Our 9 Day Stay....

The next day we got to have a "private" hospital room where we could snuggle with Lyla and take care of her most of the day. It was so nice to be alone with her. She just slept and ate.... we never heard a peep out of her. She was SUCH a good baby!

Daddy getting some snuggle time with Lyla on Tuesday the 17th.
Mommy holding Lyla. She was such a sound sleeper and it was really sweet to just sit there and hold her! That's what we did for most of Tuesday. On Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we could take her "home" (to the hotel). It was a little scary and surreal, but we felt SO good getting to leave the hospital with our daughter!!!

She was SO tiny in her car seat!
It was pretty cold... so Daddy dropped us off at the door.
Here she is in our hotel room for the first time.

She was such a perfect baby from the start. It was fun to get her out of her car seat, lay her on the bed and just take some pictures. No nurses coming in, no questions to answer, no worries.
I LOVE this picture of her sweet little smile. Her first bottle with us at the hotel.

The next 6 days feel like a blur. We had to wait for our "release" so that we could bring Lyla home. Every day was about the same. We would sleep/nap/get ready and then get out of the hotel around lunch time. We HAD to get out every day. It was hard being cooped up in a hotel room day in and day out for 9 days.
The weather was cold and rainy most days. We would go to the mall or to some random shopping center. Anything to pass the time. We did LOTS of eating. I think I gained at least 5lbs while we were there!! Clint was in heaven because there was BBQ on every corner!

Of course we spent lots of time taking pictures of our sweet girl and updating friends and family on our "coming home" status. Here were some of my favorite pictures:



We had so many ups and downs during our stay. It was exhausting, overwhelming and frustrating... the paperwork issues, not Lyla of course. As each day passed with no word on when we could go home, it was hard not to get discouraged. One thing that was keeping me going was that we had our daughter....there with us.... in the same room....
It wasn't just a "Bold" prayer anymore, it was real. The Lord was faithful and answered our prayers and in such an amazing way...2 days before my bold prayer "deadline". :) He knew.
We trusted in the Him. That's all we could do. We felt helpless, but we knew that this has been God's story for our lives since we started.

Each day we fell more and more in love with our little Lyla. She was SO very good and such an easy baby! She slept well and ate every 4 hours. She was such a little peanut at 5lbs, 14 oz. It was easy to "get to know her"... she was so lovable and cuddly.

The weekend came and went... still not home... still in a hotel room. We were really starting to "feel" it. We were antsy... especially as Monday came and went!
On Tuesday we ventured out for lunch at 5 Guys Burgers (or as it should be called...Burger Heaven), on the way there I had a little melt down with our home study worker and our attorney. I remember saying, "I'm about to start getting ugly and say a bad word". ha.
They were just waiting on a phone call from the courts to tell them that we were cleared to travel.
So as we sat and ate, we waited.... and then at last... the CALL! We could GO HOME!
We rushed around and got back to the room around 1pm. We made very last minute travel arrangements and were able to get on the last flight out of there at 5'something. Whew!
So there we were, getting to go home with our daughter.. 9 days later.

Answered Prayers- Meeting Lyla- Day 1

Wow.. what a FULL 2 months it has been for us! I have wanted to blog a million times, but for some reason I always had an excuse not to. Not sure why... because I love blogging about our adoption and our lives.... We'll just say we have been busy falling more and more in love with our sweet girl!

I guess I should start back at the beginning!!

Jan. 16th, 2012... Martin Luther King Day:
I had the day off of work and the kids were home from school. Clint had to work.
I love days off... means sleeping in, running errands, and just doing whatever you want! This one would be different!
I was asleep, with my phone on silent, when Clint came in our room... frantically trying to wake me up. I was in a daze. I wondered what in the world he was doing at our house at 8:30am waking me up on my day off!

"Our daughter was born this morning. Our caseworker just called and Lyla was born! Get up, we have to go get her!".
That was the start of a total crazy fit....
I wasn't ready
I wasn't packed
We were supposed to drive
No money for plane tickets!
What is going on
breathe
breathe
I remember running around my room getting clothes together, but really not doing anything at all (I would regret that on day 7 when I had NO CLEAN clothes to wear!). My sweet friend (and neighbor) Kerri came over to help get things in order with me. Man I love that girl!
I took a shower, ran around some more, packed a little (and I mean a little) and started to get travel plans under control.
Sweet Kerri sat in my room with a notepad and pen taking notes on what all had to happen since we were leaving 2 weeks earlier than expected. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends!
We managed to book a flight out that afternoon at 3:15 that would arrive around 11pm! It was going to be a long day of flying! We had to book a rental car and move our hotel dates around... but somehow (well, we know how...with GOD) we were able to get everything done and walked out the door for the airport at 1:15!Yes, that's us.. at the airport.. with our empty stroller/car seat and the look of excitement/fear on our faces (and my unfixed curly hair..cause who has time to fix their hair when they are hurrying to go get their baby!?)

Our flights were uneventful and we were holding it together quite well. When we got there it was a little past10:30pm and we had to go get our rental car and pray that the hospital would still let us come meet our precious girl even though it would be well after 11pm when we got there.

When booking a rental car, I wasn't thinking "size"... I was thinking "cheapest". So there we were, trying to CRAM all of our stuff in a little Ford Focus. Super cute car...but not sure how people with children do it! We wondered how we were ever going to make it BACK to the airport with everything PLUS little Lyla! We got a good laugh and we needed it! Here is the back seat of the Ford Focus! The trunk was completely packed as well!Around 11:30pm we arrived at the hospital. It wasn't far from the airport and was only 5 min from our hotel. I can't even put into words the feelings we were having walking up to the hospital.
When we got to the labor and delivery floor, there was a small group of nurses there. We explained who we were and why we were there and they were expecting us (thank you God)! I have to add: the little old nurse that walked us down the hall toward the nursery thought she needed to share .... so she said, "Were you not able to have children of your own?"....
Ummmmm, nurse lady..that's totally inappropriate and none of your business!

She continued on to say, "Now, do you all know that she's dark?"
HuuuuuuuuHhhhh? What???? My baby is dark...? NO WAY!? LOL
Come on old lady.... just hush it and GO GET MY BABY!


We could see through the window that they were just finishing up her first bath. They took us into a small room and had us wait for her there. Soon, they wheeled her in.

She was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. She was TINY and precious. The nurses went on and on about how sweet she was.
They placed her in my arms and it was amazing. Finally, we were there.... holding our baby girl.

We got to feed her.....


And just sit and take it all in....

We couldn't believe how much hair she had!!!! She was BEAUTIFUL!Before we left for the night (it was past 12am!) a sweet nurse came in and asked if she could take our first family picture....

That first meeting was so wonderful and felt like a dream! We were finally with our daughter. God had this planned all along... and I trusted Him, and He didn't let me down!