Bowman Clan:

PUMA – She is our oldest, currently 12 years old.  She is into dance and horseback riding. Awesome big sister who enjoys being the “Captain of the Kids”.  She is living and thriving in spite of having ulcerative colitis.  We have no idea how or why this happened.  The doctor told us it was a credit to our whole food diet that she was not in pain in spite of all the damage to her large intestine.  We are working to find alternative remedies so that she doesn’t have to be on medication for the rest of her life. UPDATE 2017: She has been in remission for almost two years. I credit prayer and our incredibly gifted chiropractor.

NIGHT OWL – Our second child, currently 9 years old.  He enjoys building, testing boundaries, and he is also in dance, swim, and sports.  He is the reason we learned about gluten allergies – had to cut out gluten when I was breastfeeding him as a newborn.  He also had RSV and almost died on us when he was 3 months old. Scariest moment of my life to date. Thanks to God and his well-placed servants in the ER in Payson and at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, he is alive and well to give me grief, insist on snuggles, and remind me of his very special place in the world.

CHARGER – Our third child, currently 7 years old.  He is our healthiest Sweet Pea.  He enjoys singing, dancing, playing sports, and keeping up with whatever big sister and big brother are doing.  He is tenacious – Daddy Bruss thinks we should change his nickname to “Badger”!  We do not know if it was the extended breastfeeding, maybe the fact that he was vaccinated on a loose schedule since we were always traveling around the time when he “should” have been vaccinated…anyway, there is a stark difference between him and the older two who we vaccinated on schedule.  We are  a control group of 4, so we do not take sides on the vaccine debate. We simply state the difference we see in our children for other people to consider as they do their own research and decide what is best for their family.

OTTER – Our fourth child, currently 5 years old.  She is our livewire.  She is an open book.  We have had her in swim and dance classes – no clear favorites yet.  Soccer last fall was fun. What we do know about her: she is very expressive and uses her whole body when she talks.  She loves to tell stories and exchange gifts.  She loves to color and paint. No canvas is big enough for her – it has been a challenge to convince her that the walls are off limits. She also likes to keep up with all her siblings and knows very little fear.  As of today, she is still my last nursling.