Ollie Has His First Photo Shoot

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm so lucky to have an older sister who is such an amazing photographer! The week after Creed was born, Candice and her family drove up to Columbus from Louisville just to do a newborn photo shoot for us. I thought we wouldn't be able to work it out for Oliver, but after they set the date for me to be induced, Candice found a great price to fly in from San Antonio and a plan was hatched. She flew in Saturday morning and we had her all to ourselves for four days.

I'm so happy with the pictures that she took of Ollie! Of course I have to share them.

The hat that Ollie is wearing is made by my friend Jessica, who sells them in her Etsy shop and she takes custom orders in case you need one too.









You have to love the titles Candice chose to stack underneath him!

I know a few of you have asked when Candice will be teaching her next online digital SLR photography class and registration is about to open so here's a link.

Oliver Arrives Home

We arrived home to a few surprises from friends. It was so nice to walk in a see this. It made us feel so loved. Lisa made this banner, and she also put little "Welcome Oliver" signs all over the house.She drove up during the day and Larry met her to let her in, then she drove all the way home to pick up Tyler and head back to visit us at the hospital, all with her two-month-old Simon.
The original plan was for Creed to spend one more night at my parents', but after we talked to him on the phone, he got homesick so my dad brought him home.

Larry says that when Creed was born, life felt complete with the three of us in the hospital. This time, we loved the time alone with Oliver in the hospital, but something was definitely missing and we were happy to have Creed home with us. He was so gentle with Ollie.

He admired his little hands and tiny toes.

I'm sure he's going to be a great big brother. I can't wait for Ollie to get old enough to interact with him.
Creed's handled things really well so far, but we've had lots of helping hands around to give him all the attention that he needs. Now that we're on our own, I'm really worried about how he's going to take things because he's used to having our full attention 100% of the time. We played with him all day, but that's not going to be possible anymore.

I have to admit, that although I couldn't be happier to have Oliver in our family, I shed some tears that first night after wishing Creed goodnight, knowing how much his life is going to change, knowing I will never be able to give him the kind of attention that I've given him for the past three years and knowing Creed will never have that kind of attention from us. I know it is the best thing for our family, but it's still going to be a big adjustment for all of us.

Oliver Meets His Family

This may be more than some of you want to know so feel free to skip down to the pictures. I just wanted to be sure our little family has a record of all of this.

Of course after my doctor set my induction date, and we were feeling like we had time to prepare ourselves, I started having contractions Saturday night. They were really irregular until Sunday night, then they came every 15 minutes. We debated about what to do because we didn't want to wake up friends in the middle of the night to watch Creed if we didn't have to so we decided to ask Scott and Whitney to come over and watch Creed around 8 pm so we could head to the hospital, and I could be checked. We were fairly certain that I would be sent home, but then we would have a better idea of where I was, and if we would have to come back in the middle of the night. Creed was perfectly content to let us go.

After walking around and being checked, my contractions were every 6 - 7 minutes apart and they sent me home with directions to come back after they are about every five minutes apart for at least an hour. That was a little frustrating.

We went home, settled Creed in bed around midnight and Larry fell asleep with him. My contractions continued all night, getting stronger and they did get to every five minutes apart so after an hour, I tried to wake Larry and he was completely out. I decided to wait a little longer and let things progress a little further, and my contractions went back to every 7 minutes. Ahhh! I finally crawled into bed around five and tried to get a little sleep, but got back up by 7:00 because it hurt too much to sleep.

By the time Larry got up, I was back to contractions every fifteen minutes so I told Larry to go ahead and go in to work for the morning. All day Monday and late into the night I had contractions every fifteen minutes. I finally fell asleep around 2:30 in the morning, only to wake up by 5:00 because the contractions were too much to handle. From 5 am to 10 am, I was back to contractions every ten minutes. They weren't getting any closer together, but they were incredibly painful. I tried everything I could think of to get through them, but each one still brought tears. By 11:00 I called my Dr's office and explained it had been three days of regular contractions, they weren't getting any closer together, but they were incredibly painful, and I didn't know what to do. They said, "Three days? Go to the hospital immediately!"

