I'm baaaaaaack...

Emery Jane, all bundled up for her very first bonfire!

It's been a while... too long. Life has been crazy, but that's no excuse. Not only has not blogging left you all in the dark about the big move and life back in the HKWeezy, but it has also deprived me of my most cathartic, soul-cleansing outlet at one of the most stressful points in my life. Sure, it may sound like I'm being mellowdramatic, but I am totally serious. Writing helps me decompress. And over the past two weeks, I have been wound pretty damn tight.


The move went so well, but like everything else, packing and planning and loading and traveling are all much different with a baby in tow. Thank goodness mom, my little bro Cory and his girlfriend, Ashley came to help out. Emery flew back with mom Monday morning before the rest of us hit the highway. Since it was the first night away from her since she was born, my nerves were a little shot... unnecessarily, of course. The flight wasn't great, but they made it through. They got home, and she slept better that night than she had in a month. (Phew!) Us road warriors arrived the next day, and I was ready to squeeze on my baby girl and then promptly pass out from the exhaustion of driving 18 hours of the most boring interstate in America (thank you, Alabama and Mississippi.) But there was unpacking to do before I could even think about such a thing. Little did I know that the real stress was just about to set in.

I still don't know what brought on the miniature panic attacks I would deal with over the next week, or why I immediately felt so overwhelmed the minute we pulled in the driveway. Maybe it was the stacks upon stacks of boxes, bins and bags that piled up oh so quickly once the unloading of the truck began. Or maybe it was the fact that there were 10 people in our tiny little house at any given time, all demanding my attention or direction and seemingly none listening to anything I was saying. Looking back, it was more likely the magnitude of the move hitting me like a ton of bricks at that very moment. I mean, as happy as I was/am about being home, it is a change. A big one. One I never thought I would make. I never thought I would live in North Carolina ever again. Let alone back in Hickory, within a mile of practically every member of my family. And now, here I was, baby on my hip, filling this same little house with a life Brian and Emery and I had built halfway across the country.  Was this really happening? It was surreal.

Those first few days were rough. I cried daily. My OCD took over by default, and I fought every decision tooth and nail. But just as all of our things slowly began to find their place, as family enveloped us with the love and support we moved here in search of, I began to relax. As I snuggled with Emery at her very first bonfire, breathing the clean, crisp air, I found peace. As we continue to hang curtains and rearrange furniture and relearn the creaks in the floor, I find comfort.

And today, as I sit here typing this, I could not be more sure that this was the right move for us. We belong here. There's no place like HOME.