"Happy Valentine's day!" Arizona smiled.
Madre and Sofia were both still asleep, so Mommy had taken the twins into the living room and laid them down on a blanket for a little quiet time. She and Daddy were back to work – and had been for two weeks – and her wife was finding the long days alone with three children to be very challenging. Therefore, getting up with the babies before work was the least the bubbly blond could do.
On this special day, the littlest family members were already all dressed for the occasion. They each had on a "Baby's First Valentine's Day" onesie, but the designs they wore were different to avoid matching.
"Look how cute and little you are," she told them as she recorded this sweet moment.
Especially because they knew that these were their last little ones, Arizona, Callie, and Mark were pulling out the video camera at every opportunity in hopes of capturing as much of their babyhood as they could.
"This is your first holiday," she added. "Some people say it's not really a holiday, but I think a special day all about how much we love each other counts, right?"
Quinn made a little noise.
"You agree?" Mommy asked.
She zoomed in on the red headband with the little white hearts and the red flower on it that was on her youngest daughter's head.
"Addison got you that pretty one, huh? She had to go home, but she did some shopping for her baby and she bought that for Miss Quinn. It's perfect for today, right?"
Barrett looked over in Quinn's direction. They were on their backs and neither of them had very good head control, so he couldn't really see her, but he knew she was next to him.
Arizona put both babies on their little tummies facing each other. "Who's that, Bare? Is that Quinn? Can you tell Quinn she looks pretty on Valentine's day?"
Quinn lifted her head and it flopped down.
"You'll get it soon," Arizona told her. "You guys do a lot of tummy time to make those neck muscles super strong, don't you?"
Arizona heard Sofia getting out of bed.
"Big Sister Sofia's up," she announced.
The little girl walked into the living room. "Mama?" she asked.
"Yes, Sofia?" Arizona replied.
"Hi," she smiled.
"Hi, " she said. "Happy Valentine's day, Big Sister. Can you say 'happy Valentine's day'?"
"Happy Valin day," she replied.
"Close enough, right?" she asked.
"Yeah," she said, coming to sit on the floor so that she could see the babies.
"Can you do Mommy a favour today?" Arizona asked as she recorded her "big girl" kissing her little one.
"Yes."
"Mommy wants you to be a good girl for Madre today," she told her. "If Madre tells you something, can you listen?"
Sofia loved her younger siblings, but she was definitely showing signs of jealousy, too. Of course, these were completely normal, but they didn't make Callie's long days at home with the kids any easier.
"Yep," she nodded. "Otay."
Arizona kissed her. "Thanks. I love you, you know."
She giggled.
"Big sister thinks it's funny that I love her," Arizona told the babies. "She's so silly!"
"Silly," Sofia repeated.
"Sof, did you know that in two more days, Quinn and Barrett will be a month old?"
"Yeah?"
"You did know that?" she smiled. "They're getting bigger, aren't they?"
"No," she replied.
"You don't think so?"
"No."
"Should we make breakfast?"
"Yeah, Mama."
"Oh, what are you making?" Daddy asked as he came over with Valentine's day gifts for the kids.
Arizona and Sofia were still making breakfast.
"Eat that," Sofia told him.
Arizona laughed. "Well, of course we eat breakfast! What is it though? Tell Daddy we're having eggs that we dyed red for Valentine's day, heart shaped toast, and strawberry yogurt."
"Sounds good, huh?" he asked as he took Quinn, who Arizona had been holding in the sling, from her mommy. Quinn started fussing. "Are you sad that you're too young for that stuff?" he laughed as he kissed her. "Gotta get some teeth first."
"Can you try and get her to take a bottle?" Arizona asked. "Callie pumped a few ounces, so maybe that'll work."
With Callie going back to work in just a couple weeks, they were trying to get both twins to take a bottle. Barrett would - even if he definitely preferred to nurse – but his sister wasn't having it. She was hungry, but she would refuse a bottle every time. Thinking that maybe the formula was the problem, they were going to try and get her to take a bottle of breastmilk.
"Will you drink Madre's milk out of this?" Mark asked as he took the bottle out of the fridge. "Because once Madre goes back to work, you'll have a problem if you won't eat, Baby Girl."
Sofia noticed the gifts Daddy had brought over. "Fo' 'Fia?" she asked.
"One of those is yours," he nodded. "Go see which one says Sofia."
"Ohhh…!" she said, getting down off her little step stool.
"Shh!" Arizona told her.
"'Fia," Sofia said, when she found her gift.
She found a teddy bear and some little chocolate hearts in the bag. "Yay!"
"I'll tell Madre you get that after lunch if you eat all your food," Mark said.
"Now, Dada? Yummy!"
"I know it's yummy, but no," he said. "It's too early for chocolate."
