Made it!

Well, our wee hours of the morning departure paid off and we were back at Mom-O's parents' house by late morning. We were still just under an hour away from home, but it was very nice to be done with the serious driving by lunch. We learned that our dogs hadn't burned anybody's house down, which is pretty good for them, and were happy for the chance to unwind and get Babe-O out of her seat for a bit.

The ride was a little bit rough, as the little one was still a bit sick. Things were made a little tougher than usual because our car was packed to the brim. Not only were we leaving with Christmas presents as you might expect, but we had also inherited a very large and ungodly heavy television set from my parents. This meant that we didn't have very much room in the back seat, so when Babe-O was fussy, it was tricky to get back there with her. Luckily, Mom-O had been up late the night before repacking the car over and over again until she managed to get everything jammed in there while still leaving room for a tiny sliver of middle seat where one person could fit, assuming they were double jointed with a pelvis that rotates 110 degrees.

For the last hour and a half of the trip, the guy with the half backwards pelvis was me. Babe-O was willing to settle down and keep quiet as long as she had a finger to suck on, so we managed to make it the rest of the way with a generally volatile but mostly calm baby. At this point I was feeling pretty guilty about the gauntlet we had run her through for the last week, but it was nice to know that she had gotten to see everybody and that we were almost back home where she could have a good night's sleep in her own crib.

We planned to spend the afternoon with Amy's folks, but after an hour or so it was obvious that it was time to go. It was obvious to me, anyway, because my wife told me so after waking me from my comfy recliner slumber. She was tired, I was tired, Babe-O was tired – it was just time to get home. We didn't leave without making an impression though, as Mom-O at one point tossed me a singing glow worm, which knocked my late-morning, destination-reached victory beer out of my hand like John Wayne disarming a bad guy with a shot to the wrist. Lucky for all concerned, the couch had a removable cover that could go in the wash.

Okay…fast forward to home. As soon as we walked into Babe-O's bedroom, her eyes lit up and a big smile beamed on her face as she looked around at all of her stuff. It was very cool to see the flash of recognition as she realized that she was back at home. She had a similar reaction to her dogs, which was also cool. I'm glad to have a baby who has some dogs. And I'm glad that she appreciates that it's good to be home.