Snooooooow!

It's snowing! Big, wet flakes have been falling for a few hours now and it's nice and white outside! Zane let out a little squawk when a flake hit his nose.

These are the bamboo plants in our backyard that normally stand about 10ft. tall.

Once nice and warm again, Z tells Papa all about the white stuff outside (with a little surprise at the end).

Videorama

Once again it's too cold to venture outside with the little man, so we've been entertaining each other indoors. In this first video he's a little cranky but I think that's because the zebra wasn't paying enough attention to him.

Z is getting better and better at tummy time. He's rolled over a few times but not on purpose yet. I keep trying to catch it on film, but alas it alludes me. Virgil cooperated this time though. He patrols the grounds when his baby is on the floor.

Look at the concentration on his face! He wants to move SO BAD.

This is an example of how deprived of attention Virgil is. That's his snout and favorite toy on the right. He takes any oppportunity to jam it in our faces. On occasion he'll drop it next to Zane...so hopeful.

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to everyone! We enjoyed a nice low-key day with Matt and Audrey, who came down from Seattle, and our friend Garon who took some time out from flight training up at Widbey Island in WA to join us. It was great having everyone here! One of our gifts from my mom and dad was a wide array of sausages and cheese and it was intended to be just a snack for us on both the 24th and 25th but ended up being lunch both days. I think all 5 of us will need a nice long break from sausage for awhile. Not to be outdone, the sugar was in full effect as well in the form of cookies, cakes, almond bark, and pie...Mmmmm

We had a white Christmas...until it melted off anyway.

Zane awoke to find all Santa's gifties for him! We were all a little jealous that his presents outnumbered ours by about 5:1. That's as it should be I suppose :) Thank you so much for all his new books, wardrobe, and toys!

Garon and Mason immediately tried out his full body bib. With the amount of spitting up and drooling he's doing lately we go through about 3 outfits per day so this will be used often!

Matt and Mason have a cockfight. Judy made these amazingly intricate chickens. I'll have to take some close up shots and post them.

Zane was so excited by all the commotion he fell asleep. But doesn't he look adorable in his reindeer outfit!

Virgil recieved a bone from Santa. Watch your fingers...he doesn't like to share!

He later inspects the intruders. That's HIS spot on the stairs.

The evening was spent watching terrible movies (thanks Matt and Audrey!) and rooting for the Blazers. For dinner we had an awesome roast, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, and hazelnut broccoli. YUM! For dessert we had an apple pie and just when we thought we'd stuffed ourselves to the brim, our friend Brad dropped by with more pie and cake. Of course we had to sample some! Ugh.

Smiley Boy

Yesterday Zane had a check up with the doc and got a whole bunch of immunizations. He got a great report about general health, activity, alertness, and curiosity! He just lay on the table in his diaper and wiggled around during the examination and while the doc talked to us. He managed to fall asleep while waiting for the nurse to bring back his shots. What a rude awakening! I haven't seen him turn that shade of red in a long time...poor little guy. There was a total of 6 immunizations but thankfully they only stuck him 3 times (in the thigh) and one was given orally.

Despite the early morning trauma he managed some smiles for us later.

We also took advantage of the break in rain in the afternoon to get everyone out of the house for a bit. Virgil has been going crazy with the freezing temperatures and now the monsoons. Zane really likes facing out in the Bjorn so he can take everything in.

The doctor was also very impressed with his overall 'healthiness.' At 2 1/2 months our little man weighs in at 17.5 lbs and is now 26.5 inches long. He's in the 96th percentile for both height and weight. At least he's proportionate! Surprisingly his head circ. is only in the 76th.

Sleep!!

Zane slept through the night last night!!! Yaaaaaaaaay!! We'd been at Mason's work party until 8:30, which is way past little man's bedtime. He was very social at the party and allowed a bunch of different hands to hold him before napping during dinner. His normal bedtime is around 7pm so once we got home, nursed, and gotten into the jammies we were well beyond the norm and he had some trouble settling down. Once alseep though he went for it. He slept from 10pm - 5am!! WOO-HOO! I awoke with a start wondering if he was OK but Mason was already awake and assured me he was fine and we could hear him making noises in his room. Then once we changed and fed him he went back down for another 4 hours. Way to go little man! We're hoping this becomes a trend, but if it doesn't it was still a nice early Christmas present.

Here's Z in his hand knitted sweater (or smoking jacket as we like to call it) from Aunt Erica. There's a matching hat as well but he didn't feel like showing off the set. He got lots of compliments at the party!

Great Aunt Ann sent a colorful moose that Z has been bonding with. He likes the books too and coos when we read them to him. I've been trying to get it on video but apparently he's camera shy.

Here we are hanging out in the living room. He's looking at our 'Christmas tree.'

This is a still from our previously posted Christmas video. Note the 'Christmas tree' in the background. It's our tallest house plant with lights on it. We're planning on hitting the sales after the holiday to get a tree for next year.

Christmas Greeting

Here we are all decked out in our Griswald Christmas sweaters! It took a few takes, but I think we got the point across. Happy Holidays from the PNW Rippeys!!

