Pie's ???

Happy (early) Birthday Pie!

Hope it is the best yet....

Professionals and One Month

 This past Mother's Day the CARM husbands (led by Mitchell, way to go) gifted their wives with a professional photography class. This past Saturday we all met in Birmingham to actually participate.

For the first hour we went over the basics, ISO, White Balance, etc. (Now this was all still somewhat new to me as I might not have read the whole any of the manual. For students like say Abbie, it was just a quick refresher) We then spent the next hour with our partners outside trying to practice what we learned. Maggie was my partner, lucky her.

Here we have a lesson of thirds. Does you eye travel around the picture? Do you notice the contrast of the bush? Job well done by me. I am being sarcastic in case you wondered. 

Here I learned the beauty of the monochromatic setting. Thanks Maggie for being such a great model.

In all seriousness, it was a lot of fun and I did learn some things. 

CARM students, The teacher took this one and commented that he liked it and felt like our personalities showed through (what does that mean?!)

On the home front, this little boy turned a month old this week. He is still a big eater and slowly sleeping a bit more. He is now eating around 9:00 sleeping until 1, eating again, then waking again around 4-5:00 eating, then up for the day around 7:00. I really had forgotten what this lack of sleep stage felt like :( 

He is definitely going to be my cuddle bug. He loves to be held and snuggle close. I love this as Lane was never really like that. He is smiling and cooing now and it melts my heart. I also forgot how much I love his baby smell. (nice contrast to his older brother)

Holden, One month

Can you tell I like the monochromatic setting?

Hospital Pics

These were taken the day after Holden's birth at the hospital by the talented photographer Catherine Mayo. I love the little details she captured. Here are a few of my favorite (minus the two for his birth announcement that I will share after I get them finished!)

love at first sight

A Visitor and Preschool

Yesterday sweet baby Rayne and her momma Molly came down for a visit. We had the best time, talking all things newborn and breast feeding :) It is nice to have some adult conversation while taking care of the little ones. We even strolled to lunch. Note: Rich is you see this, I promise she was strapped in safely, maybe not to safety regulations, but safe none the less. Thanks Mols for coming to visit!!

Today this little boy started Preschool....

I could cry at the cuteness. Oh wait, I did. 

figuring it out

daddy adjusting

all perfect and ready to go!

I dropped him off, he walked in, jumped on a riding toy and waved bye bye without even making eye contact. I think he will be just fine. 

Life these days

controlled chaos or attempted controlled chaos might best describe our day to day...

ahhh...there it is the old choke hold :)

Week Two and 18 months

Holden is 2 weeks old today...we are still transitioning, but I would say everything is getting easier day by day. He is still such an eater! He eats every 2-2.5 hours during the day and finally last night stretched to 3 to 3.5 hours at night. He eats around 3 ounces a feeding. During the day, he is a pretty laid back fellow. He does the newborn thing, eating, awake for a bit and then nap time. He also handles his brother's onslaughts pretty well-Lane still tends to "over love" if given the opportunity. He has gotten more accustomed to baby brother or "Dee" as he calls him for now. We told him he better be sweet because I have a feeling "little brother" will be a lot bigger than him pretty quickly. 

Lane is 18 months old. He is becoming so verbal. Newer words include: eat. out, geese, teeth, eye, ice, keys, juice, and his favorites are still hot and dog...He is not as much an eater. He does like a good snack like his momma. His favorite right now are Nibbly fingers by Ella's Kitchen.
Lane loves corn on the cob. He can eat two whole cobs in one sitting. Here he is going to town:

He also loves noodles of any kind.

His favorite things include: pushing his lawnmower outside, pushing his shopping cart inside, watching Mickey Mouse Club (he is obsessed!),  playing with his grandparents, going to feed the horses, riding the mule to the lake to see the geese, and dates to Zaxbys. 

He starts "school" next week. I am excited as I think he will love having so much interaction with other kiddos his age. 

Holden's Birthday

Disclaimer: for documentation purposes this is very long, so please feel free to just scroll and look at pictures
 (all info as entered into your birth journal)
7/25/2012
Day before your arrival...We are so excited the time is finally here. We worked really hard today-busy, busy, saw around 100 patients. Pal and Pie took big brother Lane to spend the night at the Roost. He does not understand about baby brother coming but was very excited to go the the country to see the horses. We headed to Birmingham to eat dinner at Chez Fon Fon and check into the hotel. I had the Croque Madame and Pomme Frittes, James had the Lobster BLT. Dessert-chocolate and nut tart and blueberry cheesecake. I am officially fueled for delivery. Juju and Jana stopped by to visit on their way to dinner. We checked in to Hampton Inn for the night.
7/26/2012
Author: James
We began the day at 4:00 am with a cold shower at the Hampton Inn 280. They were apologetic and provided 100% refund. (side note by me: it probably didn't hurt that I waddled up to the desk and said I had a very uncomfortable cold shower on the morning I was having a baby) We arrived at the hospital (St. Vincents) around 5:00 am and checked into Room 322, huge room at the end of the hall. Nurse Terri got Rayne all hooked up. A random doctor broke Rayne's water at 5:45. Stats-2 almost 3 cm, 75% effaced. By 6:17 I (dad, James) have made two trips to the car for baggage. I placed a blanket on Rayne's legs. 8:25-4 cm.

