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.