Christmas Eve

For the first time ever, we spent Christmas at our house. We were blessed to have my parents spend the holiday with us. Mom spent the whole week with us and Dad joined us on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, we went to our church's family service, which included the preschool pageant. It was so cute and I can't wait until next year when Owen can be a little lamb. :)

In years past, my mom's mom and sister's family join us on Christmas eve. We normally have a big dinner, etc. Because our whole extended family didn't join us this year, we changed things up a bit. Instead of our normal big meal, Dad and Jeremy grilled up steaks and they were awesome. We hung out and had a really chill night. We did get some pics of the boys though in their cute Christmas pjs.

My mom found the onesie I wore my first Christmas. Since Oliver's birthday is so close to mine, it was the perfect for him. The onesie is a little fruity for him, but I thought it was neat that we could wear the same outfit.

Brotherly love. Picture with Papa
Then with Nana
Now with Mommy and Oliver

Sorry Daddy, we didn't get a picture with you. For Owen, it seemed like any other night. It won't be long for he realizes what Christmas Eve is and will be too excited to sleep. We had a very relaxing night.....well until we got up every 3 hours with Oliver. :)

Christmas Baking

Every Christmas, my mom and I have a tradition of baking lots of sweets in preparation for all the family that will soon gather together. This year traditions kind of changed when the Christmas festivities were moved to our house. We were very blessed that our family agreed to come to Charlotte so we didn't have to travel with little Oliver. Luckily Mom had the whole week off so she came early and we got to do our Christmas baking together.

This year Owen is old enough to join us in our tradition. First he helped Nana make rice crispy treats. Sampling the marshmellows

We then attempted to make sugar cookies. Normally we don't make sugar cookies as no one in our family really digs them, but Owen loves cookie cutters so we thought we would try. Also our friend Shannon sent us some fun new cookie cutters to use.

Owen was very excited to use the cookie cutters..so much so that he couldn't wait for Nana to roll out the dough.Nana finally gets the chance to roll out the dough
Placing all the fun shapes
Placing the cookies on the baking stone...notice how messy his shirt got.

So our recipe was not a good one and our cookies didn't look that great but we had fun making them. We did decorate the cookies the next day (sorry no pics) with icing and sprinkles. Owen really enjoyed shaking on the sprinkles.

Though the sugar cookies were a bust, we did make many super yummy treats. Our new treat this year was extremely easy but so addicting. You melt a bar of almond bark in a big bowl and throw in a box of Golden Graham cereal. You then lay it out on a piece of wax paper and let it harden. You then break into pieces. IT IS SO GOOD! We also made chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, and rice crispy treats. Mom also brought her homemade ginger snaps and a variety of old fashioned candies. I think we have been on a sugar high for days!

I love Christmas baking, especially doing it with my mom. I'm happy that Owen can join us now and I can't wait until Oliver can too. :) This is a tradition I hope will always continue.

Our 2010 Christmas Card

Charming Gift Wrap Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Piner Family Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family in Greensboro. Originally, we weren't going because it was my original due date. Thanks to Oliver's early arrival we were able to go and introduce him to everyone.

My dad and his mom, my Granny. She is obsessed with babies and I think she would have held him all day if other people didn't want a turn. Owen and Nana
My dad's sister, my Aunt Anne. Granny is looking through her photo book of pictures from my brother's wedding.
Owen got a little guitar...Papa taught him how to use it
Cousin Emma, age 5, wanted to hold Oliver.
Kissing cousins...no we're not from WV
He loves Emma though
More presents
A book and dump truck
Yep we caught you! Dorian playing with Owen's trucks
Aunt Wanda made a great lunch and we loaded up on sweets. I'm so glad we got to go and celebrate with everyone!

Cox Family Christmas

Saturday, December 11th we celebrated Christmas a little early with Jeremy's family. We were very blessed that everyone was willing to come to Charlotte this year so we didn't have to travel. Adrian and Jen hosted everyone and made an awesome lunch. :)

After lunch we gathered around to exchange gifts. The little kids got to go first. Owen did a great job opening all his gifts..he got quite a haul.
Grandma gave him a new DVD..Jay Jay the Jet Plane.
Our family of 4.
The whole clan
One of our twin nephews..love those chunky cheeks
Our other nephew..always so smiley :)
Everyone got a turn holding a baby....1st Aunt Emily and Uncle Jesse with the twins
Aunt Jen's turn
Last but not least, our cute little elf. Jesse and Emily gave all the boys these cute little hats. This is what Oliver did the entire time.
We had a great time and were so happy that we got to spend time with the ENTIRE family!

