Baby Zane's Blessing

Not many babies get a blessing as unique and surprising as Zane's.

As you may recall, Zane came a week and a half earlier than expected - which meant that poor Granny Zo'An had to wait two whole weeks to see his cute little face in person. She planned on coming out the 17th of August, Dad would come the next day, and Eric a few days later.  Well, Eric cancelled (missed ya, bro!) so we figured would would just bless the baby at church on August 21st.  

Then, to our horror, we found out that Michael's parents had bought tickets to go visit for their other grandbaby's blessing in Utah, and planned to leave on August 18th. So they wouldn't be there that Sunday.  And they wouldn't be back until my dad was gone for two days.  So our parents would never all be in town the same day.

How do you pick which family gets to see the blessing?  You don't.  It's horrible.  I got sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

So, after a lot of discussion, we decided to get everyone's flight itineraries and see if there was any possible overlap between grandparent arrivals/departures on the 18th.

And there was! For sixty whole minutes, everyone would be in town.

So we called the airport and reserved a conference room.  Our dear family friend Matt Highwood agreed to come be the bishopric representative.  An inspired Granny put the sweet little blessing outfit she made for Zane in the front pocket of her carry-on at the last minute (and good thing, since her checked luggage was lost!) As soon as Papa Gary arrived, we gathered all the beloved grandparents there in the Evansville Municipal Airport conference room. There in a bare conference room, surrounded by scattered luggage, two loving grandfathers gently held little Zane Ephraim in their hands, his father gave him a name and a blessing. Never has such a room felt so holy.  Never has a little boy been so cherished.  We are so grateful that the Lord opened up a way for our family to be together that day.

Little Zane in his "blessing sack" that his Granny Zo'An sewed for him.

Here you can see some of the detail of the gorgeous embroidery on his outfit.  I wish you could see better how on the bottom part of the outfit there is a horse's head embroidered, with its mane flying in the wind.  Really beautiful.  Mom wanted to capture some of his Montana heritage, and she did a remarkable job.

Silly Faces!

Jed and Zoe skyped with their 5 year old cousin Paloma down in Southern California the other day, and she taught them to make this silly face.  Now they walk around all day, see-sawing their elbows up and down, laughing til they're sick at how ridiculous each other looks.  Too bad Paloma lives so far away, I know she would be Jed's very best friend.  They totally hit it off, even a gajillion miles apart over a fairly pixelated connection.  Hooray for cousins!

Chocolate Snot Beauty Queen

Even filthy-faced, she manages to look gorgeous.  I believe here we have a layer of smoothie, topped with chocolate frosting daubed here and there and finished off with a varnish of snot to give it that lovely sheen.

Dinner Outside

The weather has cooled off deliciously here, after a scorching hot July, and just in time our air conditioning gave it's final death rattle.  We decided to eat outside, since it was cooler out in the carport than in our dining room!  You know Jed loves nothing better than a picnic.

Look at that beautiful baby hair.  So soft and it smells like heaven.

Zane's first picnic!

Snuggling with my big baby boy.

We love eating dinner AND riding bikes all at the same time, while driving our father insane.

Yummy chocolate cake for dessert.

Gotta get that last drop!

Chocolate biker deep in thought.

Scary

Zoe pranced into the room looking like this.

I never wear lipstick.

I don't know how she figured out where it goes.

I tried to get her to smile and look cute.

You know, like a little girl.

This is what I got.

Scary.

Papa Gary

Slumber

Clean

After his first bath, which he did NOT enjoy, Zane lays quietly in his father's arms.

Uncle Eric

Wholly by chance, the very morning we welcomed our little Zane into the family, my dad and brother had set off to come visit us here in Indiana. My brother Eric is moving to Boston so they thought they'd come have some fun before the baby came. Well, plans changed, and they arrived the day after Zane was born. The Dowdle Men have been a huge help cleaning up the house, entertaining the kids, bonding with baby, and generally loving us up during the big transition. They left this morning, and I will admit I was more than a little teary to see them go. The good news is that everyone already made plans to come visit in 11 days -- to work around Zane's supposed arrival date -- so we'll get to have them back again soon.

(Uncle Eric took a vow of non-shaving for the trip. Zoe and Jed were amazed by his "cheek spikes.")

(Hi Zane!)

Father and Son

Ma Beebee

Lap!

Nose!

Zane Comes Home

We don't really love hanging out at the hospital. It's cold, the beds are uncomfortable, the food appallingly bad, and people keep waking me up. So about 12 hours after Zane joined us, we checked ourselves out and came home to our favorite two small people. They were more than a little thrilled to meet their new best friend.

Jed just beams with love for his new brother.

At last -- my baby in my lap! Zoe with baby is like a cat going nuts over catnip. So far her body slam hugs and enthusiastic caresses haven't crushed or popped off any limbs, but its not for trying. She loves this baby... with her whole body and soul!

(Holy moly look at those big girl feet!)

Baby Zane

Zane Ephraim Stanfill

Born this morning at 6:35 AM after a whirlwind labor, 9 days early.

Weighs 8 pounds even, 20.5 inches long.

He has curly dark hair, chubby pink cheeks, and feet so long they barely fit on the footprint ink pad! So far he seems healthy as can be and is nursing like a champion.

We are crazy in love already. Happy Birthday, Baby Zane!

Baby Zane Ephraim!

He's here!!

Lately

This month, our Primary and homeschool theme has been temples.  Yesterday, while driving around in the car, Jed, said:  "Mom, every night before I go to sleep all I do is lay in bed and think about temples."  Then Sunday, during church, he leaned over and whispered "Mom, I'm not thinking about Jesus.  Instead I am thinking all about different kinds of temples."  Well, I suppose I can't complain about that.

Last night for Family Home Evening, Michael gave a lesson on babies, how to hold them and be gentle, how we care for them, etc.  Much of it focused on how one can gently hold the baby in one's lap, as long as one asks a parent to help first. Since we are in a fevered Baby Frenzy over here, the lesson was very popular.  This morning, at breakfast, for no apparent reason Zoe set down her toast and scowled at me.  "I want BABY!" she demanded.  I laughed.  "I'll get you the baby as soon as I can, promise, Zoe!"  She scowled again.  "I want baby!"  Then she patted her thighs emphatically.  "I want baby LAP!  Want baby! LAP!"  She continued to shout and slap her legs, absolutely convinced that I am withholding the baby from her in some cruel parental manner.  She doesn't care how I get it, she just wants to hold her baby.  Now!