Home Sweet Home

Well, we successfully survived our first night back at home with Harper. I wouldn't say we got a lot of sleep, but that is expected. We were finally discharged from the hospital yesterday and got our first breath of fresh air in 6 days. I don't think Mitch is going to miss sleeping in his "chair bed," I think he enjoyed being back in the comfort of our own room last night. Below are pictures of our "living quarters" for the last week. We also got to dress Harper up in the "take home outfit" Mitch and I picked out. We've been looking forward to putting her in the dress and faux fur sweater for a long time. It may have been a little over to top, but hey... it was a big day! 

Harper in her "take home" outfit. 

We're finally going home! :) 

My happy family of three! :)

Daddy and his girlie.

My bed and awesome sliding tray.

Our kitchen and wash area.

Mitch's comfy bed.

We walked into our house, which seemed unfamiliar since it had been so long. My Mom drove home from the hospital with us, and Nick & Deb were at our house ready to welcome us home. We enjoyed a night full of visitors and tried to settle back in to our home. It was nice to finally have other family members have the opportunity to hold Harper and get to meet her on a personal basis. Basically, our night consisted of us throwing all of our bags in the living room, eating dinner and going to bed early! 

Our "WELCOME HOME" Banner

I can get used to hanging out with these two :)

Grandma Trish

Papa Jim

Grandpa Bob

Jo & Harper!

Aunt Jennie

It was sort of a rough first night as far as sleeping goes. We think she has her days/nights mixed up. She spends the majority of the day sleeping and is awake most of night. She is eating every 1-2 hours, so when people told me "sleep when she sleeps" I understand they are not lying. 

Mitch and I also realized getting ready takes a little longer when you are dealing with a newborn. My work was having a Christmas party today, so we planned on heading down for an hour or so just to say hello and bring Harper down to meet everyone. We woke up this morning and decided we would try to head down around 2-2:30pm so we had plenty of time to run a couple errands this afternoon. Well, by the time we fed Harper and got out the door it was almost 3:30pm. Harper did pretty good on her post hospital car ride, until we were minutes away from work. She started crying her "hungry cry" so we had to do a quick feeding in the parking lot. After a little bit a food, she crashed and was able to stay asleep through the crazy REACH Christmas party. It was great seeing everyone and introducing Harper to the REACH family. On the way home we made our regular stop at Babies R Us for more newborn diapers, we knew we would go through a lot of diapers... but holy moly! We spent the rest of our evening opening stockings with my family before they head to Missouri for the holiday. It still doesn't feel like Christmas, even though it's days away. We've already received our Christmas present with Harper being home and healthy. 

Tomorrow Harper has her 2-day pediatrician appointment. It's scheduled for 1:40pm, so Mitch says we need to plan on leaving at 11am. That way hopefully we won't be too late! We're enjoying our time as a family and getting to know our little girl. We're doing our best to establish a routine, but understand it will take some time. This is certainly a learning experience, and I couldn't do it without the help of Mitch. He has been so supportive throughout this entire experience and the love he shows for Harper makes my heart melt. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas - I know we will!

Until next time...

The Helleen's