This is our life. And we love it!
Two babies were content in their activity seats on the back patio of their house. The Miami weather wasn't too hot or too cold for them to enjoy some sun and fresh air—with sunblock on. Their dad was a short distance away at the barbeque making steaks and burgers. In the yard just beyond the patio their older brother played in the sandbox making roads in the dirt, chattering away to his favorite stuffed dog. Mom and big sister were inside preparing potato salad, corn on the cob and tator tots. The third dish was for Ethan. They were his favorite.
Three months after the birth of their twin children the family were having their friends for a belated celebration. The parents had finally managed to get the twins on somewhat of a schedule and everyone was getting a bit more sleep. Horatio, Frank, Ryan and Natalia were coming over. Ethan adored Natalia and was her shadow whenever she visited-which delighted her. Likewise Chloe was like that with Horatio. She was always in his lap or next to him. Now she was constantly showing him her baby siblings and showing how she make them laugh. Their guests weren't there that long when it was time for the twins' three hour afternoon snooze. The parents left their older children happily enjoying the attention of their visitors.
"It's wonderful to hear them laughing like that," Calleigh said, placing baby Nadya in her bassinet.
"For sure," Eric replied. "You know that H and Natalia came over ready to spoil their little buddies."
Daddy was right. He and Calleigh smiled when Ethan wanted Natalia to get his dinner, a hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickles, with a side of tator tots. He didn't like potato salad or corn. He and Chloe were polar opposites when it came to the food they would eat from the grill. Chloe liked steak, she just didn't want any today but at any time, it was a battle for his parents to get Ethan to eat just a few bites of it. And when it came to burgers, Chloe only liked cheese on hers. She liked corn and potato salad.
Frank left earlier than the other three guests. Ethan stayed inside with Natalia who was helping Calleigh clean up. He and Ryan played with megablocks. Chloe went for a walk to the ice cream parlor to get a sundae. Ethan was invited to go but didn't. He had had two pieces of chocolate cake for dessert.
"Are you sure?" Horatio asked the little boy. "We might go to the park after. I would not want you to miss that."
"No tank-you, unca 'Oratio." the boy still replied.
In the back of his mind, Horatio knew that Ethan wanted to stay behind to spend time with Ryan and Natalia. He didn't know that Ryan and Natalia told Ethan that they take him to the children's museum shortly.
As tiny as they were, Zach and Nadya needed some one-on-one bonding time and cuddles with mami and papi as well.Ethan couldn't decide what he loved most about the museum, that changed any time he was asked. This week it was the exotic fish. That showed in the colorful pictures that decorated the refrigerator.
Now that Eric was back to the unpredictable schedule of the job, Calleigh wer on her own with all the children most of the time. The three grandparents helped out but for the most part, the daily care of the children was done by just mom and dad. Yes, it was exhausting, but that was parenthood.
"How do you find the energy to help look after four small children after working all day, man?" Eric was asked in the locker room one day.
Eric shrugged.
For starters, it wasn't as if he had a choice not to and to him it was just what a father and husband was supposed to do. Just because he worked outside the hom e and Calleigh didn't at the moment didn'tgive him a "pass" once he got home. And knowing dad could take care of them the same way mom did was comforting for the kids and good for their relationship. This behavior would should show his children what a real man did. He enjoyed getting the kids ready for bed, reading them stories, talking about the day and giving them cuddles. A lot of the time he missed dinner with his family and outside of seeing them before he left in the morning it was only time he saw them. They were just infants now, but Eric hoped Nadya and Zachary would save their first steps for a time when daddy were home.
After four children, there wasn't anything that a baby or child could "dish out" that Eric couldn't handle. His CSI might have had something minor to do with this but it mostly due to being as a hands-on parent since his oldest was not even a day old. Sometimes when he'd hear other cop dads whine about how stomach-turning dirty diapers were, he'd scream. Yes, they were by no means pleasant and yes, they could be downright obnoxious but it was a part of parenthood that both mom and dad had to suck up. If this was the hardest thing about parenthood to these guys, then they were pretty lazy, Eric thought. The Cuban had long ago lost count of how many diapers he had changed.
It made Eric melt whenever his two-year-old son came over out of the blue and wrapped himself around his papi's leg, looked up at him and said "I lub you, papi" or any time one of the babies smiled at him or when Chloe climbed into his lap, all excited to tell him about her day.
This was his life...and Calleigh's... and they loved it!