Malachi's Finished Room

Malachi's Room

Malachi's room was finished before he arrived, but I haven't had a chance to post the finished pictures.  So here they are!!!!  I am very proud of it.  I designed and did it all myself.  Well, Justin did help paint it and put the mural up, but the idea was mine.

This is the view from the door

His giraffe and curtains

We bought this picture right after we moved into the house and have been storing it since then

I painted the letters for his name.  I tried several different ways, I think they turned out great!!

His bed, and yes that is a TCU mobile.  We bought it about 7 years ago right after we got married.  It officially started our Bowden Baby Box. 

This is his mural.  I absolutely love it!!!

This is his nightstand.  The girls on my team decorated our shower with these wooden blocks.  I have had fun placing them in his room.  The top words say New Bundle.

We do lots of reading around here.

All 7 cousins together after Jayden was born

I love my glider.  It has a gliding foot stool as well.

This is his dresser/changing table.  It has lights at the top.  His name is spelled out at the top, and then the word boy is on the next shelf.  The basket on top is from my class.  They filled it with books.

This basket was from my mom, sister, and sister-in-law.  It was filled with clothes and such.  These are just some of his giraffes.  What amazed us, was not one giraffe was duplicated.

I absolutely love his room.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  For the month before he was born I would go in it frequently each day and just sit.  Before we went to bed each night I made Justin go in with me and we would talk about what parenthood was going to be like.  Our dreams finally came true!!!

Christmas With The Autry's!!!

Christmas with the Autry's

Christmas at my parents house has developed into a crazy and exciting experience over the last 6 years!!!  We went from a family of 5 to a family of 15!!!  I truly enjoy Christmas at my parents even with all the craziness.  I have enjoyed watching our 5 neices and nephews over the past 6 years just waiting for our child to join in on the fun.  Well this was finally our year.  We enjoyed lots of great snacks and family time.  Here are some pictures from our first Christmas as a family of 14.  (Baby Jayden wasn't here yet)

Brandon helping Davee

Peyton with his nightlight that Mimi made

Reagan and her new robe

Davee and her vacuum

Payton is such a sweet patient little boy

Paige and Granny

Bryson loves dinosaurs

Reagan and her nightlight

Daddy watching his family

Preslee and her robe

Brandon and his Elvis keys.  I have had these for 5 years and finally remembered to give them to him

Willie's Christmas present.  We bought him a subscription to a hunting magazine and it hasn't come in yet

Brandon and his gun cleaning kit

Ashley Marie

Daddy aka POP

Mimi and Malachi

Willie and Bryson

Mom and her new sock monkey pj's



And that's a wrap!!!!

The Woes of Breastfeeding!!!

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding has been a difficult task in our house from day 1.  Malachi latched on the first night perfectly, but the next couple not so much!!!  Well by the time we were home he was getting better at latching on.  With in a week he was latching on perfectly every time, but another problem developed.  Malachi was absolutely starving.  I was not making enough milk to sustain him.  This was such a disappointment. 

After talking to several lactation consultants and doing everything absolutely possible nothing was helping.  I took Fenugreek, drank Mother's Milk, pumped every two hours, ate healthy, and drank a lot of water.  I was eventually making about 5oz a day, which was only one bottle for him a day.

Well after 8 weeks, I have exhausted all my options and instead of increasing my supply it has started decreasing the last two weeks.  The last two days I have pumped less than an ounce.  Our breastfeeding days have come to an end.

This makes me incredibly sad and disappointed but there's not much more I can do.  I have to tell myself that at least he got 8 weeks of breast milk.

I am going to start making his formula.  I am hoping this will make me feel a little better about the whole breastfeeding thing.

To those moms out there that can breastfeed, please enjoy every moment!!!!!

Christmas At Our House

Christmas With the Bowden's 

We truly enjoyed our first Christmas as a family of three this year!!!  

Our First Family Christmas Picture

My wonderful parents came into town on Saturday, December 17th, to watch our sweet precious boy, so we could go shopping.  We hadn't been alone with each other since Malachi was born.  I absolutely missed my little man, but enjoyed the night out with my wonderful husband.  We started the night off right, by enjoying our absolute favorite Mexican Food of all times, ANAMIA'S!!!!  After a delicious meal we headed off to do our shopping.  We had to buy for him and a few others, but only got his shopping completed.  I finished the rest up later on.

I had so much fun wrapping presents this year.  I think it was because I was wrapping presents for our first child???  But who can be for sure???  Here is the first present I wrapped, and of course it was for Malachi. 

The finished product.

And another one.

This is probably the smalled present I have ever wrapped.  We got our brother-in-law a Bow Hunter's Magazine subscription.  I was told it would be delivered by Christmas, but of course it wasn't.  So I wrapped a small note explaining what his present was.  It was about 1 square inch.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve as we always do...with my in-laws.  We have had this tradition since before we were married.  We go over to their house around 3:00 and stuff ourselves with great food and drinks.  This year was especially fun because of course we had our new addition.  My father-in-law experimented with a new menu this year.  We had an outstanding pork tenderloin.  Justin and I decided that it was to become a new tradition. 

We had a great time and enjoyed being with family.  Malachi got some awesome presents from his Papa and Gramie (aka Nana and Numpy)!!!  Those names are a story for another day.  He was given his highchair, which matches his pack and play, a very cool jumper that turns into a very cool activity table, some old school wood puzzles, and several other fun things. 

Justin got a new hunting coat, thermos, and bullets for his new 357.  I got a working train.  I have always wanted a train to put around the Christmas tree!!  This one puffs smoke, has a bell, and a whistle.  I also got the 7th season of Everybody Loves Raymond.  I love this show and had all the other seasons.

I tried to take pictures but soon found out my camera battery was dead.  Luckily we had my mother-in-laws camera, but I haven't been able to get pictures from her yet. 

To end the night we made our cinnamon rolls, packed up, and headed home.

When we got home, Malachi and I made our first batch of Christmas cookies for Santa Claus.  This was a very special time for me, because I have always wanted to make Christmas cookies with my own kids.  Here is Malachi and his Daddy helping with the cookie cutters.

Here's Malachi with the finished cookies.

I have dreamed for years about all the Christmas traditions I would want to start when we had kids.  Along with the cookies on Christmas Eve, I have wanted to start a PJ tradition.  I want all our kids to get a pair of Christmas PJs to open on Christmas Eve.  This was Malachi's first pair.  They were soooo cute!!!

Here is a picture of our 'Den Tree' before Santa arrived.

Christmas Morning

Santa came!!!

Christmas morning was a little different this year then years past.  We woke up to find Santa had been there.  He had eaten the cookies we made and even left us a note.

Here's a close up of the note.

 Here are some other pictures from our Family Christmas Morning

Justin's Christmas Present

Malachi's First Car

Malachi checking out his presents

The Aftermath

After baking

After icing

The complete breakfast, a Christmas tradition in our house

Christmas Part II with the Autry's to come at a later date!!!!