The Craig Family Logbook: August 2011

First Week at Home

The first week at home has been pretty uneventful! Jacob has been eating every 3-4 hours and sleeping in between. It was been really nice to have Mimi here the first week to help! She was a HUGE help those first few nights and she woke up with me every few hours to help! She also helped finish up the nursery and make some last minute adjustments to his custom crib bedding she made. Aunt Mallori setup an online form to coordinate meals, and we had lots of great meals brought by some really great friends! Here are some pictures from the first week at home!

A temporary door sign left over from the NICU

The Bed and Custom Bedding... Special THANKS to Mimi!

Another View of the Bed & Bedding

The inside of the bedding before tweaking... We added a button on the center panel and made the bumpers a little less full! They look AMAZING!

My very comfy chair and coordinating pillow

Window Treatment to match before the panels were added

The bedding after tweaking :)

The bookshelf/changing station... Thanks to Mimi for decorating it!

Jason's unauthorized purchase for the nursery... It is an airplane pedal car!

Mimi hard at work on the room!

Aunt Mallori helping with Jacob!

Snuggle Time with Daddy!

... I hope he likes Food Network! :)

Mallori's Sister Elizabeth holding Jacob

Had to get naked for the doctor... First Check-Up went great. 5 lbs 3 oz!!

Mimi might kill me for this one... This was about 3 am! Mimi helping with Jacob... She still looks so pretty! :)

Hanging out in his little seat! He LOVES it!

Aunt Casey came up from Dallas... This is her first time to hold Jacob!

Mommy tried to have a photoshoot... Did not go so well! It ended up with one unhappy little boy and a lot of dirty blankets --- He peed on every blanket we own! HA!

Aunt Becca and Uncle Richard (not blood Aunt and Uncle but close enough :)) came over to visit Baby Jacob!

Well, that is all for today! Thanks for checking in on us.... I am LOVING having Jacob home and we are settling in nicely. Daddy had to leave on a 6 day trip for work, but we are holding down the fort here! Lots of LOVE - Mommy and Jacob!

Welcome Home Jacob!

After 52 days in the NICU, Jacob was released to come home on July 23rd - my 27th birthday! It was definitely a birthday I will never forget and the best present I could ever get! Mimi and Uncle Chase had made the trip to Memphis to help out. It was definitely a very busy weekend... The boys were at their first Memphis gun show with their new company Patriot Defense Arms, while Mimi and I worked frantically to put the finishing touches on Jacob's room! Saturday after the gun show, everyone hurried to the hospital to pickup Jacob!

"My Chariot Ride" -- Saying Goodbye to the wonderful people at Germantown Methodist NICU

Getting in the car to come home!

We had to get the house ready to welcome Jacob home!

Thanks to Mimi for making the sign!

The outside of the house!

The marker board.... Notice Jason's Artwork! :)

Getting dressed to go home!

Bright lights...:)

In Jacob's Room before we head out! Jacob with his very special blanket made by Jacob's Great Aunt Gayle!

One of our favorite nurses, Karen. She said we had to go home the "right way" -- she went and got a wheelchair and took me for a "chariot ride" around the NICU to say our goodbyes and then on to the car!

A picture of the family in the lobby before we load up the car.

Aunt Mallori with Jacob

Mimi and Jacob

Very happy Mommy getting ready to take Jacob into the house!

Heading into the house

Picture in front of the car...

Uncle Chase holding Jacob for the first time!

Welcome Home Balloons!

Notice Sam in the background... Ha!

Sam trying to figure out what was going on!

He fell asleep in his car seat!

Hanging out ... Our first night at home!

Sleep tight Jacob! First time to sleep at home... Not in his bed yet....

Behind on Blogging!

Well, I had really intended to blog about our NICU journey...But, things got a little crazy. I have kept a little journal to keep track of the different milestones and his growth, and maybe someday I will get around to scrapbooking or blogging about it! :) Three weeks after Jacob was born, I headed back to work in the General ICU in order to save my time off for when he came home. Between working, pumping (breast milk for Jacob to eat-- they were feeding it to him through a tube at first), and making numerous trips per day to the NICU to see Jacob things got CRAZY! It was tough heading back to work so quickly after my csection... Especially with my job which requires me to lift, tug, pull, and turn people! But, we made it work thanks to my great co-workers who gave me lots of extra help! Here are some pics from weeks 2- 8 in the NICU.

We LOVE our church! We were leaving for the hospital one day, and noticed they had added this to the sign!

June 9th - My first time to hold him! One of our favorite nurses, Jen, in the background!

Another picture from my first time to hold him... One happy mommy! (The NICU likes moms to do "kangaroo time" which is skin-to-skin contact rather than just hold the babies... There are all sorts of scientific reasons for this!)