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Chapter 28 - Adjusting

We were thrilled Archie was home after almost a month of being in the hospital, but he was at a disadvantage when it came to adjusting to the outside world. He'd only been home a few weeks and we hadn't gone out much since we wanted to stay out of the public eye and enjoy the first few weeks with our boy. But it was rough.

We knew that when we decided on having a baby, he or she would wake us up in the dead of night and we prepared ourselves for it the best we could. But nothing can really prepare you for the lack of sleep you're going to get.

Leah had her faults, similarly, so did I. Leah would always get annoyed with me when I left my shoes out on the ground, causing her to trip over them. I would get frustrated when she would set up Nike appointments or interviews without looking at our schedule, causing things to overlap. But we somehow always understood each other.

So, neither of us minded when Archie would cry when we were finally settled, or when he decided he was hungry right before we were going somewhere, so then he'd need a change right before we left the house. Or he would decide he didn't want to sleep when we put him down in his crib. We understood that he was at that disadvantage of abnormality, and we loved him anyway.

Our doctor said Archie would have trouble adjusting to being home since it were a different environment than what he was used to. I don't think we expected him to struggle like he is though.

It was a little after two in the morning when Archie started crying. I started getting up, but Leah whispered an, 'I got him.', so I laid back down. I watched Leah go to his small crib in our room and pick him up. I found my phone on my side table and read through a few messages from the evening.

Archie eventually stopped crying and Leah came started to crawl back into bed about a half hour later. I put my phone down as Leah got back in bed.

"He okay?" I asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. He needed a cuddle." I rolled over and wrapped my arm around her. "Do you need a cuddle too?" She chuckled.

I hummed. "Always." She kissed the top of my head a few times before turning us on our sides, so she could hold me. "I love you, Le."

"I love you too." She dotted kisses down my neck, making me giggle. "You're going to wake him up." She laughed into my neck.

"You're the one causing trouble." I looked back at her and felt her lips on mine. "Get some sleep, Le."

"All right, all right. Goodnight."

She kissed my cheek one last time before putting her head into my neck. As I scooted back into her, I tucked my phone under my pillow.  We were finally settled and ready to fall back asleep, but then the dog started to bark.

Archie began to cry again.

"Oh no." I chuckled, but Leah groaned.

"For fuck's sake. That damn dog. He's up and—good job."

"You're so grumpy now."

"Whatever." She climbed out of bed to get Archie. His cries got louder as Leah tried to hush him. "He's not going to settle."

"The dog just startled him."

"Really?" Her tone was sarcastic, but she wasn't trying to be. She was tired.

"You're tired, Le. I can—"

"No, I'm not. Come on, buddy. You've got to settle down. Mummy needs sleep." She bounced him.

"You're not tired. You don't need sleep." I chuckled. God, I was tired too.

"You're being a dick."

"Well, so are you."