Harper & Lee Plus Three

Welcome Home

There was so much relief flowing through me when the plane landed at the airport. It was so good to be back home in Oak Falls. We walked down to baggage claim and waited for our luggage. It felt so unreal to see Zozo standing next to me on her own two feet, instead of in her wheelchair like when we left.

"Are you excited to be home?" I asked her.

"Yeah!" she said, hopping up and down.

"I bet you'll be so happy to sleep in your own room again, and see Ella and Lukas," I said.

"The babies, too!" she said.

"Me too. I can't wait to see how big they've gotten. I think I'll miss Memphis a little though, it was really nice there."

"I miss my piano."

"Oh, because we don't have one? I'm sure Daddy can figure something out," I said, trying as hard as possible to keep my composure.

"Mommy, look!" Zozo said, pointing to the conveyor belt.

"I see your bright purple suitcases! Let's go!"

We ran up to the carousel and grabbed all of our bags off. We even had to get a new suitcase while we were down there for all of the craft projects and gifts she got from the Target House.

Once we had all our bags loaded onto a cart, we went out to the curb, where Jamie and the rest of the crew were waiting to see us.

"You're back! I'm so happy!" Jamie said, giving me a big hug.

"Thanks! It's good to be home. Where's Lee?" I asked.

"He's coming around with the car," Jamie said.

Right as she said that, I saw Lee's new SUV coming our way.

"Look Zozo, here comes Daddy!" I said.

"Yay! Daddy!" she said.

Lee parked the car and got out. Zozo rushed right into his arms. Lee picked her up and spun her around. He held Zozo in one arm and hugged me in the other, then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Are we ready to go home?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Zozo said.

"I'll get all the luggage if you get her in her carseat," Lee said to me.

He passed Zozo over to me and I got her bucked in. I went around to the passenger seat and waited for Lee to get all the bags in the trunk. I quickly took a selfie with Zozo and posted it to our official Facebook page with the caption: "We're finally home!"

When Lee finished loading up the suitcases, we drove home. Everyone was already waiting outside for us. Sophia and John were on the porch while the babies played on the front lawn. Lukas and Ella came running down the driveway. I got out of the car and hugged both of them.

"Mommy missed you guys so much!" I said.

"I want sissy! I want sissy!" Ella said.

I giggled. "Okay. I'll go get her."

I opened the car door while Ella screamed at the top of her lungs. Lee told me being without Zozo was really hard on her. The second I let Zozo down, Ella was hugging her, saying "Sissy! Sissy!"

"Let me see all my babies!" I said, running over to the playpen.

In the six months we'd been gone, my babies looked completely different. Lee told me they were standing, but not walking. I picked up the one who was closest to me, which was Griffin.

"Hey Griffy! How are you?" I said, giving him a kiss. "It's me, Mama. Can you say Mama?"

"Da-da," he said.

Lee came over to the playpen, and it was a chorus of "Da-da! Da-da! Da-da!" My heart sank a little, but I was just happy they were saying anything. It was really common for sextuplets to have delays since they're born so early. It happened to most of the Sweet Home Sextuplets babies. At least when it came to talking, it seemed like all six of our babies were on track.

"They'll be saying Mama in no time, now that you're home," Lee said.

I rolled my eyes, then went over to hug Sophia and John. After that, we could finally go inside. The house was basically just as we left it, only with a lot of baby stuff changed out. Instead of the Mamaroo swings lined up against the wall of the living room, there were all kinds of different ride-on toys.

The dining room was still a little messy, and now there were six high chairs lined up against the wall. Lee wanted to get a custom bean-shaped table with six chairs in it like they had on Sweet Home Sextuplets and Jon and Kate Plus 8, but we had the space for individual high chairs, and it was a little less expensive.

I looked over at the kitchen. The granite countertops had stacks of different toddler trays and plastic utensils. All the baby bottles and tubs of formula were gone.

"Come see the playroom!" I heard Ella say.

Lee and I followed the triplets downstairs. The basement playroom was exactly the same. Absolute chaos. Toys everywhere. Except...just one thing was different.

"A piano! A piano!" Zozo screamed.

She immediately climbed onto the bench and opened it up.

"There's my star pianist at it again!" I said.

"Daddy, watch me!" Zozo said, patting the bench. "Sit."

"Coming, Zozo," he said.

He sat down next to her and she started playing a few notes. It was a little scrambled at first, but it eventually turned into Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Of course, we gave her big claps and cheers when she finished.

"What do you say to Daddy, for getting you a piano?" I asked her.

"Thank you, Daddy!" she said, giving him a hug.

We went upstairs and grabbed the babies so John and Sophia could go home. We sat on the couch in the basement and just watched our kids play together. It felt really weird having all the noise and chaos back, but I loved it.

"Remember, we gotta plan the babies' birthday party," I said.

"I know, but let's just relax for now," Lee said.

"You know what? I'm good with that," I said.

I leaned my head on his shoulder as the kids played and ran laps around the couch. I couldn't believe we were finally all together again.