Maddy's Birthday!

My sweet little girl isn't as little as she used to be. In fact celebrating her 2nd birthday came quicker than I was prepared for. The weather wasn't as cooperative as it could have ben but it was a nice day none the less. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. Maddy loved her tinkerbell cake and has loved eating the left overs too. We are so blessed to have great people all around us.

Maddy can't stop dancing!

Jonny (Marc's brother) got married this weekend and Maddy LOVED the loud music and open dance floor. She was a little machine and wouldn't even dance with anyone because she was so into doing her own thing. We had such a good time and it was nice to see a happy couple make the choice of marriage. Enjoy the cute video.

Maddy's first Pumpkin Patch!

So Maddy had her first pumpkin patch experience yesterday. She loved running from activity to activity and jumping in all the bounce houses. She thought the hay felt pokey on her hands.
She is getting so big and is fast approaching the 2yr mark. We loved having a family day with just the three of us. The Pumpkin Patch will be a yearly event for us after seeing this excitement.


She thought it was silly to be in here. She wasn't sure if she should stand or sit.

Struggling but surviving

So we've got a few struggles going on right now that I thought I'd share...

1. Marc's schedule at work is totally ruining his immune system. He sleeps normal on his days off but then sleeps from 5 am til maybe 11 or 12 on his work days. Anyone who knows Marc well, knows that he is a sleeper. So you can only imagine what this lack of sleep is doing to him. His sinus's and allergies are going nuts and his system can't fight anything when he's barely giving it enough time to recoup. I feel bad for him because he's torn between getting sleep and being awake with his daughter. Of course it doesn't help when Maddy is knocking on the bedroom door saying " Get up Daddy". How can you resist.

2. Although I've been a first hand witness on several occasions to other children's "Terrible Two's", I didn't not prepare myself for my own child going through this. WOW! I feel like one of us is not going to make it through this phase and on most days that someone is ME. She wears me down, all while being so cute. It's frustrating because we are struggling to find the right discipline for her that fits our family style and beliefs. In no way do we spare the rod, but I have to wonder, are we still spoiling the child?

3. Since I've gone back to work at a real location outside of our apartment, Marc has had to pick up some slack and be Mr. Mom on these days. While he is enjoying the time with Maddy, he still gets too stressed over the little things, and is sometimes very hard on her. I think it could be from not seeing her as much in her natural day to day play state, but I'm struggling with his temper towards her. In these moments I feel very disconnected from my husband and like our child is coming between us...in those moments.

So, I have shared some of the things going on in my life, what's happening in yours?

4 years and counting....

So yesterday was our 4 year anniversary. We talked alot about what has happend in the last 4 years. So many memories and special moments. Boy have we had our ups and downs, but remember it's marriage. In honor of these 4 years, I thought I'd write some lists of 4's that are relevent to our life.

4 Places we've lived:
-our first apartment at fossil ridge

-our biggest mistake- with my sister and his brother!

-our first taste of being in a house- our duplex in saginaw

-our grown up apartment that we are in now- its beautiful

4 Places we've traveled to:

-Indiana- ok we were engaged but it was still alot of fun

-Colorado- our honeymoon for our 1 year ann. this was an amazing trip

-Lorena, TX- Maddy's first road trip to visit family

-Children's Hospital in Dallas- maddy's first 2 major surgeries

4 big financial decisions:

-buying our first vehicle, haha, which my dad now owns.

-having a baby

-Marc quiting his job and persueing a police career

-Our new apartment that is much higher in price than anything we've lived in before, but totally worth it. We love our home

4 Things we've learned from 4 years of marriage:

-say what you mean and mean what you say

-love is a daily choice and must be worked on

-forgiveness is so important and must be from the heart or it isn't really forgiveness at all

-never make big decisions in the heat of the moment, always take time to think things over

4 goals for our future:

-Get financially on track

-Buy a house

-Give maddy a sibling

-Renew our vows

"And this journey that we're on, how far we've come and I celebrate every moment. When you say you love me, that's all you have to say, I'll always feel this way" ~From our wedding ceremony "When you say you love me" by Josh Groban

No more Maddy jumping on the bed!

