*Thank-you for all the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.
Three months later on Valentine's Day we were celebrating Zachary's 1st birthday. I couldn't believe it had been a year already. Time was flying by so fast and my baby wasn't so much a baby anymore. He was trying his best to talk and while he couldn't say many words he could say Mama, Dadda, no and more. He could also say baby because he knew there was a baby in Mommy's tummy. He was very smart but also very active. He kept Dave and me on our toes. He was into everything and everything he couldn't have he was into. He definitely kept us busy. It was so hard to believe that the baby I had a year ago was now this one year old boy that had just learned to walk so he was even more mobile. He took his first steps on Christmas Eve when he came to me for one of his presents. I was so excited to actually see that milestone. He was my baby boy.
I was getting him ready for his party. It was going to be small just Zachary and his girlfriend Sarah, Amber, her husband and their 1 year old daughter Paisley, Dave's mom and my parents. We didn't think he needed a big party because there was no way he was going to remember it. It was just a simple Elmo themed party. Dave was out getting his cake while I was getting him ready and setting up some decorations. I put him in a pink polo and a pair of khaki pants and spiked his hair. I took him downstairs and my mom was going to keep an eye on him while I put up streamers. "Here's the birthday boy!" I said to my mom as I put him down in the living room. He ran straight to his cars. He was just like Max and enjoyed his cars and trucks. It was a good thing he had a big brother to show him the ropes.
"Tessa, he looks adorable," she said.
"Thank-you," I said.
"I can't believe it's been a year already."
"I can't either. It feels like yesterday I was in labor with him."
"He is really starting to look like you though, Tessa. When he was a baby I always thought that he resembled Dave a little bit but he is really turning into you except he does have Dave's mouth."
"I know. That's what everyone says. They told me that he is my mini me minus the mouth. I guess the good looks run in the Bennett family."
"Yeah they do," said my mom with a smile. It's true though. I resembled my mom. I was pretty much her mini me and Zachary was mine.
"Is Zachary's girlfriend Paisley coming?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I said. Paisley and Zachary were only a month apart in age and since Amber was one of my best friends they spent a lot of time together. They both enjoyed playing with one another so we always called them boyfriend and girlfriend. I do realize I am setting my son up for expectations, the same expectations my parents had for John and me, and we all see how that turned out.
"Lovely," she said. "Paisley is such a beautiful little girl."
"Yes she is," I said as Dave walked in the front door. "Hey, Baby."
"Yeah.. It's a fucking mess out there," he said.
"Language," I said, "you know Zachary is a sponge these days."
"I know. I'm sorry. I guess that big snowstorm that's expected to start tonight has people stocking up on bread, milk and eggs. That grocery store was ridiculous. 3 registers open and no express. The lines were going down the aisles. It was crazy. All I wanted to do was pay for his cake. And then after waiting in line for 20 minutes I get up to the register only to find out they didn't put a sticker on the damn box so I had to wait for the girl to go get a sticker for it. That took about 10 minutes. Then her register froze and then they finally got it working and then it wasn't taking my card. I just paid in cash. I was done at that point. What a mess."
"I'm sorry, Baby," I said, "how does the cake look?"
"It's all right," he said showing me the cake. "I mean it's not worth the 25 dollars I paid for it but it's all right."
I looked at the cake with white icing and blue edges with colorful balloons on it. In the middle of the cake it said, 'Happy Birthday, Zachary.' It wasn't what I expected but it was all right. Dave was right it wasn't worth the 25 dollars. "It's okay," I said. "He's going to destroy it anyway so it doesn't matter."
"Yeah," said Dave. "Let me go put this in the dining room and then I'll put the streamers up."
"I was going to do that. You don't have to," I said, "I wanted to do that."
"Honestly, Tess, you are 6 months pregnant. You don't need to be standing on chairs to hang streamers. It's not the best thing for you," he said as Zachary came over.
"Dadda," he said with a smile looking up at Dave.
"Hey, Buddy. You look cute," he said smiling down at him. "Happy Birthday." He lifted his arms in the air for Dave to pick him up but Dave said, "I can't right now, Buddy. I am going to put your cake in the kitchen then hang up streamers for Mommy. I will hold you then."
Zachary began to whine so I picked him up as Dave left the room. Zachary began to cry which didn't surprise me at all because he was a really big Daddy's boy. "It's okay, Zachary, Daddy is coming back. Let's go play with your cars and trucks till Paisley gets here."
I took him over to his toys to distract him and my mom said to me, "I bet you're excited you're having a girl because I know you're tired of the trucks and cars."
"You have no idea but I like playing with Max and Zachary but I am looking forward to having a girl. I am ready to buy dresses and play baby dolls. I am so excited."
"I can imagine," said my mom. Dave and me had found out recently that I was pregnant with a girl. We were going to let it be another surprise but I really wanted to know because I wanted to know how to design the nursery before the baby was born. Dave gave in and we were told it was a girl. There was no denying it either because she was allowing everyone know she was a girl. I was truly excited and so was Dave. He had wanted a girl for a long time so now he was finally getting one. And that was a good thing because she was going to be my last.
"Baby," said Zachary as he pointed to my stomach.
"That's right, Zachary, Baby. Your baby sister is in my tummy."
