Been Replaced

I wonder how our dog Rusty is feeling about the new baby. . .

Sweet Baby Jacob

NICU follow up--2 week appointment

Today we went to our pediatrician for Jacob's NICU follow up visit. He's doing great! He weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces, which is 4 ounces more than he weighed on Thursday night. I've been feeding him as much as he'll take whenever he wakes up hungry. Apparently, it's more than enough! The doctor said to consider this his 2 week checkup, since we're only two days away from that. He said Jacob is healthy and "normal" now, and we can expect no long term effects from the pneumothorax (hole in the lung). Hurray! We can take him off the crazy-expensive neonatal formula, and put him on something generic (Costco!). That will be a benefit for our budget. Sam and I managed to get almost the whole house clean, and I got 4 loads of laundry totally completed. I have two more to fold, and possibly one more load to do tomorrow. I'm starting to be able to return phone calls and receive visitors. Life is starting to get back to normal. Okay, not normal, but manageable. I can't tell you how much we have appreciated all the love and support we have received. It feels like other people are as excited as we are to receive this addition to our family. It's been an amazing experience. Emily

Family Photos at Home

Here he is--the cute baby! My friend Lisa lent me this cool bassinette. This is me trying my new moby wrap. Sam thought I looked like a Jedi, so he added the light saber. Here is Sam's mom, Irene, holding Jacob. Adam feeding Jacob. Here are all my guys! Adam loves to hold his brother! Irene, Jacob, and I

Last Days at the Hospital

I know I posted updates, but the world was a whirlwind and my brain only worked part-way during the last few days Jacob was at the hospital. As I reviewed my posts I saw a few gaps! Adam's self portrait Jacob was born Wednesday September 9 (9/9/09!) and weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces. He stayed in the hospital for 9 days. I think his lucky number is 9! On Sunday the 13th we received temporary legal guardianship, and were able to see him for the first time. I spent the night at the hospital on Sunday and Monday nights. The hospital policy is 2 nights only, so on Tuesday at noon I headed home. We had another visit with the social worker that I had to be there for. I called several times to check on Jacob, and since he was eating really well I decided to get one good night of sleep. On Wednesday morning I called again, and he hadn't eaten well so I felt I needed to be there. Sam was sick this whole time, so he couldn't even go into the NICU. We got a hotel in Salt Lake, and it was the best decision we could have made! There was a pool, continental breakfast (one less meal to buy!) and it was just 10-15 minutes from the hospital. So I headed to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, and Sam and Adam joined me that evening. We swam in the pool and Sam took Adam to get Chinese food while I went to feed the baby. Sam reported that after getting drinks at the gas station and food at the restaurant, Adam proclaimed it "The best day ever!" The hotel turned our hospital stay into a vacation! Thursday morning Sam's cousin Jodi and her two kids came to the hotel and we all went swimming. That evening Sam and Adam visited the NICU in the "family bonding room" and Adam was able to hold Jacob for the first time. We went to The Pizza Factory for dinner, where we gorged on bread twists, pasta, and salad. It is located inside a Fat Cat's bowling alley/game center. So we bowled one round and then the boys played arcade games. This is Adam "using the force" to get a spare. It didn't work this time, but trust me, the force is real! I got a call about 8pm that Jacob was ready to eat and they would be weighing him. Since gaining weight was one of the requirements of coming home on Friday, I was soon sick to my stomach. He had gained weight (hurray!) and I left the nurse with strict instructions to call me any time during the night if Jacob was not eating well. Friday morning I woke up at 5, then 7, then 7:30. I finally decided to get up and get ready, since I expected Jacob would be eating around 8am. Even thought the nurse never called, I decided to head to the hospital anyway. When I got there the discharge was 90% done--the doctor had evaluated him, and he was nearly ready to go. I called Sam to tell him to hurry. In all our rush I hadn't brought any clothes for Jacob! So Sam and Adam picked out an outfit, and brought it to the hospital. After bathing, feeding, and dressing him, Jacob was ready to come home! Here he is in his carseat just before we walked out the door.

Visit from Steph and John

Right smack in the middle of our adoption of Jacob, my best friend from high school came for a visit. I don't think we've seen each other in 10 years or so, but having them here was just like old times. Stephanie lives in Nebraska now, and she and John flew to New York City and picked up Bryanna just before coming to Utah to work at the Scrapbook Expo in Salt Lake. They are doing a kinship foster adoption with Bryanna, who is Stephanie's niece. She is about the cutest thing I've ever seen! I watched Bryanna for them while they worked on Friday and Saturday. So she was with us while the social worker came to do our home study, she came to the attorney's office when we drew up all the paperwork, and we dropped her off at the expo while we visited with Savannah and Isaac on Friday night. She came with us to Adam's soccer game on Saturday as well. Steph and John flew out at about 4pm on Sunday, a few hours before we saw Jacob for the first time. We were bummed they couldn't see him, but were so glad they were here for this crazy whirlwind adoption. They came to the hospital to say goodbye before they left--here's a photo of us together: Crazy enough--Bryanna was in the hospital with a super high fever not long after they got home. She was released the same day Jacob came home. When I talked to her last week Steph said something to the effect of "Now it's cool that we're both adopting at the same time, but this is taking things a bit too far!" My only regret after their visit is that they don't live a lot closer to us! Every 10 years is WAY too long!

First Day of School

Even though Adam turned 5 before the deadline, we decided to do one more year of preschool. My thinking at the time was that he's a lot better off being the oldest than the youngest in his class. Now that Jacob has arrived, I am SO GLAD I made this choice. I've enrolled him in a district run preschool. It's 4 days a week (T-F) from 9:15 am to 12:00 pm. It's at a nearby elementary school, so they meet in a regular classroom, listen to school announcements, do the pledge, and play on the kindergarten playground. The differences: he's one of the oldest children, the curriculum is not challenging, and I can keep him home when I want to! Here he is on his first day:

And of course, it wouldn't be quite right to have a "first day" picture without Avery!

Avery was so sad all last year as we dropped off Adam at preschool and she had to go home with me. So you can imagine her excitement to go to her very own preschool this year! I've gotten in with a group of moms in the neighborhood--the mom who organized it used to teach preschool, and she is fantastic! Here is Avery on her very first day:

And with Adam. I like this picture because you can see Avery's dimple.