Author swap to Cherry aka Pie
9:00 am-Dr. Carter administered epidural. James asked to watch and Dr. Carter instructed as he delivered the epidural. (side note by me: this was awesome for me as of course I just wanted him to hurry up!) Nurse Terri fixed up Rayne's blood pressure after it bottomed out after epidural, started Zofran and feeling much better.
Lacey and Ford stopped by. Ford has a cold and is not feeling well, but is still wanting to play! Molly and baby Rayne stopped by to check on progress bringing Dreamcake goodies. (and a birthing present to James that I had NO idea about!)

Pie, Ford, and Lacey

baby Rayne bringing in dreamcakes 

this is a good precursor to what is to come with Lane and his brother Holden

11:00- 5 cm check. Grandmomma and Grandaddy Osborn arrive.
12:00 6 cm- moving slowly, Dr. E checks in says everything is looking fine, changes Rayne position
1:00 Caroline and Maggie arrive bringing PastryArt goodies. Baby Bradford is taking it all in.

with Maggie and Caroline before delivery, can you tell my awesome position to get the baby to drop?

2:15-10 cm but baby is still high. Nurse Terry realizes that the catheter is not in, re-inserts and baby drops within minutes (think my bladder was full?!). Nurse sets room up and everyone heads to waiting room.
2:30-starts pushing, (sidenote by me: a little before the baby dropped I started feeling the contractions, they started getting stronger and I started being able to move my legs and feet. I talked to the nurse she said I could have a booster or just go with it. I decided to just go with it as I felt like he would be here soon. During the pushing, I felt every contraction to the point of intense pain and having to PUSH. Nurse Terri had to leave the room for a second and the worse pain I felt the whole time was not getting to push the two contractions she was gone. I now understand more fully what people mean when they say you feel like you HAVE to push. The upside of this was I could get out of bed and move around an hour after his arrival, much sooner than with Lane)
Author: Rayne
2:46: He is here...the rush of love and joy I feel is overwhelming. I can't believe you can feel this way again. I think my first words when I saw him were: "Oh my goodness, He is huge!" I could tell right away he was alot bigger than his big brother. Sure enough...8 pounds and 9 ounces. While they were cleaning him/weighing/ etc. James surprised me with a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring. Did I mention my husband has amazing taste? We then try to decide on a name. We had three we liked, and couldn't quite decide. Holden was a name that I liked even when pregnant with Lane. James and I talked for a few minutes and Holden Russell was decided. I think it fits him perfectly. He favors his older brother Lane but with darker hair, chubbier cheeks, and a Russell nose.

a little graphic, but love that you can see the time in the background

introducing Lane to Holden

first kiss from Daddy

Introducing Holden Russell Osborn to his family and friends

poor Bradford was quite the trooper, he made it several hours in the waiting room and then conked out! 

momma's turn

Jess and Emily with Holden

The next morning we were up and at 'em as we had a photographer coming to take pictures...a little ambitious looking back on things :) Pie and Pal brought us Demitri's french toast (ah-mazing!) for breakfast and G and G Osborn brought Lane back to hospital. 

these are good depictions of all he wanted to do, mash buttons

think the nurses got tired of us?!

Holden Day 2

Grandmomma and Grandaddy took Lane to Moulton for the weekend that afternoon, and we had our first facetime with the boys

hard to believe Aunt CKB will be doing this herself in a few weeks!

Aunt B and Uncle Michael drove down from Huntsville to see Holden 

headed home! 

 Before we left we met baby Crawford, Owen and Ashley Peak's new baby who was born one day after Holden. I know they will be great friends one day!

proud Daddys

7/28/2012 

Author: Rayne

We left the hospital a little more relaxed this go 'round. On our way home we stopped by JuJu's to pick up a cooler full of deliciousness she had prepared for us. We then made a Taziki's run for lunch (James has to have the pork sandwich if we are near), and we headed South. Holden did great, only crying for a minute getting settled into the car. I teared up as we pulled in to our neighborhood thinking of Holden and Lane playing there with all of their friends one day. (James rolled his eyes and contributed it to hormones) Such fun times ahead! 

8/3/2012 One week check up-weight: 9 pounds, 4 ounces (a whole pound gained since we left the hospital!) At least I know all of that nursing is going somewhere! Dr. A said everything is looking great. Now if we can get him sleeping more than 2.5- 3 hours, I will be a happier momma.