December 20th 2016

Winter Break

1000

Rabb Guest Bathroom

La Mesa, CA

Mac just needed five minutes, just five minutes to pee in peace. She would have gone to the master bathroom, but she was at home with her four kids and wanted to be within earshot of them. Closing the door but forgetting to lock it, she finally sits down on the toilet for a moment of peace. Or so she thought. Not but a moment later did the door come swinging open, and Harmon came waltzing in.

"Whatcha doin', mama?" He asks as Mac looks up at him from having been looking at the floor.

"Going to the bathroom. Do you need something?"

"No, just missed you, that's all." He smiles, coming over to sit on the floor. Harmon was definitely a mama's boy. He may have his father's name and looks, but he was definitely a mama's boy since day one. As he sat down, Holden came toddling in, followed by his twin sister Harriet. They were always where the action was. If you were doing something, they wanted to be with you.

"Mama!" He giggles, running over to climb on his mother.

"Hol-" She lets out a grunt as he begins to try and get into her lap.

"Ok, I uh, I guess we are doing this."

It was when Holden finally settled that Harper came in to see what all the noise was about.

'Great, another child, just what I wanted. So much for five minutes on the toilet.' Mac sighed to herself, wondering if there were any more magical kids that were going to come out and fill her bathroom and watch her pee.

"Harper, hi, can I help you?"

"Dad was getting water for the twins; I came to see where they ended up."

"In here." Mac sighs again.

"Mama?"

"What, Harmon?" Mac asks, feeling another toddler come over, trying to steal space from her brother, who had arrived first.

"Is Santa coming?"

"Of course, he is just five more days. Think you can be a good big brother till then?"

"That's a lot of work, mama."

"Yes, it is, but I know you are up for the challenge."

"Mac?!"

Harm is calling for his wife. Everyone seemed to have disappeared right in front of him.

"In here, Harm!" She calls back with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Ah! There you are!" He smiled his flyboy grin, walking in the door with his hands holding two character-themed sippy cups full of water. Once he stepped in the door, he looked up to see everyone sitting around the toilet, looking at Mac as if she was telling a bedtime story.

"Oh, is there a family meeting I missed?"

"No, Mommy was just needing five minutes to go pee, but as you can see, that didn't happen." She sighs as Harm hands out the sippy cups to the twins.

"Can I have a drink, too, Daddy?" Harmon asks.

"Sure, but let's leave Mommy alone. Why don't we all go color a picture or something? Give mommy a moment." Harm says, picking up Holden, who is still on his mother's lap.

"Mama!" He cries, reaching back for her.

"I'll be right out, Holden, I promise." Mac sighs, waving to her son as Harm is ushering the kids out of the bathroom and closing the door. He sets the twins in their high chairs and then pushes them up to the kitchen table. He then grabs a juice for Harmon and goes to the hall closet for some crayons and paper. Setting the supplies down, he takes a seat, and they all get to drawing. The kids had so much energy that he would do anything to keep them occupied. Glancing up, Harm sees Mac standing and leaning on the doorframe to the kitchen. She had been watching Harm, who was helping Harmon finish his picture.

"What a life." She thought as she watched.

"I have everything I could ever want."

"Hey." Harm smiles.

"Hey yourself," Mac replies, coming into the kitchen and being bombarded by Harmon, who had jumped up to show his picture.

"Look, I did, mama!" He smiles.

"Wow, Harmon! I love it! Will you tell me about it?"

"It's you, mama, on the toilet."

"Oh really?" Mac says, doing all she can to hold in her laughter.

"Daddy helped me write your name on it."

"Well, he did such a good job."

"I hang it on the fridge, mama?"

"Sure." Mac smiles, helping Harriet out of her high chair and putting her on her hip. Moments later, Harriet is pulling on Mac's shirt. She knew it was almost nap time, and she was getting antsy for her before nap feeding. In the early beginning, when the twins were in the NICU, Mac felt like she spent hours of her day pumping so that when her babies were ready for a bottle, she had milk to give them. When they came home, Mac would breastfeed during the day with bottle feeding at night so the parents could tag team and get some sleep. She knew she should stop soon, but this was her way of bonding with her kid, and she was having a real hard time stopping.

"Ok, hold on, Harriet." Mac sighed, giving a silent 'I'll be back' to Harm as she moved into the living room to sit in the rocker. Rocking back and forth, she lets her latch on.

"Hey, sweet pea, soon we won't be able to do this anymore. You are getting too big, and I know you can hold a bottle. I wish we could continue, but I don't think people would like that." She sighs, stroking her daughter's hair. Looking up, she sees Harm walk in with a sleepy Holden. She'd let him feed next with her other breast if he weren't asleep yet.

"Five more minutes, and we will switch." She tells Harm as Harmon comes in and proudly exclaims he got his picture on the fridge.

"I hung it all by myself, Mama!" He beams before realizing he needs to be quiet.

"Oops, sorry, Mama."

"It's ok; she's almost asleep anyways," Mac says, helping Harriet unlatch and switch with Harm, who would take her upstairs to her crib and let Mac feed Holden.

"Mama?"

"What?"

"You have room for me up there? I wanna watch."

"I wish I did, Harmon, but when I finish, we can read a book. Mommy has a small lap."

Looking up, Mac sees Harmon come over and try to get a look at what his mother is doing. He had seen this a million times, so Mac had no clue why he was so interested but allowed him to get close. Watching him, she smiles, leaning down to kiss Harmon and then kiss Holden.

"Love you." She whispers, running her hands through Harmon's hair and giving it a whiff. She missed that smell and wished she could bottle it.

"I love too, mama." He smiles, leaning on his mother's lap.

"Why don't you go pick out a book. Mommy is almost done with brother, and then we can read it." Mac says, helping Holden unlatch and cradle him. Rocking him, she carefully walks upstairs to put him to bed. Making it to the twin's bedroom, she sees Harm asleep in the rocker with Harriet. He must have sat down for a second, and they fell asleep. Smiling, she lays Holden in his crib and is trying to decide what to do with Harm and Harriet. If Harriet was a baby, she might think about taking her from him, but she's bigger now, and he trusts her.

"MAMA! I FOUND IT!" Harmon raises his voice as he comes running into the room. Turning, she shushed him and ushered him out of the room, grabbing the baby monitor on her way out.

"The babies and daddy are sleeping."

"Oh." He says, looking up at his mother as they walk towards the stairs. Opening the baby gate, she walks with him down the stairs. As she makes it to the living room, she sees Harper still coloring. She was glad she found something to keep her occupied while she spent time with Harmon. Sitting in the rocker, she pulls her son into her lap and opens the book her son had picked out.

"Once upon a time, there was a daddy who used to fly planes. He would fly fast ones and slow ones, and big ones, and ones with two wings on either side."

"This daddy loved flying; he even had a dad and grandpa that would fly. Flying was in his blood."

Flipping the pages, she smiles, looking down to see her son dozing off. It seemed like everyone in her family was tired. Rocking him, she puts the book down to just let him rest in her lap. Running her hand through her son's hair, she leans down and kisses him. She's trying not to doze off as she doesn't feel like leaving Harper alone, but she knows she needs to trust her.

"Mama?" Harper asks, walking in to see her mother in the rocker.

"What? Do you need anything? I'm a little tied up at the moment."

"I wanna watch a movie."

"Sure, you know how to do it. Just not so loud; we are the only ones awake." Mac yawns, watching her daughter put in a DVD movie. It starts playing, and not, but minuts later, Mac is now asleep. The rocker was nowhere near comfortable, but it was evident Mac needed a little shut-eye.