyson, once a week for a couple of hours. The Moms rotate teaching, so every two weeks they teach and the other weeks they get an hour and a half to themselves... or without a three-year-old.

Each month we focus on a theme and the boys learn about it through music, books, science, etc. They also get some time to eat snack and play with toys. This month they have been learning about animals. We thought that it would be a lot of fun to take them to the Zoo to wrap up the unit.

It was fun to go with friends and to see some of the new exhibits and newly remodeled areas of the Zoo. We thought that the komodo dragons were awesome!

We're lucky to have such good friends and examples for Ethan. He loves his friends and loves learning with them.

Since Ryan got sick after Eliza was born and Addy's plans of sewing were thrown out the window, we've had a mad-woman sewing in our home for the last few weeks. Four costumes in 3 weeks... one was started the night before Halloween and completed in about 5 hours. Not the best workmanship, but it worked.


The theme... Peter Pan. Ryan played the role of Peter, Addy was Wendy, Ethan was Captain Hook, and Eliza was Tinkerbell.




Our nephew Cooper was a Halloween baby, so we headed to a park to catch the end of his party. Last minute costume fixes and a nursing baby will make you miss a lot we're learning. We missed the Harry Potter themed festivities, but were able to see the cousins fun costumes. Our niece, AnaLyn, was Ariel from the Little Mermaid, but decided to wear her Tinkerbell costume from last year. Our other niece, Lucia, was also Tinkerbell. How cute are these three little girls?

After the party, we headed over to Ryan's parents house to show off the costumes and let Eliza get a bite to eat. It was fun for Ethan to have Grandpa and Grandma 'ooo' and 'ahh' over him. We also got lucky and saw Aunt Rachelle, Aunt Amy, and cousins, Ainsley and Corrine.


We headed back to Trever and Amy's for dinner. We made chili and Anjie made homemade donuts - a tradition in the Bowman family. Trever also experimented in deep frying candy bars - eewww! Ethan didn't want dinner - honestly, we didn't have the energy to fight it. He hung out for a little while and then he and Addy went out to get some candy. He really didn't care for trick-or-treating, but had fun looking at the decorations. He got into it just about the time he needed to take a potty break. They went back to the house and traded so Dad could take him out. He had fun and got tons of compliments on his hat (one of the parts of his costume that was purchased).

Ethan is in a phase... he doesn't want us to take his picture. If you looked at the amount of photos of Eliza on our camera, you would think that we are neglecting him for the new baby. We try to get him, but he just runs. Today was an exception...

Addy is sewing up a storm in preparation of a favorite holiday... Halloween! She rushed to get Captain Hook finished so we could go to the Disney Store for a costume parade. Ethan was excited about his costume, but a little reluctant to go. In the end, we didn't blame him. They handed out something that looked like a glow stick, but didn't glow and a story time in the middle of the store. There were tons of people and Ethan could care less about what was going on. He was too distracted by all the cool things to look at. Eliza enjoyed inspecting the inside of her eyelids. Addy had fun checking out all the kids costumes, especially the home made ones. At least we will know what to expect next time.

one week old

We all decided to get out and went to the Zoo as a family on Friday, despite H1N1 warnings. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being out of the house.


We finished off our week celebrating two birthdays with friends - our friend Shawn's little girl, Mariah and Ethan's friend Tyson. Both parties were at parks, despite the unusually warm October weather, we had fun.

The first two weeks of Eliza's life flew by. It was nice to have Ryan home, but we wish that he had one more week... preferably healthy. Eliza is doing great! She sleeps well, eats well, and we love having her here!

Eliza is now one week old. She had her first Dr's appointment and it went great! She now weighs 9 lbs. 13 oz. (90th percentile) and is 21 inches long (75th percentile). Her head is measuring 14 3/4 inches (75th percentile)... what can we say, our kids have big heads. Bigger heads mean larger brains, right?

Her first week has gone well. With a few struggling days of nursing, we finally have it down. She is pretty good at eating, but seems to have a little bit of a sense of humor. She'll latch on and then let go... for the first few minutes. She already knows how to push Addy's buttons. She's sleeping awesome! She'll eat, sleep for about 5 hours, eat again, and sleep another 4. The pediatrician recommended that we don't let her go longer than 4, but she's impossible to wake up and Addy doesn't really enjoy setting her alarm to wake a sleeping baby.

Ethan is doing well adjusting to having the attention split. He seems to be fine when Addy is caring for Eliza, but shows a little jealousy when Ryan pays some attention to her. He has been enjoying having a full-time play mate... they have gone to the park, pre-school, Target (while the Equinox was being fixed), and saw Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3-D.

Unfortunately, Ryan started feeling sick today and will be taking it easier. He had plans of taking Ethan to the Railway Museum and some other fun places, but we'll have to wait and see how quickly Ryan recovers.

