We spent 17 days in California. I keep trying to figure out a good way of saying what it was like in California. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy. It was just...different. We were enjoying Lilly, but wanted so badly to finally be home. We had some wonderful family and friends surrounding us while we were there and visiting as much as possible. We had so many generous and amazing people enter our lives while we were there - it truly made us not feel so alone.
When we got the call on Friday afternoon that we could finally head home. It was like when we got the call that Lilly had been born - just hard to believe! We had plans to meet up with our babymama and her mom that evening, so we decided to leave first thing Saturday morning. It was so nice to have Mandy and her mom over before we left. It was the perfect conclusion to our time there and we have become more than friends with them, we are forever a part of each others family's - and we couldn't have picked better people to have had this experience with than them.
I don't think either of us slept that Friday night, we were too excited, anxious and nervous to get home. We got the car all packed (I still don't know how we fit everything in there and I don't know how we had accumulated so much stuff while in CA!) and headed out. We had planned to visit with some friends and family along the way, but we had gotten out of town way earlier than expected, so it was too early to knock on anyones doors. Lilly was amazing, she slept the whole way - of course minus when she wanted to eat! We were a little worried it might be a hard trip when we were only an hour down the road and she had the biggest blow-out in her diaper that we had experienced thus far! But I think she knew we were headed for a big trip and just wanted to get that part out of the way early, thankfully.
We were able to stop in Portland, OR and visit my Aunt Mary. It was so nice to see her and stretch our legs for a few minutes. Then we drove the last 3 hours home - and those were the longest 3 hours ever. There are now words for how amazing it was to finally come home. We were driving through town a few miles from our house and we just kept saying, 'this is so strange.' When we left a few weeks ago, we kept saying, 'the next time we walk into our house, we'll have a baby.' Now it was really happening. We had waited for so long for this moment. We didn't know what we were going to feel, but when we walked in those doors, there wasn't an overwhelming emotion, or this big ah-ha moment. What we felt was just peace. It was all so natural and nothing overwhelming - just perfect.
To make it even better when we got home, 2 of our friends (Joanna Reynolds & Katie Crook) had filled our refrigerator with groceries, dinners and treats. They put together a few "must-need" items on our table of earplugs, cookies, candy, medicines and more. Then Joanna and her students (she's an Elementary School teacher) had made a big banner and hung it in our entryway. It was just awesome - they are the best friends anyone could ever have!
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