Moving Forward

Sisterly Thoughts

"Hi, mommy."

I open my eyes slightly, yawning as I'm forced awake by the cutest little face.  She reaches out, gently moving my hair out of my face "Good morning."

"Good morning, baby." I roll over towards her, "Did you sleep good last night?"

"Yeah," She looks up at me, her eyes full of slumber "I sleep all night!"

I pull her closer, laying on my back so she can rest her head on my chest with her hands wrapped around my belly. She moves her hands around, trying to get the baby to move more. 

"I think baby is hungry." She gently pokes on the mush that is rapidly taking over my abdomen "We need breakfast."

"Okay, but first you need to brush your hair and teeth.  You're a mess."

"You are too."

"Thanks, baby.  I appreciate that."

We get up and walk towards the bathroom where Brad is taking his longest shower ever.

"Daddy!" She runs in, tapping on the shower door "We want breakfast!"

"Jen where are you?" He pokes his head out the door slightly "Why is she in here?  I need my peace. She won't leave me alone."

"Because, Princess Brad, she looks like a mess and needs to get cleaned up." I hand him his toothbrush through the door "And you need it too, your breath smells terrible."

"I love you too." He tries kissing me, but I quickly duck away.

"Not before you take care of that breath. Unless you want me throwing up and ruining your shower."

"I'm done." Ava runs over smiling, showing me all her teeth for proof "See, clean!"

"They look perfect, baby.  Good job!"

Brad gets out shortly after, whisking us away so that he can get dressed without Ava following him around asking him a new question every second.

"Let's go make some waffles." I carry her out of our room "You can help."

"I want lots of strawberries on mine." She decides, pulling the container from the fridge "And sugar and whipped cream."

"Slow down," I quickly take the extra ingredients from her "You don't need all this for breakfast." 

"I think she does." Courteney surprises us, walking through the back door "She needs lots of energy for whatever she has planned today."

"Listen, just because you're having weird ass cravings and eating ridiculous foods does not mean she gets to." 

"You're one to talk.  Waking me at 4am to run out and buy you an ice cream cake." Brad walks by kissing me "You're lucky I love you."

"I want ice cream cake!" Ava drops all her breakfast and runs over "Where is it?"

"Have fun with her." Court smirks, walking towards the living room "David has people redoing our living room and somehow they broke our central air. I'm staying here for the day."

Brad and I look at each other confused, neither of us even knowing they were working on the house.  Normally we hear all about this because they stay with us the whole time.  Ava doesn't seem to care, and takes this as an invitation to probably ruin Courteney's day.

She gets her ice cream cake from Brad and runs into the living room jumping on the couch. 

"She is so lucky she's cute." I turn towards Brad, handing him coffee "I can't believe you gave her my leftover cake though.  That's just mean." 

"Obviously I didn't learn from when I ate your leftover pie when you were pregnant with Ava.  Maybe I really am an idiot." 

"You are. There's no denying you are." I wrap my arms around his neck, leaning on for a kiss "But you're a cute idiot."

"But I'm not as cute as you." He leans in, pulling me closer "That would be impossible."

He leans me against the counter, pulling my face closer to his, forcing his lips on mine.  I open my mouth, welcoming the kiss, enjoying the passion. 

"We can see you guys!" Court ruins our moment "Very clearly!"

"Yeah, it's gross!" Ava yells back, shielding her eyes "I don't like it."

"Shit!" We quickly separate, walking towards them "Let's find something else to do."

"Let's go play." Ava suggests, pulling Court up from the couch "You come with us."

Court looks up at us terrified, knowing Ava will guilt her into this whether she agrees to it or not, and forces herself to look excited.

"Maybe we should walk the dogs to the playground." Brad says, grabbing the leashes, "They would like that and it gets her out of the house. Kills off some of her energy."

"If you can get her to let you clean all that cake off her, we can gladly go."

"That'll be easy.  She loves me more than you.  I gave her the cake."

"Well good luck." I watch closely as she quickly rejects him asking to give her a bath.

"Good job."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

He quickly walks past me, going towards the steps, obviously thinking of another idea.

"Maybe I should go home..." Courteney makes her way to the door "She's cute and I love her, but all this is reminding me of the few reasons we didn't want kids."

"This is just an act.  She was so cute an innocent with her crazy bed head when she woke me this morning.  She just thinks all of this is funny."

"But does it ever make you want to go crazy?  Wonder why you ever wanted kids?" She asks, watching Ava run around the living room in circles "I love her and Julian so much, and I'm so excited for this baby, but sometimes seeing them makes me think all I'm going to do is pull my hair out."

"It does.  I feel like giving up most of the time, but then she cries because she needs us to snuggle her, or she asks us to help her build a puzzle, and I see how excited she gets the second she sees us.  It's hard, but it's so worth it."

"Okay, time for plan C." Brad runs back down the stairs, grabbing Ava as he walks towards the back door "This better work."

"What happened to plan B?" I follow them out, interested in what he's going to do.

"I don't wanna talk about that either."

Court and I stand to the back, watching as Brad gets the hose out and gets Ava soaked with it.

"See, things like this happen.  Look how excited she is."