Hanging on a Moment Part II
Chapter 17
"What do you think?" Hanna asked holding up two very small outfits in front of her oldest daughters who were sitting at the end of her bed.
"I like the bumble bee one!" Paisley replied pointing to the little yellow onsie.
"No, I don't think that either of them are right." Parker exhaled with a grim expression.
Paisley looked at her older sister and quickly changed her mind. "Yeah, the bee is cute but Peyton needs something cuter."
"Girls, we have to be at the hospital in an hour!" Hanna gasped looking at both of the tiny clothes in her hands.
"We could make a quick stop." Parker mentioned putting her hand on her hip.
"Alright, alright! If we are making a pit stop you ladies better move." Hanna instructed shooing the two brunettes out of her room and into the family's SUV.
Everyone in the River's family was beyond ecstatic today, because after almost seven long weeks, baby Peyton was finally ready to go home. The day started off as any normal day until a nurse from the NICU called to let Hanna and Caleb know that their daughter had passed her car seat test and would be discharged from the hospital at one in the afternoon. The morning was spent getting the last few things ready for baby Peyton's home coming and Hanna trying to mental prepare herself what it would be like to have four kids running around the house.
Hanna emerged from the NICU with Peyton strapped in her seat all ready for the car ride home.
"Oh!" Parker and Paisley cooed as Hanna rounded the corner of the lobby with her three kids and husband waiting for her.
Caleb held Piper as Parker and Paisley clamored around the new baby.
"You guys are right; this is the perfect outfit for her." Hanna smiled as they softly touched her hands. Caleb grinned at the smallest River's girl in her sleeper that read 'Cutest little Sister ever.'
"See Daddy, we were right." Parker turned back to her Dad who shook his head.
"Man, she looks really small in that thing." Caleb noted to his wife.
"Can I hold her?" Paisley pleaded.
"How about we go home first, it's too germy here." Hanna smiled to her eager daughters.
The car ride went about as well as expected. Caleb had to stop twice on the short drive home so Hanna could tend to both her youngest children.
"We finally made it." Caleb called out to his family in the back as he pulled into the drive.
"Should we give Peyton the grand tour?" he smiled as he helped everyone out of the back of vehicle.
"Yeah!" Paisley smiled as they entered the house and Caleb un-snapped the fragile new baby from the seat and followed Parker and Paisley around the house giving Hanna a few minutes to settle down Piper. The tour ended in the living room where the whole family was now together again.
"I get to hold her first." Parker smiled as she took a seat next to her mothers. "I'm the oldest."
"Did you all wash your hands?" Hanna questioned as her kids shook their heads.
Caleb gently placed a sleeping Peyton into his oldest child's arms. Parker was pretty much a pro at baby snuggling these days and knew exactly how to hold and support her new sister's head and neck. A huge smile was plastered on her face as she inspected her sweet little face.
"Is it my turn yet?" Paisley whined.
"We don't need to hurry girls; she is here for forever now." Caleb suggested as he took pictures of the family's first meeting.
"Baby!" Piper pointed looking confused up at her mom.
"Yes, can you say Peyton, Piper?" Hanna asked in a soft voice.
"No." Piper replied laying her head against her moms.
"We may have a little jealousy going on here." Hanna giggled noting Piper's scowl towards the baby.
Paisley grabbed Pipers shoulder, "It's ok Pipes, Mommy and Daddy are going to keep you too." She reminded her sweetly as Piper went to bite her older sister.
"Hey, no, no! We don't bite!" Hanna reminded her as Paisley threw her eyes in her head.
"If you keep trying to bite me, I am going to love Peyton more!" the sassy seven year old snapped furrowing her brows.
"Hey now, we all love each other equally, got it?" Caleb put down the camera taking Peyton.
"Alright Paisers, I'm going to have Mommy help you." Paisley sat on Hanna's lap and reached out her arms for Caleb to place the baby in.
"Good job honey." Hanna cheered.
"I think she is waking up!" Parker noted as the small five pound baby began squirming a little.
"Mom!" Paisley looked back needing help.
"I've got her."
"She sure is loud even though she is small!" Parker stated covering her ears from the wails. Piper came right under Hanna's feet and began crying too. She was pretty overwhelmed by the presence of the new baby.
