Braden stayed at Brian’s mom’s house on Wednesday night, which helped our transition to home life with Carson. With improved nursing comes improved sleep for Carson, which is good. We almost feel he’s a bit easier at night than Braden was at this age.

What could make it better is if Carson didn’t sleep so much during the day. The worst is that he takes a long nap in the evening, which makes it hard for him to go to sleep at a decent time. Right now, Brian stays up with him until he finally goes to bed, which could be 11 or midnight.

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It’s funny, we think Braden looks bigger now, especially in comparison to Carson. For example, Braden’s face looks bigger (fatter?), if that’s possible.

He is getting more acclimated to having Carson around. Sometimes he’ll come up to his little brother to touch his head or leg. Braden usually refers to him as “the baby.”

We’ve been doing our best not to make Braden feel jealous or left out. In fact, we ask him to be our big helper.

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Carson poops a lot! As in, he’ll poop after EVERY feeding. It’s funny, we had to almost overfeed Braden when he was first born to get him to poop out his bilirubin (and get rid of his mild jaundice). Carson has absolutely no problem with his bowels, apparently.

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We gave Carson his first (sponge) bath last night. Just like his brother, he cried the entire time. We’re sure there will be a day when he loves baths, just like Braden.

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We’re unable to get Braden to go get a haircut (isn’t that a problem for when he’s a teenager?). We’ve resorted to cutting his hair ourselves–Kristin trimmed the back of his head last night, much to Braden’s anger. We’re going to wait until he’s asleep next time.

Journal bath, haircut, home

Kristin’s doctor finally came around 12:30 p.m. and said it was okay for us to go home (yay!). Brian had picked up Braden from preschool and was at home to pack some more clothes when he heard the news from Kristin.

It was actually a fast-paced discharge, as our nurse had to do it before the shift change. We got the photographer to come take professional photos (www.serendipityphotostudio.com, code is carsonlee), our nurse contacted our pediatrician and we packed. We didn’t get as many parting “gifts” this time around, but Brian was able to secure a couple bottles of formula.

We got home around 3:30 p.m. We decided it would be best to have Braden sleep at Brian’s mom’s house for the night, just so we could get better acclimated.

Unfortunately, Carson slept most of the evening, which we figured would lead to a long night again. Marcie stopped by to visit us around 7:15 p.m.

Journal home

It’s a rare, quiet evening for us; maybe the last one in for a long while. We dropped Braden off at Kristin’s parents’ house this afternoon, then stopped by our friends’ house to watch the first half of the Packers game, before coming home. We had dinner while watching the rest of the game, cleaned, then double-checked we had everything ready.

We’re going to bed fairly early, as we have to check in the hospital by 6 a.m. before our 8 a.m. C-section. Kristin has to stop eating by midnight. We wonder if we’re going to get much sleep.

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First family portrait

Braden slept a lot today–of course during times when we are wide awake and doing things. Kristin’s sister Marcie came over today and watched him (sleep) while Kristin napped and Brian worked out.

It was an otherwise average Saturday for us. We watched the episode of “Heroes” we missed on Monday, watched some Badger hockey and Brian made dinner. Brian also caught up on some work that he missed this week.  

The only difference with this Saturday, of course, was that we didn’t go out at night. As we’re writing this (8:45 p.m.), we plan on waiting for Braden to wake up for feeding, then we’re going to go bed. (Braden’s doctor appointment is 9:15 a.m. Sunday, so we want to make sure we can get up for it.)

Forgot to mention: we cracked open a bottle of wine that we received as a gift this past summer. It’s one of many wines we’ve been saving until after the pregnancy.

The picture that’s a part of this blog entry is the first one of all three of us. We’re thinking of doing a better-looking portrait some time later.

Hope you all saw the Day 5 photos and Episode 3 on the videos page.

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After another feeding and a bath for Braden, we packed up and left shortly after noon. Kristin did NOT have to be carted out in a wheelchair–she is one tough cookie.

Brian, as always, had road rage on the short drive home (1.4 miles according to MapQuest), only this time it was even more severe as his protective tendencies came to play. But we made it home safely, and Braden already has been fed.

It’s 2:15 p.m. and we’re just relaxing (well, Brian is doing some work and then running errands for Kristin) before we have family over.

Check out the new pics (Day 4).

Journal, Pictures family, home, hospital

Kristin finished her last day of work on Tuesday, and now she has three months off.  Though she feels some regret for not working a few more days since the baby hasn’t arrived yet, at least now she can be in the comfort of our home rather than be on her feet all day at UW Hospital.

Plus, Brian can get to her more quickly at home vs. at UW Hospital.

In the meantime, we’re going to probably add another video soon. Episode 2 was supposed to take place from the hospital, but that will likely be episode 3 now.

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