"My baby," he said as he gave my stomach a kiss.
"That's so sweet," my mom said.
"I know. He really loves his baby sister. Well right now, when she's here we'll see," I said as there was a knock on the door. "I'll get that."
I walked over to the door and it was Zach with his girlfriend. I invited him in and following him inside was Amber, her husband and Paisley. I led them into the living room. Zachary ran over to Paisley as soon as he saw her and hugged her. "That is so sweet," said Amber.
"Isn't it?" I asked.
"What's this Broski?" asked Zach. "No love for your Uncle Z?"
"He knows how to put women first," I said with a smile. "He likes to be a gentleman."
"I see," he said as he picked Zachary up, "and look you spiked your hair. I'm teaching you well little Broski."
"You are such a dork," I said before offering them drinks and offering them a seat.
"How is the baby doing?" asked Amber as Paisley and Zachary played together.
"She's good," I said. "Right where she's supposed to be."
"That's great," she said as Dave came into the living room. "Any names for her yet?"
"We have two in mind but we are waiting to see her and we don't want to tell anyone just yet." Dave and me had decided to keep the baby's name to ourselves. We had two picked out but we were waiting to see her before we named her. We didn't want a repeat of when Zachary was born and we spent hours trying to come up with his name.
Zachary's party was going well. The adults spent some time talking while the two kids played. Usually children their age don't play together but they were playing together pretty well. It was time for Zachary to open his presents or more like Dave and me open his presents for him. He did all right but we opened most. He pulled at the paper to help but that was about it. Zach couldn't wait to give Zachary his present so he gave him his first. Zachary looked at it and I said, "go ahead open it, Zachary. That's yours." He just looked at me and handed it to me. I got it started for him and he did the rest. He opened it to expose an Elmo doll that sings. I could have killed Zach at that moment. I don't know what he was trying to pull with that but our house was going to have enough noise we didn't need a singing Elmo to go with it. Zachary got excited though and grew a big smile on his face. "Is that Elmo?" I asked. He pointed at it and Dave made it sing getting him even more excited. Once he had that opened he was done with the presents. Dave opened it for him while I opened the rest of Zachary's presents that included clothes, more cars, trucks and some more toys. He wasn't even interested in them. He was more worried about the Elmo doll but you can't expect too much from a one year old. Elmo kept him and Paisley busy until it was time for cake.
I let Dave handle the cake because the smell of the icing was too much for me and it made me sick. I was still getting morning sickness in my 6 month. I don't think it ever went away. Dave brought Zachary's piece of cake out to him and put it on his highchair and he looked at it and then looked at Dave. We sang Happy Birthday to him and he just sat there and studied us. After we sang Dave did what he could to get Zachary to put his hand in his cake. "Put your hand in it. Go ahead," said Dave as Zachary looked at him. "Yummy cake," he said as Zachary stuck his finger in it. He was a strange child so I highly doubted he would go all out and get messy because he hated being messy. He put his finger in his mouth and licked the icing off but that was as far as he would go. Dave ended up having to help him put his hand in the cake but Zachary didn't like that at all. He began screaming because his hand was messy. "Go ahead eat it, Buddy. It's yummy," he said but Zachary kept screaming.
"I don't think he likes that too much," said Amber.
"He doesn't," I said as I went to get a wash cloth from the drawer. "He doesn't like to be messy."
"Paisley is the same way," she said, "remember her party. She freaked out too."
"Oh yeah," I said as I wiped off Zachary's hand. "At least we won't have to worry about them getting too messy as they get older."
"So true," she said as she sat Paisley down in a chair so she could have some cake.
"Zachary, it's okay now. Your hand is all clean," I said to him as he stopped crying. "It's okay."
"I have never seen a baby not want to put his hand in cake," said my mom.
"And if he wouldn't be allowed to do it he would," said Dave.
"Isn't that how it always works?" asked my mom with a smile.
"With Zachary absolutely."
"He's only taking after his father," I said. "A rule breaker."
"I'm a rule breaker? I think you're a rule breaker too."
"Maybe but not as much as you," I said with a smile.
"Okay. Maybe not but still you're a rule breaker." He said as he softly kissed my lips. "But I love you anyway."
"I love you too," I said with a smile before giving out cake to our guests.
Once the party was over Dave and me were cleaning up and Zachary was passed out in the living on Max's Cars couch from all the excitement. "You know what else tonight is right?"
"The night you proposed to me," I said with a smile. "The night I knew we would be together forever."
"Exactly," he said, "happy Valentine's Day, Baby."
"Happy Valentine's Day," I said as I softly kissed his lips. "Can you believe it's been a year already? I mean how fast does the time go?"
"It goes by pretty fast," he said as he wrapped his arms around my growing stomach, "it's hard to believe that Zachary was just a tiny baby last year at this time and now he's this little person that can walk and talk. It's crazy. I'm kind of sad."
"Me too. He's my baby boy," I said, "but at the same time I can't wait till his little personality comes out and he's his own person. He's going to be a great kid."
"I know he is," said Dave. "We got lucky with him. He's a wonderful little guy. Makes me anxious for our baby girl."
"Me too," I said with a smile. "I know she's going to be just as great."
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and I'm sad to say that chapter 50 will be the final chapter but no worries the sequel will follow shortly after. = )