How to get to Sesame Street...

This weekend we showed jackson exactly how to get to Sesame Street! He had the time of his life. It was Friday night and we all loaded up for a trip to the Oil Palace to see "When Elmo Grows Up". Jackson was in awe as the characters came into the crowd handing out high fives and plenty of hellos to all the kiddos. It was fantastic!
Jackson got so many treats like hot dogs and popcorn and even a little toy to take home, but most of all he got a night all to himself. So much attention has been going to his baby sister for the past few weeks we thought it was high time that the J-man take center stage. So Mimi and Duke were kind enough to watch Pryce for a few hours while we headed off to the show. Of course Jackson was very sweet and insisted that "Baby Pryce come with us", but we told him this was his BIG night. He didn't argue after that.
We were so impressed with our boy. It's funny when you're around so many little ones you get a much better picture of the well behaved versus the little hellions. Fortunately we have a very good boy. While we saw some kids screaming at their parents, running around out of control and generally being a pain in the you know what... there sat Jackson just watching the show. Thank the LORD!!!
Afterwards we headed back to Mimi and Duke's to reunite the family. Since Jeremy, Cha,na and Colin were in town Jackson got to stretch out the evening a little further playing with his cousin while we watched some Trawick family moments (caught on tape). Thank you very much for that Duke.
It was an awesome night.I know Jackson was thrilled because he woke up the next morning begging us to "go see Elmo again". You gotta love that.

Time flies...

What happened? I look up and it's November. Pryce is 2 months old, Jackson is a little taller and we are moving into week 3 of P90X. I mean seriously. You know you're getting older when everything becomes about plannning. I was talking to one of my best friends this week about getting together. The conversation used to go like this... "What are you doing? Watching the game. I'll be over in 10 minutes". Now it goes like this... "Let's try to get together soon. Well, we have plans every weekend in November. Yeah, then it will be Christmas. What do you have going on in January"? When did this happen? When did we transition to calendars for a weekend of hanging out? It's really funny how priorities change and life goes in a different direction. I've started having those moments that my parents promised would happen, "You'll understand when you're older". Well, I understand. I get it that with all of the bills and the stress and the work that things are inevitably going to change. Thank GOD it's all worth it. I see that life just sort of takes over. Things change or become different and it is all for the better. Sure it sucks to be a "grown-up", but would I want things any other way? Absolutely not. I read the other day that not knowing what the future holds is part of the fun. It's so true. What I do know is that the way time is just flying by I will look up and another year will have past and I will be saying the same thing... What happened? Oh, well. That's life.

Battling the Bulge

After 11 months of stuffing our faces with anything and everything we could find at an obscene rate we have finally surrendered to a health plan. That's right, we are making a life change because frankly, we got OUT OF CONTROL! The other night we took before pictures and it was rather depressing. Don't get me wrong Meredith still looks great, but I am apparently giving birth to our next child. I mean seriously, what a tremendous GUT! I am convinced people have been pointing and laughing at me behind my back. "Did that guy eat Jerry Mathers"? "Oh look Ricky Gervais put on more weight". That's fine I put myself in this situation. So now it is time to get out of it. So Meredith and I are taking on P90X. HOLY FAT SHREDDER BATMAN! This thing is no joke. We just completed week 1 which is 6 days a week of working out and a fantastic nutrition plan. Mert has been cooking 3 meals a day while taking care of the kids, no easy task considering we went from 0-60 flat. She is a natural in the kitchen by the way. Everything has been soooo good. It's amazing the effect it has on you. Suddenly I don't wake up tired or need to take a break mid-way through getting ready for work. Granted we still have like 83 days to go, but we are loving it. Hopefully we will get back into the clothes in our closet that somehow don't fit anymore... As important as that is to us, it will be much better for the kids. There is no reason why Jackson should not be able to play cars with me in his room because I get exhausted from bending over. I don't want to miss playing catch or teaching our little girl to ride a bike because the family has to bring me after meal snacks on a tray table since "Daddy can't get out of his chair".
So we are committed to this plan and really excited about it. Hopefully there will be a noticeable change very soon. If not we will just have to keep working at it.
So, Farewell Gutty McFatso... it's time for a change.

Important to Remember

For the last 6 days the Bowler's have been on a complete roller coaster ride. As expected it has been full of those life experiences that really define a family, which makes it all the better.
It began with the build up of an emmy nomination for some of my work that had us on cloud nine hoping to bring home the award. In order to ring in the night we packed up baby Pryce (while Jackson stayed with Jonathan) and turned her over to Grammie for a full night away from her folks. Grammie put up a BIG fight, literally grabbing her from our arms and announcing we were free to leave at anytime.
Unfortunatley we were not recognized with the statue, but it was an honor to be nominated. There I gave the cliche loser speech. Now someone please punch me in the face. IT SUCKS TO LOSE!!! All in all it was great for us to take a time out for ourselves, so I can't complain too much.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: Your days of late night drinking, sleeping in and then hitting
some grease pit to recover are over. O-V-E-R. Don't be an idiot. LOL!!!

Returning home on Sunday we were still on a high from our little getaway, but reality would quickly kick in...
We got news Monday morning that Meredith's Uncle Dave had passed overnight. It was devastating! We knew the family would be gathering in his honor which meant we had to act fast. Meredith and her sisters knew how improtant their Uncle has been to Chalna and we all knew she needeed us to be there. It was a no brainer decision. So once again, only a few days later we packed up our newborn, Jackson and ourselves for what would be a family journey across TEXAS.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: Don't kill each other.

