Tallahassee

We had one last meal at the little “picnic table” in the common hallway this morning, and then spent time cleaning and packing and getting the room spic & span again.

And since the room was looking nice again, I decided to take a few photos, for our own memories, and to share here, since a few people asked me what the room was like. Little sitting room right in the front when you walk in the door…

Mini kitchen area on the right down the hallway, with the bathroom on the left.

Large bedroom with two full beds, a table, and a dresser. The beds were actually super soft and comfy, but smaller than we’re used to, so we ended up sleeping in separate beds after the first night 😉

Emerson absolutely loved this fish tank in the lobby, so we made sure to tell them goodbye on our way out!

We were very, very thankful we were able to stay here at the Ronald McDonald House these past 10 days. The staff were all extremely sweet, it was a short 3-minute drive to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, and we loved the nice rooms! It was also extremely affordable.

Also, this is my public, official THANK YOU to my amazing Mama for coming with us on this trip, and helping in so many little and huge ways. She loves her two daughters, and her four granddaughters, and I know she would literally do anything for all of us! It was a huge help to have her there with us, and I know Emmie loved having her there more than anyone.

Oh and speaking of money-type things, I just wanted to officially thank again each and every person that generously sent Emerson gifts, or sent Jeff, Mama and I cash. We were constantly in awe of the sweet gifts of friends, family, acquaintances, and friends-of-friends. Having extra cash on hand to pay for all of our meals was a huge help, since we had to buy lunch every day, and sometimes dinner, and a few breakfasts as well. My boss Michelle also sent in an application/nomination for me through our employee assistance program, and they provided some funds as well.

Since we ended up coming back 4-5 days earlier than we originally expected, we actually have some of the funds leftover. So we decided to start a little savings account in Emerson’s name with the money we still have, and save it in case we have any more medical trips down the road, or we’ll let her have the money when she grows up! So again, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

For one last meal in Jax, we ate lunch at the European Street Cafe, and I got a couple little sliders and some German potato salad. One slider was a Beef & Boursin, and one was turkey & cranberry, and both were delish! And my goofy girl randomly decided she likes pickles today!

We told Emmie she could pick out one candy at the restaurant, and she chose her first ever rock candy, Cotton Candy flavor! You can tell those little eyes are exhausted already, and shortly after getting in the car, her eyes got super heavy, and she took herself a little car nap!

We got back home to Tally around 3:30pm, and I opened the door to find a spotless living room and kitchen, plus freshly cleaned bathrooms, courtesy of my amazingly sweet mother-in-law! She came last weekend and shampooed the carpet, and washed a load of towels, and made sure everything was looking so very nice. And WOW that was so nice to come home to!

We had one more present for Emmie to open, and it was meant for this morning, but we kinda forgot in all the chaos and hub-bub of packing & cleaning. So she got her final surprise present when we got home, which was a beautiful little newborn baby doll, from my Great-Aunt Doll Baby. (That’s her nickname, by the way, but almost everyone in my family calls her that.)

And then we got busy re-doing Emerson’s room, to make way for her big girl bed! I took just one final “before” shot of her room before we took apart the crib.

Had to take a quick dinner break for some take-out curry chicken & rice. So yum!

But cheese noodles all the way for this girl, of course.

And she was so super excited for her big girl bed we got at IKEA last weekend! I actually saw this bed in the store like four or five years ago, and fell in love with it, and was so excited to finally get to purchase it!

We actually totally forgot about purchasing sheets that would fit though. The bed is an extendable situation, so that we can make it longer as she grows taller, and eventually it’ll be just a regular twin-size bed. So it’s the width of a twin, but super short. So luckily, I still had the set of twin-size sheets in the closet from my old college bed, so we wrapped the fitted sheet around it and tucked in a bunch of extra, and it worked pretty well! So maybe we’ll try to find some (I have no idea where?), or if any of y’all go to IKEA soon, feel free to grab us a few sets of these funky-sized crib sheets, please and thank you 🙂

She was so incredibly excited about it, and honestly I am too! I thought I would be much more emotional about moving her out of the crib and into a bed, but I’ve had enough tears and hard emotions these last 10 days.

As usual though, my girl “wasn’t tired, and didn’t want to sleep” and the whole bedtime routine took almost two hours. Poor girl just wanted us to stay in her bedroom with her, and hold her, and love her, and sing more lullabies, and talk a little bit. So we did all of that, multiple times, and by the grace of God she finally settled down and just gave up. (That’s why I’m posting this so late, because we didn’t get her down until 9:30pm.)

We have had a LOT going on lately, and I for one am extremely happy that we have a holiday tomorrow, to rest and relax and just take it easy. We’re also gonna try to be grown-ups and unpack tomorrow (it usually takes us weeks), so wish us luck with that.

So glad to be back in our own cozy little home!