first week as family of four

The first week home as a family of 4 was really crazzzzzy!  Honestly, our first night home with the little guy was horrible.  We really got no sleep.  The poor thing was in a strange place with strange noises and really, strange people.  Thankfully, the next night was better.


See, here we are before our night of no sleep - well, at home, I guess we didn't sleep well the previous night in our hospital room either!  Jacob came to check out his brother, but went back to grandpa and grandma's since we got home pretty late and needed to settle in a bit.  Which turned out to be a blessing since we could have had 4 people awake all night.

Such a proud big brother :)

Shucks, this picture turned...just crank your neck!  

First Sunday going to church as a family of four...we made it on time!  

Jacob helping put lotion on Christian.

They're a pretty good little pair!  Jacob wore the same shirt as Christian to his first time to church...and many weeks to follow...I squeezed Christian into it so he could wear it once!  

All clean after his first bath at home. 

We made it!  After some unforgettable moments, the entire hospital experience, driving home through rain followed by a rainbow, seeing Jacob meet his brother for the first time, and a diaper extravaganza.

We had many visitors who came with food and gifts.  AMAZING.

I Introduce to you...

Christian James Breen!  He was born on Wednesday at 2:54 pm weighing in as a linebacker at 10 lbs. 2 oz with the length of 22 inches long!  He's a big boy, but as I cuddle him as I type, he's still a little guy!

Two things, the placement is not 100%, this is an "at-risk" placement, so we are technically waiting out a period of legal time that needs to pass.  Secondly, we agreed to not put pictures of him out there (you can't really see him here, so it's ok) until finalization.  If you would oh so love to see him, we would be happy to email you a picture if your heart desires.  Trust me, this is SO hard, because he is SO cute, we want to show him off!!!!

We are completely thrilled at the addition to our family!  Jacob is so sweet and gentle with him and always concerned about him - whether it's giving him his pacifier, rubbing him to "calm him down" or just to come check on him!  Today they are wearing matching brother shirts.  Just handsome I tell you!

I don't want to go on too much about the past several days in our lives, but this week has been a wild one.  He was a week over due when he was born and actually knew of the birth plan for the week, and then that changed to something else, and that changed because she ended up going into labor!  Talk about CRAZY!!!!

We were completely blessed to be a part of the hospital stay and spend quality time with biological family and Christian in the hospital!  There were definite roller coaster parts during our time there, completely emotional.  I held on pretty strong until one afternoon around 3 pm - which ended up being the day we were able to bring him home!  We were praying a lot throughout our time there, but there came a point where we didn't know what to even pray for any more, so Nate sent out a text to our families asking for prayer.  We were thankful as we were at ease and things fell into place for us.

We came home Thursday night on the later side, Jacob got to meet his brother before going back to grandma & grandpa's house, which turned out to be a great idea because the three of us at home got no sleep.  We were up all night.  Which resulted in Christian sleeping a lot yesterday and we had a much better night last night!!!  Hooray!  We seem to be getting him on a nice schedule, Nate and I have been taking turns napping and being on Jacob duty.

We thank everyone who has sent us such kind and encouraging words during this time of transition.  We are loving our family of 4!

Oh, I forgot to mention, on our way home Thursday night, we drove through some rain and I said that I hope we see a rainbow!  We came out to the bright sun setting and what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a rainbow!

It was a fabulous reminder that God always keeps his promises and fulfilled our desires to become parents.

My (Nate) first post in a long time, but I came across this article regarding sports (go figure with me, right?) and adoption.  Enjoy!
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/john-feinstein/critics-of-bubba-dont-understand-adoption/

Jacob has his first graduation

 Jacob has completed his first year of his school career in Nursery School!  Quite something!  He still gets to go to daycare until whichever comes first, my school work is complete or the baby comes.  

His school had a short program/graduation on Thursday morning and thankfully Nate and I were both able to be there!  

Here he is the morning of his last day of school...photo taking has become quite the event...the first picture was the best and I kept trying to get better ones...he really put on a show for us!

Here he is, ready to perform!

  

Receiving his first "diploma"!  What a guy!

We are so proud of this young boy and all the life he brings wherever he goes.  He seems to be the class clown (for better or worse) as during one of the songs about peanut butter...

::peanut butter, we like peanut butter, peanut butter, that's what we like best...on your head/shirt/pants/shoes/socks , yes we like it on our shoes on our pants on our shirt, on our head, oh oh oh.  Well the last one is underpants and he shouts, STINKY UNDERPANTS.  And, since the whole crowd laughs, he says it several times and soaks it all in.  :)  

Needless to say, there isn't a dull moment in our house.

That night Jacob and I got to participate in a big brother class.  Even the nurse who was giving the class commented on how there is probably never a dull moment.  I can only imagine right now the things he's going to do to get attention once baby is here.