january 4, 2015: welcome home

 

Ezekiel Mark Tippey

("strengthened by God", "a warrior")

7lbs, 3 oz.

 

 

Little man, you have changed our lives forever. Already you have us wrapped around your little finger. Ivan now knows not to lie on top of you to give you kisses, not to cover your face when fixing your blanket, and not to bounce on the sofa next to us when you're nursing. You guys are going to be best friends, I've decided (so it's settled then! a sure thing).

 

and his birth day is something I want to share...but i'm still thinking about how to do it (so come back in a month or so -- hopefully it will have trickled out into written word by then!).

 

p.s. slowly putting up more pictures here.

 

 

don't worry, you can trust us

We spent the summer encouraging Ivan that he didn't need to worry when either Brett or I walked out the back door. He used to stand at the door and fuss that he was being left behind. I'm not positive, but I suspect that he doubted he could trust that parent to come back.

So we encouraged him that yes he could trust us, that no we wouldn't abandon him, and after about a month of this, he no longer stood at the door and cried. He learned to stand at the door and grin cheerfully, sometimes waving a chubby hand, sometimes chuckling merrily, and sometimes blowing sweet baby kisses.*

trusting can be hard work, don't you think? I figure we're doing him a favor, starting him off so early!

*the only way he will give us kisses, even now at 19 months. And although I'll keep trying for more, I've decided his air kisses are better than his biting kisses...

discovery

We've been busy exploring the world with Ivan; could you tell?

 

p.s. I think he likes it

when the cousins come

when the cousins come, you're probably so busy changing diapers and feeding people and having conversations in the living room and in the kitchen and while out for coffee that you'll forget to take pictures...until the 10 minutes before the cousins are trying to leave. Sooo....you grab your camera, you assemble all available adults, you line up the kids on the new couch and then

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five minutes and 90 pictures later, the best picture you got of

both Ivan and Florence is on the stairs.

 Without sweet, non-moving, photogenic Titus.

Sigh.

 

(someday I'll just laugh as I look back at all the crazies).

march in ohio

it may still be snowy outside, but in here, we're ready for spring...

 

(thanks to Brett)

 

 

joy to the world

 

our King has come

 

Merry Christmas

our Seventh Day of Christmas

This project happened thanks to a lot of help from Brett and Ivan.. I mentioned to the guys that I'd like to have a family picture taken to send to our families. Brett has been encouraging me to actually finish my projects, and because I agree that he makes a good point (and also just because i like to make him happy) sending out a smaller number seems like the way to go. Anyway, last week sometime Brett said to me, why don't you guys come up to the office with lunch and we'll take our picture? So, mid-morning I dressed Ivan in his cool new shirt (from the Goodwill), found myself a scarf that coordinated,  scrubbed his hair into a little mohawk, and then off we went, up the hill and past all the students to Brett's office. Ivan had a difficult time looking at the camera, but aside from that did quite well...so like I said, thanks to Brett (who orchestrated the event) and Ivan (who behaved quite splendidly), our family portrait is done...and in the mail two days ago!