Callie woke up and came out of the bedroom. "Chocolate?" she asked. "It's –"
"She's not eating it now," Mark said, taking it from Sofia. "I told her she could have it after lunch if she eats."
"Hey!" Sofia began crying. "Mine!"
"You get it after lunch, Sof," he told her, giving her a kiss. "You still get it. It's for Valentine's day. Just after lunch, okay?"
"Oh."
Mark began feeding Quinn. "Are you gonna have some milk?" he asked.
"That seems better," Arizona commented as Quinn started to eat. "All you wanted was Madre's milk, huh?"
"So apparently she doesn't get formula?" Callie asked. "Which means Barrett gets more?"
"I guess," Mark nodded. "Unless we find a formula she's okay with."
"Are you picky, Quinn?" Callie asked, taking the baby and her bottle from Mark. "Huh? Happy Valentine's day!" She looked over and saw that Barrett was asleep in the swing. "Barrett's a sleepy head, huh?"
"'Fia up," Sofia said.
"You're up?" she laughed. "I know!"
Arizona kissed her wife. "Happy Valentine's day."
"Happy Valentine's day."
"I take it I'm taking them tonight so you two can go out?" Mark asked.
"Out?" Callie asked. "Really?"
She had been so into the routine of taking care of the children that getting alone time with her wife almost seemed impossible.
"I made reservations and everything," Arizona nodded.
"Where?"
"That's a surprise," she winked.
"Make Dada one?" Sofia asked later that day.
Sofia had enjoyed her treats from Dad – and a few from her mommies that she had discovered later that morning – but now she, Madre, and the twins were making Mommy a Valentine's day card using Sofia's handprints and the babies' footprints, which were both going to be strategically placed to look like hearts. Sofia wanted to include her daddy in the project and make him a card, too.
"Sure we can make Daddy a card," Callie smiled. "Yeah. Let's finish Mommy's first though. Okay?"
"Yeah."
"Wanna help me paint Brother's foot with the red?" she asked.
"Yeah," she said, picking up the paintbrush.
"Gently paint on the bottom here," Callie said, as she held Barrett's foot still.
She was pretty sure Sofia was about to make a major mess, but everything was washable and they were having fun. Having three kids under three was already a tough job, why try making it easier now?
"Oh."
"This is gonna be cold Brother," Callie told Barrett. "And we'll see if you're ticklish. Are you?"
Sofia globbed on the paint and a very ticklish Barrett kept trying to pull away. "Stop that," Big Sister told him.
"That's enough paint," Callie said. "Barrett's foot's all covered. And he didn't even get fussy. He's just ticklish!"
"Yeah."
Callie pressed Barrett's foot down on the paper, angling it to one side. "Now Sister's foot can be the other side of the heart, right?" she asked, kissing Barrett. "Quinn's foot?"
"Lot sister."
"Barrett has three sisters!" Callie agreed. "That is a lot!"
"Paint fo' Nin?"
"Let's paint Quinn's foot now," Callie said, as she cleaned off Barrett's. "Everybody's being so cooperative today. Thank you!"
"Those cards were the sweetest thing ever," Arizona told her wife as they ate dinner that night.
"Sofia wanted to make a craft, so I thought we'd do that. It was perfect for today."
"Yeah," she said. "And the babies let you paint their feet?"
"Quinn got a little fussy, but nothing too bad. And they're both super ticklish. Just like Sofia."
She smiled. "How are they almost a month old already?"
"No idea," she said. "It's crazy."
"We're so lucky."
"The luckiest mommies I know," Callie nodded.
Arizona laughed. "Listen to us. We go out for a romantic dinner and we can't stop talking about the kids."
"Because they're that awesome," her wife smiled. "I'm so, so glad we did the IUI. I can't imagine not having Quinn and Barrett. It almost feels like they've always been here."
"It does," she agreed. "And three kids under three is crazy, but we've managed. Everybody's happy. Success."
"I go back to work in two weeks," she said. "In two weeks, I have to leave my tiny babies at a daycare. All day."
"We'll stop in and see them a lot," Arizona told her. "It's gonna be okay."
"I know."
"But I get what you mean. I can't wait to get home every day to see them either."
Callie's cell phone rang. "It's Mark," she told her wife as she answered. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Mark said. "Sofia's mumbling something and I can't make out what she wants, but she keeps persisting."
"Put her on."
"Tell Madre what you want," Mark told Sofia as he put the phone up to her ear.
"Paint baby," she mumbled. "Red a pink."
Callie laughed. "We're all done painting the babies' feet," she said. "We have no more cards to make. Mommy and Daddy each got one!"
"Maday," she said.
"I need one?" she asked. "How about you just play with Quinn and Barrett? It's bedtime soon and I don't think Daddy wants to have babies covered in paint."
"Oh."
"But thank you for thinking of me," she told her. "I love you."
"Lot."
"Yep!"
Reviews= Updates
