Journal › Entries written by Cam

I wish I could tell you how awesome the weather was this weekend. We didn’t even have weather like this the entire summer last year. The temperature in the Bay Area was in the high 70s to mid 80s all weekend. We really took advantage of it by getting outside as much as possible.

On Saturday, we drove up to Marin and spent the morning in Tiburon. We had a great brunch and a nice walk around the harbor. Emma loves looking at the water and wanted to hop on a boat and take it for a ride. We should have taken the ferry over from San Francisco, but we didn’t think of it until we were already in Tiburon. We drove around the peninsula and saw some gorgeous homes that we’ll never be able to afford. Emma still wanted to be outside when we got home late in the afternoon, so we went on a long ride with the tricycle she got for Christmas.

On Sunday we drove back up to Marin. This time, we spent most of our time in Mill Valley, where we hung out at the central plaza’s Depot bookstore and cafe. There, Emma talked us into getting her a red velvet cupcake. Imagine that! Note her excitement as she prepares to dig into this cupcake with cute little hearts sprinkled on top.

The town square also has a cute outdoor area where people watching is great fun. Emma even made a new friend: a big fluffy dog. We walked across the street to this unique toy store where Emma and Doug played for an hour with every toy they could find. I went next door to Baskin Robbins to get us some rainbow sherbet just to help us cool down a bit. Overall, we had a great weekend!

January – Nana and Papa Bowman visited from Florida. Unfortunatly, Emma got Roseola so we spent a lot of time indoors. We still managed to take Nana and Papa to the Bay Area Discovery Museum, one of Emma’s favorite places. She got to show them all her latest tricks and had a great visit.

February – Emma is officially a year and a half old! We can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. We can barely keep up with Emma anymore. She is running around like crazy and starting to use a lot more words. Cam’s mom finally sold her house and is moving to San Francisco.

March – We were suppose to head to San Diego, but Doug got the flu. Emma and momma made new friends in the neighborhood and had fun play dates each week. Emma has two new friends her age, and it’s fun to see them walking around the neighborhood.

April – Cam’s mom is now living full time in San Francisco. Emma nicknamed her “MiMi” and loves having her around. Doug also had his first accident on his scooter, causing all of us to have heart failure! Life is never dull in the Bowman household.

May – We spent Mother’s Day in Las Vegas. Had a great time with our friends Nick and Yvonne who were also there. We had a great time at Mandalay Bay where they have an amazing shark exhibit. But wouldn’t you know it, this time, Emma got the flu. We spent the later part of the trip taking turns watching over Emma and helping her recover.

June – Let the birthday parties begin! Emma had a ton of fun visiting her friends T & N for their 2nd birthdays. They are the first in the baby group to hit the 2′s! Father’s day was also fun this year with both Doug’s b-day and Father’s Day occurring on the same day! We has a fun filled weekend of celebrating.

July – July was a really busy month. We went to Seattle for a conference where Doug spoke, and then over to Spokane to see Cam’s Aunt C and Cousin K and family. It was a great trip. Emma fell in love with her cousins and can’t wait to visit them again. Cam’s niece also came to visit and spent 3 weeks with us. Emma loves having her here. She would yell every morning for “Chy-Chy” to “GET UP” and come play with Emma!

August – Happy Birthday Emma! We now have a 2 yr old. Sometimes it’s so hard to believe. Emma had a jungle safari birthday party with all her friends. It was a great time. We had lion, tiger, and monkey cupcakes going around. I think Emma actually ate two full cupcakes that day. Grandma B came from Ohio, and Emma had a blast. We also bought a new home and Emma started her first soccer class.

September – Moving day is here! Emma has now lived in 4 different bedrooms in her short 2 years! We spent a lot of time getting the “NEW HOUSE!” ready and Emma declared “No more OLD house!” Emma is also loving soccer and having a great time when we’re not rained out. This has been one of the worst summers in SF history. We spent a lot of time seeking out the sun by driving about 30 minutes south to a park. We still managed to have a great time.

October – We continued on with soccer, but switched to a weekend time so Doug could take Emma. He loves taking her. Emma is really starting to show her real spirit. Who knew we had such a huge baseball fan? Emma cheered on the SF Giants all the way to the World Series. She would yell “Go Giants Go!” It was awesome. We also held the first annual “Bowman Halloween Bash” for the neighborhood. It was a huge hit. We have gotten to know so many people, and feel so fortunate to live in this friendly neighborhood.

