Kyper's Baptism

Today, we celebrated Kyper's baptism. In our denomination, baptism is a sign of the covenant that God has promised salvation. It was very meaningful to us. We were thankful that we lived a little closer to family than we did in Iowa, because many more family could be there. My parents, Joel's parents, my brother (David), my future sister-in-law (Jen, Jeff's fiance), and my grandparents were able to come. Here are a couple pictures from the event.
This is the water they used for the baptism. As you can tell our church doesn't do immersion. Rather, Pastor Dan just drips some water on his head. I think it is pretty cool that they keep water in a rock.
Here is the actual event. We are so blessed to have Kyper in our family and it was exciting to show everyone he is also a part of God's family. We promised to raise him in a Christian home and the congregation promised to help us. It is such a meaningful event.
Here is our family picture from the big day.

Here is the cake that Joel made for the event. Doesn't it look awesome--both to the eye and to the tastebuds? I really only posted this picture for Katie and JP. When they helped us organize the kitchen we discussed this cake platter and when you would actually use something this fancy. I think this is the first or second time we used this dish. It is one of those things you get for a wedding that you really don't use unless there is a very special occasion. Well, we had a chance to use it. (This is a cool dish, because it can also be used for a punch bowl or veggie platter.)

I had to post this--it isn't super clear, but it is the one of the pictures in the post below. This is the picture that was on the screen while Kyper was getting baptized. When they switched to this slide--everyone said "awww." We do have a beautiful baby, don't we? :)

Chronicles of Kyperman--Nighttime Edition

Kyperman has been sleeping like a superhero at night. We have had only one awful night since we took him home from the hospital, where he was awake from 12:30 to 4:30. Finally, the faithful sidekick Dad figured out that Kyperman would sleep in his car seat. Therefore, for about a month or so that is where he slept for most of the night. Even then he would give mommy and daddy at least 4 hours at a time. Then about four weeks ago he started sleeping longer. He was still in his car seat when this began--he gave us anywhere from 6 to 8 hours of sleep! Yes, we are so spoiled and blessed with a good baby! Now onto the adventures as of late:

Two weeks ago, we decided to try to get him out of his car seat. He had been taking naps without his car seat, so I knew he could do it. We typically had just swaddled him with a normal blanket, and he would break his arms free. My concern was that he would wake himself up with his arms when he broke free. Fortunately, we had received a swaddle blanket for a gift. We decided to try that at night. It worked! The first night we didn't put him in the car seat, we wrapped him up in this swaddler and he slept a full night on his back in the crib--no car seat. He hasn't slept in his car seat at night since then! Success!

Just recently though, Kyperman has been having some adventures in his crib at night. He is still wrapped, but he moves his whole body somehow. I put him at what I consider the head of the crib. When he wakes up in the morning he has somehow crept down. We can't quite figure out the physics of his movement. I wish I had a video camera. He some how wiggles down and we feel like it would make more sense if he crept up and closer to the head of the crib. Since he doesn't have any arms available, we think he is doing this all with his legs. Which, I would think that he would lift them up and then push himself up. Not sure how he actually pushes himself down. I am glad he goes down though, because at least he doesn't wake himself up by hitting his head on the crib rails. So, in the span of about eight hours his feet are almost touching the other end of the crib. Good thing he doesn't move faster and wake up by hitting his feet. I am now putting him even closer to the head of the crib at night.

Photo Shoot

Joel asked me the other day about when we need to have Kyper's pictures taken. I didn't really give him an answer, because I knew we really couldn't afford things like this at the moment. Well, Kyper was looking exceptionally cute on Friday, so I decided to try to take our own 3 month pictures. Joel got off of work early that day, so he was around. I started getting out a blanket and sheet for a back drop. I started taking pictures and Joel said "Maybe we could use these for his 3 month pictures." I hadn't told him my idea, I just started, so I responded, "Yup, that's what I thought and why I am doing this." Fortunately, Joel loved the idea and took over the camera. He is a better photographer than me. (I am thinking that if this whole medical school thing doesn't work out, he could be a professional photographer. ;)) We had many pictures to choose from, but here are our top three. I used Shutterfly and are getting a few printed for some family.