Size Comparison

This past Sunday Zane and I ventured out to the Convention Center for a craft fair. Beforehand we met up with Brad, Annie, their daughter Maggie, JoAnn, Jake, their son Oliver, and Tiffany. It was a perfect time to snap a quick picture of the size difference between Maggie and Zane. Maggie is 5 months old and the most adorable little girl ever! Mason has already attempted to lock down an arranged marriage between Maggie and Zane, but I'm not sure Maggie agreed with the idea. So here is Maggie at 5 months and Zane at 2 months...gheesh.

Z did very well at the show. I strapped him in his Bjorn carrier while we strolled around and was expecting him to fall asleep right away but he stayed awake and took in the scene for a while before drifting off. It was jam packed in there and I felt bad for all the people trying to maneuver strollers through the crowd. It was hard enough to look at the crafts in the booths without knocking into stuff with him strapped in front. It was great being there with the ladies! They all took turns holding him when we sat down. Yay!

Our large boy is wearing 6 month clothing already. Pants are tough because his gut is so huge that most of them that fit in length are too tight. We have a hard time with shirts and onesies because his torso is so long. Maybe soon he'll hit a plateau and stay in the same size for more than a month. HA! I bought two very large storage bins to put all his clothes in as he grows out of them and they're nearly full already. Some of his outfits he didn't even get to wear!

Speaking of growing out of things...he's not going to fit in his infant carseat for very much longer. It's supposed to fit him until he's 35 lbs but who can lug that around! We're about to move the straps to the largest setting already. He really does like his car seat, it just normally takes the hum of the diesel to calm him down a little bit. Plus, he's wearing a super cute outfit so he has absolutely nothing to be upset about :)

Tummy time

Today was another frigid day so Zane and I skipped our walk and got some exercise around the house instead. He played in his gym, did arm reps in the bouncy, we danced around the living room (which I did not take video of for fear of blackmail!), and of course tummy time.

He's fascinated with the blinds in the living room. Really he likes anything with stripes or lights and the blinds have both!

His soothie keeps him calm...now if only he could keep it in his mouth for more than 5 seconds.

His reindeer suit is super snuggly! He's ready for Santa!

Now that Zane is on a schedule and his bedtime is between 7 and 8pm, we have time to reconnect with our first child. Last night Virgil took full advantage of Mason's reclined position.

Brrrrrr!!!!!

It's freezing here!! Portland rarely falls below 25 degrees in the winter and last night it was 15 degrees!! I know for all the midwest folks out there that's nothing, but that's a big deal for the Northwest. We've been going through a crazy amount of pellets to keep our stove in the living room fired up and this morning was the second in a row that we woke to frozen pipes. Yesterday it was just the cold water in the kitchen that didn't work. Today it's both the hot and cold even though we left the faucet dripping last night. Luckily all the other faucets are working.

Needless to say we will not be taking Zane on any walks until it warms up a bit. In the meantime we've been having some fun just hanging out around the house. Here he is in what we like to call his lumberjack outfit. It's a 6 month size but fits him perfectly!! He looks a little out of it because we were packing him up to go to Ikea for an indoor walk when he really just wanted to go to sleep. Once Zane starts eating us out of house and home we'll be hitting Ikea much more frequently to take advantage of their cheap food. Mason and I ate lunch there and had a piece of pizza, 2 hotdogs, and 2 pops for $4.50. Can't beat that!!

Tummy time!

Plotting with Mr. Turtle.

Thanks Jake and Jo for lending us a lot of Oliver's old clothes! This shirt is one of our personal favorites.

...and so true :) Also, I you can't tell too well from these photos, but Z is loosing his brown hair and it's being replaced by a white blonde puff. Even though both Mason and I had white blonde hair as children, I'm going to claim that he got it from me since there is little else about his appearance that I can claim!

Baby Sneeze

Our squirmy, chatty little man:

We had some fun with the camera yesterday.

Eye Diagnosis

This morning I took Zane to the OHSU Casey Eye Institute to find out what's going on with his left eye since it hasn't opened fully since birth. He did very well during the check up but was more interested in all the ocular devices than the blinking, swirling, light ball he was supposed to be following. Dr. Kuo confirmed what we suspected (because Grandpa Dave sent us some info and we looked online), that he has congenital ptosis. It's not a huge deal, just that his eyelid muscle isn't fully developed and can't lift his lid. We're going to keep going in for regular check ups to make sure he's still using his left eye but other than that the remedy is minor surgery around the age of 3.

Today its really cold out so we plan to spend the rest of the day snuggling inside. We hope Papa is staying warm at work!!

Keepin' Busy

We're still waiting for the day when Zane sleeps through the night, but until then we're on a 3-4 hour schedule between feedings. We try to be active a little bit each day. Here are some of Z's favorite activities:

We take a walk around the Columbia Park near our house. Possibly a longer route if weather and attitudes allow it.

Contemplate life as a 1 1/2 month old on his changing table.

The activity gym has been keeping his interest for longer periods of time these days. He seems to have a special connection with the elephant and the zebra.

Virgil: the dutiful babysitter.

The bouncy chair is still a favorite. I mean it vibrates. How could you NOT enjoy that!Papa works his calming magic during bath time.

Mama is in charge of drying off. Awww...so pudgy and snuggly!

After a long day he passes out on Papa. Note the GIGANTIC baby thighs!