Have Hope

Welcome Home

Hope sat on the rug by the couch while I scurried around the apartment to get ready for our busy day.

For starters, we were going to the park for a walk. We were lucky enough to get a day about 40 degrees in late February, so naturally I decided to take the opportunity to go for a walk.

Next, we were going over Leah's for a little while where she'd take a nap and I'd talk to Leah.

To end our afternoon, we'd go to my parents' for dinner. It was just going to be my family and Andrew's, not even Leah was going to be a buffer. I was kind of nervous.

I obviously knew how to keep my cool around Andrew, but it was still nerve-wracking. Especially when this would be the first time he'd be around my family again since he returned.

Though I was comfortable in nothing but leggings and a loose hoodie for the barely-above-freezing weather, Hope was still only a baby and needed to bundle up.

She was in a fuzzy pink onesie that also had an attached hood that I pulled over to cover her ears and keep them warm. Conveniently, the onesie also had the sleeves that could fold over to cover her hands and act as fingerless gloves.

She looked like a chubby, pink marshmallow.

"You're the cutest." I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her tiny nose. She keeps growing and it's so scary.

My mom just gave me some ten and eleven loads month old clothes for the next few months, and I just can't believe it's almost to that time where she will fit into them.

I remember when I first found out about my pregnancy and I was at the mall, briefly looking at the baby clothes. I'd see the cutest dresses for ten months or year old babies and it was so hard to imagine my baby would soon be that big.

"Ready to go?"

Hope's lip began to quiver as she looked down at her lap in the stroller and noticed an important missing factor for chilly strolls in the park.

Her purple blanket.

Before she could even utter a noise, I grabbed her blanket off the couch and draped it over her. That's exactly what she wanted because she smiled as soon as she saw it.

While I don't want my baby to grow up because she's so small and precious right now, I can't wait until she can talk and have conversations with me. I always wonder what her voice will sound like when she starts talking.

The park wasn't bustling like it is during any other time of year, but there were some children on the playground and several people out walking with dogs. The grass was a dull green, on the verge of being light tan from the deadness that comes with winter, and the trees were bare because all the leaves had fallen long ago during autumn.

I had a soft instrumental song playing on my phone quietly but loud enough for Hope to hear as we walked in relative silence.

I knew she was awake because every few minutes she would point at something and grumble a word, then I would say the correct noun to the object.