We have arrived! (part 2)

Part 2!!!

Okay, I left off when the girls were getting all dressed up to come home. The next step was the paperwork. That seemed to take forever. I think we were beginning to believe that waiting until Monday would be easier since now it was late in the evening...okay maybe not, but it did take a long time. Lisa picked out these cute outfits that we received from Eileen.

We put them in the car seats.

Sadly, and I really hate to admit this, we're not sure who is who in these pictures. No we didn't mix them up...it's just that after we got home and were looking through the pictures, we couldn't remember who we loaded up first and which pictures matched up with which girl.

I will ease your fears that we have a definitive way of keeping them straight. Katy has a strawberry on the back of her head. Their weights are still a little different and Alyssa has a little more hair but those things will change, the strawberry won't disappear for a long time so we'll always be able to check for sure.

That came into play late Sunday night when, in a sleepy haze, couldn't remember who had who so we turned on the lights and flipped them over to check their heads.

ANYWAY, back to the story. We lugged all the crap that had collected in our room after a week, grabbed the girls, and headed out the door.

Instead of walking out our back entrance, we walked through the middle of the NICU to show off our girls one more time...like a graduation ceremony. Shift change was going on so we were able to see a couple of nurses that had taken care of our girls one more time. They congratulated us and wished us well. It was a nice moment to walk through the NICU and out the front door one last time.


...and now for the videos. This first one is a little boring but it really is a big moment for us. It is a whole new scary world through those doors.

We had a great nurse on Sunday that helped us through the discharge process. She walked us to the door (which apparently they are required to do) but she walked with us to the car and helped load the car up. Lisa was moved to tears as I was putting the girls in the car and I looked up to see the nurse hugging Lisa. It was really really nice. She gave me a hug and encouraged us and congratulated us one more time and we were off.

Lisa sat in back with the girls, of course.

Self portrait.

Girls looking out at Alaska. Actually they slept the whole time but...

The new family of four in front of our home.

Awesome videos of us walking into the house and then Madison meeting the girls for the first time.

Madison

Into the crib.

Madison sticking her nose in the crib.

The girls rejoicing that they have arrived home!!!
The Brown family portrait.


We have been taking lots of pictures and a couple more videos the last couple of days. I'll probably start posting once a day again soon.

Things to look forward to...Katy and Alyssa having tummy time, our first trip back to the hospital to visit our pediatrician (yes already), and of course lots of bonding.