Welcome Tiegan Luisa Bowman

Hello world, I would like you to meet Tiegan Luisa Bowman! She surprised us by coming all on her own Monday morning! We were positive that she was gonna wait until I was induced, which was scheduled for March 29th. Instead, she came March 26th! 

Actually what had happened was that Daniel, Jada and I went for a walk to the park that's just around the corner and.... well.... it was ALLOT of work for me. After our Sunday stroll, I was giving Jada a bath and was going through, what I was positive, were braxton hicks. Well my "braxton hicks" lasted ALL night long and were coming 20-25 minutes apart all night long. It wasn't until 7:00 that morning that I really started to feel the pain (the kind that you actually have to make noises for, because somehow it helps) But Daniel and I just put it off and put it off, not wanting to have to go to the hospital, only to have them send us home. Finally, it's 9:00 and I am begging Daniel to take me to the hospital, but we still waited a bit. There was a point in time that I was on my bed crying while Daniel was in the shower, and Jada was pounding on the bathroom door yelling at the top of her lungs "DAD! Mom NEEDS you!!!" Then after that I was on the floor downstairs (crying again) and Jada started telling me that "we didn't have a reason to cry" lol what a punk ;) She also told us several times that she didn't want to be with me, she wanted to go to Jennae's and play with Holly.

 Long story short, we got to the hospital at 10:00 am and I was dilated to an 8, with barely enough time to get an epidural and Tiegan was born at 11:35 am! Daniel is now calling it "the express lane delivery" And as painful as the contractions were, I've already started to block them out, epidurals are marvelous that way. Once I was numb, I may be pushed for 15-20 minutes tops and there she was! 8.7 lbs. 20.5 inches and hair every bit as dark as Daniel's, with a chunky double chin to boot :) 

After every one was cleaned up, we were moved into another room, and not too long after that, Jada comes waltzing in singing “Mommy I got stickers” and “Happy Birthday Tiegan!” And then having had a good look at her new little sister, she lost interest and played with stickers instead J I guess Jennae got her some stickers because she was being good, (always better than your child being bad for others when there’s nothing you can do about it) Ps Thanks Jennae for letting me drop my kid off like that!

So here we are, ending our second day in the hospital and getting ready to be released tomorrow. I have little to no pain, and can walk around and get things done with ease. I’m already healing much faster than I did with Jada and have much more energy than I ever dreamed I could have after giving birth. Tiegan is a girl after my own heart and prefers sleep to eating, and if the nurses would let her she could easily sleep a solid 4 hours with no problems!!!!!  I have had several visitors from the fabulous ladies of the OP 1^st ward and feel very blessed by their generosity and thoughtfulness. My nurses have been great, Daniel has been the perfect husband, and Jada has been a superb helper and loving big sister! Plus Chelsea will be here in soon and things are going great! Please ignore the nasty picture of me, but it's my first picture with my girls:)

Tiegan's Baby Shower

Saturday was my baby shower for Tiegan and I have to say I am so grateful for the ladies here in Overland Park 1st Ward- so many CUTE outfits! And such good friends!

Carmen was able to be there which I am glad she was able and willing to drive  all the way there for a couple hours. And when the ladies started asking about the name we picked out, Carmen sat a little higher when I informed my good friends of OP1 that Tiegan was being named after her Abuela! It was quite cute!

My very good friend Jennae and my adorable visiting teachers Roxanne and Randii threw the party and it was super cute. Jennae, knowing my fondness of green, decided it would be a green and yellow party. Everything was very cute ;) And I never say 'nay' to green and yellow! If Tiegnan would have been a boy it would have been a straight up John Deere themed :D

It was a fun shower with lots of giggles and maybe more than a few inside jokes! Good times :)

After wards Carmen and Eric treated us to Red Robin (I thought the boys would eat while we were gone but they were nice and waited for us to get back) Jada was all sorts of excited when I walked in with all the gift bags and balloons. She is quite certain that the baby shower was not actually a baby shower, but in fact- it was Tiegan's birthday party ;)

As for other news from our end of things, Daniel is starting the last half of his LAST semester!!!! He graduates May 12th!!! Hurray! Student life does end eventually! You'd think that being married and pregnant with child number 2 would make it feel like we live in the real world, but no, we have been living an odd limbo state. But this summer starts the real Real life! We still have no idea where we're going, it all depends on where the jobs are. So even though there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel known as student life, we are still VERY much in limbo.

Daniel's brother James recently popped the question and his lovely lady said Yes! So on June 30th in the Rexburg Temple James will marry Jessica Rich (who Jada fondly calls Jessa)! We are very excited  for the 2 of them and we really REALLY like Jess! We had the privilege to hang out with the 2 of them while she was in Topeka visiting. She and James are super cute together ;) I'm sure Daniel and I had that awkward "we're getting married" phase, but I don't remember it and it's fun to see some one else live through it.

I am officially full term now. It's since I had Jada. 38 weeks was considered full term when Jada was born, but now it's 37 weeks. Another thing they've changed is they won't induce you unless there is a medical emergency before 39 weeks and we induced Jada at 38 weeks. So Unless Tiegan decides to come on her own before then (which I pray for constantly) I still have at the least 2 more weeks. Not a lot, but it sure feels like it. This week we are doing another sonogram. The Dr is..... surprised at how much wiggle room Tiegan has in there. So we are double checking the sizing. everything on the out side is measuring right. That might have been a good time to let the Dr know that when my last Dr broke my water- he jumped back and yelled "WHOA" Tiegan's wiggle room might just be due to excess water.....

Any way, I guess that's it for now, hope every one is as excited for Spring as we are!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

In all honesty this video makes me sick. Should one single American child some how find themselves in Kony's clutches, this whole country would be up in arms and the world would see and feel our wrath. The countless children who are children by age only, have been suffering for far too long. Even if Kony is stopped immediately, the effects of his outrageous crimes will have a lasting effect on those children till the day they die. It is one thing to witness the horror of seeing a family member killed, it is an entirely different matter to be forced to kill that family member yourself. Then, these same children are forced to do the same thing to other children and put them through the same hell.

Please, educate yourself. Family should be the one thing children can rely on, but that can't happen for the children in Kony's path, until he is stopped. I realize that most of you who read this blog are mothers, can you even imagine what it would be like for your children to fear sleeping at home, or even coming home? It makes me sick to thing of Jada being traded as a sex slave, or forced to use a gun for a man whose only goal is to maintain power. I'm not asking you guys to donate, or to protest or what ever, all I'm asking is that you watch the video, think about it and let others know whats been going on for the past 26 years. Regardless of political views, this is worth seeing.