First few days at home......
Well, I don't have many pictures of us on our way home. We were a little nervous and busy saying good-bye to all the doctors and nurses. We just have the one of him in his car seat.
I had to remind myself to breath on the way home as I didn't take my eyes off him the whole LONG car ride home. I think I checked on him every minute! The first night was a bit stressful figuring it all out after not even being home for 6 weeks and never having the time to get things all situated. We have had great help from our friends Neil, Jaci, and Staci here in Mankato to help us while we were gone. I was SOOO thankful that my mom was here about 15 min. after we got home. Andrew drove her up here and also brought our new bed! (thanks grandma and grandpa Hammer- we LOVE the bed!!) Also, I hope I didn't scare Andrew away from ever having kids since he witnessed the stressful first 12 hours being home! We have since settled in and I think after 12 loads of laundry from the weeks gone, I just might have empty laundry baskets!

We have enjoyed every minute being home with Ethan. He is doing a great job nursing. It is driving mom crazy that she doesn't know how much he is taking each time. In the NICU we weighed him in before and after every feeding to see how much he got, now we don't have that and I miss it! He is supposed to take 2 bottles a day of fortified milk to make it 22 calories, take his vitamins, and pear juice (help him poop better) but, he is not a fan of the bottle. That is our biggest struggle right now.

He sleeps in our room in a bassinet and loves to make noises all night long! Grandpa Bob described his noises as an old rocking chair. So, we check on him quit a bit right now because we are still deciding if he has reflux or not. Here is a picture of dad checking on him.

I'm okay daddy.

Etha loves to sleep! He was so used to all the casino like noises at the NICU, it is nice because we can watch tv, or I can pump, or take a shower without him waking up. I guess all those annoying noises in the NICU helped with something!
This one is for all the family that went on Baby Ben's Birthday Bash party, here is Ethan's future Senior picture pose! He did have a smile on his face but the camera isn't fast enough.

Today was our first doctor appointment with Dr. Smentek. It was weird going to the doctor and never meeting her before because we never had the chance to "shop" for pediatricians. I was so worried that he was going to lose a lot of weight because I couldn't tell if he was taking in enough mL or not. We get there and they just put on him a scale that measures pounds and ounces. We were so used to the precise measurements of grams in the NICU. Anyways, he weighed 5lbs 11oz, which is up an ounce. The doctor said everythings looks great and he is doing well. He didn't even make a peep while at the doctors. I was over prepared, I thought we might be sitting in the waiting room forever, like I always did at my OB appointments, so I packed way too much stuff for this short 45 min. excursion. I just had to laugh at myself. She did reiterate that he should not be around crowds and only a few visitors at a time, who are healthy and clean. She said to stay away from kids for quit awhile because they are always full of germs. So, it will be hard to turn some visitors down, but we have to keep the little guy healthy!
Ready for the doctor

The doctor set me up with a home health nurse to stop by twice a week and weigh him and help with anything I need. (I am guessing Dr. Smentek picked up on my worry-wart tendencies!) I am excited about this as well. The Mankato school district also has early childhood birth to 3 teachers that come and do home visits to make sure kids are making their developmental milestones. So, I have also set that up for them to come and check on Ethan once a month.