Tough Schedule

It's great to be home!  Sleeping in my own bed is great - and so is relaxing in my own living room.  But it isn't "back to normal" bu any means!

First, here's some photos from our last days in the hospital - this first one is Esther in the teeny tiny hospital gown they had for her (she only wore it for this photo because it was blue - and I believe Esther's allergic to blue! LOL!)  We also took a great photo from the back, but you'll have to request a private viewing for that one!  LOL!


And then she got the "spa treatment" - a lovely bath to get her ready to go home!

And here she is in her car seat - she had to pass a car seat test to make sure she would handle being in the car seat for 2 hours without compromising her oxygen levels - she passed with flying colors!

And here she is in Elizabeth's arms, home at last!


Believe me, I know that life with a newborn can be demanding, but life with Esther and her needs is definitely something beyond that!

Tuesday ended up being a whole day away from home - 2 Drs appointments (all went well), plus picking up medical supplies and some emergency grocery shopping - all while keeping on Esther's feeding and medication schedule.   We  did great, but boy was I tired when we got home!

My "spare time" on Wednesday was spent unpacking and organizing/tidying my bedroom - Daryl had done a great job of cleaning up our bedroom, but my "moving" back in did a number on it!  That and all the wonderful gifts we received - and I'm afraid some of them got separated from their cards, and I don't know how I'll ever get any Thank You cards out!  I also worked on getting our laundry done because Daryl had run out of clean pants - he had started doing the laundry last week, but hadn't had time to get to the darks yet!  Also Esther had already gone through a lot of her cloths already tool.  Today I hope to fold and put away what I washed, but we'll see!

Thursday's spare time was spent making phone calls/appointments and attempting to get the kitchen cleaned and have the kids get caught up on dishes (again).  The kids did very well at staying on top of the dishes for the most part, but actually cleaning was another story - it definitelty is in need of a feminine touch!  I started by the garage door, got the fridge outside cleaned up and the cabinet doors above, and the stove and the little counter between cleanned and that was all the time I had!  At this rate, but the time I make it to the other side of the kitchen, I'll need to start over again!  I plan to get more kid help today - but they were doing dishes while I was cleaning!

I've gotten a big help from my dear friend,  Cindy!  She offered to help in any way, and I took her up on her offer.  This was really hard for me to do as I am such a "do it myself" kind of person, but I'm realizing very quickly that I just can't do it all right now - there's actually very little that I can do right now besides keeping Esther alive and growing!  So Cindy came by and picked up all the little kid's laundry (3 large garbage bags full!) and today she's  bringing it back folded and sorted!  Thanks Cindy!!!!!!!  You're an angel!

This morning I worked on getting my calendar up to date for orthodontists appointments, doctor appointments (for Esther and Dayton), and dentist appointments - I'm not sure how we'll accomplish all of this, especially since we have been told to keep Esther home as much as possible since her health is fragile and this is cold and flu season!  I'm slowly training Jessica on Esther's care, so she will either be doing the driving or the baby sitting for those appointments!  Either that or she comes with and Esther stays in the car!

Esther got weight at the doctors office on Tuesday and weighed in at 8 lbs 13 1/2 oz - she's gaining around 2 ounces a day now!  At home we weighed her on our postal scale and on Thursday she weighed 9 lbs 3 oz!  She's doing great on the weight gain.

Overall Esther's doing great - sleeps all night through (I only have to get up twice to add more milk to her bag, at 1 am and 5 am!) from 9 pm until around 7 am!  She's adjusting to the craziness of our home easily (I think in some ways it's quieter than the hospital!), and she seems to love all the attention!  The only things not going to well is her feeding from the bottle.  She's been having some trouble with this, gagging and choking, and I'm hoping that this will improve soon - she's only taking about 10 ccs per feeding, and not every feeding.  But she is taking the bottle, and I hope she'll get back on track soon!

Here's a photo Rachel took last night of Elizabeth in the new dress that Jessica picked out for her (it's from Costco and it was less than $20!)

I thought it would help offset all the attention the Esther will get at church on Sunday!
Oh - and it you attend church with us on Sunday - a warning - we won't be letting anyone hold her due to her fragile health, even deciding to take her to church is a difficult one for us, as so many have been praying for her all this time and haven't seen her, but yet there are so many opportunities to catch something at church!! We've decided to take her this Sunday, but we won't be allowing anyone to hold her just to be on the safe side! Sorry about that!
And lastly, Don't Forget To Vote! We are hoping to get our ballots finished up this weekend - it's the first time we'll have 4 voters in our household!