Happy 4th of July for those of you who live in the U.S. like me. Either way, this update is my holiday present for all of you.
Oh my goodness, guys! I got so much great feedback and I am just so so thankful that you like it! Thanks for reviews kate, wordsmeaneverything, caseyjr, ghostwhisperjimel, sb1218, stagediva23, sophie, laura, anna, melissa, jade st. jms, minervann, alexis, lauralynn3, h23brock, erin, simy, caroline, jenna, and hannah. THANK YOU SO SO MUCH and KEEP REVIEWING!
I love all your feedback, even constructive. A lot of you suggested I don't skip so much time, and I think you're right. I'm listening! I'm going to title the chaters age 0, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2, 3, etc... so it'll be more like a chapter each six months. It may not be the exact age and a half.. but this will just make it so you see two different situations that happen each year of the boys' lives instead of only one chapter per year. And I also decided not to do different POVs because it just got confusing for me or I would forget who I was speaking for and I would have to redo parts.
I can't wait for you to read more!
ENJOYYYYYYYY! :)
AGE 1
Julian walked into the house with a big sheet cake in tow as he watched his wife struggle to hang a banner on the wall from the top of a step stool.
"Isn't 'you on a stool' how this lovely celebrated calandar date came to be one year ago today?"
Julian set the cake down and went to put his hands on his wife's hips to steady her.
"Not funny." Brooke said as she lowered her arms in defeat, letting the paper fall on one side.
"But true." Julian countered. He helped her step down onto the solid floor and held up the fallen side of the banner.
"This came out amazing."
"Yeah, when Haley took Lydia to the doctor last week and Jamie came over, he helped me finish the whole thing. He really loved painting it."
The oversized banner had 'Happy 1st Birthday Davis & Jude' painted out in big blue and red bubble letters with the two dots above the lower case I's being one handprint from each baby boy. Brooke also strategically placed more hand and footprints from the babies around the words. The theme for the party was Winnie the Pooh in the middle of a big #1 and of course Brooke purchased plates, cups, napkins, table cloths, a cake, and tshirts for the boys with the same designs.
"The boys are still napping, I assume?" Julian asked, securing the banner in place himself.
"Yeah. I heard Davis blabbering through the monitor before but I think he fell back asleep."
"Good." He looked at his watch. "They'll be up just in time for people to get here. You timed this out perfectly, my little party planner."
"That's what Moms do," Brooke patted herself on the back jokingly and smiled. "Can you go grab the wrapped gifts in our closet and bring them out here, please?"
"You got them more gifts? Brooke, they won't even remember this birthday. Plus the swingset and sandbox we got is surely enough."
"I know, I just see things and I can't resist. They've been through so much this year, I just want it to be special."
Julian nodded. "Okay, you goof." He headed into his bedroom looking for the gifts when he saw it.
"Ohhhh no, no way!"
Brooke laughed when she heard him yell from the bedroom.
"Oh come on! Please!" She crossed her fingers.
Julian stomped out holding up the tshirt she had laid out for him to wear.
"I am not wearing this! And I got dressed already. I'm wearing what I have on."
"But I want us all to match today. Please! I just thought it was too cute to resist!"
Julian looked down at the light blue tshirt. It had the same #1 and Pooh design as the cake and all the rest of their decorated house. Brooke, Davis, and Jude also had similar matching tshirts, but his said "My sons are 1" on the front with Pooh and "Daddy is #1" on the back like a sports jersey.
"Nathan and Clay and every other man at this party is gunna make fun of me!"
"Who cares? It's your sons birthday! Do it for the memories."
"Ugh, fine." Julian cringed as he changed his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror. Truthfully, he didn't want this to be a memory. How could he ever be a cool dad if Brooke dressed him in matching cutesy things like this?
Julain reentered the kitchen and went out on the deck to help Brooke with preparing for the party when they heard a cry.
"Daaaadaaa!"
The grainy voice through the baby monitor was overwhelmed by the actual voice of their son. They really didn't need the baby monitor anymore since they boys were much more vocal, but Brooke wanted to hold onto it.
