Week 1

A few shots from Leo's first week.

Brand new:
Snuggling with Mama:All of us at the Birth Center:
First family photo:
Coming home to Salisbury St. (exactly 5 hours after Leo was born - quite a change from the 3 days I spent in the hospital with Owen!):
Bill and Leo finally getting some time together:
Morning came early on April 12:Managing to feed ourselves and all of our creatures on Leo's first full day at home (Poppie helped a great deal in this department):
Poppie and Leo:
Leo seems to have Hunt/Wheless coloring, but the Russell/McCullough bounty of hair.
Waking up:
Practicing his lion's roar:
Owen holding his baby brother for the first time:

Leo Arrives

Leo William Russell was born in the water at 2:51 pm on Monday, April 11th, 2011. Eight pounds, six ounces; twenty-one inches long. He came out with a full mane and loads of charm.

It was true love from the start.

Moon!

This week during dinner, Owen began summoning the moon...

Ripe

The strawberries in Charleston are plump and red and sweet and ready to be picked right off the vine, so Owen, Bill, Boo, and I made our 2nd annual voyage out to Ambrose Farms to do just that.

Here's Owen with his empty bucket at the starting line:
Learning how to pick (last year, Owen just kept shoving strawberries in his mouth; this year, he was really into finding the best ones -- "Ooooooh THERE'S a good one," he'd say):
Showing off his pull (we got a little bit carried away...I think we've all turned a deeper shade of red from all the strawberries we've eaten in the last few days):
Two great shots that Mom took of Owen:
Maybe the last weekend just the three of us:
And speaking of ripe...here's me on my due date (April 5):
We're ready when you are, baby!

Peek!

Aunties

I was tickled pink to have made it to the last weekend in March: the P-House Reunion!! Bill was supposed to be at a conference in Montreal, so I went ahead and invited all of my college besties to Charleston to play while he was away (we have our annual reunion the last weekend in March anyway, so the timing was spot on). Bill ended up canceling his conference (even though I was 99% positive that this would be an April baby, neither of us could bear the thought of him potentially missing the birth of our child), but the P-House ladies came just as planned and we spent a glorious weekend out on Folly Beach.

Here are a few shots I got of Owen with Aunt Bums and Aunt Doyle on Sunday morning before their departure:
Love you, aunties!

New Shades!

37 weeks

I've had some highly entertaining pregnancy commentary this time around. One gentleman at Whole Foods (right around the time this picture was taken) turned to me and very gently asked, "Are you expecting?" A thousand jokes were running through my head, but I held back and managed to say with a straight face, "Um...yes." He wanted me to get in front of him in line - very sweet.

A week or so later, the same thing happened at Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream and Sandwich Cafe (dear GOD, do they have the most AMAZING chocolate milkshakes...I wish I had one right now): a gentleman asked whether or not I was pregnant. I know so many men (so many people in general, but I think men perhaps the most) have been burned asking women if they are pregnant when they aren't, so they pretty much wait until it looks like your water is about to break before they will assume such a thing. It's quite charming, actually.

Those two examples stand in stark contrast to an experience I had at Target around the same time. I'm coming down the aisle with my cart in front of me (and blocking the view of my belly). A Target employee, no older than 20 with short, spunky dreads was kind of be-bopping down a cross aisle, singing to himself and nodding his head up and down, in his own little world. He passes me, but then stops and turns around like he's forgotten something. Now I'm closer to him and he has a side view of me and my belly. At which point, he stops dead in his tracks and exclaims -- in the most genuinely amazed way -- "WHOA!!!! You are like Ruulllllll..." (he trails off for just a second as he takes in the full girth of my belly with widening eyes) "...PREGNANT!!!"

I couldn't help but crack up. He was so innocent, so authentically astounded. I replied, laughing, "It's true. I am." He asks: "When's that baby supposed to be here??" I tell him in just a few weeks. He continues: "It looks like that baby is coming, like, TODAY." Too funny...

Anyway, here's me and my belly at 37 weeks:

Rudi

The first weekend in March, our friend Rudi came to visit from Birmingham, AL. (You may remember Rudi and his wife Meaghan's stirring rendition of "Comes a Time" from our wedding.)

Rudi and Owen had yet to meet, and they were fast friends in an instant:
(Bruno was also very fond of Rudi.)
Rudi delivered numerous inspired readings of the Polar Express during his visit (Rudi and Meaghan are going to be parents in July - it was clear that Rudi was already a natural at this thing):
When all of Owen's readers had reached max capacity, he settled for reading solo:
On Thursday, when I was at work, the boys took a trip to Folly Beach:
And then hit Red's for lunch:
That night we had Family Music Time with Bill on guitar and piano and Rudi on his bassoon (he plays for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra). It was fabulous. Owen has a book with a bassoon in it, which now reminds him of Rudi.

On Friday, we drove out to show Rudi the Angel Oak:
And on Saturday morning, we read some more books before it was time for waffles!
Rudi, thank you for making the trip, for being such a good playmate to Owen, and for documenting our lovely time together (all photos on this page, except the one of Rudi reading to Owen, are courtesy of Rudi).
Hugs to you, Meaghan, and your baby on the way!

A Good Fort

One Thursday, I came home to find that our living room had been transformed into a most fabulous fort. There was a sign listing who could come in that had been dictated by Owen (it was a list of names, one of which was 'anybody' - my baby is inclusive) and a secret password (sorry, I can't tell you that) and everything.

The camera peeks inside the fort to reveal Owen playing with a sticker book from Boo (supervised by Bruno):
Seeing that he has been spotted, Owen turns on the charm:
Owen and his besties in the fort (L to R: Owen, Bobo, Paddy, Boobah, and Bruno):
You can always count on Dada for a good fort.