Saturday...Coming Home

We spent Friday night working around the house as we knew that Jonathan, Anna and I would be heading back to Jackson on Saturday morning. Since we still didn't have test results, we assumed it would be Monday before we would be coming home so we wanted to get the house picked up. I got the BEST night's sleep....seriously, I slept so freaking good. Little did I know it would be my last great nights sleep for a while (but I wouldn't change that for anything!)

Saturday morning we got up, met Grandmother (J's mom) to hand off the boys and headed towards Jackson. We were hoping to be there in time for the lunch time feeding. About an hour outside Jackson my cell phone rang and I about died when it was Ashley calling from the NICU. Evidently the doctor had called to the lab directly and found out that all of Mary Elizabeth's tests were normal and we could go home THAT DAY! We were shocked!! We immediately called both sets of parents, my sister and Angie....we just couldn't believe that we were actually coming home THAT DAY! We got to the hospital, did our discharge training, signed the adoption papers from Bethany in Memphis and we were ready to go home. This is our nurse Ashley who was WONDERFUL and so helpful in this process:


I just love this picture of Mary Elizabeth really checking her car seat out:

It was finally time to come home! She did great on her long ride home!

Friday....4 Kids is a TON of work & a TON of FUN!

I came home from Jackson on Thursday and had planned to go back on Friday morning, but feeling guilty from being away from my children for so long...I decided to stick around and have a fun day out with Anna, Isaac and Luke. Alexandra Vaughan was on fall break so she joined the party!

We started out by going to Green Hills mall and doing some shopping at Janie and Jack and Gymboree for Mary Elizabeth. The kids were GREAT...I couldn't believe they weren't wild, but they did exactly what I told them. Because they were so good, I promised them a nice lunch at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants La Paz.

Leave it to my kids to order corn dogs at a Mexican restaurant, but hey, they ate great so I shouldn't complain.

Then it was on to Dragon Park. I LOVE this park...we go there quite a bit simply because it has lots of different activities and areas to play in. They had a blast as you can tell:

We're Home!!

Praise the Lord...isn't he GREAT!!! We got home late Saturday night with our new daughter, Mary Elizabeth Freeman. I am going to be doing a ton of posts tonight so stay tuned! Sorry it has taken so long to do this, but getting adjusted to a preemie in the house has become a full time job. She is so sweet and I love seeing people's reaction to her....she is such a blessing and I can't begin to tell you how happy I am...such joy...true joy!

It is GREAT having a newborn without having all the side effects of childbirth. I love that I don't have to fool with breastfeeding, etc. and yet trust me, we are still very sleep deprived already.

So, I'm sure you want pics so I will end the post so I can start editing the 200 pics on the digital camera and tell you everything that has happened since Thursday!

Still not home...

Sorry I haven't updated the blog...I realized as I headed back to Jackson on Tuesday morning that I didn't have the laptop.

Mary Elizabeth is doing great...eating great, etc. but they needed to run some more tests so they delayed coming home a few days. I got in earlier today but I had so much to get caught up here plus I am exhausted. Who knew just sitting at a hospital could be so wearing?

We have been told that she will be released Monday at the latest but we are hoping for Saturday. Everything is just up in the air but we are still doing great and trusting in HIM.

I promise to return all the phone calls!! I am so thankful for all the love and support and trust me, every time I check messages I end up in tears all over again because everyone is just so wonderful. We will probably head back to Jackson at some point tomorrow (I just can't stand being away from her and yet it is hard to juggle everything at home when I am gone) The boys are so anxious to meet their new sister and Anna can't wait to get her hands on her again.

AGAIN, thank you for you love, support and most importantly PRAYERS. We feel them and continue to need them. I will keep you all posted as I can...

Coming home without her

Tomorrow is going to be hard.

We found out today that she needs to stay until Wednesday or Thursday. An eye specialist will be coming to see her Wednesday and they want to go ahead and get her immunizations started while at the hospital as preemies often don't do as well as regular sized babies. They want to monitor her to make sure that everything goes ok. To be completely honest, I was completely ok with them keeping her. I don't want to travel home only to end up at Vanderbilt right away so I think this is the best decision.

BUT....

After we sign our official paperwork we have to come home tomorrow. The kids are dying to see us (Anna went home this morning) and Jonathan has to go back to work. It is going to SUCK leaving without her and I am already trying to figure out how to come back ASAP. My plan at this point is to come home and get stuff at the house taken care of and come back on Tuesday morning. They want us to "room in" at the NICU the night before we leave so I hope to just hang out at the hospital with her until her release on Wednesday (hopefully)

She already looks like she has grown to me..maybe it's because I am getting more and more used to her, but I can tell she is starting to get used to us as well. When we feed her the bottle, she will barely open her eyes and look at us. I guess she thinks we don't notice that she is completely checking us out. As she eats, I tell her to give me a good burp and she can lay on my chest. This morning, she looked up at me with those big eyes after her burp and snuggled into my chest....oooh how I love this child. It seems as though she is thinking, "I don't know who you are, but you feed me and hold me so I like you."

I desperately miss Isaac and Luke and even though Anna hasn't been gone long, I miss her so. She is such a great helper and is such an amazing big sister. Yesterday at lunch, she was already talking about adopting again. We had to tell her to slow down sistah! Isaac and Luke are so sweet on the phone and I know they are so excited to meet Mary Elizabeth. I can't wait for you all to meet her.

Ok, I will quit blabbing...we are EXHAUSTED and turning in early, but I will post more pics of her tomorrow. We love you all and GOD IS IN CONTROL!

How big was the fish?

It was THIS BIG!!

More pics