Our Life Together

Life of The Pitts

Sitting on the couch, listening to my favorite sound in the world while holding my baby is the best thing in the world.  The sound of Brad running around the house, playing with our three sons, who are laughing hysterically, is amazing.  He's the best father ever, and they're the best kids ever.

William, or Liam, our 9 year old takes charge over whatever game they're playing.  He grabs whatever they're "fighting" over and runs across the balcony.  Gabe, our 6 year old middle, and very competitive, child runs after him.  He somehow knocks him over, which is when Jackson joins in.  He may only be 3, and little, but with Brad's help he attacks his older brothers and takes the toy back from them.

Just as I put her down to go join them, our 2 week old baby, Olivia, starts to cry.  Jack runs down the steps as fast as he can to try to help.  I pick her up to feed her, but instead let Jack go out to the kitchen to get a bottle.

He runs back in the living room with the bottle and his hands up to hold her.

"I feed baby!"

"Okay, buddy.  You need to sit on the couch though."  I laugh.  Brad walks down with the older boys following and watches. 

"He really loves her."  He says wrapping his arms around me.

"I know."  I smile.

We're interrupted by the sounds of real fighting from the kitchen.  I decide to walk out and look.

"What are you two doing?" 

Liam is standing on Gabe's back trying to reach the food.  Gabe keeps yelling at him to hurry up and Liam starts to jump on him.

"William!"  I sigh "Get off your brother." 

I help Gabe get up and then figure out what food they were trying to get.  It looks like the box of cookies that I have hidden from them.

"You aren't eating these."  I take the box holding it high enough that they can't reach "This is the only food I get to myself in this house."

"But, mom!"  Gabe begs "We're cute!"

"I know you're cute, you're my kids.  It's not working this time."  I wait for them to go complain to Brad and hide the box in another high spot. 

"I've been told you're a mean cookie thief."  Brad walks into the kitchen "What did you do?"

"They were climbing on each other trying to get my cookies.  I stopped them."

"So where are they?"  He asks.

"You aren't getting any.  You're the main reason I eat them."

"Uh, I thought the kids were the reason."

"Well yeah, but you're the reason they're here to make me crazy."  I start to walk away "This could've been prevented if you remembered the condom."

I walk back to the living room to see all 3 boys trying to take care of Liv.  She's laying on the couch looking around while they're huddled around her.  The bottle is half full, so they probably stopped feeding her, and she doesn't look too happy.

"Gabriel, did you take that away?"  I notice he's holding it.  He acts dumb and tries to get away.

"Dude, she's a baby."  Brad stops him and picks up Olivia "At least let her drink the bottle."

"We did, daddy!" Jackson sticks up for them "Her not eat!"

"Oh, really?"  I pick him up.

"Yeah, mommy."

"What about you?"  Brad asks Liam "What did you help with?"

"I had nothing to do with it." He lies "It was all them."

I shake my head laughing at him and turn to Brad.

"I'm gonna take him up to bed.  He needs a nap." 

Jack fights for a while, not wanting to sleep because he knows his brothers are awake.  I promise him a snack after he wakes up, and he happily agrees.  As I walk out of his room, I run into Brad who hands me Liv.

"I gotta get Gabe to practice."  He kisses me quickly before running back downstairs.  I carry Liv into our room and lay her down for her nap.  She falls asleep immediately and I finally get my much needed break.

"Mom!"  I'm interrupted by Liam running down the stairs "I can't find my batman shirt."

"So?  You have like 10.  Pick another."

"Did you wash it?"  He gets closer "Did you put it away?  Is it in my room?  Did you hide it?" 

"Oh my God."  I finally get up and follow him to his room "You know, maybe if you and your brother cleaned this you could find things."

"Yeah, I know.  That's a lot of work though.  We have you to clean our room."

"That's not working this time.  I'm not your slave."  I look around until I find the filthy batman shirt that he was looking for and throw it at him "Put it in your laundry pile and I'll think about washing it.  If this room isn't cleaned by tomorrow you and your brother are grounded, so no carnival with dad."

"That's not fair, mom!"  He uses his best defense mechanism: his puppy dog eyes he got from Brad "Jackson and Liv don't have to clean!"

"Olivia is a week old!  She doesn't make any messes she could clean yet, and Jackson cleans up his toys." I defend them "He also doesn't leave his clothing lay all over the floor.  You're 9 not like 16."

"Fine. I'll clean my part of the room, but not our bathroom."

"That's fine with me.  I haven't walked in that room since Jack is potty trained."  I cringe just thinking about what might be growing in there. 

I walk back downstairs, hoping to get my break this time, but am interrupted by Liam once again.  This time, he's decided to throw all of his dirty laundry over the banister and into the living room where I am.  From the looks of it, he must have more clothes than Brad and I combined.

"What is this?" I start picking things up throwing them back at him "This isn't how it works!"

"Gabe isn't helping me clean so I dumped all his clothes."

"William, Gabe is at soccer practice.  He's not here to help you clean.  He can help when he gets home."

"Oh, okay."