Our Bundle of Peace

On November 24 at 6:55pm (CST) Paxton Edward Tippen was born weighing in at 7lbs 2 oz and 20in. Mom and baby are doing very well. He's got all 10 fingers and 10 toes and is very healthy. Right now we are loving spending time with him, that we sneak in between visitors and doctor checks. The timing was just perfect;' he came early, with the doctor we wanted, and in enough time for Preston's parents to come over the holiday.

his first pictures here

No Baby yet!

He's not here yet but that's a good thing because we have had many projects to complete before his arrival! Preston's mental "do-it-yourself" (DIY for those who are in the club) capacity is being strained and challenged daily as he lays siege to the basement bathroom remodel. And Aimee's body is strained and challenged by the constant pressure near her birth canal that baby boy is creating.
Today's task was putting the flor in the bathroom. It was much more fun that anticipated after returning the sheet of linoleum that was too small and going with self stick tile! I never thought I'd use my old wreslting knee pads again but they totally saved my knees today. Below are a few pics of the new paint and flooring with the shower base uninstalled (that's next)!

~Preston

A Fabulous Shower

Tuesday was a big day for us. First we had our 36 week Dr.'s appointment. As of Tuesday I am 30% effaced with only a dimple sized dilated. According to my doctor, right on target. Knowing we won't be going into delivery this week was very comforting for us considering Preston flew out at 6am this morning (Friday) for his grandmother's funeral and will return tomorrow night. So here I am sitting cross legged for the night.
In the evening, we had a church wide family shower. I wish we had some video of it to share, but unfortunately we only have a few snap shots. We were so blessed with a wonderful meal with many families, a hysterical skit depicting Preston, Aimee and Baby Boy Tippen (titled "Turbo Charge Tippen") by the Weber Family, a fun kids game that included the kids putting balloons under their shirts like they were pregnant (hysterical!), and then tons and tons of beautiful gifts. It was quite overwhelming in a great kind of way. Now are drawers are full of adorable clothes and our kitchen cabinet full of baby bottles. We are now just waiting on a few online Target shipments and then we still need to place our cloth diaper order.

Tralese as Preston and Sauvell as Aimee

Wendy as Turbo Charge Tippen.The kids shoving balloons under thier shirts.

Opening gifts.Our baby rocker, made by local Amish. A BEAUTIFUL keepsake and perfectly designed for a woman.

life & death

So its too late to be actually writing but after almost falling asleep watching a PBS special on cannabis i hoped on to check the end of the day sports scores and found my mind drifting away about my soon to arrive baby and soon death of my grandma.
I've never really been a person who deal with change very well. I have become better at coping with change as I age but it is big changes are not my forte. I am about to experience two very huge changes. I've had 9 months to prep myself for our first baby, but yet as i get daily updates from my mom on the status of my grandmothers deteriorating condition it seems her death will be harder change. In the back of my mind I've always known that my grandma was going to die (just like us all), but it still weighs heavier on my mind than the huge change that will happen when the baby is born.
I think its because death's adjustment period (grieving) doesn't have anything new, just the lack of something. With the baby everything is new and everything changes, but with death there is just a void.
Now, i love Jesus and believe that our belief in Him holds the promise of life everlasting, but for life on earth this is it. So, I'm left holding a mixed bag of emotions, none too overwhelming, but a jumbled pot of anxiety, excitement, dread, and uncertainty as the two polar opposites on life's cycle converge in the very near future within the Tippen household.
~Preston

36 weeks

We have officially passed the 36 week mark of pregnancy! Just less than one month left, give or take a week or two. We have our now weekly check up this coming Tuesday, so I am sure I will have more to post on the baby's progress after that. Safe to say for now though that I feel as if I can literally feel him getting bigger inside me day by day. Or maybe he is just stretching his limbs. Either way, it is as if every part of my body feels him inside of me.
As he develops more and more, and the days get closer to his arrival we just seem to be falling in love with him more and more. Knowing that he can hear us has us talking to him all the time. I wonder what our voices sound like to him in there... To update you on a few of our ongoing projects see the pics below.

Here is Aimee at 36 weeks.

Here is what used to be a shower in our basement bathroom.
Here is what used to be a toilet, wall papered walls, and linoleum floor.