Clothes!!

Dressing your child is something you want to do right away. Especially a little girl! I couldn't wait to put all her cute clothes on her when she was born, and she has a lot of them (many she hasn't even worn yet and I play dress up all the time now).

On September 10th they were going to move her to a "regular" bassinet. This one had a hole for her oxygen tube to go through since she was still on oxygen at this point (until the 11th). With moving her we could finally witness her bath and she could be dressed. DRESSED!!!! I was so excited and Lee was over joyed. He had gone to Babies-R-Us on Friday and picked up a very cute nightgown for her to wear- of course preemie size.
They brought in her scale and weighed her for the evening (this was a daily thing) and then we were ready.  I couldn't wait to put her outfit on her.When they moved out the warmer bed and brought in the bassinet I could't believe all the room we had now. I couldn't believe my sweet baby was growing up and getting strong right before my eyes. That night was amazing.
We dressed her in her outfit that Daddy bought her and of course took tons of pictures! Then I was given the most amazing news ever.....we could hold her when we wanted to (with a few exceptions and not to over stimulate her)! I could walk in her room and hold her- YAY!!!

I knew we were on the road to going home! I just never knew how long that road would still be. In order to leave the NICU a baby has to be stable, feeding, and growing. No one tells you the feeding part will take so much time and work. I believe this whole experience really showed us patience and an appreciation we wouldn't have had.