Let it rain

Welcome home

Rome wakes Lexi up at 7 am by crying. She gets up out of her bed and walks over to Romes nursery. She picks him up and cradles him. "Hey baby" she says as she rocks him in her arms. "I miss daddy too" she claims as she puts him down. She sits down in the rocking chair and falls asleep there. She wakes up an hour later due to Romes crying. She picks him up and feeds him. She decides to be up for the day so she takes Rome downstairs and puts him on his play mat. She goes over to the puppy and puts his food in the play pen. "Here you go Barry" she says as she stands back up. She goes into the kitchen and makes herself a cup of coffee. She lets Barry out of his play pen to run around and puts her coffee on the counter. She puts the harness on Barry and then connects his leash. She grabs the stroller and straps Rome into it. Then she grabs her cup of coffee and heads out on a walk with Barry and Rome. She walks over to Andrew's house, which is a couple blocks away. She gets there about twenty minutes after she left her house.

She rings the doorbell and he opens the door not even a second later. "Wow you were quick" she says taken by surprise. "Well my ring camera kinda ruined the surprise. I heard the notification like a minute ago" Andrew explains to Lexi. "Yeah ring is definitely good with that" she comments. "So where's Winston?" Andrew asks. "He should be on his way back from his trip by now. He called last night before getting on the plane. I just decided to take these two on a walk to kill time" Lexi replies. "Well you've been doing an amazing job with these two while he's been out of town" Andrew tells her. "Thank you. Their definitely a handful. Especially Rome. He woke me up at least twice this morning. I just decided to stay up after the second time since it was already 8" Lexi explains. "Well he's only a couple of months. He should start sleeping better soon. I've been told" Andrew suggests. "Yeah I guess so. These work trips Winston's been going on are just draining me. It's a lot of work taking care of them alone" Lexi admits.

"I know. The first trip was pretty rough for you, but you seem to be getting a hang of it. But I can imagine how much you miss Winston. I mean I miss Vanessa with my whole heart right now, and she's only been gone for a couple days" Andrew tells her. "Yeah. I should probably get going. It's gonna start getting hot soon and I know for a fact Barry is not gonna want to walk back in that heat" Lexi suggests. "I mean I could drive you guys back when I leave. I mean your house is on the way out of the neighborhood" Andrew suggests. "I mean if you wouldn't mind" Lexi replies. "Of course not. And plus, you just got here." Andrew adds. "Ok" Lexi says. They hang out at Andrew's for about ten minutes and then he drops them off at Lexi's house. "Thank you for driving us" Lexi says gratefully. "No problem. Anytime. I'll see you guys later" Andrew replies. "Ok. See you" Lexi says as she gets the car seat out of the car and converts it into a stroller. She gets the puppy out too and walks up to the front door.

She grabs the keys out of her purse in the stroller and unlocks the door. She gets everything in and locks the door behind her. She takes off the dog leash and lets Barry run around and she unstraps Rome in his stroller. She puts everything down and then takes Rome out of the stroller and puts him on his play pad for tummy time. Winston calls her about ten minutes after she gets settled in with Rome and Barry. "Hey baby. How are you?" Winston asks. "Hey babe. I'm good. I'll be better once you get back though. Are you back in California yet?" She asks. "Not yet. We had a layover in Vegas so I'll be here for about an hour and then I'll fly into LAX. But I'm excited to finally get home to you guys" Winston admits. "I'm excited to see you too. Barry and Rome have been a little impatient waiting for you to get home. I know Rome misses you cause he keeps waking me up early just in case you got back while he was asleep. I know he's disappointed to see me when I get there" Lexi explains.

"I'm sure that's not the case. He is a mommas boy after all. Have you given any thought to when you wanna get married?" He asks. "All I've been thinking about is these two troublemakers and finally getting to sleep in the same bed as you. What time did you say you were getting back?" Lexi asks excitedly. "I should be back this afternoon to evening. And then we can finally have dinner together. And then we can talk wedding plans and everything else that I've missed this past week" Winston suggests. "That sounds amazing. I can't wait" Lexi says joyfully. "Me neither. *Gate 4 is boarding the plane* I've gotta go, the planes boarding. I'll see you soon. I love you" he says. "I love you too. Bye" Lexi replies. "Bye" he adds and then hangs up. "What am I going to do with you two?" She says looking at them on the couch. She picks up Rome and lifts him up and down. "Your getting heavy mister" she smells something rotten. "Oh definitely time for you to get changed. Oh dang Rome, what did you eat?" She asks gagging.