"Why do they only call for you? What about Mama?" Brooke furrowed her brow. Both boys called had said "Dada" as their first word and always called for their Dad in the middle of the night, even though Brooke was usually the one to go check on them. They could say "Momma" and "Mommy" and liked when Brooke came in to soothe them in the middle of the night, but they never actually called for her. It was kind of just their way of calling for attention from either parent, not necessarily just Julian.
"You know they want you too."
"I guess you'll have to finish out here and I'll get them."
Brooke walked into the house and towards to boys' room. When she opened the door she found Jude standing up, holding onto the railings of his crib, smiling at her.
"Mama!" Sure, he said her name once he saw her.
"Hey birthday boys! Did you have a nice nap?"
"No."
Brooke smiled. The boys really couldn't say many words, but they did say 'no' to everything these days.
Brooke picked Jude up and kissed his forehead and she adjusted him on her left hip. She took a step over to the other crib.
Regardless of his brother's noise, Davis was still asleep on his stomach and was drooling slightly onto his mattress. Brooke rubbed her fingers over the animal prints on the back of his onesie and he still didn't stir. She'd let him keep sleeping for a little while longer.
"Let's get your birthday shirt on, mister," Brooke said and placed Jude down so he was lying on the changing table. She quickly changed his diaper and slipped on his little Osh Josh jeans before sitting him up. Brooke pulled a navy blue long sleeve shirt over his milky white tummy and then put the light blue '1st birthday' shirt on over it. She knew the boys might be a little too layered for the relatively nice beginning of November weather they were having, but she was always afraid they would be cold. There was a bit of chilly wind today, after all. She just wanted to be safe, especially if the boys would want to be outside with their bigger cousins today at all. All she needed was for one of them to catch a cold.
Brooke brought Jude out into the living room and placed him on the capet in front of the TV. She put on the boys' favorite cartoon Winnie the Pooh movie and let Jude play with his toys while she could still watch him from the kitchen. Brooke continued to fill big goodie bags for Jamie, Lydia, and Saywer while she kept an eye on Jude. He was surely a sneaky baby. Regardless of his difficult start to life, he was a total spitfire. He had darker hair like Brooke and also had a wild demeanor like her as well. If they couldn't tell which baby was screaming in delight, it was most likely Jude. He was a happy, excited baby but he also had his moments. And despite being a little slower to develop than Davis at first, Jude was the first to crawl and the first to stand up on his own while holding a table or someone's hands.
"Dont you go scooting off anywhere, buddy. Everyone's gunna be here soon." Brooke told him.
"Daaa!"
Brooke was looking directly at Jude and knew that didn't come from him. The only other option was Davis.
"Julian! Can you watch Jude while I get Davey?"
Julian poked his head inside and came in. "Yeah, we're all setout there."
Brooke went in and picked up her other son who wasn't as happy just after his nap as Jude was, although he did always sleep for a longer period of time than Jude.
"There's Mommy's good sleeper. Happy birthday..."
She bounced him and rubbed his back while he rubbed his sleepy eyes into her shoulder.
Her little "Davey" was more sensitive and quiet like his father. He also had his Dad's lighter hair, but still had the 'Davis' dimples just like she had.
But he wasn't smiling as much these days because he was getting yet another tooth. For some reason the pain of getting teeth affected Davis way more than Jude. The poor little guy was miserable and pulled on his cheeks constantly, trying to relieve himself of the pain.
"Ow Mummy."
"I know, baby. I'm sorry." Brooke said, trying to put some of that Baby Orajel on his swollen gums.
As she got Davis dressed in his own birthday outfit, he heard Julian call her.
"Brooke! Come quick!"
Brooke grabbed Davis and ran out of the room quickly, not prepared for what she was about to see.
"What? What!"
Brooke stopped in her tracks when Julian was kneeling across the carpet from Jude with his arms out. Of course, Julian's video camera was nearby and rolling as their younger, once more fragile son took his first steps without touching anything. The room was silent as Jude took three consecutive steps towards Julian, hesitated, and then took two more before falling onto his bum.
