There's No Place Like Home

And Day Four!  Going home day!  When my doctor came to check on me this particular morning, she asked if I was okay with going home or if I wanted to stay one more night.  I know the kids and Brad were ready to all be under one roof and I was pretty ready to be done at the hospital, so I went with the scheduled discharge day. 

 

Brad dropped the kids at school and came to the hospital and I had taken a shower (which I managed to do every day - except the day he was born) and was getting prepped to go!  I did manage to relax a little bit that morning - and even had an early morning visit from my uncle!  Such a nice surprise!  And my mom came to visit for a little while as well!  We also managed to get some hospital newborn pictures done that morning - now that I think about it, we were pretty busy!

 

I stayed long enough to eat some lunch and take some pain meds and then we got everything ready to go - including getting Ryan into his going home outfit!  Here he is...all bright-eyed and bushytailed!

Goodness he was such a peanut!  He lost down to 6 pounds, 3 ounces in the hospital - so teeny!  And definitely different from Jack!  Jack started off almost two pounds heavier and then lost a little over a pound.  Ryan's sizing is more similar to that of Katie - she was 7 pounds, 1 ounce and she lost down to 6 pounds, 5 ounces in the hospital!  And here he is, in preferred position - hands by the face and legs drawn up close to his body.

But he does keep his hands away from his face sometimes!  He also has some cute hair :) Sometimes it looks more brown and other times it almost looks strawberry blonde!



And here I am with my little peanut before we left...and with the beautiful flowers that we got in the hospital!  Brad's company sent one arrangement and my grandmother brought the other one!

Daddy and his little guy ready to head home!

And we got a picture of the three of us before heading out!  Love this one!

Next, it was time to load up the little peanut into the carseat!  He looks a little curious about what was going on!

And there's the little peanut (AKA "The Roc") all bundled up in the carseat!

And we were headed out!  Brad had taken a little load to the car when he pulled it close, and we still managed to fill up a cart of our stuff!

And we got another family picture before loading into the car!  I think it is neat that we had the same car to bring each of the three kiddos home - the van was at home to transport the big kids :)

And this was what I was thinking about heading home and facing the reality of having three kids :)

I don't think Ryan was even phased by anything at this point!  He does well in the carseat - knock on wood!  Hoping it stays that way!

And a picture from the other side of the backseat - yes, I sat in the back with him :) 

And Brad snapped this picture of me with my little guy about ready to pull out of the parking lot!

And for some reason, I have taken a picture of the clock each time we left the hospital with each kiddo.  I think it's neat to see what time we go home - and for some reason, I like to see what the temperature is.  Weird - yes, I know :)

And we made it home safe and sound!  I think Brad was excited we were all going to be in one place!

Welcome home, sweet Baby Ryan!

And I got the sweet boy out and had Brad take my picture of us in front of the door!

And of course we had to introduce Ryan to Sadie!  I think she approved :) 

It was literally right after that picture was taken that Brad got a call from the kids' preschool that he needed to come pick Jack up.  Why, you ask?  Well because he had a fever of 103, of course!  We certainly know how to keep things interesting at our house!  So Brad left right away to go get the kids, then he brought Katie home and took Jack to the pediatrician to make sure nothing major was going on or to make sure he didn't need antibiotics.  According to the doctor, he just had a virus, but that also required that neither Ryan nor myself could be around him until he was better!  See?  May have been better to stay one more night at the hospital, right?

 

Katie wanted to snuggle with Ryan and watch Frozen when she got home from school - she was so excited to see us!

Once I figured out that I would have to be locked in my bedroom, I called in for some help :)  Robbin came and helped for a bit and ended up taking Katie for a slumber party with Nanny and Papa!  That was super helpful - Brad could take care of Jack and I clearly had control of Ryan!  

I certainly don't mind having this little guy to snuggle with!

And so it began...it ended up being about 3 more days until it would just be us as a family of 5 under one roof for a night.  Katie had some slumber parties and Grandma spent the night with us to help out some since there were a couple mornings we had to take Ryan for some bloodwork (see? still - never dull!).

 

I can't believe our little guy is already 2 weeks old.  I think, all things considered, I'm doing pretty good catching up! :) I have quite a few more posts started - still need to do a post with Katie's big girl room, Ryan's nursery, changes in Jack's room, Jack opening his presents, celebrating Father's Day, our first two weeks at home, and some others!  For now, here is a picture from yesterday of our little guy...it sure is amazing how much he has changed....from the picture just above to this one, just ten days passed...and I do think he looks bigger and different! He certainly should since he is eating 11-12 times a day (yes, every two hours or so)!  Whew!