Moving Forward

Cutie

The cool autumn breeze rushes through an open window, forcing the curtains open, allowing the suns beaming rays to sneak through the cracks.

Trying to avoid being blinded and get a few more minutes of sleep, I turn towards Brad, only to be stopped halfway.

"Ow, mommy." The precious glob between us rubs her sleepy eyes, looking very upset with me "You hurted my arm."

"I'm so sorry, honey." I scoop her up, pulling her onto my chest where she lays peacefully.

She looks up at me a few minutes later, just as I was finally about to fall back asleep, with huge eyes.

"Let's wake daddy!"

"Let's not."

Brad mumbles, pulling the pillow up a little so it's over his ears.

The sun continues to creep in, making it almost impossible to convince a very stubborn 3 year old that it is not time to get up yet.

"Baby it's too early."

I move her between the two of us, turning on my side to block her view of the light.  She continues to grip onto my arm with her tiny little hand, fighting sleep as much as she can.

The tight grip finally loosens as she drifts off to sleep, letting me know I finally have the chance to drift off myself. 

I pull the blankets up over me, laying my arm across her tiny body as she kicks her legs out into a split like position, hitting both Brad and I.

"Why did we get this one last night?" Brad mumbles, moving her leg "I don't remember Ava giving us black and blue marks in her sleep."

"Because unfortunately we trained the wrong one to sleep in her own bed all night."

We both fall back asleep, enjoying the sweet sound of Kassie's light snoring.

"Mommy, wake up."

As I open my eyes, it feels like my hair is being ripped out of my head by Ava's tight grip.

"I'm hungry."

"Okay but you have to let go of my hair."

She finally let's go, and I slowly get out of bed, not wanting to wake Kassie.

"I'm making breakfast today." Ava declares, walking down the steps "To help you."

"Thank you, honey.  But maybe I should help a little."

She reluctantly agrees, but makes me stand behind her as she starts to mix up the pancakes.

"It's clumpy."

She sounds disappointed in herself, looking back at me for an answer.

"You just have to mix it a little more.  That'll go away."

I grab the whisk, helping her with it.

"You really need to be careful if you're helping with this." I turn on the stove, letting Ava scoop the mix onto the griddle "It's going to get really hot."

She carefully pours the mix, proving how well she watches Brad and I, and immediately reaches for the chocolate chips and strawberries she wants in them.

"Mommy do you want some in yours?"

"Sure, honey.  Just not too much."

I hear squealing coming from upstairs, so I walk to the steps to see Brad carrying down Kassie and Zach.

"Hi, buddy!" I take Zach once he reaches out for me "You slept in today."

"He was using his crib as a teething ring again." Brad says, walking out towards Ava "Addie was still asleep, so I grabbed him and ran out."

I feed Zach as Brad takes over supervising our pancakes, letting Kassie join in on the cooking.

"Just make sure they don't start fighting right there at the stove.  I don't wanna be dealing with it when they burn themselves."

"They're fine, Jen.  They aren't us.  They don't fight over what the batter looks like."

I finish feeding Zach and put him on his playmat in the living room, turning on the TV to see what they're saying about us today.

"Well, we had a nice run.  12 years is pretty long." Brad walks in with my food, commenting on the new divorce rumors "Guess I better lawyer up."

"15 years is long to put up with you." I add in the 3 years of dating "The fact that I haven't killed you still amazes me."

"Yeah, me too.  I probably wouldn't have put up with me this long."

I continue to watch, laughing at everything they come up with until I notice Ava and Kassie sitting with me.

"What do you guys wanna watch?" I ask, quickly changing the channel to anything else.

They talk for a little before telling me.

"We want doggies!"

I put the weird dog show on that they love, and go upstairs to check on Addie, who is now awake.

"Hi, princess!" I get her from the crib, sitting on the rocker to feed her "You slept so good last night."

I get her clothes and everything she'll need for the day out, waiting for her to finish eating so I can get her ready.

"They're all awake." I walk down with Addie, finding Brad cleaning up the living room "Where'd they go?"

"They're drawing in the playroom.  I put Zach in his playpen and he's been playing with a cup ever since."

"Aw, he's so happy." I lean over to watch him "I wish they were all entertained that easily."

I lay Addie down with him and go over to help Brad.

"They were alone for 10 minutes.  How the hell did they make this big of a mess?"

He walks around folding blankets and picking up couch cushions.

"This room is a mess."

"Some of it's from our fort last night.  I didn't make them clean it all since they were so tired."

"As long as they were having fun, this mess is huge."

"It was a big fort..." I walk towards him, grabbing a few things to clean up "Hey Brad,"

"What's up?"

"Is this the life you imagined?  Do you ever think of ways it could be better?"

"It's not the life I imagined at all.  I never thought I'd be lucky enough to get someone like you to marry me, or have these 4 annoying kids, but it's so much better than what I imagined." He looks over at me as he finishes talking "Why?"

"Nothing.  Just wondering."