"Aaga Ju!"
Brooke and Julian smiled as Davis made the first cheer for his brother. It was only a random sound, but the parents knew that Davis was cheering on his brother for walking.
Julian scooped up Jude quickly.
"Buddy! You did it!" He tickled Jude's belly so he smiled and squirmed.
"Oh my god! Baby!" Brooke walked over and kissed Jude's cheek.
"Mama?" Jude smiled.
"Yes! Mommy's so proud of you! And on your birthday too."
"Soon enough we'll have two boys running around this place," Julian observed.
Brooke wrapped her arms around both her boys and Julian put his longer arm around his three favorite people.
;
An hour later, the party was in full swing. Mostly it was a bunch of adults (Naley, Victoria, Paul and Sylvia, Mouth&Millie, Clay&Quinn, Leyton who made a suprise appearance, Chase&Alex, Skills, etc.) and a few kids, but to Brooke, it was the most special day. She got to celebrate her baby boys with the people she loved the most.
After eating a feast catered by Karen's Cafe, everyone took the time to enjoy each other's company, play with the happy little boys, and enjoy a few adult drinks before their attention turned to the start of opening gifts.
Jude and Davis of course had no idea what was going on, so Brooke let big cousin Jamie help them open gifts while she sat close by and kept the boys from crawling away. Brooke smiled, thinking about how old Jamie was now, and how in no time, her own boys were going to be big too. Jamie had just turned the big 1-0 this past May and no one could believe how time had flown.
For the gift opening process, Brooke put Julian on documenting duty so they could eventually write thank you notes to people, and Quinn took pictures for them.
"O0o! That one's from me!" Clay raised his hand as Jamie began opening a large bag. "It's to both of them."
"Cool! Mom, I want one!" Jamie yelled when he saw what was inside.
Of course, Clay being goofy Clay, had gotten a 'twin pack' of huge Super Soaker water guns for one-year-olds.
"Clay! Really?" Brooke questioned as Quinn hit his shoulder.
"I figured Julian could teach them to use 'em and that he would enjoy them, too."
"Thanks man, I will," Julian laughed.
"This must be from Uncle Lucas.." Jamie said as he unwrapped some baby picture books.
"Hey! You alway say that. Plus Peyton picked them out too!" Lucas defended himself.
"Sure she did..." Jamie joked as he handed the books to Brooke.
Nathan, Haley, Jamie and Lydia got the boys a baby basketball hoop and some mini basketballs.
"I figured we've gotta give them a chance to be great, even though their Dad's got no game," Nathan joked when Brooke said that it was a very typical Scott gift. Julian laughed it off, but secretly hoped Nathan and Jamie's love and talent for sports rubbed off on the boys somehow.
Mouth and Millie got the boys a fire truck and a police car with some figurine firemen and cops, Chase and Alex got them some Lego sets for little kids, Grammy Victoria got them monogrammed Piggy Banks, Skills got them baby Einstein videos, Grampa Paul got them their own little tricycles, and Nana Sylvia of course bought each boy a tiny little adorable tuxedos even though they had no reason to wear them at the moment.
"That's it, Aunt Brooke." Brooke informed her.
"Thank you so much everybody! The boys thank you too, I'm sure!"
Everybody clapped and dispersed from the living room. For the most part, the men took all the kids outside to the swingset and the girls stayed inside to talk.
"Brooke, you did a great job on this party. The house looks amazing," Haley told her.
"You think so? I just wanted everything to be perfect."
"Well it certainly is, B. Baker." Peyton agreed.
"After everything you've been through this year, you guys deserve to celebrate today," Millie added. "I could only imagine how hard everything has been on you." Millie raised both hands to her stomach subconsciously.
"Wait? What was that?" Brooke asked her former employee and friend, catching Millie's arms drop when she realized.
"O-M-Gucci, Millie! Do you have a bun in that oven?" Alex blurted out.
"No!" Millie said, faking offense. "What? Do I look bigger or something?" Her smile at the end of the statement gave her away.