Eliza Paige Heap was born yesterday, October 3rd at 4:31a.m. She weighed in at 9lbs. 8oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Dear Eliza,

Please come! We are ready... your room is clean, blankets and burp cloths have been washed, outfits and diapers in a variety of sizes have been purchased, emergency phone lists have been put together, bills have been paid, arrangements for Ethan have been made, Van Pool substitute drivers have been lined up, Mom spent the day cleaning both the Equinox and Beetle (hoping to induce labor), Dad killed himself in the heat seeding the lawn for winter grass, laundry is done, and the house is clean.

Love,
Dad, Mom, and Ethan

Well, we didn't deliver a baby today like we had hoped. But we got another delivery that we have been waiting for. Our 'pink chair' was moved to Ethan's room for story time and we thought that it would be awesome to have a place to rock or nurse our babies, so we invested in a rocking chair - recliner. We originally wanted a La-Z-Boy and then saw the price, so we decided to shop around. We went to a local furniture store, Kerby's, that we have had success with before. They didn't have anything on the floor, but had a chair in a catalogue that was similar to the style of the La-Z-Boy... and about $250 cheaper. It arrived today and looks and feels great! Now we just need a baby to go along with it.

We have an extensive list of projects that we would like to get finished before Eliza arrives. Addy knocked two of them off the list...

Halloween is on its way and we couldn't be more excited. Addy is thrilled when Ethan spots all the fun Halloween things at the store - he can't get enough! We've decided on our theme this for this year, bought fabric and patterns, and ordered some costume accessories. Ethan has been enjoying dressing-up and becoming different characters in anticipation for the big day.

Edith can't stand Jack. Unfortunately, he can't get enough of her...

General Dynamics had an offer to get a room and incentives at some of the local resorts. We thought that it sounded fun since we wouldn't be going on a vacation anytime soon. Time passed and things at work got busier, so we scrapped the idea of a stay-cation.

Ethan was getting ready for bed the other night and started goofing off. He lost his balance, fell, and hit his ear on a wooden toy in his room. We have never seen an ear bruise like this... couldn't pass on the photo opportunity!

Maybe this is a sign that he still wants to be the baby.

We went to Church, came home, asked neighbors if they had seen him... no Jack. We made signs, put them up in our subdivision, walked around some more... no Jack. We started to get worried.

On Monday, Addy decided to print out more signs and put them up in the subdivision next to ours. She also posted things on several missing pet web sites and looked at the AZ Humane Web Site to see if he got turned in. No Jack.

We layed down to go to bed Monday night and made plans that Ryan would check out the Pound during his lunch break on Tuesday. Around 11:45pm, the phone rang. Who the heck is calling us this late? A drowsy Ryan picked up the phone and talked to some teenage girls in the subdivision nearby that had found Jack. He arranged to meet them the next evening, but Addy insisted we go get him then. He had wandered about 1/4 of a mile and was very dirty.

We're glad to have him back and hope that he sticks around for a while... maybe he learned a lesson. Edith, on the other hand, is not very happy to have him back and seemed to enjoy the time he was MIA.

We learned about Toy Town on a friends blog and thought that it sounded fun. Since it is blazing hot outside, we thought that we would check it out.
Addy knew that Ethan would probably only last a few hours, so we tried to time it where he could play and then pick up lunch shortly after we left.

Toy Town is a place in Ahwatukee that has a little 'town' inside with toys. There is a Police Station, Repair Shop, Grocery Store, Restaurant, etc. In between the little buidlings there is a road and Little Tikes Cars for the kids to ride around in. All that looked like fun, but Ethan was more content playing at the Thomas Train Table, doing puzzles, reading books, and playing with miscellaneous toys. There is also a bouncer that he finally tried out about an hour before we left. He also is so used to playing by himself that he was content in doing so. Most of the other people there had met friends, so Ethan stayed to himself most of the time. Around the time he tried the bouncer, he made a friend and really started having fun. We stayed about 3 hours until it was time for lunch. We had a fun time, but would recommend going with friends... it can get a little boring for Mom.

Ethan has been dragging his blanket downstairs everyday and will usually ask for it when he gets hurt or isn't feeling well. It must have magical powers, but it also doubles for hats, capes, and outfits when his imagination starts to run wild. He was having a bit of fun with it today...

It's a well known fact that Addy is NOT a fan of pink... or anything that girly. This becomes very difficult in finding attire for Miss Eliza. Addy is not opposed to dainty girly things, just the things that say 'princess', 'angel', 'daddy's girl', etc.

Today Addy and Ethan went to Carter's to find some things for Eliza to wear shortly after she is born, with the intention of not buying anything pink. They quickly discovered that is virtually impossible! Everything is pink! Thank heavens for polka dots, cherries, watermelon, and strawberries. If it weren't for those, our little girl would only be sporting a diaper.

Here's what we found...

We celebrated Addy's twenty-ninth birthday last week. On Tuesday she had a dental appointment and Grandma Louise so graciously watched Ethan. She then treated Addy and Ethan to a fun birthday lunch at Red Robin - including a yummy chocolate dessert! Thursday was her official birthday, but like many adults there wasn't much celebration that day. She was sick with a cold, had to care for Ethan, and clean the house. On Friday we went to dinner with friends... again, at Red Robin. Who can pass up free food? We had a lot of fun visiting with friends and finished the night with a game of Apples to Apples and brownies & ice cream.