I was proud to see how our family responded as a unit. Jackson was amazing. He watched some shows, played quietly in his seat and always let us know when his little sister needed something. Of course she handled that pretty well on her own. To be honest she was pretty impressive as well. We could only count a handful of cries.
Meredith and I switched off driving duties and never disagreed about the music, so that's a bonus. Right?
The real lesson however, came when we arrived. While we were there because of a death, Uncle Dave insisted that we celebrate his life. If that doesn't scream from the heavens what kind of a person he was, I don't know what does. His only wish was for the people he loved (and those of us, like me, lucky enough to be invited) to have a beer and some food in Lukenbach, Texas in his honor.
I was overwhelmed by this gesture. From what I could tell, it was exactly what his family needed too. Isn't that something? For a man to give his family exactly what they need exactly when they need it.
So here's to you Uncle Dave... a man I never met, but who somehow helped me discover some of life's greatest lessons after he was gone.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: Life is always worth celebrating!!

All in all it has been a trying few days, but those are where the lessons in life come from. We are exhausted from it all, but mostly we are grateful.

Now, New and Next

Well, it has been a wild couple of weeks. We have contemplated so much. Where will we live? What will we do? How will these decisions impact our family? It has been a whirlwind! In the last 2 weeks I have been in 4 different states traveling and checking out possibilities for new challenges. It felt like we were on a decision making see-saw. It has been emotionally and physically exhausting. In the end we trust that what's "Now, New and Next" for the Bowler family is completely in GOD's hands.
We will not be leaving Texas anytime soon. It just wasn't in the cards for us this time. Right now we are thrilled to be close to our families. It would be so difficult for our family to spend anytime apart right now. I could not bare the thought of missing Pryce crawl for the first time or take her first steps or hear her first word. We know that Jackson needs some time with his Daddy Cory (otherwise Meredith will fill his mind with Rachel Ray and Big Lots). Most of all Mert and I discovered that spending a few days away from each other was hard enough. It would be monumentally more difficult to be apart for what could be weeks at a time. Although it would be temporary we would not be able to control the timeline.
What's new? Well, we are considering all possibilities which is very exciting. Anything is possible. We hope that we remain in your prayers and we can't wait to tell you what we take on next... Of course first we will have to find out for ourselves.

Pryce Points...

Here is what I have learned about our little baby Pryce so far.... This little girl loves to sleep. Sadly her favorite time for this activity is during the day. I have not seen this much sleeping from a person since I had roommates during my college years.

The only thing she loves more than sleeping is eating. For such a little bitty girl she can really put away some chow. I'm sure someday she will hate that I just said that, but seriously.

She eats just like her Daddy. There is alot of noise made (which is the cutest thing ever), she leaves a big mess and immediately after her meal she passes out. Sometimes she nods off while eating. Plus do you know where the food comes from? Yeah, freaking sweet!

Here's a little something extra for ya', she usually lets out a big yelp followed by a satisfied smirk while she is... how should I say this... having a moment.

Oh and when Mert gives her a little required medicine, she lays in her arms afterwards with this look on her face that screams... "Oh no you didn't". It's hilarious because she keeps that expression for a good 10 minutes.

I swear it's like having a little drunk with us at all times with the sleeping, the puking, and the random hiccups. Of course it does come without the annoying slurred babble about how she misses us or how she just loves everyone.

Now I have to admit that I am still bad about loud talking, turning up the t.v. and generally being oblivious to the fact that at any time our little girl could be sleeping. Meredith is like a highlight reel of "Shhh.", "Turn it down.", "Does it have to be so loud?", "You're a bear". Look, I likes my shows with a little bass... sue me. Maybe I'm just jealous because Pryce is living my dream.

In the end we are still getting used to the sleep schedule and I'm sure things will get crazy when I return to work. All in all we are enjoying every minute of getting to know our precious little Pryce.

Jackson's Daddy Days

Well it has been one week since Pryce was born. What a difference she has made in our lives. We have hardly even left this house since we brought her home from the hospital. It has been time that we would never trade in. Just being all together and celebrating our new family has been AMAZING!

Grammie stayed with us all week and we could not have made it without her. We have had friends from church and KLTV bringing us dinners regularly. Mimi and Duke have been making constant house calls and not because they want to see Pryce and Jackson's parents... It has all been such a blessing.

Now we are gearing up for what's to come. Next week we are on our own. I will be home taking care of things for Mert while she is taking care of the baby. That means Jackson is in BIG TROUBLE! Having Dad at home epitomizes the 80/20 rule of business. It is 20% fun and 80% total freaking nightmare. Believe me, I remember.

His wake up call will go from "Good morning Angel Puff" to "Get your butt out of bed". Bath time will be cut by a good 20 minutes. So instead of the Custom service job you get on your car, he willl be getting the Gas station express wash. Hey, that comes with a 30 second dryer so I don't want to hear any guff. He will get his fill of Lunchables this week and he will definitely see much less of the inside of Big Lots, Marshalls and Target. Like ZERO!

Sounds harsh right? Well keep in mind he will also be reminded that he is my main man. While our time together will be different than what he gets with Mom it will still be filled with love. He will get his chance (that he asks for all the time) for me to take him into school and pick him up. He will do some chores with me and help his Mom and his little sister. He will find out that Pryce's arrival does not equal his departure from our hearts. I'm sure this transition has been a little confusing for him (it's challenging for his parents), but we are in this thing together. I look forward to this week so Mert and I can find a groove. More than that, I am excited to get some time with Jackson that I am confident will take our relationship to the next level. So here's to us Buddy. I hope it means as much to you as it will to me.