Whew!

A peaceful easy feeling...

Home at last!

Seeing Baby Jackson for the first time...more dramatic pictures to come!

After a week home with little Jackson, time has seemed to fly by! I have not found time for blogging, imagine that? I thought I'd give you a little update. Our computer is almost out of memory, so I'll try to post pictures this weekend, but here is a little recap of the last week.

Jackson came home on July 15th, two weeks after being born into this world. Adam and I spent the night with him in the family room in the NICU to make sure that we were comfortable with him and his new sleep apnea monitor. The family room is a room off of the NICU where families can stay the last night their child is there. Adam likened it to a room on a cruise ship...very small and cramped, though we were just excited to be there with our new little man. Jackson had a good night and the nurses kept coming in every four hours to check on us and him. He has to wear a sleep apnea monitor for a little while, and we are thankful that it has only gone off once in the hospital for a low heartbeat. It measures his breathing rate and heart rate. He doesn't seem to mind it being on and usually he only wears it when he is sleeping at night.

Jackson's breathing has improved greatly and he does have acid reflux. The doctors are treating it by letting us add rice cereal to his bottles and that has seemed to help. It definitely helps him to sleep. Did I mention that right now he is dream baby? He eats, sleeps for long periods of time, and then eats again. He definitely will cry when he's hungry and when he's getting undressed. He loves to be swaddled and just propped up to snooze. Even though being in the NICU for two weeks was so hard for us all, it did have its perks. One major perk is that Jackson will go four hours in between feedings and about five hours at night. This is a big blessing for this mama of an active two-year-old. We are thankful that that is part of the silver lining in the whole NICU experience. We also hope that we can be an encouragement to other families that have to go through a time without their little one.

Thank you to all of our friends and family near and far for praying for us, bringing us meals, sending us encouraging emails and cards, and just for being our support through this mini-trial. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with you all.

Many of you have asked, "How is Charlie adjusting to being the big brother?" Well, that has been a challenge. We hear "Hold you, Mommy!"/"Hold you, Daddy!" when we are holding baby Jackson. That translates into, "I want you to hold me instead of the baby. Put him down now." I'll try to post some funny "coming home" pictures of Charlie "welcoming" Jackson into our home....the pictures tell the story better than I could. Overall, Charlie seems to be adjusting now that we are all home and we've had a couple of normal days. He has been showered with friends and family who have stopped by bringing food and gifts for both Jackson and him. He is a big brother and stops by Jackson's crib along his path saying, "Baby Jackson is making noise, Mama. Hey Baby Jackson!!!" Did you notice the three exclamation points? Charlie will tell me in his loud voice that Baby Jackson is making noise (which is a small grunt or coo). I pray that they will be the best of friends one day.

I'm off to rest a bit while both boys are sleeping. We'll try to get some pics uploaded this weekend. Thank you again for everything.