"Oh you so are!" Brooke said and when Millie nodded, Brooke attacked her with a hug.
"Marvin and I have only known for like two weeks but it's been so hard to keep this from you guys."
"Ugh! I can't believe you hit it from me at all!" Brooke laughed, jokingly. She knew how at the beginning of her own pregnancy, she didn't want to jinx anything by telling people too soon, so really she understood.
"This is the boys' day. I didn't want to take away from that."
"Of course you didn't. I'm just so happy for you."
Just after Brooke said that, Julian came though the door with a cranky and fussy Jude.
"He thinks he can climb on the swingset and keep up with Jamie but he just can't yet."
Brooke took her son.
"No Jaywee." Jude tried to tell her that Jamie wasn't playing with him, but he obviously had a hard time communicating that.
"Oh buddy. It's okay."
She wiped his slightly sweaty forehead and he put his head down on her shoulder, shaking it back and forth.
"I think it's time to settle down a bit and you can play in here. Let's see if you can show everybody how you walked this morning."
"Aw, he did!" Haley gushed.
"Yep. Our little guys will be walking around here before we know it."
"And running," Peyton added, thinking of Saywer.
"Julian, let's get everybody inside and I'll get the cake ready."
Her husband nodded and went outside to round everyone up.
Brooke handed Jude to Haley and she let Jude walk into the kitchen/dining room area with him only holding her two fingers. Then she got Jude set up in his high chair. Julian brought Davis in and put him in his own high chair on Jude's left.
Brooke brought over the big sheet cake and placed it on the big table in front of the boys so everyone could 'O0o and Aww' at the elaborate cake that they would all eat, but that wouldn't be what the boys ate.
"Okay everyone. We're going to first sing for Davis because he was born first, and then Jude after."
Julian came closely behind Brooke with separate tiny round cakes for each of the boys. One of course said "Davis #1" and the other said "Jude #1".
Brooke tried to put little birthday hats on the boys, but neither would keep it on, so both hats ended up on the floor rather quickly.
Brooke lit the one candle on Davis's cake and Julian put it on his tray as Brooke made sure he wouldn't grab the fire. Everyone sang loudly and Davis was obviously confused and a little upset by all the singing.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Davis, happy birthday to you!"
When the first song was done, everyone clapped. Brooke tickled his tummy to get him to smile and helped him blow out his candle. Then they did the same for Jude.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Ju-ude, happy birthday to you!"
Brooke found it funny that Jude bopped his head along to the singing. She tried to get Jude to blow out his own candle, but he only made a little 'O' with his mouth with no air, so Brooke did it for him.
"Eat up birthday boys!" Julian told them once he took out the candles.
Julian was excited to see the boys get so messy with their own cakes. Brooke was a little weary but Julian assured her it would be entertaining and that the stains would come out. It was harmless fun. So Quinn took tons of pictures and Julian filmed as Jude smashed his little face in the cake and Davis licked his frosting covered forearm. By the time they were 'done', both boys were covered in frosting and cake. Brooke took them into their room to clean them up.
"What's going on in here?" Julian entered the boys' room to see Davis standing on the rug and holding onto Brooke's leg while while she wiped Jude's face with a baby wipe while he sat on the changing table.
"We're trying to get clean in here." Brooke said as Jude whipped his head away, trying to escape the wipe.
Julian picked up Davis, who was cleaner than before but also naked.
"Where'd your clothes go?" He asked the boy.
"Dada!" Davis giggled.
"Would you put a diaper on him please?"
Julian nodded and bent over to get a diaper out of the pack.
"We don't want an accident on the floor, do we?" Julian said.
"Exactly." Brooke agreed.
Julian sat down on the floor and Davis stood in front of him. Brooke thought Julian was helping her but when Davis squealed loudly, she turned and saw a diaper on her husband's head, and a matching on on their son.
"Daddy's crazy, Davey! What did he do to you?"
Julian took the one off his head and put it on Davis, while the boy was distracted.
"We're just having fun since it's a party!" Julian said as he stood up.
"You're a bad influence on them." Brooke joked.
