She's Home!! Clara's much anticipated homecoming...

After a long two weeks in her wonderful home away from home, (Kennedy Hospital), Clara Emerson "Sweet Pea" Botbyl is finally home!! She was happily discharged on Saturday, late afternoon after passing her car seat test and hearing screening with flying colors!! Thanks mom and Dad for running out to Babies R right after she was born and grabbing our awesome travel system for us!!  All those awesome coupons I obsessively saved and strategically organized helped a great deal though didn't they?!

 

We've been awaiting this experience forever, and it feels like an amazing dream to actually have her here!! She's come an extremely long way and has made tremendous strides since her birth, January 14th, and we are so proud of her, we're all out of words!! As trying as these two weeks have been, we feel so thankful and blessed to have been given the tremendous opportunity to work with and learn so much from the doctors and nurses in the nicu, and for Clara to receive such amazing care!! We've received incredible instructions from everyone there on how to care for our sweet little preems!! Here's our sweet baby's last couple of days "vacationing" in the nicu (in no particular order...)

 
Which outfit should our sweet baby venture home in?! Here is one of the "runner-ups" (so many amazing outfits...how do you choose!?)

Below is Baby Clara in her adorable "Going Home Outfit", a wonderful gift we received from Cathy Coppola and her daughter Amanda, who's also expecting, as well as her adorable warm fuzzy winter suit, which I absolutely adore!! 
 
Here she is learning about and experiencing her new home, which she loves so far!! We're extremely happy to have our incredibly sweet baby home with us...finally!!

 Thank you to everyone who has given us a tremendous amount of support, beautiful gifts, and encouraging words of comfort and wisdom - We deeply appreciate everyone's kindness and generosity and feel extremely lucky and overwhelmed with blessings as we begin this new exciting chapter of our lives!! Have an amazing week, and stay tuned for a special "Valentine's Day" post!! Thank you so much for stopping by!! Enjoy the rest of your week - God Bless!!

Reflection on an amazing Pregnancy!!

I wish I could blog about Clara's homecoming but due to the fact that we're not sure when that will be, I will reflect...(I'm really trying to make an effort to blog every step of the way here, although we're constantly in a strained time crunch) Also, I am going to school today, to briefly visit and meet my substitute!! Can't wait to see all my crazy kiddies!!  Then...It's back to Kennedy to see my sweet adorable baby girl!!

I will always remember how awesome it was to experience this wonderful pregnancy, painful amazing delivery, and all we've done to prepare for Clara's arrival!! It's interesting to reflect upon a period of time (for us, the last 8 months...following the last 3 years), and think about the changes you go through physically, mentally and emotionally, and about how your life changes so drastically, and wonderfully. I feel like we've been preparing for this next step for a really long time, and I'm so excited to make new amazing discoveries about life...and love...and being a mommy!! I can hardly wait to experience all the crazy exciting adventures that lie ahead of us!! As we eagerly await "Clara's Homecoming", we reflect...

 I had meant to create a post featuring my Baby Shower, which was January 5th, but things became extremely complicated so quickly that I never had a chance to dedicate a post to this amazing baby shower that my mom and sister worked extremely hard to plan. (Thank you Shari for taking me there!!!) The photos above and below are a couple quick high-lights from the shower!!

The picture above is Jon and me (and Clara in my belly, of course) with the beautiful creative diaper bag made by my incredibly talented sister, Ashley!! This was a Christmas gift - What a great gift!!

Bold is frightening...beautiful?? Below, I've posted a couple pictures of this adorable baby shower that my amazing 6th period choir class threw for us back in November!! They are incredibly sweet!! (Love you guys!! Miss you!!) Can you see baby Clara hiding under the adorable pink and white striped dress, which is one of my favorites!!

 This is only the beginning of Clara's amazing journey!! Many many exciting adventures to come...

Wonderful week in review!!

I can hardly believe how unimaginably fast this week has gone, although at times, I've also felt it crawling by as we anxiously await the day we can bring our sweet angel home!! Here are a couple of interesting high-lights from this passed week...in vivid color this time, opposed to a long and quirky narrative!!

Here's Jon carrying all my crap extremely well-equipped baggage as we were preparing to be discharged from the hospital. Of course I couldn't possibly forget to make enthusiastic mention of the incredibly awesome present we received upon entering our humble aboad!! It felt great to see my Cece waiting for us...in a large dell computer box that my mom had previously utilized to wrap and give us adorable gifts for the baby!!

 

The photos at the end are the most recent, taken this evening after many of the tubes were removed, and we were able to see her ears and nose for the 1st time. What an awesome moment!!

 And the Daddy of the year award goes to...

Jonathan Botbyl!!

All in all, it's been one of the most tremendously jammed packed, confusing, but amazing weeks ever!! I hope next week is as interesting, but filled with only joy and happy things...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!! Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting the Botbyl Clan...complete with this new adorable addition to the family, who looks just like me (think again...) my husband!!

GOD Bless!!