eat sleep and farm

Kara's first time on the swing! She really did enjoy it, I'm not sure why she looks so serious here. The kids thought it was perfect that we have 2 big kid swings and 1 baby swing!

My Mom refers to this toy as "baby wonderland" Kara @ 5 1/2 months her 1st time eating food! this was when she was sick with a cold and she was still a good sport, putting up with me and my camera. this bib was part of her Valentine's day gift from Grandpa Arnold :-) I get a kick out of the way she sleeps. Total relaxation.

I love that she looks like she's thinking... "Mom, enough already!" :) listening to Mommy sing" Jesus Loves Me" Ethan sings along :)

We started a tradition of making our own pizzas on Friday nights, followed by a family movie. Its proven to be quite a hit. This particular night we watched Cheaper by the Dozen, the kids made their own pizza and Jason and I made ours. she loved the smoothie

While baby Ainsley Rippee was in the hospital for so long, we enjoyed getting to have Caedmon (her older brother) over for several days. Caedmon is in between Ethan and Rachel's ages and so he does really well with both of them. Here are a few pictures from our time with him. this picture was taken just after Caedmon told Rachel he would marry her if she learned how to play Jujitsu :-)

These are pictures of Rachel, when she was Kara's age. I think the bottom one looks very much like Kara, otherwise I think they actually look quite different. I mean, they're siblings, so of course there are similarities. Kara took on more of my sharper, smaller features and Rachel took on more of Jason's rounder, bigger features. She definitely got Jason's eyes. :)

These pictures are about a month old, but I loved them so much I wanted to post them. I love hearing Ethan try and read the words in the book. On this morning he was trying so hard to sound out each word (he actually got the words "go" and "truck"!) and Rachel was very intently listening and saying "Good job, Efan! Good job wif your reading!" I was very impressed as he sounded out the word "truck". Keep in mind he went at it for about 5 minutes straight, very intent on figuring out what it says. When he realized it spelled "truck" he said to Rachel, "I don't know why there's the letter c and k, because they both say they same thing!" My thoughts exactly, son. :) I woke up to the sound of their voices and, realizing they were up before me, I got out of bed quickly to see what they were doing... this is what I found.

Rachel has to be watched 24/7 and kept busy 24/7 or this kind of thing happens. She thought it was "lotion and hair cweam." :-)

"Why do all my cousins have to get born and then move away?" "Mommy, when I get married, you can come cook dinner for my family." "Me and Rachel will always be friends. Because we both grew in your tummy." "I can't wait for my age to be 26, because that's the number of letters in the alphabet!" "You can tell Spring is in the air because Rachel and Kara are sleeping." "I bet if I saw a bear, I would want to fight it, but I would prolly run for my life." "watch out universe. I'm awake and in a good mood!!"

We took a rather last minute trip down to Monterey Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon and had so much fun! It was very nice to get away, even if it was only a little over 24 hours. We brought the kids and overlapped my parent's 4 day stay and got to spend some time with them as well. The weather was beautiful and even though the kids both have colds, it was a pleasant trip. We had more melt down moments than usual :) but all in all, they did great. Kara has officially been labeled our little "home body" and she got the official name on this trip. She just loves her crib, her home and her surroundings. She did well throughout both days and does great in the car, but does NOT like to sleep in motels. She takes after her Mommy :) I think she slept a total of 2 hours on Sunday night, which means I slept about 1 hour. The yucky part about it was, she didn't really sleep until 6-8 AM. After I had been up all night with her, we knew she needed at least a couple hours of sl...

It's been a whole week since we came home from UCSF and I'm sorry I've waited to update any news. Gratefully, Ainsley's been acting like a normal newborn- eating, sleeping, pooping and cuddling with us! It took a few days to feel like she wasn't a hospital patient anymore, but in fact, our own daughter. She had two doctor's appointments this week: with her Pediatrician and Cardiologist. On Monday her pediatrician weighed her and checked her incision and stitches. UCSF emailed her records to them and she was a popular patient on Monday getting visits from two other pediatricians we know. They were amazed at what she had been through and curious about her surgery. Between having 4 kids visit their office frequently and now Ainsley's special circumstances, I think the Rippee name will be well known around there! Yesterday, Ryan took Ainsley to Dr. Cooper for her first follow up visit. Dr. Cooper is the cardiologist that first gave me the bad news about her hear...