-Jump- Jump- Jump-

-taking a rest for a second-




-Back to jumping-

So something funny that Maddy has started doing.... whenever Marc is putting away laundry he clears off the bed so he has room to go through the piles, well Maddy seems to think that this open bed is a giant toy meant for her jumping pleasure. It's quite hilarious. Check out the cute pics I took today. It's too hard to get mad at this cuteness!

Lookin' Better

So, after 10 rough weeks..I think that's how many....in phase 3, Marc finally got approved for ghost phase. This is the last phase before he gets to go solo and it's only supposed to last 2 weeks. I think he has learned alot over the past phase 3 time and it has strengthened him to face solo status. In the past few weeks he has....had a crazy woman digging in the mud looking for her buried husband, this resulted in a mud covered Marc when he tried to restrain her. Then he had a 12 yr old girl, resist being taken home and bite 3 officers, including Marc, and then she tried to get his gun. She ended up with alot of blows to control her and being sent to Juvie. He's pulled his gun alot more than I thought would happen. That's always scary to me because you only pull your gun if you plan to shoot someone or something. That's a hard one for me I think because I'm not sure I could do that unless you were a direct threat to my child or family. I know that having several officers doubt Marc's ability to do this job has been very hard on him, but it also made him prove to them and I think to himself, that he is able to be this job. What a proud wife I am of my dedicated husband. His commitment and determination is such attractive qualities.

I had my first cleft lip & palate support group this week. It went as good as I could hope for. We had 3 families show up and it was very easy to open up to them and speak from my heart. I knew going into this that because I was the leader that I'd be expected to share my experiences. But when I started speaking about things that they had been through too it was such a relief because in that moment I knew they had the exact same stuff in their lives. It was so nice to share stories and answer questions for other parents, and to hear their stories. Mostly it was wonderful to see other little faces that had been manipulated and cut on and then sewn back together. To see a familiar scar on those sweet lips was healing to my heart. Just to be able to know that Maddy will see other people with signs of a past cleft was relieving. Thats all for now, chat at you later.

FInally Back

So we moved and didn't have interent for like FOREVER so we didn't post anything recently. However, that does not mean nothing has been happening. So let's see......what's been going on...
First, Marc's job is crazy. He is in South side where he doesn't speak Spanish and that's mostly what's spoken there. He's had a foot chase, a man resisting arrest, served a few warrants, written a few tickets and been really hot in this Texas heat. He has been struggling to find "his cop voice"...which means they think he's not asserting himself enough as the main man Big Cop. Whatever that means..who knows anymore. He's really struggling to get past the 3rd phase and move onto Ghost training. Woo Hoo! I think he just wants to be himself as a cop and they want robocop instead. God will provide and sustain in the end. We have firmly believed in and prayed for God's Will since he took the very first application for the Police Dept. so we have felt God in this whole experience.

Maddy is doing great..She has fully recovered from her surgery and is like brand new. She says new things daily and is combining up to 4 words at a time. It's wonderful to just watch her grow and explore and constantly be amazed at all the wonder in her eyes. It's hard to believe she's only a few months away from turning 2. I swear I was just holding her in the delivery room yesterday.

I am taking on the task of starting Fort Worth's first Cleft lip & Palate Support Group. It has been challenging but so very rewarding as well. We will have our first meeting Aug. 21st. It's exciting to be meeting other people living with a cleft in their life and to share the experiences with each other.

Well that's all for now, we are so sorry that we took this long to write again. We'll catch up with you later.

New to blogging-

Hey there, so we have had some people tell us to start a blog because Marc's job is interesting and people are always asking to hear stories, and other's are wanting frequent updates on Maddy so we thought we'd combine it all into a one stop shop of bowman info. We are currently in the process of moving starting this weekend and I'm still trying to get internet figured out at the new place so I will try to update as much as possible. That's all I have time for now, but I'll be back with more later....til then.