The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona - Volume II

There's No Place Like Home

Arizona's POV:

It was a cold, but sunny day in The Emerald City. The New Year's holiday was a few days away and Callie and I had been on vacation the last week with our daughters. Instead of going somewhere to spend our free-time, we opted for a stay-cation. 

Vacations spent at home are much cheaper than renting a place and much easier than driving back and forth to a destination. Plus, I just think sometimes they are needed more than being at a fancy resort in another town. For a change, we were living our best lives without the burden of work, daycare or school. We could just be ourselves in the same space we were most comfortable in.

"Mama?! Have you seen my red sweater? I can't find it."

Soph was loudly talking, as I was in the kitchen with Maddy. While Sophia was struggling to find her new sweater my Mom had made in a cable-knit pattern, I was feeding our baby.

"Soph, it's hanging on the back of your bedroom door, remember?" I had watched her put it there a few days before and knew it hadn't moved since. Her and Callie always make me laugh when they have difficulties finding things that are generally right in front of them.

"I forgot! Thanks, Mama!" 

I assumed Soph found it and went back to feeding Madelyn some more oatmeal and mashed bananas. Bananas had been Maddy's new favorite food in recent weeks, but that would change probably by next week. She had been experiencing so many different things I knew her interests were rapidly changing as quickly as they were forming.

"Mama? What are we going to do today? And can I have a can of pop?" Sophia had found her sweater and was wearing it when she strolled into the kitchen with her new line of questions.

Wow, that girl never misses a beat! It was just after 9 am and she had been done with her breakfast for only a hour now. Thanks to the Christmas party, we suddenly had an influx of soda pop that wasn't drank at the event and was now taking up space in our garage refrigerator. Soph had already made it her solo mission during our time off to consume as much of it as she could, despite Callie and I trying to limit her. We are all for the occasional soda, but also didn't want to see our daughter mainlining the stuff like she's a runner that just finished a 10K race and is dying of thirst.

"Bug, why don't you wait for a bit? I thought we could rent a new movie and watch it downstairs in the home theater, okay? That way if your sister gets fussy, I can look after her while you continue to watch. It's going to be a few more years before we can take Maddy to the theater so I thought this was a good compromise."

"Can we rent the new animated movie with the pandas? Anna saw it with her Dad and said it was really funny."

"Sure, pandas, it is. Out of curiosity, how many movies have they come out with in this series?" Thankfully, Soph completely missed the sarcasm that was behind my inquiry.

"This is the fourth movie and the funniest one so far Anna said."

From one 10 year old to another, the movie seemed to have a glowing review! I'll be honest and come out and say it, I usually only half watch a lot of the animated movies Sophia watches. Some are definitely better than others, but when they are releasing 4 and 5 different versions based on the original, they tend to get stale. Nonetheless, I just wanted to make Sophia happy and knew I'd end up focusing my energy on Maddy at some points during the show.

"Can I go pick-out the pop I'm going to have? I won't open it, but want to bring it inside so I'm ready to go."

"Bug, you can on two conditions. One, don't grab anything with caffeine and two, can you grab 2 colas for your Moms? Maddy will be fine with her water."