On the Court #Wattys2015

CH 15: The First Year

Check out this link to see a picture of Joseph: http://moneb.muzy.com/post/292200286

Toni tried to sleep but her aches and the baby's cries wouldn't allow her to. She looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom and sighed. 

"Kyle?"

Nothing 

"Kyle...baby."

"What?" he groaned, grabbing his pillow and trying to put it over his ear.

"Can you check on the baby?"

"You get the baby," he snapped, "I'm sleep and you're obviously awake. Get to it."

She rolled her eyes and slowly got out of the bed. She took gentle steps out of the room, making sure to close the door softly. Down the hall was Joseph's room. Her mom helped put it together.

After Toni was caught having a sob attack in the kitchen by her mother, Kelsey offered to get her mind off of things by decorating. That's how Kelsey busied herself. And even though Toni never told her mom why she was crying like she was -- to hell with telling her it was about Darren -- she knew her mom was only trying to make her feel better. Toni didn't like decorating.

She picked up her wailing baby boy and began rocking him. She changed his diaper and tickled at his little toes, something she did to calm him.

She held him for a while, walking around the room, using her free hand to rub over his soft eyebrows down to his chubby cheeks. 

She would never forget the first time she saw his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of hazel. They were fainter than Darren's, whose eye intensity always amazed her. Joseph's were like a mixture of the both of them.

Joseph made that little scrunched face that told Toni he was gonna cry. When he began wailing while turning his head toward her breast she knew he was hungry. She fed him for a good ten minutes and slightly laughed at the little sounds he made every time after her swallowed. When he was done she put a cloth over her shoulder, laid him on it and softly patted his back.

"You were hungry, weren't you?"

She heard a little gag noise and looked over her shoulder to see he spit up. Toni got one of his little rags and moistened it with a water bottle that was on the dresser. She wiped his mouth and chin before settling him back in his crib. 

"Such a messy little boy."

She took the cloth off of her shoulder and tossed it in the little hamper. Toni adored her baby but the spit up, diapers, constant feeding and crying were a headache and Kyle might as well not even be there. He didn't help out much. All he really did was buy the things Joseph needed like bath products, diapers and bottles for the days she was too sore to feed him.

Toni leaned down and kissed her little boy's forehead before turning off the dim light and leaving back to her room.

Six Months...

"Come to Mama," Toni cooed, lifting Joseph up out of his crib. He had a smile on his face as he gurgled and kicked his feet. Toni had one hand under his bottom and the other on his back as they made their way downstairs. She set him down on the ground so he could sit up and turned to get his baby blanket. She laid it on the living room floor and turned to get Joseph...but he was gone.

"Joseph?" Toni called him, going around the corner to look down the hallway.

Not there. 

She went back into the living room and checked the side of the sofa.