November – Another busy month for us. We flew to NYC for another of Doug’s conferences, and met up with Emma’s BFF Charlotte. We had such a great time. The girls were so fun to watch. It was another tearful good-bye until we get to see them again in the Spring. Cam’s sister and family came for Thanksgiving in our new house. We also had Cheyenne here too. Emma had fun playing with her 3 yr old cousin Sienna, and giving Cheyenne a hard time again. We took a trip to Cal Academy with the whole crew of us, fun times!

December – Soccer was rained out all month. We still managed to get in some fun play groups though. Christmas came too quickly but it was fun to have Grandma B from Ohio here for a visit. Between Grandma B, Nana and Papa, and Grandma Mimi, Emma was very spoiled this year. We got Emma a new tricycle and we’ve been spending every sunny moment outside. We had a Disneyland trip planned for after Christmas that turned into a nightmare. We drove to Southern California on Wednesday, but had to return two days later after we all got sick. Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end for the Bowman’s. We all ended up sick for the next two weeks, ringing in a very sad New Year.

Good bye, 2010! Here’s hoping 2011 brings lot of joy, laughter, and fun times ahead.

I can’t even begin to express our heartfelt “thank you” for all your thoughts, prayer and donations for the Johnston family. Because of you, Brandi and her family were able to have a wonderful Christmas!

Luke has had his first month of chemo and will start again next week. He is proving to be a strong little boy with a lot of fight in him. You can read about and follow Luke’s journey at Caring Bridge.

I met my friend Brandi Johnston in those first few hours of my freshman year at college. She listened to me talk non-stop about a “Doug Bowman” for a solid two years, then occasional mentions of him for the last 16 years. How’s she still my friend, I’ll never know! I cherish Brandi because she is an amazing person, someone I wish I could be like. Some of my best college memories are with, and because of, her. continued ›

I’ll be the first to admit there may be a time or two I might cut a corner. Usually to save time that I just don’t have anymore. Emma kept tripping for some reason. She was becoming really clumsy. It finally occurred to me that maybe she needed new shoes. I measured her feet, and she actually skipped a whole size!

I was really bummed because I already bought a couple pair that she hadn’t even worn yet. I had several store credits to use, so I did a little on-line shopping for new shoes for Emma. Apparently, I didn’t read the fine print. Maybe I didn’t even read the name. It became apparent when our new “Wee Squeak” shoes arrived yesterday! I’ve deemed these the “Daddy and Emma” day out shoes!

A friend of mine told me a very sad story this week. Her best friend lost their two year old son very unexpectedly. No apparent reason. Just didn’t wake up. In an instant, gone. This isn’t suppose to happen at two years old. Children this age are suppose to be happy and healthy, getting under your feet and driving us crazy.

My heart aches for the poor family and has made me love Emma even more. I didn’t know it was possible. For all the times I want to pull my hair out or think the day will never end, I am grateful for the amazing child we have. I’ve held onto her desperately this week, never wanting to let go. I just can’t imagine life without her.

She must sense something is up. She’s really taken advantage of the ice cream this week, that my friends will probably come to an end very soon!

Emma is having so much fun with soccer. I can’t stop smiling when I watch her! Here is a bit of soccer practice week 2.

Emma has been doing a great job with brushing her teeth. She tells us “Emma brush teeth too.” So every morning and night Emma brushes her teeth with Doug. Doug will sing, “This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth” and Emma brushes her teeth. So cute!

Wow! Our baby girl is 2. I really can’t believe how fast the time goes by. She has become every bit of a two year old, full of sugar and spice! This year we had a low key birthday party for her. She had a great time with a few friends and family. Thank you to all of you who celebrated Emma’s 2nd birthday safari with us!

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Emma had her two year check up today. We’ve had to postpone Emma getting vaccinations several times now. Every time we go to the dr. she conveniently has a cold or allergies. Today was no exception. However, I was really excited. Emma is now in the 5oth percentile for hieght, 50th percentile for her head and we are holding strong at the 12th percentile for her weight. She is tiny but perfectly healthy, minus the cold/allergies.

On a much happier note, today was our first soccer practice. Check out our girl learning foot action!