Imposter

Saturday morning we got up and Neely immediately saw Alex waking up on the couch and assumed daddy was home from his trip.  It was weird, because as soon as she saw his face I could tell she knew he looked different, but she sort of gradually accepted that daddy must just look different now.  Ha.  She kept calling him daddy all day.  We cracked up every time.  I kept thinking about what would happen when Jess came home and she saw them both in the same room.  It was weird, because she wanted to play with him and be carried by him and all of that, and called him daddy, but at the same time I could tell she didn't feel quite as comfortable as she does with Jess.  She just acted a bit different.  I texted Jess and he thought it was hilarious that she swapped him out so easily.  We showed her a picture of each of them, side by side, and she immediately pointed out the real daddy, and looked at Alex with a funny expression.  She still called him daddy though.  Ha.  She'd been the one to bring Jess up the most often since he left.  She kept asking "Mama, when daddy will come home?" and one time told me "Daddy meeds(needs) to come home now."  So I guess maybe she missed having her daddy enough that she was willing to take a different one temporarily.  Haha.

They brought the kids some kites, so we had fun with those out front for a while that morning.

It was our first day since Jess left that we had no chance of a tornado, so it was nice to finally leave the house and not have to worry about that.

We went to the zoo...

Then headed home, and Neely fell asleep on the drive.  I put her in my bed, where she slept for an unusually long time, considering she doesn't usually nap at all.  Must have been worn out from our long night in the storm shelter, and then the zoo. 

While she napped the older two played out front with squirt guns and the fun beach ball sprinkler Aunt Mindy and Uncle Randy sent.  (Thank you-it was a hit!)

Mindy threw the beach ball in as an extra, with the cloud shelves Uncle Randy made for the baby.  I had seen some on Etsy months ago, that I loved, and when we first found out I was pregnant (but weren't telling anyone else yet) I asked if we could pay him to make us one like it.  Of course they didn't let us pay, and he made two!  They're bigger than I expected, and perfect!  I can't wait to paint them.  Wish we could move right into our house when we get back to Kingman and set up the baby's room right away.  I was also in Target and found a perfect crib sheet and set of receiving blankets.  Here's the baby posing with the new stuff.

Anyway, Saturday night Jess got in at about 10 pm.  I was so glad to go pick him up.  Cassie and Alex kept the kids for me so I could pick him up alone.  When we got home he got the sweetest hugs, especially from Cason!  I swear I thought Cason was crying for a second, and hugged him SO tight, and for SO long.  I wish I'd thought to get out my camera, not only for that, but also to get video of Neely's reaction to him.  It was exactly what I thought would happen.  She was playing a game on Cassie's iPad, and Jess said hi to her.  She looked happy to see him, stared for a second, looked over at Alex, back at Jess, and back at Alex.  She seemed to be trying to figure who the heck this imposter really had been all day long.  It was so funny.  She gave Jess a hug and went back to her game.  She called Alex by his actual name for the rest of their visit.  :)