The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

We are so thrilled that Elias is home! It is a real answer to prayers that he is now healthy and on his way to catching up with big brother :)

We are still working on figuring things out and getting in to a routine. I have to remind myself that routines take time and this is a huge family adjustment for all of us. Peter has the next 3 weeks off work so hopefully we can settle in for the most part by then. Elias has been very easy to take care of so far. He wakes up about every 2 1/2 hours to eat and then goes back to sleep until the next feeding time. Things just feel a whole lot smoother than they did when we came home with Malachi, but maybe it is because we are now second time parents and not amateur first timers :)

I think our primary concern right now is helping Malachi adjust. He is totally out of his routine and has to make a huge adjustment now that there is another baby in the house, but it is no different than any child when they become the big brother or sister. He just needs a little extra TLC. Malachi doesn't really notice Eli. Although when Eli started to cry, it scared Malachi and he started to cry too - it was kind of cute and funny.

The NICU totally freaked me out right before we left. Eli is having some issues with choking while he eats. The nurses in the NICU were concerned about it, but the doctor said we are experienced parents so he knows we can handle it. Eli is still learning how to breathe in some ways so when you combine the eating and the breathing he sometimes chokes. While we were there the nurse showed us some ways to feed him which help open the airway and ways to hold him after he chokes to open up the airway. They also discussed how someone with a common cold could give germs to Eli and how it could go into RSV (which they said is going around really bad right now) and pneumonia for him and then he would have to go back the NICU and it could be really bad for him. Needless to say, I was thoroughly freaked out at the idea of bringing home a fragile baby by the time we left.

Fortunately things are going really well. We aren't having visitors to hopefully keep him from getting sick and he is getting better about not choking when he eats. Otherwise, things seem to be going smoothly. Here's some picture overload of our first 2 days at home:

All ready to leave the NICU!

First moments at home:

Snuggles with big brother

Attempting to get a picture of big and little brother (neither were cooperating)

We think he looks like "Elf on the Shelf"

First bath: