Going home and settling in...

Well, we've been home for a few days now and are getting a chance to get settled in a bit. We stayed in the hospital for the full 2 days, which seemed like a really long time to me. I was eager to get home to my own house and sleep in my own bed.

Sarah started having more awake and alert time...

We went home on Thursday around lunch time. Daddy and Austin and Nanny came to the hospital to get us and we took some photos of Sarah getting ready to go into the outside world for the first time.

Trying out her new blanket from Gramma and PopPop Cronk. Mmmmmm......soft and snuggly!

Getting dressed. The outfit I brought for her was definitely too big, but still cute.

Working on finding her thumb.Cozy in her hat from the nursery. Ready to go.
All tucked into her new carseat.
We headed home and Sarah got to give her big brother a present. She got him Luigi's Casa Della Tires from Cars. He loves it! Here is Austin giving Sarah a kiss to say "Thank you!"
She was swimming in the "going home" outfit, so I changed her into something a little smaller when we got home. She enjoyed being home as well...especially the bouncy seat.And, of course, snuggling with Nanny.
Check out how she folds her hands together intertwining her fingers. How precious!

Austin has been very good with her. He loves to give her kisses, pat her on the head, and hold her (supervised on the couch). He comments on her all the time, saying that she has a little nose or tiny ears, etc. She has also apparently re-ignited Austin's interest in the conversation regarding who does and does not have a penis. He is also still trying to figure out the female pronoun and usually refers to her using "he" or "his".

My cutie boy.

He likes to help take care of her as well. If she is fussing, he will try to comfort her by giving her a pacifier, bouncing her bouncy seat, stroking her hair, or saying "It's OK. It's OK. Mommy's got you."

Here he is bouncing her bouncy seat a bit.

Usually his soothing is cute and gentle and can be helpful in getting her calmed down for minor fussing. The only exception so far was today when Austin and I were playing on the floor with his cars and I had her propped in her Boppy pillow with a blanket draped over the Boppy and her on top. I went over to the kitchen for about 15 seconds, during which time, Austin decided he was going to tuck her in with her blanket. I came back to find her face down on the carpet with the Boppy pillow about a foot away and the blanket beside it. He must have pulled the blanket out from under her and, in the process, flipped her out of the pillow's center. He was trying to help, but yikes! She's fine and he looked like he was going to cry when I scolded him. He really was just trying to be helpful and sweet.

Austin has been a bit rambunctious and attention seeking at times. He instructs us on who he wants to hold Sarah and who is allowed to take care of him. We haven't had regression on potty training so far, though he has requested we change his diaper (when he's wearing underpants and not wet).

My busy boy.

Playing hide and seek with Nanny.

Nanny stayed until Saturday and got in lots of cuddle time.

We've also had some visitors. Ann and Phil with their cutie son John visited on Saturday for a couple hours. I attempted to get a photo of John giving Sarah kisses, but alas, I missed it and didn't get any good pictures while they were here. This evening, our neighbors Amy and Isabella stopped by to meet Sarah. Here is Bella holding Sarah.
Recently, I have also had fun playing with the different settings and lenses on the camera. It is a little harder to use the portrait lens and try different camera settings with an active 3 year old....much easier with a more stationary target!

Here are some of my favorites of Sarah.
(My absolute favorite is the one at the beginning of this post...I caught her smiling!)

And Austin eating his peanut butter sandwich (note the peanut butter all over his cheeks).
Our little monkeys...
Our doctor got the kids matching outfits...Austin's says "Mommy's Little Monkey" and has a pirate monkey on it and Sarah's says "Daddy's Little [Monkey]."
Austin loves to hold her and now will go get a pillow, sit on the couch, put the pillow under his arm, and hold his arms ready to hold her, then state emphatically that he will hold her now.

My little monkey bouncing around like a monkey.

Sarah is definitely more of a snuggler right now. She sleeps alot, as is expected for a newborn. She does have some increasing awake and alert time each day. Unfortunately for us, those awake and alert times seem to be mostly between the hours of 11pm and 2am. From 2am on, she tends to give us 3 hour stretches between feedings, and she continues to sleep through most of the later morning hours as well, with some awake time in the afternoons. We're hoping she figures out her days and nights soon!

Snuggling with Daddy.
She loves to be upright like this laying on your chest or shoulder.

Daddy went back to work today for the tax season. He'll be working full time (or more) for the 8 weeks I'm on maternity leave. Our house also went on the market this morning. So every time I leave the house with the kids, I have to have the house ready to show. That sounds easy, but with a 3 year old tornado (with associated toy scatter) as well as a newborn with all her gear, it can be difficult to coordinate. We managed to get out of the house close to on time this morning (after I got up 2 hours ealier to start getting myself ready before getting the kids up and ready and the house ready).

Sarah and I had a check up this morning. Sarah is gaining weight like a champ. At 6 days old, she is already back up past her birth weight. She was 3.705 kg (8 lbs 3 oz) at birth and 3.80 kg (8 lbs 6 oz) today. She is doing great and is perfect on exam. Her jaundice has pretty much completely resolved. I had some minor problems with my laceration repair, but with a little medication, it should heal better in the next couple weeks. We have another checkup next week.

This weekend, we head up to the Twin Cities to meet lots more family. Of course, we'll take plenty of photos and put them up sometime next week. We took 365 photos in the month of January (310 of them since last Tuesday when Sarah was born). She's getting used to the camera flash already!