Birthday Boy!

Seriously! How time flies. Our little boy turned 2 today (2 months that is) and I can't believe that not so long ago I was rubbing mommy's tummy wishing for him to be here, prepping toys and contraptions with batteries, and wondering how a cloth diaper was going to work. Now we are replacing batteries that have been worn out, washing cloth diapers regularly (and loving not having to buy regular ones every week), and rubbing Pax's tummy and head to soothe him to sleep.

We love him more than anything else and in 2 months we have seen him grow so much. The new developments are:

1. His intense interest in people rather than shiny objects. Don't get me wrong shiny objects are still near to his heart but I think looking at mom and dad is slowing becoming his favorite.

2. Pax loves to stick his tongue out. I know this might sound like a bad habit to teach him but it is one of his favorite ways to communicate with and play with us. We smile and stick our tongue out at him and he has been copying us. Yesterday, he stuck his tongue out at me real far to get my attention and it was the most adorable thing ever!

3. Bed time is now officially awesome. Every night we read 2 books, pray with him and lay him in his pack n' play. He loves it. He loves to coo along and move his arms as he watches the pictures. Then when we read/sing Snuggle Puppy* and he calms down and smiles and is ready for bed. So far (about a week and a half) he has never fought bed time, the next step is to make bed time last all night :)

*for those of you who don't know Snuggle Puppy, friend of ours introduced it to us and it is our favorite children's literature for infants. I would recommend it to any new born! No musical talent needed (aim and i are proof of that). If you are unfamiliar with it check it out today!

Football Drug

I've always been a fan of sports but never really a die hard football fan. I think I like knowing the stats more than I like cheering for a particular team (but "Go Browns!") However, this weekend I realized the true gem that football can be... an entertaining sleep agent. It has been a weekend full of chilling with my little stud on the couch downstairs alternating between Tiger Woods PGA 2010 for the Wii and all 4 playoff games. I've watched most of all the games while Paxton slept next to me. Nothing is better to him than a warm bottle followed by some noisy sleep (he grunts even while sleeping) while daddy watches entertaining football and eventually falls asleep as well. Below is some proof of our exciting weekend :)

Friday O' Fun

We are enjoying a relaxing Friday at home today with two milestone accomplishments to celebrate.
Paxton had his first "play date". You may be wondering with who. 3 friends actually: a zebra, an alligator and an elephant. We have put him in his bouncy chair with his animal friends before and he has never noticed their presence before today. Something clicked inside his little brain today and low and behold he found his animal friends. He even played with them, which consisted of a bunch of punching and swatting of them. We hope we are not teaching him inappropriate social skills. If you are interested you can check out his play date below. (Warning: This may only be interesting for family, particularly grandparents.)


The second milestone to celebrate is the baking of our first French Onion Soup dish. Over the holidays we watched the movie Julie and Julia, the story of Julia Child and a woman who made all her dishes. This inspired Aimee to rent a compilation video of her cooking shows from the library, which in turn inspired Preston to actually make one of her recipes. So Preston spent the morning with The French Chef, via our lap top, following her instructions of how to make French Onion Soup. The end result: divine delight! Below are some pics highlighting his French adventure.
The smell of onions permeated our entire upstairs by 11am.
Preston's quirky inspiration, Julia Child. This is a picture of Julia's cooking show on our lap top as is was playing in our kitchen this morning.
This was the end result; cheesy, bread filled, heavenly French Onion Soup. It really was delicious and we have enough of the broth left over to make a whole other meal.

Little Bear

This was a cute video of Paxton in his new "bear" outfit. He is so much fun each day. We are really loving him and enjoy getting to know his every squeak and grunt!



Grandma was a little burp happy, that's why Pax wanted to claw her eyes out is she burped him again.

What is this thing called silence?

We have officially said good bye to all our family. Our last round of revolving door guests left on Saturday morning. We dropped Preston's Mom, Dad and sister off at the airport, blowing kisses from Paxton from the security check point. Sigh... the absence of family leaves us with mixed emotions. We look forward to returning to a schedule and quiet time, but it pulls at our heart strings to say good bye to our family, unsure of the next time we will see them. Overall, the best part of having family here was seeing them all love Paxton and having him surrounded by family. Preston and I both feel overwhelmingly blessed by how wonderful our families are.
The second best thing about having family here was utilizing their magnificent talents. :) Preston's sister and mom reupholstered a couch I bought at Goodwill for a great deal. Check it out.

The couch originally had a heinous dust ruffle as well but I forgot to snap a picture before they ripped it off. I couldn't be more happy with this little sofa. Aren't they so talented? We look forward to many comfy movies on this sofa. Our goal is to not get Pax spit up on it for at least a month. :)

Turning 4 weeks!

Time has really been flying by. Not so much because of any sort of schedule because with a new born we are quickly learning that he dictates everything! With that said we have been surprised to find that we are able to many of the things we enjoy doing and going, just with more prep time and not always arriving on time.

We just finished a lovely visit with Nana (Aim's mom), Aunt Nancy, Aunt Liz, Cousin Colby, and Cousin Jaclyn this past weekend. It was great to have everyone here to love on little Paxton. Most everyone got to spend quality time with Pax (this usually meant napping with him :) and eating (which it seemed like we ate a whole side of beef while they were here.)

We just got the professional pictures of Paxton (who was almost 3 weeks in the pictures) taken by The Photog. Check them out!

We also had his month checkup yesterday. He is 8lbs and 13 oz (put on 2 lbs since leaving the hospital) and very healthy. We praise and thank god everyday for this little blessing. He is the VERY BEST Christmas Present this year!!!!

Happy Two Weeks!

Tonight at 6:55pm Paxton will be two weeks old! And if you follow our blog you know that means it has been two weeks since we posted anything. It has not been for a lack of news. Instead, an abundance of news which leaves me bewildered as to where to start.
Overall, life in the Tippen household of 3 has been wonderful. For starters we got to bring Paxton home on Thanksgiving day, accompanied by Preston's mom and dad. They ran to the store Thanksgiving afternoon and bought a ton of groceries and whipped up a fantastic Thanksgiving Day meal. (Sans the Turkey since they were all frozen. We were planning on celebrating Thanksgiving at a friend's home so we literally had no food. Preston's dad improvised with a delicious chicken.) We really couldn't of asked for a better first few days of Paxton's life. Preston's parents cooked, cleaned, oogled over Pax, and Preston's dad helped Preston finally completely finish the downstairs bathroom! We were truly sad to see them go, but anticipate their soon return for Christmas. Next on the horizon is the visit of my side of the family. We are so excited!
These last few days have been relatively calm, with lots of laughs over poopy diapers, farts and pee sprays in the face, large belches, funny faces (most likely caused by gas, catching a pattern here?), outfits that say New Born but drown Pax in fabric, cute coos, baby snores, and the slow realization that we are now Mom and Dad not just Preston and Aimee.
I never thought I could worry about someone to the extent I do for this little one. People keep asking the typical question, "Are you getting enough sleep?" My answer is yes, because our little Pax sleeps well for 2-3 hours at a time, but I on the other hand am in a light mode of sleep all night, listening for him and getting up several times to just make sure he is breathing. It really amazes me how quickly my perspective on life changes once giving birth. I haven't woken up one day since he has been born without truly being thankful for the gift of another day; for life. Preston and I keep asking each other when will we get bored with just starring at him. Perhaps the first time he talks back to us. But for now, we are smitten with love.

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.