There's No Place Like Homes

Yes, I meant for the title to be plural.

I went out of town this weekend, but before I get to that, I have to write about Friday. Since I was going away for a couple of days, I left work early to pick up Bea from daycare so that I could spend some time with her. It had happened to be someone's birthday at daycare, so Bea had a little goodie bag that she came home with. In it were two items I have been meaning to get her. Her own pair of plastic sunglasses (so that she will stop playing with mine - the one's she got actually have UV protection. It's never too early, I guess.) and bubbles. When we got home I immediately took her outside to see what she thought of the bubbles. We had done this months ago, but she wasn't interested. I probably was blowing bubbles for a good 45 minutes while she chased them, got excited about them and screamed and actually said the word "bubbles". It was such a nice moment with her, to see her happy and playing and having some one-on-one time with her before I left. I knew I was going to miss her - and Josh and O, too.

Josh and the girls then took me to the airport just a little while later. I made my way to San Diego to see my lifetime girlfriends, a group of four of us that have been friends since middle school. It feels like home everytime I go to see these girls. Our lives have all changed over the years, but when we come together it is like nothing has changed at all. I don't think anything could have really made me feel better than when I got picked up at the airport and hearing their horn honk at me as they screamed "hot mama"...After back-to-back pregnancies it is hard to feel yourself again, but this trip really helped me do that, and I feel that I am on my way. It was a great weekend, much like the old times. Key words for the weekend included: apple, sandwich, waxing, pedi, squabbles, margaritas, sushi, 3AM, and my new friend "dot". It was a nice getaway, which I needed, but I was also looking forward to going back to my home, with my family.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted inside the airport...Josh had mentioned they would pick me up curbside, but imagine my surprise to see all of them waiting there for me outside of security (well, Bea was asleep). When we got into the van, Josh mentioned that the house was a complete disaster because he had spent all weekend keeping after the girls. That was totally fine by me. I wasn't expecting anything other than him taking care of the two of them. When we got home, the house was immaculate! As was the yard! He had really went to town making sure that everything looked good, which I couldn't believe. And then to top it all off, he says "I also have everything ready for the girls for tomorrow." This can be quite a process, and a lot of it I do myself, which involves getting out their PJ's, diapers for the rest of the night and tomorrow, their clothes for the next day, making their bottles and getting together anything else they might be low on at daycare ready. He had done IT ALL! It was a nice surprise...I knew he was exhausted. But, I cannot say how much I appreciated it. I know he didn't want me to come home to a pile of laundry and a ton of stuff to do, but I just didn't expect him to do it all. Instead, I got to spend some quality time with the girls and him before they went off to bed. It was very special and this weekend I realized three things (there's many more, but I am just recognizing these three today)...I love my husband to death for so many things, but mainly because (1) he's a great father who thinks the world of his children (2) he knows how to make me happy by doing little things (3) He loves my SD friends...and they feel the same way about him. This weekend I learned that I take a lot for granted, and it's time to start appreciating everything for what it really is...

It's good to be homes.