Home Again

Well we had a GREAT week away visiting my friend Melody , her husband Ben, and their daughter Isabelle (who is three weeks younger than Sophie) in Grand Rapids Michigan.

We had some drama at the beginning of the trip, as Sophie has not yet received her birth certificate. Long story short- we were at Olivia Chow's office trying to get a travel letter and Brett was getting a notorized letter saying that he gave Sophie his permission to travel to the US. I was very nervous about the border crossing, as we did NOT get the travel letter (even longer story) but all went swimmingly. Apparently Sophie does not look like a terrorist or an illegal alien--whew! I had been very nervous about the six hour drive, but Sophie was wonderful. Melody's sister Allison joined us for the car ride, and that was a big help, and really nice company.

Isabelle and Sophie are only three weeks apart, and it was so fun to introduce them to each other again. They spent their week taking each other's toys, trying to suck and eat the other baby's body parts (especially ears!), and basically putting toys in their mouths--next to each other. Isabelle is a fantastic kid, and it's so neat to see Melody and Ben parenting and doing an amazing job. Isabelle and Sophie are totally different kids, and that was really neat to see too-both so special in their own ways.

Our week was so great--it really felt like a nice vacation away. We shopped at some big box stores (Brandon, I hope you're not reading this) bought some special things for Sophie. Bought some shirts for me (thanks G!). We went for walks with the strollers, heard Ben's band play, attempted to have a beach picnic, gave the babies an outdoor 'hot tub', and lots of visiting!


It's wonderful to have a friend that you can see rarely and yet it always seems like just yesterday. We laughed- a lot. We ate yummy food. Even if we hadn't left the house once, it would have still been so much fun. My favourite moments were just chatting and playing with the babes. I've often said that co-habitating is the way to go--you have company--someone with whom to share the day. And small things are so helpful, like holding a baby so the other person can bring the groceries inside, or use the washroom.

As much as it's fun to go away it is great to be home. Both Soph and I really missed our main fella--and as much as it was nice for him to have 4 nights of sleeping through the night, he happily gave them up to have us safely back home.