mia
after an hour of convincing max and ian that we were leaving a day early, joji, stella and i got in the car and started the drive home.
max and ian decided on staying the night anyways because max had already paid for the full weekend.
i had of course planned the drive home during stellas nap time, because a road trip with a baby is not a very fun time.
my phone dinged and i looked down to see a text from another mom i knew from stellas baby ballet class.
"whose that?" joji asked, keeping his eyes on the highway infront of us. "a mom from stellas dance class, there's a dad ballet class, do you wanna take her next week?" i grinned, turning my phone off.
"i don't know if you remember, but i'm not the best dancer, babe. i think you can keep going to that," he laughed, and i giggled, "i don't know, stella might appreciate it,"
"what are you becoming now? a dance mom?" he laughed, turning to look at me. "i mean yeah, i live and breathe baby ballet class," i laughed, turning to make sure stella was still asleep.
joji had gotten her dressed this morning and decided on tiny pink leggings with red ladybugs and a little white shirt.
i knew she would stain that white shirt almost immediately, but joji was proud of his choices and i didn't want to take that away from him.
"we could just get pizza for dinner, i don't feel like cooking, it's way too hot." i mumbled, making sure the AC in the car was still on.
"sure, yeah. stella likes that cheese pizza from the place downtown?" he nodded, and i smiled, i loved that he knew the tiny things like that.
"what do you wanna do tonight? it's the first time we've been home alone, just us, in like.... a while," he smiled, and i realized, he was right.
"yeah, i guess you're right. i mean, we could have a glass of wine and fall asleep on the couch by 8:30," i laughed, that's what usually happens, anyways.
"ugh my back hurts," i groaned, searching through my purse for advil.
"oh, why?" joji asked, getting off the highway and turning down the familiar streets close to home.
"i don't know, maybe i picked up stella too fast, or something." i sighed, taking a sip of water and downing two advils.
"wow, we're getting old. i hurt my shoulder because stella was hanging off my arm in the living room," he chuckled, and his laugh always made me laugh, too.
_______
15 minutes later we had made it home and joji was unpacking the car while i very carefully brought the car seat inside.
i unlocked the front door and pushed it open, dropping the keys in the little dish by the back door.
i walked up the stairs softly and into stellas nursery, i bent down, carefully unbuckling her from her car seat and lifting her into her crib.
she was such a good little sleeper.
i headed back downstairs, leaving the car seat by the back door for joji to put away later.
i started to put away all of the extra baby food and stellas treats that she didn't eat in the kitchen.
i was pretty tired, the weekend was a nice break but i still organized meals for everyone and took care of a small human with not much sleep.
"the last of the bags are upstairs," joji mumbled, walking into the kitchen, and i put away the last jar of baby food and the rest of the pre-cut vegetables and fruit i had prepared for the weekend.
