Too Long

It has been way too long since I posted on here. So what have we been up to? I would like to think lots but here is a few highlights off the top of my head!!! Owen is still a difficult baby but getting better. Knock on wood-no thrush this month!!!! He will be 5 months old on Friday, boy how time flies. Still not rolling over, he has rolled from his tummy to his back twice. That is fine--we are in no hurry of him being mobile. I think he will walk before he rolls. He loves to stand. He weighed 14lbs 5oz at his "4" month appt on May 12th. He has started laughing (I have a great video, if I can get it posted)and he is still coming to work with me. I think he is starting to grow on my boss (who was playing with him yesterday). Morgan: She is busy and a smart little cookie. Tonight is her preschool graduation. That is right my baby will be in Kindergarten in the fall. There may be some tears tonight. We went to Pella and Ottumwa this weekend and got to spend some time with Auntie Sara and her boyfriend Chris. Morgan really to a liking to Chris and Chris really took a beating from Morgan. She get to go more places than her parents. She will be going to Apple Tree Daycare this summer and will get to go on field trips every Thursday. She also has a season pass to Arnolds Park this summer. Josh still isn't working 40 hours and actually has had this whole week off. So Morgan and Josh will probably be spending lots of time together. Good thing she likes to fish!!! Now for some pictures
Owen playing at work:



He found a new favorite place to sit and watch life go by, the front window at the office:


And a couple pictures from this weekend, Lots of time in the car:

playing with a great toy provided by Grandpa Pete and Grandma Nancy, a ketchup Packet:

Pictures

So I figured out how to post a slide show!!!! So excited about this. now maybe if I can get organized and some time I can post pics more often!!!

Pics

Morgan vs Owen

Here is a pic of Morgan and Owen both at 2 months old. Can you see the resemblance?

Fresh out of the oven

So before this just becomes a place to put pictures let me tell you about how things have been going. Let me just say that Morgan is 1ucky she was born first, because if we would have had Owen first he would have been an only child. A couple weeks ago Owen had thrush, basically a yeast infection in his mouth. This can be difficult to clear up for people breastfeeding because you just pass it back and forth. I was positive about the whole thing. So we got the thrush taken care of which I thought was relatively easy. Then we had a REALLY bad weekend where Owen just screamed and screamed basically from Saturday till Monday. I brought him to the dr to see what was going on. The dr said there was nothing physically wrong with him and was just colicy and we would have to wait for it to pass. Then today I noticed the thrush has come back. Now back to trying to get rid of that. Right now I have him straped to me with my new sling which I am loving. Now for some pics

More pics

now I just need to upload new -pictures off of my camera!!!
Next we will work on video, any suggestions??

Whoohoo Since it worked here is some funny ones.

Pictures

Lets see if this works. I have been having a difficult time getting pictures on my blog and facebook.

So I know I have been horrible about putting stuff on here and would really love to figure out the whole blog thing, customizing it and stuff. So if anyone has any tips for me on that it would be great. I just haven't been on my home computer long enough to play around with it. I would really like to be able to put more than just 5 pics on at a time. like do a slide show, Any suggestions?

however, here is what we have been up to. So we are getting used to having mr Owen around. Sleep is still sporatic, i think he sleeps more than what Josh thinks but apparently it is because I don't wake up. Josh is great and gets up with him. last night for example, I put him down at 10 and I went to bed. Josh put Morgan to bed and then came to bed. He said Owen was up at 11. I got up with Owen at 3 and then at 5:30. I don't think that is too bad for a 4 week old but it concerns me that I didn't even hear him at 11??

Owen does really well at work and is such a good baby there. Mostly just hangs out on my desk for now. That will change when he starts to move and roll. He also sleeps great in his car seat at work. and eats about every 2 hours. However, he lets me know when it is time to go home. Usually around 7:30 he gets really fussy, but this happens at home also. Josh thinks he is colicy by I disagree.

Morgan really likes him. Says she loves him. likes to touch him and sit by him. A few Morganisms "He sleeps alot, kind of like I talk alot", when Owen stretches "Look he's growing", after Owen's bath he was wrapped in a towel and I was holding him and he pooped, "Owen, that is a naughty baby."

Some more pictures

Nothing great to say except we love our little guy. Here are some more pictures

Introducing Owen Joshua Riphagen

Born Dec 29th 7:43am
7lbs 7oz 20inches

Just wanted to get some pics on here.

C-Section

So it looks like our stubborn little baby will arrive via c-sections. I am actually ok with this. I realize it is major surgery but there are hundreds, even thousands of women who do this every day. (Sorry don't have a real statistic for you). Plus, I had my gal bladder out when Morgan was 4 weeks and I made it thru that. So we (I) have picked the date of Dec 29th for our baby to make his appearance. It is a little strange to pick your baby's birthday and I hope I don't scar him for the rest of his life because of it. On that note I would rather have it in Dec when I can take the day off if I want where as in January, as long as I work here, I won't be able to do that. Another plus is that Josh has that whole week off already and God willing, he won't have to take any extra time off and on that note--I hope not to miss too much of tax season. I have people thinking I am crazy, but this is my typical personallity, go, go ,go. Don't worry, I will be taking it easy because I don't want to prolong the process and make it any longer than it needs to be.
I am done rambling. Have a great day. Oh yeah--still no names for this little guy

How to stamp without stamps

One of Morgan's favorite things to do is scrapbook with mom. Otherwise known as put as many stickers on one sheet of paper that you can. Recently Morgan discovered stamping, thanks to her seeing me make thank yous for the upcoming baby. I gave Morgan one stamp pad/ cat eye chalk for those who are familiar. Tonight while I was on the computer and my back to her I hear a kissing noise? thought it was a little strange but here is what I turned around to:



Notice the lip prints!!! But how can you get mad when all she was doing was making her brother a picture and giving him kisses!!!! She loves him already.

Trouble

I knew we would be in trouble the day snow fell. Well this morning came when there was enough to cover the ground. From bed I hear Josh say to Morgan "Look outside, what is on the ground?" Morgan answers "Its Christmas." As she runs to the bedroom and says "Mom, come look... it's Christmas outside" So we look out the front window discussing snow and Christmas. Why are we in trouble you may ask?? For a child with no time concept yet we needed a way to tell Morgan that the baby wouldn't be here any day soon. So we had told her that the baby would be coming after Christmas. It actually hasn't turned into too big of an issue yet, but when we were putting our coats on Morgan did ask "is the baby still in there?" I am sure there will be more conversations about this later


On a separate note, one of the reasons I started a blog was so I had a place to jot down the silly things Morgan says. So yesterday morning, she walked into my room and I asked Morgan how she slept? Morgans reply "with my eyes closed!!!" Thanks Morgan for making me laugh

Fall Fun

Just thought I would post some fun fall photos of Morgan thru the years.

Ultrasound, Finally

We decided to find out what we were having this time. Although a few people had guesses as to what it was, most were wrong. We are pleased to announce that we are HAVING A BOY!!!!
Here are some pics. Unfortunately they were unable to get many 3D shots of our little one.