Week 1

Oliver's had a busy first week of life! We were blessed to have my mom here with us all week to help out..and boy did we need her seeing how I couldn't drive or pick up more than 10 lbs. :)

Tuesday Oliver went in for his 1st weight check. The doctor and I both agreed that he looked a little yellow and she had us go get his bilirubin levels checked. Due to a miscommunication between her and her nurse, we were sent to the wrong lab who then sent us to the hospital because they couldn't do it there. After trying to find his tiny veins, they gave up and did his heel prick. 3 hours later, we found out his levels were elevated but not high enough to have to do phototherapy. We had to go back on Thursday (to the right lab this time) and had his levels checked again. They came back more in the normal range so that was a blessing.

We've also had trouble nursing this time. Having done it before, I didn't think I needed any help. But after a week of painful nursing, I knew I needed something. I called the lactation specialist and went to visit her on Friday. Evidently Oliver has a really strong suck and he's not opening his mouth enough. Because of his shallow suck, I was being rubbed raw and it was causing me to bleed and crack. The specialist gave me a shield to wear to help me heal. Sadly though I have developed mastitis and am now on an antibiotic for it. Things are better but sometimes Oliver gets lazy and we have to correct him again. Good news though is that he is eating like a champ and was eating double the amount of most kids his age. He is back up to his birth weight!! :)

Owen is showing us a new side this week as well. He is acting out more and throwing more fits. He loves his brother and constantly wants to kiss him. We are working on how to be gentle and not to pick him up.

Because post are better with pictures, here are some from the week:

We attempted our first family picture.
Papa (my dad) enjoyed snuggling with his grandsons last weekend.
Nana and Oliver

Introducing..

James Oliver! He was born Thursday, December 2nd at 10 pm. He was 7 lbs. and 7 oz. and 20 inches long.

In my last post, I told you I started taking pitocin around 1 pm. Well it really didn't do anything! As they checked me through out the day, I wasn't making any progress, hanging out at 4 cm dilated all day long. Around 8 pm the midwife came in with the doctor on call to discuss my labor. I was starting to run a fever and they were afraid that I was getting an infection though I was already on antibotics. They gave me some Tyenol and told me to roll to my other side. We discussed my options and they really thought a c-section was in my near future since my water had been broken for over 24 hours now. They were going to give my body until 10 pm and then we would start the c-section if I didn't make any more progress.

So I followed directions and crazy enough I started feeling more pressure and pain. The nurse called the midwife to come check me at 9:30 and low and behold, I was 10 cm and Oliver's head was already super low. She ran to put on a gown and the nurses frantically got everything ready (they had already prepared everything for a c-section). I pushed maybe 5 times and Oliver was out. It was a fast and easy process! It was so crazy!!

Very First Picture
Meeting Mommy
Getting cleaned up

7 lbs. 7 oz
Pouty little lips
Looking a little rough but excited to have another son
The next morning


The whole experience was so different than Owen's birth. While I spent most of the day in labor with both boys, I could feel my body make progress all day long with Owen. I felt bad for hours before the actual delivery. With Oliver, I felt fine all day (well there was about an hour before the epidural that was kind of bad).

The post delivery experience was TOTALLY different for the boys. Owen spent days in NICU and the pediatric floor then came home with jaundice. After Oliver was born, he got to spend all of his time with us in the room. He nursed well without any assistance, he has been gaining weight, and really only cries when he is wet or hungry. He came home 2 days after he was born and has really just blended in with us.

We feel extremely blessed by this sweet little boy! I have a hard time realizing that we have another son. Owen hasn't quite figured out what's going on. He loves to give him kisses and show everyone who visit that there is the baby. I don't think he quite understands who he is yet. (Ok so I'm bad and realize that we have no pictures of the two boys together! I should get on that.)