 Jessica E announces her arrival. |
 Stephanieis a big sister now. |
 Richard,Amanda, Jessica, Stephanie |
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 Jessica Emma. |
 Stepanie,Nancy, Jessica. |
For 9 months my brother and his wife swore that the baby was going to be a boy. When asked what the baby’s name was going to be if it was a boy they’d reply, “Andrew Richard, the same as if Stephie had been a boy.” When asked what the baby’s name was going to be if it was a girl they’d reply, “It’s not going to be a girl.” The last time I spoke with her, Stephanie, who, of course, counts their cats as full members of the family, reasoned that with a baby girl it would be all even. 3 boys and 3 girls in their family. Well… guess what? IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!! This afternoon at 3:19 p.m., weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz., Jessica Emma Bowden made a very loud appearance. From what I’ve heard, and from what I really did hear in the background on the phone, Jess has been crying for hours on end. Poor thing.
Here’s how Steph learned how to hold Jessica so well:
Stephanie in Sibling Class, Milwaukee, WI
About the time that Jessica was born, I was listening to Slim Goodbody mp3s and wishing it was 5:00 so I could leave. After work Jessica (oh boy, this is going to get confusing) and Jeannette and I were going to the Orchard Street Block Party. Local vendors were going to be selling their merchandise and food and I was really looking forward to finally trying the pickles from Guss’ Lower East Side Pickles. We wander walked over to the block party, stopping in stores here and there along the way. When my brother called me to tell me the good news I was in SoHo Baby, a boutique on Elizabeth Street, oogling over cute things I could buy for the baby. He called from the hospital and I didn’t recognize the number so I turned the ringer off, without answering, and proceeded to play with a stuffed penguin and igloo. Ten minutes later my phone was ringing again. This time my brother was calling from his cell phone and my caller ID let me know it was him so I picked up. The rest is history! Later on Jess, um.. my friend Jess not my niece Jess, and I had a celebratory beer and burger at Pianos on Ludlow.
Tim Baker, owner of Guss’ Lower East Side Pickles, LES, Manhattan
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Trying on t-shirts at the Orchard Street Block Party. I bought the white one. I was obviously in a happy/excited/sad-I-couldn’t-be-there/weird mood all night.
Congrats, Dick, Amanda & Steph. I really wish I could be there right now. And thanks to Nancy for everything, you jerk.
18 responses so far ↓
1 mom (GRANDMA MARY) // May 30, 2003 at 12:37 am
awwwee. ~s~m~i~l~e~ (happy tears)
Nan, know that “jerk” is meant in the lovingest way !
Thanks for everything.
Congrats Dick and Amanda !
2 NG // May 30, 2003 at 9:04 am
Oh I know. At first I was like “what? a jerk?” I get it. I’m here and she’s not. So.. Rachelle… maybe you should move to Milwaukee! ha
Congrats to all you guys on the new addition to your family! Jessica is adoreable.
I have to return Stephie’s bike yet - so Dick and Amanda better hang on tight to Jessica when I come over!
3 Jessica // May 30, 2003 at 9:53 am
Congratulations on the new addition to your family. She is a lucky one!
Oh by the way, I love the name!
4 Jeannette // May 30, 2003 at 11:48 am
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!
she is cute as a button!! (i’m loving the little hat - it’s smurfy!)
5 Mark // May 30, 2003 at 1:08 pm
you look like a pissed off south park character in those pics.
6 tien // May 30, 2003 at 1:10 pm
those are some quality facial expressions. i’m not sure what is better though - the ones you’re making with the shirts or the first picture of jessica.
7 rachelle // May 30, 2003 at 1:25 pm
silly faces run in the family
8 e // May 30, 2003 at 1:46 pm
ooh cute baby. and cute pic of learning how to hold a baby. i’m still scared of holding babies. (i was going to say “carrying babies”, which is also true). i’m much better with small animals.
9 Jeannette // May 30, 2003 at 1:53 pm
tien - you totally called it. rachelle and baby jess totally have the same scrunched up expressions!
10 tien // May 30, 2003 at 3:20 pm
okay, image #10 is scary. thats like the thing where there is an image and you have to stare at it and then it shows a ghost. while you two arent ghost like, it wasnt expected. 8 and 9 were much better.
11 Kelly // May 30, 2003 at 4:35 pm
Baby Jess is sooo cute!
12 SuperGuy 5000 // May 30, 2003 at 7:29 pm
Rachelle is soooo cute!
13 Aunt Susie // May 30, 2003 at 7:40 pm
Those pictures are fabulous!
14 joel // May 30, 2003 at 8:45 pm
GREAT pictures.
ADORABLE baby.
BEAUTIFUL family.
AMAZING portraits of Rachelle.
now if only I stopped scrolling and didn’t see that dude turned inside out on the following post.
congrats rachelle, dick, amanda, stephanie. little kids rule :).
15 Richard Bowden // May 30, 2003 at 11:18 pm
She’s not very cute in those photos. I have some better ones now that she’s a day older and actually stopped crying and opened her eyes.
16 rachelle // May 31, 2003 at 1:35 am
let’s see more photos!!!
it was weird to go to work today.. to have it be just another day.. when such a big, exciting thing has happened. I just wanted to be with my family and see the baby. I was wired all day at work and found it hard to concentrate on much of anything. I talked to Amanda and Stephie today. Amanda sounded great. She and Jessica will be out of the hospital tomorrow. Stephie is growing up so fast! She is showing geek tendancies already at the age of 7.. she should take the geek test! She was talking about fractions to me on a cell phone. “I ate 1/4 of the sandwich and my daddy ate 3/4.” Funny. I don’t think I had a good grasp on fractions until I was at least 25. Steph’s a smartie.
thanks, everyone, for your kind words.. means a lot!
17 mom // Jun 3, 2003 at 8:53 pm
Who’s SUPER GUY 5000 ? ? ?
18 rachelle // Jun 3, 2003 at 10:49 pm
I don’t know, but he sure is SUPER.