We sent Creed to a neighbor's and we got to the hospital around 11:30. They were doubtful that I was ready to stay but checked me before they were ready to send me home. Then I got a strange look. The nurse said, "Uh, you are not having contractions every ten minutes; you are having contractions every two minutes, but you have monster contractions every ten minutes, and that's what you are counting." They gave me an ultrasound to find out what was going on and the baby was head down, but facing the wrong way, causing back labor. After that, everyone who came to check on me mentioned how that made the pain feel so much worse and that made me feel like a little less of a wimp.

We went into a room and started antibiotics for strep and let those run long enough to get into the baby's system. After three attempts at an epidural, I got one that worked and then they started the pitocin. I was at a six at that point, but within half an hour I was ready to push. Then the baby's heart rate was decelerating and things got a little scary with lots of people rushing into the room. They called for forceps and my doctor thought he was going to have to yank the baby out so he told me to push as hard as I possibly could and with the help of an episiotomy, he was out after three pushes. I pushed for over two hours with Creed so that rate amazed me and Larry.

The baby came out very purple, but after some rubbing, he finally started to breathe only to stop again as soon as they handed him to me. After more rubbing and warming and oxygen, he was ok and we were relieved.

He weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and we named him Oliver (Although the middle name is still pending).
He also has a head full of hair that sticks up all over the place.
Maybe he still has some drugs in his system, but he is so very calm compared to Creed. Even the pediatrician commented on what a calm little guy he seems to be so far. He snorts like a pig quite often, and Larry and I both think it's adorable. It's so nice to finally have a chance to get to know him better.
Larry was incredibly supportive, and going through experiences like this just makes me love him even more.


In honor of the Olympics, one of the nurses gave Ollie this little hat that she made, and he looks so cute in it!
More updates to come soon, I promise!

Our Hospital Visitors

We had a few very special visitors while we were at the hospital. First, of course, was Creed. My mom watched him during our hospital stay, but they come to visit us the first night. Creed actually barely noticed the baby with the excitement of a bed that moves and free Sprite and all sorts of buttons to push, but he was very sweet and gentle when he did notice him.

For months we've been telling him that he cannot jump on me because there was a baby in my tummy so the first things he asked me was, "Can I jump on you now?"
My mom got to hold Ollie while I chatted with Creed.
Then the next night, Tyler and Lisa came to visit even though Simon wasn't allowed to visit and they had to take turns in the lobby.

It was good to see both of their smiling faces!

Then before we knew it, it was time to pack Oliver up and head home. He didn't fit in the tiny outfits we brought and he looked especially tiny in his car seat.

We were happy to make it home safe and sound!

The Soundtrack for Tiny Ford's Arrival

Tiny Ford is due to arrive on Saturday, but as of now, the plan is to head to the hospital Thursday night to be prepped to be induced Friday morning (that is, if he does not make an appearance before then, I guess we shall have to wait and see though).

What's that you say? You think we better hurry up and come up with a name so we don't have to call him "tiny" when he arrives? And it's time to actually get that new car seat out of the box and make sure we know how to get it in the car? And I better finish packing that hospital bag? Why do that when I could be putting together a playlist of happy, relaxing songs to listen to during labor? So here it is, the soundtrack for Tiny Ford's arrival! Some songs are baby related and some are just songs that make me feel happy. I thought I'd share them in case you needed a little happy, relaxation music too.

1. Family Tree / Frances England 3:32

2. 1, 2, 3, 4 / Plain White T's 3:20

3. Coin Laundry / Lisa Mitchell 3:17

4. You Are My Favorite / Sophie Madeleine 3:32

5. Stay / Katie Brandeburg 3:18

6. Butterfly Nets / Bishop Allen 3:14

7. Neopolitan Dreams / Lisa Mitchell 3:05

8. Ordinary Day / Emilie Mover 3:26

9. Maybe / Ingrid Michaelson 3:16

10. It's a Big World / Renee & Jeremy 3:12

11. I Don't Know a Thing / Lucy Schwartz 4:10

12. Trouble / Never Shout Never 2:28

13. Mama Papa Love / Renee & Jeremy 2:13

14. Oh, It Is Love / Hellogoodbye 4:04

15. I Wish You Love / Sunflow 2:29

16. Click click click click / Bishop Allen 3:04

17. Light Bulb / Rachel Goodrich 2:41 (I had to edit this one because there was a lot of blank space and then a weird song after this one when we downloaded it from I-tunes)

18. Night Mantra / Renee & Jeremy 3:20

Hmmmm . . . I guess that I'm really liking ukulele music lately.

