We're Home!

Ahhhhhhhhhh...........

What a feeling. We came home yesterday afternoon about 1:00 and are loving every second of being a family.

It is amazing the things that cause emotion to well up inside. As we were preparing to leave the hospital yesterday, we did the final bracelet check (They compare parent bracelets to baby bracelets any time we are separated and then again before leaving the hospital). Anyway, we did the final check and the nurse left the room. Then I cut off all Eliana's bracelets. There was something about removing all traces of the hospital's responsibility for her (and the acknowledgment of our responsibility) that overwhelmed me. Gratefully, only Ellie and I were in the room and I could get myself back together before the wheelchair was brought up to me. :-)

We had a really wonderful evening together. We ate our first meal as a family (A rather comical picture - We're still figuring out our timing issues). We gave Eliana our first sponge bath. (She's had several, but we are definitely newbies. The poor little girl. Our skills must seem very different from the nurses' at the hospital.) And we also weathered the first night on our own. (Let's just say that there is nothing better than the look of gratitude in my little girl's eyes when I finally figure out something that has been plaguing her all night. Let's just hope there's a learning curve, and I see that look of gratitude before 4 a.m. in the future. :-)

We are looking forward to showing Ellie off to all of you. Obviously, we are not at church right now, but we'd love to have some visits.