Zen, Day 4

Zen spent his first full day at home without a hospital visit on Wednesday, November 28. Zen has been under the watchful care of Grandma Pam, much to our relief. She's been taking the night shift, and some of the day shifts as well. Zen has been mostly confined to his bedroom, a prisoner of the light source that will help his body breakdown his extra bilirubin. However, he was allowed to receive visitors in the evening, including Auntie Denise, Kelsey, Madison, and Auntie Susie. Zen and Zion also spent their first real time getting to know each other as Zen studied his brother through his increasingly alert eyes. Aunt Susie snapped this family picture.

Zen is Here!

Baby Zen arrived on Saturday, November 24 at 12:07 p.m., in time to share his brother's birth date. I went into labor on the way to an appointment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Grandma Pam was able to get the last seat out of Atlanta so she arrived just in time to help coach him out, along with very proud Dad and Aunt Susie. Zen spent the remainder of his time at Northwestern in the NICU for some special observation and TLC. We were fortunate enough to get him released on Monday evening for a 10 pm arrival at home. He's still having some issues with bilirubin and kidneys, so he has lots of follow-up appointments scheduled in the next few days and weeks, but he's eating like a champion, so we are confident that he'll move past this tough period in his new little life. Enjoy the pictures from the hospital! :-)

Halloween

Zion got tired of explaining the elaborate nature of his costume, so he told everyone who asked that he was a "shape-shifter." Sam went as "a losing football season". Jedi was a hit with her devil costume (a hand-me-down from Payton). My pumpkin was covered due to the cold, but we got a few pics so that Zen could hear about his first trick-or-treat. Enjoy the pictures! :-)