Life with Luke!

Life with our family of 4 has been pretty darn sweet!! Especially knowing that our little Luke is healthy, happy, and home! 

Luke has had a lot of firsts over the past week.  Having his first bath, he seemed to really enjoy the water and stayed pretty calm.  Maybe he will be a lover of the water and sun like his Mama!

After his bath, the teacher in me thought it was the perfect time for his first book. It was the same first book I read to Charlie- On the Night You Were Born.  I sure hope that Luke has a love for books like his big brother does.

He also had his follow up appointment after discharging from Special Care.  Time to head in....

He had a weight check and is doing great!!!  6 pounds, 7 ounces--up 10 ounces from birth--way to go Luke!!

Later in the week, Luke had his first photo shoot; here is a sneak peak at one of the pictures.  We can't wait to see more of them!!

We have had many visitors over the past week--these were just the few that we got photos. We are thankful for all of the meals and good company, and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!

Even though Justin was recovering from his surgery, it was a bonus having him home with us! Charlie took advantage and got in plenty of rounds of Old McDonald or "Oh-meh-dahno". 

As you can tell, Luke was the life of the St. Patrick's Day party.

Fearing Luke's arrival might be tough on big brother, we have tried to give Charlie more attention lately.  He definitely soaks it up! He LOVES entertaining us with his Elmo guitar and awesome dance moves! :) He even got some serious air on that middle one!

♫ ding-dong ♫ "Is someone here to bring me a present?!"

Charlie is really sweet with Luke and wants to be next to his baby brother ("Bay-ooke!") whenever he can--it's hard to believe Charlie was once this small just 2 years ago.

"Nite-nite!"

Luke's Homecoming!

The afternoon of Tuesday, March 12th we packed up Luke's special care room and he was discharged to go home!!! The docs originally shared that he may go home in a week, but it didn't take long for us to learn things change quickly in special care. Before leaving, he had to pass many checks for discharge--feed 2 days on his own without the tube, maintain a normal body temperature, pass car seat check, etc.  Coming into the weekend, it looked like Luke was getting closer and by Tuesday, we got the full okay. We were thrilled to take him home!!

Packing up....

Little Luke getting ready to go--look how small he looks in the carrier!

So relieved to bring him home!

Sweet boy!

Heading out....

I was so excited and had been waiting for this day for what felt like forever since he was born! I could not wait to get our family of 4 home under one roof!!

Since Justin and I both had not been cleared to drive yet, we sought out a special driver, Aunt Christina!! :)

Arriving home - he held my finger the entire car ride home!

Aunt Christina and Luke

So excited to be home!!!!

When we got home, we were anxiously awaiting the chance for Charlie to meet his new baby brother.  We really had no idea how he would handle it.  The past 2 weeks he had bounced between both grandparents' houses, and hadn't been home much at all.  

Well, it ended up going even better than we could have even imagined!!! :) Charlie was giddy-excited to meet his baby brother. He was super sweet to baby Luke and is already a proud, big brother!

 Baby, baby, baby!

Letting Charlie hold him for the first time....

Love these 3--so thankful to be home with all of my boys!

Giving his new little brother kisses! So sweet!

 Opening his big brother gift from Luke- the legos were a hit!!

 Once things calmed down a bit it was time for dinner and Charlie to go to bed.  He insisted on telling baby Luke 'night night' before going to bed.  It was the sweetest thing and just melted our hearts! We love our new family of 4 and feel so blessed!!

Sweet Special Care

Luke spent 10 days in the Special Care Nursery of the hospital after he was discharged from the NICU.  During this time, they helped him with his feedings and monitored him around the clock.  The nurses in special care were amazing and we were so thankful they watched over our little Luke during the 10 days we were with them. 

What his new room looked like...

Tired momma and dadda....

Pops

Daddy and Luke

Nana and Papa with Luke

Momma and Luke

While we were there....we thought Luke changed daily.  We tried to get as many pictures as we could to document him changing during his first days of life....

No more pictures!!! :)

Taking his first bath....

While we were at the hospital, Charlie was being well taken care of by his grandparents.  He wasn't allowed in the special care nursery due to RSV season, so he hasn't met his little brother yet.  We did go home a few nights and it was so good to see our sweet boy again and spend time with him!