She goes to the bathroom and changes him on the counter. He doesn't pee in her face, and she is extremely grateful for that. She throws the old diaper away in the diaper bin and cleans him up. She takes him back out into the living room and finds a mess Barry made. So she puts Rome up in his crib for a nap and she cleans up Barry's mess on the floor. She puts Barry outside in the backyard for a couple of minutes while she cleans. Once she gets done, Rome starts crying. So she goes to the nursery room and picks him up. She takes him back out to the living room with her and let's Barry in from the back. She hears a knock at the front door, so she turns down the tv and answers it with Rome in her left arm and Barry in his play pen. "Hello" she says as she opens the front door. "Hey your dog keeps trying to start something with my dog. You need to get that under control" her neighbor says. "What? Fine, I'll get him under control" she says as she backs up about to shut the door. "You don't shut the door on me. I'll come get my husband on you. And we can see what happens then" their neighbor says threateningly.

"Are you threatening me? Because my dog was barking at yours. I'm sorry my dog isn't a fan, but I don't know what that has to do with me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go feed my baby" Lexi says as she shuts the door and locks it. She goes to grab her pump and she makes a couple of bottles for Rome and puts them in the fridge. She picks Rome up from his play pad and holds him while she watches tv and Barry chews on his toys. There's a knock at the door a couple of hours later, so Lexi checks the ring camera and sees that it's Winston. So she puts Rome down on the play pad and hurried to the door. She opens it and jumps into Winston's arms. "Your home!" She says excitedly. "I am. What's the deal with the neighbors? I saw them giving me a dirty look when I got out of the Uber with my stuff" Winston asks worriedly. "Apparently Barry has something with their dog, so she came over to confront me and threatened to get their husband on me when I tried to shut the door" Lexi explains. "Well they sound like a hoot" he says sarcastically.

"Mhm" Lexi comments. They get fully inside and Winston takes his bags in and shuts and locks the door. He puts his bags in their room and comes back out to the living room. He picks up Rome from the play pad and holds him as he sits down next to Lexi on the couch. "I really am sorry for leaving you with these two for so long. I truly did not think I would be gone for the whole week. But training went way too long" Winston says apologizing. "It's ok Winston. I know what I signed up for. And I'm all in. 100%" Lexi says interrupting his ranting. "Ok" he says breathing deeply to calm down. "Now, let's talk wedding plans" she suggests. "Ok. Um have you thought about when?" He asks. "Most likely next year. So Rome won't be so young at it. And plus, it could give us more time to pick a specific date to land on" Lexi suggests. "How would you feel about a spring wedding though? All the flowers will be coming into bloom and our honeymoon won't be too cold" he suggests. "I love it. A spring wedding sounds great. Now we just need to start settling details" Lexi says.

"So a venue, flowers, seating arrangements, all that stuff" Winston comments. "Exactly. But first, we should probably make a guest list" Lexi adds. "True. So uncles, aunts, parents, and siblings?" He suggests. "And some close friends. I mean I only have a couple of close friends, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle" Lexi says. "Ok, and then I'll just invite a couple of my close friends. And we should definitely try and find our bridesmaids and groomsmen" he adds. "And your best man and my maid of honor" she adds. "What do you say about a little weekend trip to Philadelphia to scout out some groomsmen?" He asks. "Yes. I might need to scout some bridesmaids too. And since I am marrying a footballer, I might as well ask some of the wives" she suggests. "Sounds great. Do you already have your maid of honor?" He asks. "More like man of honor" she adds. "So I just need to find my best man. What weekends good for us to head over there?" He asks. "We could leave this upcoming Friday night after I finalize some details here. If that fits" she suggests. "Fits perfectly" he says and then he kisses her. "Mwah. I'm gonna go unpack. Are you gonna invite Andrew's girlfriend too? Hopefully she's back by then" he asks as he goes to their room. "Yeah. Hopefully she is" she replies.