the week in review

it's been a wonderful first week as a family of 4. a little sad that dave had to go back to work the very next day after kyren arrived home. but we've adjusted pretty well. christian is still doing fabulously as a big brother... i don't think we've really had one incident of jealousy yet! sometimes he wants me to hold him or play with him a little more than usual, but at the same time he's becoming more and more independent and using his imagination like crazy when he plays on his own. this morning he said his longest sentence yet while holding his stuffed snowman up to the window in our bedroom: "Christian and Frosty looking out the window at water truck" (which was completely imagined). he continues to delight my heart, and makes me laugh all day long.
kyren is growing like a weed-- and weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz yesterday! Christian was 7 lbs 5 oz at birth. ...which kyren probably is today. Amazing! he turned 40 weeks officially on saturday, and is now our perfect little newborn! he has begun gazing intently at our faces, lifting his head off the ground and our shoulders, and staying awake for longer periods of time. tonight our friends came to visit and kyren stayed up for almost 3 hours, entertaining us with his wide eyed expressive face. what a joy to observe his every little milestone! and probably the best part has been just snuggling with him-- tube and wire free! it feels almost sacred to kiss his soft little chubby cheeks. he is a loud sleeper, grunts a lot, but seems to do pretty well in the dark and quiet of the nighttime, which the nurses said he might struggle with, having been used to the noisy NICU environment for so long. so even though i am up with him a couple of times per night, he is usually pretty good about going right back to sleep. Thank the Good Lord!!!
i added some pics to the slideshow of his first bath-- washing the hospital out of his hair-- and some pics of his first week of bonding. but more than taking pictures and documenting, we've just been ENJOYING this time as a family. it's been busy, and definitely a lot of work and not a lot of rest-- but not as hard as i thought it would be. the fact that he sleeps so much is God's way of easing us into having 2 so close together. and our hearts are so thankful, it'd be pretty hard to find anything to complain about right now. he's home, and he's thriving. and life is good...
it still feels a little surreal, and yet so normal at the same time. in a way, it's easy to start to forget that the past three and a half months even happened. they are becoming more like a dream, and this present reality is becoming more and more real. and this is an amazing feeling!