And We're Back...

I should be cleaning my house as Emma naps, but it's been way too long again since I've written. The last few weeks we've been going nonstop. My parents came to see us Emma for about a week, which was great! We actually got some painting done, and with the exception of the bathroom, everything downstairs is finally painted and decorated. Woo hoo! I don't anticipate ever finishing the upstairs. My parents also came to town to watch Emma for a weekend so Matt and I could head down to West Palm to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday. Seriously, when did we get so old?? Less than two years until I'm 30. Weird. Good thing I married such a young buck. :)

After West Palm, Matt was off to Chicago for a few days of work, and Em and I flew home to spend time with my whole family for a week. It's so fun watching Emma with all her cousins now that she can (sorta) communicate. She gets so excited to see them and jibber-jabs with them, holds their hands, and gives them lots of kisses. I treasure those moments that she has with my family; each time she sees them it's a little different. They change so much in such a short time. It's difficult not having day to day interaction, but I guess that makes it always exciting when they do see each other. I was hoping to spend some time by my parent's pool but only ended up being able to swim one day because of the weather. I really didn't mind trading in my swimsuit for my fleece jacket though. I'll take a break from FL summer heat any time, thank you.

We took the kids to Fantasy Island, which I haven't been to since Emma was a 1-2 week old fetus. Back then just my parents and I took Noah and Livvie because Isaiah wasn't big enough yet, and Abby (and obviously Josh) wasn't born yet. This time we had a whole slew of kids (and adults), and Emma got to ride rides outside the womb! We also went to the Fair a couple times. Not that it's so great (though it is the Great New York State Fair) but it's just a Syracuse staple. You know, like Wegman's and Hafner's and Dinosaur Barbeque and basically all those places that you'd never realize you'd miss until you're not around anymore.

So, anywho, I left home...to go back home. Strange how that works. Syracuse will always be home, but Lakeland is becoming more familiar. I mean, I'm not at the point where I would leave and say, oh man, I really miss Publix (it will never, ever compete with Wegman's duuuh), but it's definitely more home than when I wrote this post. I guess there's two ways of looking at it. Either I'm never truly home because I'm always missing the other place and people, (which is really inevitable but...) or I can take my aunt's advice and see myself as the luckiest girl because of the fact that I will always have two homes where I am welcomed and loved. I mean, there's people out there that don't have any place to call home...and I get two. I guess I'm a pretty blessed girl.