EIGHT YEARS LATER.
"James, stop."
"Sorry, mama," my sweet two year old told me, picking up his piece of apple from the floor.
For some reason, he thought it was hilarious dropping them for Lily, our golden retriever, to eat. But it's not. I cut those apples for him because he was hungry so I would appreciate it if he ate them. And not the dog.
I couldn't stay mad at him, though. He was the cutest little boy in the whole world. "Don't eat that one, though."
He threw it to Lily and then went to sit on the couch and continue eating his apple slices while watching Blue's Clues, his favorite show at the moment.
"In 20 minutes, we're going to grandma's, okay?"
"Grandma's?" He says, all excited. He LOVED grandma and grandpa.
I nod and then he went back to watching his show as I clean up around the kitchen. I wash a few plates that need to be washed and put away some dishes that have been washed since this morning. And then I go to the fridge and take out a couple of containers of food that no longer need to be in the refrigerator and empty the food out in the trash. I grab a pan I have on the stove that I used earlier and put it in the sink and wash that along with the containers.
This is my life now.
I am a mom, a wife, and the house keeper.
But I wouldn't change it for the world. It's my most favorite job I've ever had.
"Are you done with your apples?" I ask James when I see that his bowl is now on the floor while he's on the couch, laying around. I pick it up and realize there's one little apple slice left in it. "Do you want it?"
He shakes his head and I walk away behind him before giving it to Lily so I don't look like a hypocrite. Ha.
I wash the bowl, put it away and then dry my hands off and straighten up the kitchen because I hate messes. I like everything as neatly as possible. And then I go over to the fridge and take out the pasta salad I made for the BBQ going on at my parents house in a bit. We were leaving soon. And I needed to get everything ready before having to change James out of his lounging around clothes.
Just as I was about to grab James to change him, my two other babes came strolling into the kitchen/living room.
"Someone's hungry."
"Feed her then," I tell Troy, who's holding our precious little Sienna.
"Yeah, okay," he laughs, handing her to me. There's no way he could feed her. He doesn't have boobs with milk in them. "What time are we leaving?"
I grab Sienna and give her a kiss on the forehead before I go over to the couch and take a seat to feed her. Our baby girl is actually seven months exactly today. "Just as soon as I'm done feeding her. Can you change James? Jeans and whatever shirt."
Troy was eying the pasta salad but he knew better so he backed up and picked James up from behind. "Let's go change, squirt!"
James giggled as Troy held him up like a plane and they disappeared into a room I kept downstairs with extra clothes. It was essentially a playroom. No, it was a playroom. But the clothes and diapers and all of that have slowly taken over. But it will be a playroom once Sienna is out of diapers. It's just so much more convenient having clothes down here.
"Are you hungry?" I ask Sienna even though she couldn't say anything.
But her big, beautiful brown eyes were definitely saying yes. She latched on to my boob as soon as she could.
And we sat there for a little while, enjoying each other's company. She loved feeding time almost as much as I did. It was our time to bond and to be honest, if I could breastfeed forever, I think I probably will. But it just depends on them. I love it, though. It's our time together.
Troy and James came out of the room a little while later, after probably playing with a few toys, and they looked all ready to go.
My handsome boys.
Honestly, James was a little spitting image of Troy.
Troy came and sat by me on the couch and grabbed the remote control to change the channel since James brought out his leggos he was going to play with. He turned to it sports of course. And I sat here admiring my little Sienna, who looked like me. Brown eyes, brown hair. She had her daddy's nose, though. But she looked like me and James looked like his daddy and they were both as perfect as can be.
"You wanna know what James just told me while I was changing him?"
"Hm?" I look over to him, barely wanting to take my eyes off Sienna, but his face is pretty good to look at, too.
He chuckled, "he told me that he loves Sienna and mommy and daddy love each other."
Oh my gosh. I could just melt into a puddle right now.
That is... that is the single most important thing I would ever want my kids to know. Apart from US loving THEM, I would want them to know that their mom and dad love each other very much and that is never going to change. Ever. And he's TWO fucking years old, and he's picked up on that already.
Well, he does have his daddy's brain. That little boy picks up everything, knows so many things, and talks better than any other two year old I know.