Life has been very good. I'm feeling very blessed. And for no real reason, other than knowing I am blessed. God is good all the time. Its so easy to say, but that's only because its so true. Saying "I love you" to someone you don't really feel those loving feelings for, is very hard. But when you feel it so deeply, its so easy to get carried away and go on and on like a fool. Baby Ainsley is home! Her surgery was a complete success and she appears to be doing quite well. I got to see her yesterday and she's such a little sweetheart. She has the most silky hair that has a color I've never really seen on a baby. Seriously, it looks like her parents colored it a perfect shade of red and blond, mixed with deep brown. I couldn't believe how tiny she still is, but the good news is, she's gotten back up to her birth weight! We're still praying for her because she does still have the hole in her heart and so if she doesn't gain weight it can mean ...

I am still in shock that my baby is 5 months old already. I confess I'm secretly wishing she won't be on track with typical development so that I can have her be my baby for a super long time. :-) She's turning into Miss Personality and its been quite fun to see her new phase of life. She's getting herself settled into a very nice routine; taking 2 short naps (one in the morning, one just after dinner) and then a nice long 3 hour nap in the afternoon. She still rolls everywhere and crawls up-si-down, which is so funny to watch. She is starting to smile at pretty much anyone who talks sweetly to her and smiles at her, though she's very aware of strange faces. I love seeing her look at someone she knows isn't Mommy and Daddy and then she searches the room for where we are, looking very concerned until she spots us. At this age, everyone except Daddy and Mommy are strangers, so don't be offended if she does this with you. :-) She loves to stand. Our other kids...

I have great news to share with you all! Please continue to pray though. -Stef The Lord has been so so good today. Ainsley is recovering in lightning fast speed. She drank two bottles this morning and did so well that we tried breastfeeding and she hasn't forgotten a thing. It was so nice to hold her again, but I was a little afraid of hurting her. The nurses and doctors are so pleased that they are talking about discharging her by Saturday! That was kind of a shock to us. She came off the nose cannula today and also had a her drainage tube taken out this afternoon, as she had very minimal bleeding and no milky drainage which would have meant she'd be on a special formula for 6 weeks. So we are thankful that she is not going to have to do that. God is good! She was moved (again!) to a different floor tonight. The hospital is so full right now that she's been bumped around different floors several times during her stay. All of the nursing staff have been wonderful. Tomorrow ...

Ethan and Rachel have entered a new stage in life where they love having craft time every day. Especially Rachel. She will sit and do a craft for more than an hour. Ethan has to change up what he's doing every 30 minutes or so, or he's bored and causing trouble. Last week they were able to play with one of Ethan's birthday presents from his good friend Duncan. It was a Diego paint and color set and they had a blast!

Good morning friends. God is so good to bring us one more day through this trial. Yesterday was hard, but we can only be so thankful for the outcome of the surgery. Last night I spent a little time with her in the room before I went to bed. She looked a lot better than I expected, but still it was a lot emotionally to take in. Her face was pretty swollen and she has a ventilator breathing for her to give her heart a break while the sutures heal. She also has a drainage tube in the left side right next to where her surgical sight is. Her incision is under her left arm and around to the back. We can't really see it yet. I slept here in the hospital again in the dorm room for mothers of ICU patients. I got a chance to talk with a few of them last night. You could pray for little Jaden, who was born the day after Ainsley at 33 weeks. He got RSV and was so sick that they didn't say he would live, but he's still fighting. I told his mom I would pray for him. Every day is a new da...

Several weeks ago (possibly back in January) I came out to put coats on the kids, so we could run some errands and this moment is what I found. I ran around the house frantically trying to find my camera and finally did. I somehow lost these until now, so here they are. these two have such a funny relationship. I think you call it "Love-Hate" :-) Seriously though, when they're not arguing over who gets what toy, they are best buds and SO sweet to each other.

