Finally Back in Florida

We got on the road sorta early again this morning, after getting some DD, around 8:30am.

She requested to watch Woody, so we put Toy Story 2 in the DVD player, and she watched that and ate a few “chockit” munchkins.

One of my friends suggested putting small toys in little pouches, so that they can play with the pouch and the zipper and the toys, and that worked really well for Emerson.

She was also very into her Cheetos again today, and had quite a few for a morning snack, since she didn’t finish them all yesterday.

We stopped in Dothan, Alabama, for lunch, at Goldfingers. I don’t actually know if it’s a “local” place or not, but it was absolutely delicious! I got the chicken sandwich, and it actually tasted a lot like CFA, and I really, really liked it.

It was my turn to drive after lunch, so Jeff got in the backseat with Emmie. We sang her lullabies and tucked her in the blanket, and she was asleep before the final song. And not too long after that, she was so sound asleep that the paci fell out of her mouth.

We drove straight from Dothan to my parents’ house, so we could switch from Grandmommie’s car back to my car. Grammy was officially working from home, so we couldn’t stay and visit for too long, but Emmie did listen to “Jesus Loves Me” on Alexa and play with some babies. Jeff also got the hose out to wash off the 2-inch-thick layer of pollen off my car that had accumulated since last Wednesday.

And since it was still disgusting, we went through the car wash when we left. It was the first time Emmie had been in one, and she loved it! Like thirty minutes after the fact, she was still like, “Dere was loss of Kissmas lights in da washa ting!!”

After dropping of allll of our stuff at home (wow, we had so much stuff, for such a relatively short trip), we went over to Jeff’s parents’ house. They had kept Pretzel for us, and Nana offered to cook dinner, and we gladly took her up on that offer! I knew I wasn’t going to cook, but I also did not want drive-thru or take-out again, so that worked out perfectly. And this cheese tortellini with meat sauce really hit the spot!

Emerson actually ate really well, so we let her have a pink donut we had leftover from the ½ dozen we got this morning. Of course she only ate the top part off with the icing and the sprinkles, and then handed it to me, so proud of herself, for eating “all” of it.

After dinner, we went for a short walk, with Emmie in her carriage. She quickly wanted to get out and walk though, so we parked the carriage in the neighbors’ yard and kept on walking.

She had a quick bath an Nana’s house, and put on a clean night gown. And then she proceeded to twirl around and was literally running in circles from the kitchen to the dining room to the living room and back to the kitchen. She was a wild child!

We had a quick video call with Aunt Elaine (one of Nita’s sisters), and then a second one with Ryan and Gabe. And then we tried to head out early, since we were all exhausted from the last few days. I brought my ginger ale in the car with me, and Emerson just had to have some of it on the way home.

I had been dreading bedtime tonight, after the disruption to her usual routine for so long on our trip, coupled with the time zone changes from Eastern to Central and back again. But it actually wasn’t too bad! She was a little whiny and fussy, and we had a small freak out towards Daddy for no real reason, but it was quick, and once she settled down, and finally cuddled up with me in the glider, she was perfectly fine. I sang our lullabies and then laid her down, and she was good to go! AND we got her in bed like, two hours earlier than the last few nights, so that’s a huge win.

We have a gigantic pile of stuff from the trip that we just dumped in the dining room earlier, and to be honest it’s just gonna sit there, for at least one more day, but probably more than that, until we can muster up the energy to unpack and put it all away. That is my least favorite part of travelling – the cleaning and unpacking once you finally get back home!

But, I am extremely grateful we all had a good, safe trip to & from Missouri this past week, and that we’re all back home safe & sound tonight. I’m also very much looking forward to climbing under the sheets in my very own bed, very soon!