"Well, it's true," I tell him with a laugh, "but maybe we should stop kissing so much in front of them."
"No way," he leans over and gives me a kiss, "I love kissing you."
And I love kissing him.
We've been kissing now for about 9 years now. We're married. We have two beautiful kids. And the best life imaginable.
After we graduated, Troy started work with my dad and I studied for the LSAT and looked into all these different law schools. A year later, I was off to law school at USC. And Troy came along for the ride since they had an office out in LA, he transferred there to be with me the whole three years. During my second year, he proposed to me in that best possible way and I, of course, said yes. So the minute I graduated, we got married with our closest friends and family in the most beautiful place in Newport Beach. A short while later, I started working at one of the best law firms in San Diego while Troy came back to work here. We got a house here, a beautiful house that we wanted to start a family in. And within 3 months of our wedding, I found out I was pregnant with James Alexander Bolton. It changed our lives completely... in the best possible way. So within a year of being at the law firm, I had to take some time off to raise this little guy, but I went back the minute I could, trusting my mom to look after James. A year later, I found out I was pregnant again, and this time, we were trying. We wanted them close in age. And we wanted a little girl more than anything... which we got. Sienna Marie Bolton.
And now, we're here. Sienna's 9 months. James is 2. And we're a family of 4.
We're living in San Diego, both working our dream jobs and we couldn't be happier if we tried, I don't think.
"You know what else you love to do?"
"Hm?" he asks, taking his eyes away from the TV and onto me.
"Impregnating me."
The minute those words left my mouth, a blank stare washed over his face. Which I knew it would. I just didn't know how else to bring it up and it popped into my head that, that might be a cute way to do it. To tell him that I'm once again pregnant. And we're having a little baby.
Yep. Pregnant. With our third child. Boy or girl... I have no idea. But I'm pregnant.
I missed my period, I've been feeling a bit sick, and so this morning, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.
Yes, there's a possibility I'm not, but I got off the pill and we weren't exactly being careful. We weren't trying, but we weren't not trying even though we never talked about not trying, about wanting another child. I always thought if it happened, it happened. And we would be happy. Because we love our kids more than anything in this life and thinking about a third one would complete this family.
But this stare on his face... him not saying anything. Ahh.
"What are you thinking?" I ask him.
"You're... you're pregnant?" he asks me, "are you serious? You took a test?"
"This morning," I give him a small smile as I take Sienna off my boob and put it away. She's done eating. "I know there's a chance I'm not, but no, I know that it's right. I feel it. And I know we never talked about a third kid because I mean, Sienna's not even one yet and I know..."
Troy leaned over and kissed me. Right in font of Sienna. And had his lips pressed for God knows how long.
And then he backed away and a huge smile emerged on his face. "You're pregnant. We're having another baby. I'm going to be a dad of three."
"Yeah." I can feel the tears coming. "We're pregnant."
"Sienna!" he grabs her from me and kisses her little nose. "You're going to be a big sister."
Right away, James turned around upon hearing that and got up and came over to us, making his way in between us, his little elbows holding him up on the cushions. "Big sister..."
We knew what he meant. He was asking what we mean and why she gets to be a big sister. So I pick him up and sat him in between us. "Mommy has a baby in her belly. Sienna's going to be a big sister and you're going to be a big brother... again. Is that okay?"
He nodded his little head and looked at my stomach where I was pointing.
Sienna has no idea what's going on, but I'm pretty sure James does. He's smiling and laughing and grabbing Sienna's hand trying to show her my tummy.
And this right here, is absolutely everything.
"We can do this," Troy tells me over James gibberish and talking to Sienna about the baby.
"I love you so much."
"And I love you," he tells me, leaning over and giving me another kiss. "I've always wanted someone like you, and now I have her, and three kids."
Oh my gosh. My heart can't take it. I've always wanted someone like him, too.
And then he kissed James and Sienna and my heart melted into a puddle because the love he has for his kids is something I always prayed my husband would have. It's everything and more. And I can't believe this is my life. I really, really can't. But I'm so blessed. And I have everything I could ever want.
It's all because I went to a stupid fraternity party.
But oh, I'm so glad I did.