"I feel like Sydney is always over babysitting. Are we horrible parents?" I asked Joe.
"No, she's here maybe once a week. Anyway, the kids like her and we don't have jobs that require us to leave the flat, so we're always with them," Joe justified.
"Yeah, alright," I nodded, finishing getting ready to go out to meet up with my mum and James, and Richard and Cate.
"Mummy!" Noelle giggled, running into the bathroom with me as she carried her markers.
"Did you colour on the wall again?" I asked cautiously.
"No!" She giggled.
"Joe, why did we ever think it was a good idea to give an almost two-year old markers?!"
"She has markers?!" Joe yelled from the bedroom.
"F.uckin' h.ell," I laughed lightly, "Show me your picture, come on."
"No!" She giggled.
"Joe, can you see where she drew?" I asked.
"'Elle, where's your drawing?"
"Noah!" She giggled hysterically.
"F.uck," I laughed.
I went through and Noah was sat in the baby bouncer, but now had marker drawn across his arms and on his cheeks.
"Noelle May!" I laughed, "You are not allowed to draw on people!"
Noelle was giggling and holding onto her markers and Joe tickled her to get them from her.
"I'll get it," I said, carrying Noah as Sydney knocked on the door, "Hi love, come on in. Noelle got into the markers again," I laughed lightly.
"Oh no!" Sydney laughed.
Sydney helped me washed the marker from Noah and then took him from me so I could finish getting dressed.
"So how're you and your boyfriend, what's his name?" I asked.
"Jarod. And we're great, yeah," She smiled happily.
"That's good to hear," I grinned, "Where does he work?"
"He's an publicist supervisor at WebNet," She nodded, "It's an internet company of sorts."
"No way! My step-dad is the CEO!"
"James Stephens?" She asked surprised.
"Yeah! How do you know?"
"I work there during the day as an administrative assistant," Sydney smiled.
"That's crazy! Yeah, James is my step-dad!" I laughed.
"Wow!"
"Joe, Sydney works for James," I laughed.
"That's crazy," Joe nodded, putting all of the markers back in the box.
"S.hit, we're running late, we need to go!" I said, grabbing my phone.
"Okay," Joe said, putting the markers on the shelf to where Noelle cannot reach.
Giving the kids a quick kiss good-bye, Joe and I went out to the car and drove to the restaurant.
"Minx! You look amazing!" Cate greeted, giving me a small hug as we got to the restaurant.
"Hi, thank you," I smiled.
We all sat down and held small talk before we ordered our food.
"So, Cate and I just wanted to send our most apologetic regards to the whole situation and to express that we were unaware to it as well. But still, that does not change what happened, so now that he is released, we have been sending Rory to counseling and keeping a close eye on him," Richard explained.
