Complicated Love

Rerouting

"Are you excited to go visit grandma?" Brad holds Liam as the plane takes off, trying to entertain him "You're going to love New York so much!"

"Clouds!" Liam yells, not paying any attention to Brad. I lean over, looking out the window with him as he points them all out to me.

Eventually he falls asleep on Brad, giving the two of us some time to come to terms with the fact that we're picking up and moving our family at the drop of a hat.

I decided this morning after Brad told me he would need to leave shortly after the baby is born to film, that I wanted to be closer to my mom. We don't have as much help in Los Angeles since my dad and step mom are still working often, and his parents are working as well, so my mom is our best option right now.

"Are you mad at me? It's not like I want to leave right away."

"I'm not exactly thrilled, but I know you can't help it. I wish there was a way around all of this though."

"I'm going to miss the three of you, even if it is only two weeks."

"We'll miss you, too. But I'm happy for you, you've been waiting years for a role like this, you deserve it."

"We should be there soon, I hope the apartment is still in good shape."

"I wanna get some sleep before he wakes up for the day.  I'm not worried about the apartment."

I sleep the rest of the way until we land, when Brad wakes me to walk out to the car waiting for us.

"Your mom texted, she's going to make us dinner so we don't need to worry about it."

"Good, I'm too tired for that."

Brad sends me in with Liam once we get to the apartment while he unloads everything.  

I wonder around looking at everything, taking in the amazing views that I've forgotten about as I think about why we're here.  Our second child is going to be here in a few months, changing our lives for the better, but throwing even more challenges our way.

"He's out, but he's on our bed because I couldn't find his yet," Brad walks up behind me, letting me know he moved Liam from the couch "Let's go join him.  We're all exhausted.  We need the sleep."

We walk in, each taking our spots on either side of Liam, quickly drifting off into a much needed deep sleep.

"Let's go look at the waterfalls," I slowly open my eyes to hear Brad talking to Liam, knowing it's time to wake up "We can see them out our window!  We'll go see them better later, when mommy wakes up."

"I go?" Liam points to himself, asking in his adorable sleepy voice "I see wawafalls?"

"Yeah, you're going to love them!"

I eventually get up, not wanting to hold off on seeing Liam's reaction now that he's so excited. 

"Hey look," Brad points to me "Mommys awake, we can go soon."

"Mommy needs some food first." I reach out for Liam, who cuddles up to me "What did you guys eat?"

"Candy!"

"That's all you had?"

"No, he had half of my sandwich too, but I had to fight with him to eat it."

Brad goes to get me one as Liam climbs around on me, putting his hands all over my belly to feel the baby's crazy movements.

"Baby kick?" He looks up at me, making sure he's saying it right.  I smile, feeling the baby's light kicks as Liam traces his hand all over.

"Yeah, he's kicking.  He wants you to feel how strong he is."

Brad walks back in, watching our little moment as Liam is completely infatuated with his baby brother.

"I didn't think he could get much cuter, but every time I see the two of you together it happens."

"I hope he still likes the baby once he's here, when he has to live with him." I start eating my sandwich as Liam runs off to play with Brad since the baby and I are no longer interesting.  Brad doesn't seem too worried about it, reminding me of how much he loves any baby he sees recently.

We make our way out to the waterfalls once we're ready, letting Liam lead us through to where he wants to go.

"Baby stay where we can see you," I watch carefully as he leans over to get a better look "I don't want you to fall in."

"We go?" He runs back to us, pointing to whatever he was looking at.

Brad walks up with him to see, only to turn back towards me laughing.

"He wants to go on a raft."

"He's too little, no."

"I think it would be fun.  Let the kid be adventurous."

"He can't even swim yet, Brad."

I look around for more ideas, finding a little playground that has a fake waterfall for the kids to play with.

"Let's go over there, he can run around with the other kids."

"You are so mean to him.  He's just trying to have some fun."

"And he can have fun in the playground, with all the other little kids."

We walk over with Liam trudging behind us, mumbling the few words he knows under his breath, wanting nothing to do with me since this was my idea.

"Maybe we should just get him home, since you ruined his day." Brad walks up behind me, watching as Liam sits by himself refusing to play with anyone "Your mom has dinner ready soon anyway."

"He's going to be mad at you too."

"He'll get over it."

We convince him to leave with the promise of seeing grandma when we get home, and he's surprisingly very excited.

"Aw you're back... and all awake." My mom picks up Liam the second we walk through the door "I have spaghetti in the kitchen for you guys, I don't know if he'll eat it though."

"He should, you're the only one he likes right now, so that should help."

As we all sit down to eat, Liam climbs on her lap staying with her the whole time. 

"Guys, I'm so glad you came out here.  I can't wait for this new baby."

"We're glad we did too."