Thurs. January 31st.

We've had an amazing last few days. We just keep staring at Luke and soaking him up under our own roof. Except today, we checked into the Residence Inn while our floors are finished in our home. I told Bryan it's a family adventure vacation, he liked the word "adventure". Luke is adjusting to home and we're adjusting to him. He sleeps pretty good which is helpful, he makes a lot of grunting and snorting sounds in his sleep.
He had his first doctors appt. with his regular pedatrician today and he's off to a good start, he has gained .5oz and weighs 13lbs 8oz. She's pleased with his great social skills. We'll keep working on improving his muscle tone. He needs some six pack abs, which we have a list of exercises from his physical therapist at Emanuel that we can do with him to help.
We can't believe today we're wraping up January, what a month it has been, a stressful month that has lead to great joy. We dreamt of the moment we would take Luke home and when it arrived, we were speechless. For me as his mom, walking out of that NICU door flooded me with emotion. The great staff at Emanuel made Luke and our family feel at home, as we were treated with such great respect and care, but at that moment I thought we don't have to share our baby with Emanuel anymore, he really is ours to take home. As a close friend of mine sent me a message this week seeing that Luke came home, she said "congratulations, it's a boy!". How right and perfect to say, as we really feel like we're starting out the beginging, the begining of having our littlest boy home.
Thank you all for your prayers and support, you are carrying us through as our journey continues on with Luke.
Melinda