We saved the biggest part of the celebration, her gift, for Saturday. We got a babysitter for Ethan, went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory, and then headed to Gammage to see Wicked. We had closer seats this time and despite being late and the people around us singing, we loved it. We also realized that Ethan would have loved it just as much (he knows most of the words to the songs). It's always great to go to an event and then come home to your own bed instead of a hotel room in CA!

We had a great week! Thank you to everyone who made it special!

She is doing well and growing, growing, growing - they say that she is measuring a little big (about 3 lbs.). Maybe she'll be tall and have a big head like her brother... maybe she'll come a little early. Only time will tell.

So, it may seem quick, but it is all about timing. With the weeks passing quickly until baby Eliza (yes, we already have a name picked out and have since Ethan was in the womb) arrives, we felt like it would be better to get a new kitten and have it trained before we had even more on our plate. You may also be thinking that it was all Addy, but Ryan had more to do with it. He continually asked if we should go look at kittens.

We went looking last Friday and Addy found a little black cat that was too adorable. Ethan didn't like the area in the back where they take the kittens out at Petsmart, so Ryan didn't get a chance to really meet the cats. Since this is a family cat, we decided to go back on Monday. We had a few problems (aka, Ethan wasn't eating his dinner) and got out the door later than planned. This time Ryan was able to spend time with the kittens and found another black cat that he liked, since the one Addy liked was gone. We found out that you had to pay cash for the adoption and the employees said that it would take too long to adopt a cat that night. Since we had decided on a cat, Addy and Ethan planned to go back the next day.

We went back on Tuesday and Ethan did much better in the back with the cats. There were two black kittens that Addy let him choose from. The one Ryan liked and one without a collar (name) around his neck. Ethan picked the collarless one and we discovered that it was the same one Addy liked on Friday! We ditched the name and searched high and low for a new name. After much consideration, we decided that we would name him Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas for those who don't know).

Jack has been a great addition to our family. He knows where his food and litter box is and hasn't had any accidents! He is very lovable and not scared of anything. He is interested in Edith, but she wants nothing to do with him. We're sure that she'll warm up to him in time; as much as Edith warms up to anyone that is her competition. Jack is playful and has been gentle with Ethan. He loves to crawl up on your shoulder or chest to cuddle and check out what is happening. We're very pleased with the selection we made and feel like Jack is just as happy here.

Every year since we have been married we have tried to nail down some kind of tradition for the 4th of July. We often find that it is difficult because of the sometimes unbearable heat we have in AZ. This year our dilemma was more that fireworks didn't start until 9:30 or so and we have 8:00am Church the next day. We decided to call some friends and see what they were up to. Luckily, they have little ones and a similar schedule.

We strategized and put Ethan down for a late nap, which can be a gamble. He woke up just as our friends, Karl, Natalie, Bryson, and Paige, showed up. Bonus... he was happy! We enjoyed an all-American BBQ with burgers, hot dogs, pasta salads, yummy watermelon, and root beer floats. We also attempted to have corn, but got some bad ears. The kids played, the moms chatted, and the dads played some Suns basketball on the Play Station. We loaded up the kids and headed to a Church parking lot to enjoy the fireworks without the crowds. We showed up and sat down just as they went off. The people around us weren't pleased with us, but with 3 little ones it worked out perfectly. The show was a lot better than last year - it went a little long and had too quick of a finale, but the kids were pleased.

Overall, it was a good day and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Addy didn't pull out the camera once.

Ryan recently had 'Bring A Child to Work' at GD and was asked to have an activity for the kids. He had done it a few years ago and it went well so he decided to do it again. General Dynamics has several different divisions and one is Aerospace. Ryan had the kids make rockets with Alka-Seltzer, 35mm film canisters, and soda/water. He had some left overs, so he and Ethan spent some time launching rockets in the backyard. Some of them went as high as the corner of the house - Ethan was impressed.

Since we were outside, we decided to get out the sprinkler and water blasters. Ryan is genius when it comes to making up games and Ethan eats them up! Today they were the Autobots and would run through the sprinklers to destroy the Decepticons. This game was no different, Ethan couldn't get enough of it!

Addy tries to make sure Ethan has some fun activities to do during the summer. Not that we don't normally do things during the week, but with it being so stinking hot outside we don't make it outside that often. We venture to the public pool, movies, play places, and the splash pad to get out some energy. Today we headed to the Splash Pad and Ethan enjoyed running through the water and posing for the camera. It was a little more humid today and none of our friends showed up, so we didn't stay as long but we still had fun.

We planned to take the Equinox in for an oil change since the dealer is near the Splash Pad. Ethan wasn't looking forward to running another errand with Mom, but was excited when we pulled up and remembered that they had some fun toys inside. We also needed to get the headlight replaced, so we had to talk to our service rep. He told us that there was a Bumblebee parked out front. Ethan hasn't seen Transformers and won't for quite sometime, but he knows the names of several Autobots. He was so excited and wasn't shy at all. He opened up the driver's door and climbed right in. He was thrilled and it made our oil change a little more exciting!