Best New Year's Eve ever!

 We had the best New Year's Eve possible...Lydia came home!  We had been told a few times that possibly Tuesday was the day she would come home.  In the back of my mind I knew there was a chance she wouldn't come home but apparently it was far away in the very back of my mind.  Darran and I went to the hospital for her noon feeding.  Darran dropped me off and then went to find a parking spot...when he made it to the NICU he found me in tears.  The nurse told me they wanted to keep her for another day.  This over emotional, hormonal mom couldn't take it...I wanted her home so badly.  Just the night before, as we said good night to the girls and headed to the hospital, Eliza asked me if that was the last night we'd have to go to the hospital?  I had answered her that I hoped so.  That conversation kept playing over and over in my mind as we fed her and held her - still in the hospital.  I couldn't control the tears and they just kept coming.  My nurse, having never seen me quite like that, said she would have the doctor come in and talk with us as soon as he finished with a delivery.  When he came back in he said, "Go home!"  My tears stopped immediately and I was in shock!  He went on to explain that we had been there every day, we knew as much as we needed to know to take her home, and she really had nothing of major concern keeping her in the NICU.  We would need to keep a careful eye on her temperature and feedings but he knew we would.  So our nurse said come back for the 4:00 feeding, nurse her, and we'll get you all squared away to take her home!  I'm pretty sure that I skipped all the way to the car!

Here is Lydia on her car ride home!  Darran took a bunch of things to the car and then picked us up at the door.  When I put her in the car seat I couldn't believe how small she was!  The nurse came back in the room and I said, "She's so tiny!"  She laughed and reminded me that she's a preemie!

 Everyone was soooo excited for this little one to come home!

 Especially her big sisters...

 ...who couldn't wait to hold her!

 Eliza worked hard on her sign to welcome Lydia home.

 We did it!  No more hospital, our family all together, and this sweet girl in our home...couldn't have started the year off better than that!  After a yummy dinner and some visiting with family we had a quiet night at home.  The girls were asleep by 10:15 so Darran and I decided to just "relax" in our room with the TV on, enjoying the evening...until we both fell asleep!  Some how we woke up around midnight, fed Lydia, said Happy New Year, and fell back asleep listening to fireworks outside.  We'll have plenty of New Year's Eves in the future...we were just excited to have our baby girl home!

 Lydia has been home a week today!  She's a champion sleeper and eater.

 Her sisters adore her.  Eliza loves to choose her outfits and Talia loves it when Lydia holds her finger.  They both love holding her while we read books before they go to bed.  I feel great and am loving being mom again...it had been too long!

 We needed something to "measure" Lydia's growth with.  Barbie Mulan was the doll of choice...gives a little bit of perspective.  We brought her home a tiny bit above her birth weight...4 pounds 11.7 ounces.

 There were two moms who had babies of their own in the NICU last Christmas.  They generously gave gifts to all the babies that were in the NICU during this Christmas.  One thing they gave them was the cutest little onsie that Lydia is wearing in this picture...it says things like preemie power, Santa's tiniest elf, NICU strong, etc.  So we had to get a picture of her in her Christmas onsie and hat!

This girl loves her daddy!  Nothing like holding hands!