Got the news that Ainsley is officially in surgery! Jason is out with Rachel, so I called Ethan in the room and said "we need to pray right now, Ainsley is in surgery!" He came running into the room and got a very sober look on his face and asked "Could I pray for her first?" and so he did. His prayer brought me to tears. I love how tender hearted Ethan is and I love, love, love the way he speaks to God. I wish my faith would be so childlike and my relationship so full of honesty and trust. "Dear God, thank you for Ainsley and that Mrs Rippee had her in her tummy and thank you that she was born and she's really cute and another sister for Caedmon. Oh, and thank you that Caedmon is my best friend. I'm glad he goes to my church with me. Oh, and thank you for my church and my Sunday school teachers and the Bible. Please help Ainsley not to be worried when she's in her surgery. Please help her to be calm and to know that the Doctors are just gonna fix ...

Surgery is tomorrow around 12 Noon - please pray! ________________________________ Jennafer and I spoke to the registered nurse today who works with the cardiologists and surgeons here at the hospital and she gave us all the info on the upcoming surgery. Currently, Ainsley is scheduled for the second surgery of the day tomorrow, so it should begin sometime around 12PM (edited my previous post which said 2PM). The surgeon will be going through her side and not in the middle of the chest. This is because they have decided to repair the coarctation (restriction) in her aortic artery and believe that her aortic arch is just fine. Also they will not be repairing the hole in the septal wall that this time (her heart murmur), and will wait to see if it heals closed on its own over time. This is great news, since the surgery will not require a heart and lung bypass and therefore will be less traumatic on her body. They said that the surgery should take about 2 hours with most of the time bein...

Hi. What happened to February? Does anyone know? Is time going faster? I can't believe we're already on March 2nd. We had a very eventful and fun filled February, however a lot of our travel plans got canceled, due to our friends being sick and then our LA trip got canceled since it coincided with other plans. Both were rescheduled for March and April, which is kind of nice. Spreading them out a bit should work nicely. On Saturday we went to my old church in Cupertino; the first church I really remember. We began going when I was 7 and we left in 1994 (I was 14) when we moved to Livermore. Leaving the church was hard. All my friends were there, most of my memories were there and I loved all the weekly programs and monthly/yearly events we went to. We drove into the parking lot yesterday and I instantly felt 10 years old. It was wonderful. Ethan had fun seeing where Mommy used to go to AWANA and where all my Sunday school classrooms were and meeting my friend's kids. So weir...

(update from this original post) I know many of you are celebrating the Lord's day today and I wish I could be there with you in church. I stayed here in the hospital last night after being home for a night in Brentwood. I thought I'd give a quick update this morning since I didn't make it to the computer last night before it closed. Yesterday was uneventful, which in the NICU is a good thing. She's still hungry and sucking on that pacifier with all her might, but coping well with it. All the nurses have commented on how strong she is and how well she should do in surgury. I'm realizing that that is huge blessing. Her body has only experienced mild effects of the narrowing of her aorta, which is something to be very thankful for. Today we are going to finally talk to her surgeon and get all the details of her surgery and post op care. Another thing I keep getting told by the staff is how blessed she is to be here at UCSF under this cardiac team. The cardiac surgeon...

Last week we had Caedmon Rippee over for a couple days and our kids had so much fun having him stay here. He'll be here again tomorrow and when I told Ethan and Rachel they just about jumped out of their skin. We love Caedmon. :-) Last week he and Ethan really wanted to go play out on the new fort in the backyard, but it had been raining so hard, I kept saying no, due to all the mud. They finally begged enough and I realized that mud and forts are a boy's heaven, so I gladly caved. They played out there for a good 2 hours and only came in when they thought throwing chunks of mud at the windows of the house was a good idea. I had to take pictures to capture the moment, before bath time. Enjoy... they said they were "mud monsters" what the yard looked like when they were done. :-)