Do you have any new favorites lately?

Valentine's Day 2010

We had such great time celebrating Valentine's Day around here that we were sad taking down the decorations (Creed shed some tears until I told him that we would decorate for Easter very soon).

A couple more Valentine's details that I wanted to share:

Candice sent me this cute package that I thought was a very clever idea. It was a Valentine's party in an envelope and had directions that said, "Throw yourself a little love party! Step One - Hang the Valentine garland. Step Two - Play the CD. Step Three - Hand out the cards to people you love or place them around the room and enjoy them yourself."
I like to make Larry's Valentine this year and this year I HAD to try this fabric valentine tutorial. I just make the envelope and made a paper Valentine to go in it.
It was so easy and fun to make and I would love to make more for some special occasion.
Larry put me to shame by spoiling me thoroughly in return. He surprised me by coming home from work on Thursday with a babysitter and a surprise early Valentine date to go to a restaurant I mentioned I've been wanting to try and a screening of When in Rome because we same them filming it a few years ago when we were visiting Central Park. And as if that wasn't enough, he still surprised me with a gift on Valentine's Day (a wafel maker that we have already put to good use). It really was a lovely weekend. I hope that you enjoyed your Valentine's Day too!

A Day Out With Creed

I know my days alone with Creed are limited so I'm trying to take full advantage of them. Yesterday, I decided we should have a special date and do whatever he wanted, but when questioned, he said he wanted to go to Target to get a free cookie from the bakery (which we did two days before). Uhhhh, ok . . . so I listed some other ideas for him and he decided that he wanted to see The Princess and the Frog at the dollar theater, but he really wanted to go to McDonald's first (and I could not change his mind about that one).

I tried to have a quick photoshoot of him before we left, but I have such a hard time getting pictures of him when Larry is not around to stand behind me and get his attention. So most of my photos look like this

and this
Oh well, at least he's looking in this one (and I must note that he's much more stylish than me these days, no?)
He happily chattered his way through lunch
and decided that his penguin REALLY wanted to go to the movie with us.
Creed was so excited to go to the movie theater (although, I think the movie was a bit too scary for most toddlers so we didn't watch some of the voodoo parts because the spirits scared Creed. The mom next to me kept saying she couldn't believe the movie was only rated G)
Afterwards, we headed to the park to enjoy what was left of the sunny day.
Once Tiny Ford arrives, we'll have to be sure to schedule special alone time with both of the boys because afternoons like this are just too precious to miss!

Valentine Exchange 2010

I love hosting a valentine exchange every year. The only hard part about it is that you have to limit the guests (because you can only expect them to make so many valentines) and I always wish that I could invite everyone. This year, I stuck withe the same basic plan: I invited 12 twelve friends and asked each of them to make twelve valentines to exchange. The valentines could be as simple or ornate as they wanted, the point is really just to have a chance to get together and visit, but I was really impressed by everyone's valentines.
I always like to start of just letting everyone mingle and snack so I stocked up on red drinks
and made lots of cookies to decorate

This year I tried to include some fruit too because I knew my mom was on a no-sugar diet.

And Creed couldn't resist making an appearance to snitch a few cookies and strawberries (I stole this photo from Eva)

We exchange valentines speed-dating style, where you have three minutes with each person so tell them about your Valentine and has a minute or two to chat. I really like doing it this way because then you get a chance to talk to everyone. You really have to check out these valentines.

Annie made felted soap.

Marta made each person a small cake, beautifully decorated.

Melinda made little loaves of bread with honey butter.

Liz has tiny flower pots with seeds.

Faith made fabric flower pins for everyone.

Eva forgot her valentines so she collected addresses and mailed them later (and in this picture you can see the totes that I gave everyone to collect their valentines)

I was actually glad that she forgot her valentines because don't you love getting fun mail?

My mom made letterpressed stationary for her L machine and ribbon bookmarks

Rachel made frayed fabric flower pins (and had Ruby with cute Cupid wings with her).
Lisa made everyone magnets with love quotes on them and even sewed fabric envelopes for them.
And Amanda made felt fortune cookies since this year Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year fall on the same date.

It was nice to have a reason to be creative and it's always nice to spend some time with just my girlfriends. Thanks to everyone who came!

And I hope that the rest of you had a Happy Valentine's Day!