"No Mumma!" Davis pointed in the air.
"Yeah! No Mumma."
Julian came up behind Brooke and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed as he kissed her neck but then began tickling her sides.
"Stop! No, I take it back! I take it back!"
Brooke turned in his arms and grabbed his shoulders and then he stopped. Brooke leaned up to kiss him and he could feel her smile on his lips.
"Are you happy, Brooke Davis?"
"Baaaka!"
The twins interrupted the moment and Brooke giggled.
"Yeah. Baker. Brooke Davis Baker. The boys want you to be more clear about that."
Julian laughed and tilted his head back. "Sorry boys. My bad. We wouldn't want anyone snatching Mommy away from us if they think she's not taken."
"Oh I'm taken alright."
The couple then quickly changed their sons into new outfits before bringing them out to the party again.
"Thanks for helping cleaning up, guys." Brooke told Haley and Millie, who had served ice cream and cake with her and were now clearing plates.
"Don't worry about it. This is our tiny gift to you for making it one year with twin boys," Haley said.
Brooke gave a laugh. "Well it's been a crazy year, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."
She looked over to the couches where the men were watching some sports game and the kids were sitting on their laps or playing in front of them. Julian obviously didn't care much for the games on TV so his eyes were on their sons as Davis pulled on his pant leg and climbed up onto the couch with him and Jude was sharing one of his new toys with almost four-year-old Sawyer.
;
After everyone left the party, it was around seven thirty and the boys were pretty much asleep. All three of them.
"Julian..." Brooke nudged his arm and he stirred with Davis still on his lap.
"Huh?"
"Can you help me get the boys down and then take the trash out for me?"
"Yeah..." Julian adjusted Davis in his arms and carried him to his room. Brooke picked up Jude who was sitting on the floor half playing and half bobbing his sleepy head, and followed her husband.
"I've never seen them this tired so early. We're usually begging them to settle down in an hour from now." Brooke said as she placed Jude in his crib after changing him into PJs. She kissed her fingers and placed the kiss on his forehead before rubbing his belly for a little bit.
"We should have parties more often," Julian said after he stifled a yawn.
"Yeah, they tucker everyone out." Brooke raised her eyebrow as she took Davis from Julian's arms and kissed him before placing him in his crib.
"Happy Birthday boys." Julian said as he walked to the door and turned out the light.
Brooke walked to the door and stopped for a second by Julian, taking a second to glance back at her babies.
"Goodnight babies. I hope you had a great day."
Brooke closed the door slowly and walked hand in hand with Julian into the living room where Julian insisted on putting their first home videos on the TV from last year.
"Ugh I look so bad. I barely put got dressed or makeup on that whole first six months." Brooke laughed at herself.
"You always look beautiful, Brooke. And look at me... I barely knew how to hold a baby back then."
They laughed as they watched Julian on the tape hold Jude like a delicate loaf of bread and pass him to Brooke.
"We should make this a tradition to watch home movies every year on their birthday. And every year we'll have more and more to watch. Next year we can watch Jude's first steps, and Davis's if we catch his..."
Julian smiled and nodded with his arm around his wife. "Absolutely. And soon enough the boys will be old enough to watch them and understand that that's them on the TV."
"Ugh, stop saying that. Soon enough they're going to be all grown up and leave us. I hate thinking about that."
"Brooke, we have plenty of time before that happens. I promise."
"Good. 'Cause since we had them both at once, once they're grown and have lives of their own, we'll be alone again."
"That day's a long, long way away."
"I just want them to be my little boys forever."
"They will be." Julian kissed her head.
The tape cut out and Julian stood up to take the DVD out.
"Can I help you to our bedroom, my lady?"
Brooke smiled and extended her hand so Julian could pull her up off the couch.
Their sons' first birthday party had been a success. No fighting, no accidents, no one got hurt, and everyone had so much fun.
Brooke could only hope that the rest of their lives would go just as smoothly.
REVIEWWW Please!
I hope you liked it because i LOVED writing it :)
Age 1 and 1/2 coming up next!
~ Haley :)