"Caleb, can you get her I am going to go feed Peyton upstairs."
Mr. River's grabbed Piper and Hanna took Peyton and headed in their separate directions leaving the older girls alone in the living room.
"Is this how it's going to be all the time?" Paisley looked over to Parker with wide eyes.
"God, I hope not." She exhaled grabbing the remote. "Do you want to watch television?"
"What if they forget to feed us?" Paisley continued babbling.
"Mom and Dad are just busy, they need us to help, ok?" Parker snapped at her sister annoyed for not being understanding.
"Maybe we should make dinner?" Paisley replied embarrassed for acting immature.
"What can you cook?"
Paisley thought for a few moments before she spoke. "What about pb&j's?"
A soft knock was heard on the master bedroom door as footsteps of scurrying kids padded down the hall.
"What is this?" Caleb mentioned as he brought back a tv tray with two sandwiches, yogurt cups and cookies.
"This is for a snack. Eat the lunch and then you can have the cookies. You don't have to worry about us. Love, Parker and Paisley." Caleb chuckled quietly bringing it over to Hanna. Paisley was asleep next to her and Peyton was asleep on her chest.
"Awh." She whispered looking over the note from the girls.
"This is going to be a lot harder than I thought." She sighed.
"Do you think we should call your mom after all?" he asked taking a bite of the cookie despite being told to eat the meal first. Hanna frowned shaking her head. Originally, Caleb and Hanna had asked everyone to not bother them today so they could enjoy Peyton finally getting to be home.
"I'm going to spend some time with the big squirrels and when she wakes up, I will call Ashley." Caleb noted as Hanna gave him the thumbs up.
Hanna and Caleb spent a few days getting to know Peyton better before they had the oldest three come back from Ashley's. Today was the first Wednesday since Peyton had come home and Hanna felt like she needed girl time more than ever.
The new mom was finishing nursing as Megan and Spencer came in.
"Oh hey, don't mind me." She announced grabbing a nearby blanket to cover up.
"Hanna, you know we care less." Spencer replied brashly.
"Oh Honey, you look miserable." Hanna noted as Megan waddled to the oversized chair.
"Thanks Han." She snarked back not amused. "Thirty eight weeks, but who is counting?"
"You are a rock star!" Hanna smiled at her puffy, hugely pregnant friend.
"I can't believe you are ready for visitors already, she just got home like a week ago." Spencer marveled.
"I could use a sanity check." Hanna laughed. "Trust me, in a few weeks, you will understand." She pointed at Megan who had about every throw pillow surrounding her.
"Where are the kids?" Megan asked as she tried to prop her feet up with one of the cushions.
"Caleb took them to the aquarium."
"How has it been?" Spencer asked.
"I'm exhausted, but it's all worth it. Hopefully we get some sort of routine worked out soon. Thank God my husband and mother are amazing!" Hanna stated as she wiggled around to get her top back on.
"Ok, I want to hold her." Spencer smiled as Hanna stood up and handed her Peyton.
"You are sooooo precious." Spencer squealed in her little baby voice as she rubbed small circles on the infants back.
Suddenly the door flew open and Aria made her way to the seat next to Hanna.
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" she huffed out of breath setting down her purse. "Oh, Han, you missed a button."
"And where were you?" Spencer interrogated with an arched brow.
Aria fidgeted with her bracelets as she blushed.
"So you and Davis are an item now?" Hanna smirked as she fixed her top.
"I guess you could say that." She replied coyly.
"You don't buy a house and move across the state if you aren't serious about someone." Spencer added.
"It wasn't just for him, come on guys. I got a really good teaching position, and for some silly reason, I wanted to be able to hangout with you knuckle heads more often."
"And your boy toy." Megan replied not opening her eyes.
"Are you even alive?" Aria giggled at the overly pregnant girl who was morphing into the plush chair.
"Spencer's kid's are trying to kill me." She grumbled back.
"I can't wait for them to get here." She cooed at Peyton who had just woken up.
"Me either!" Megan moaned as she struggled to sit upright. "Let me hold Peyton." She commanded and Spencer obliged bringing over the sweet little girl who was swaddled in a purple blanket.
"How many babies can Megan hold?" Aria joked pulling out her phone. "I've got to get a picture of this."
"Can you tell your little friends to get out?" Megan smiled down at Peyton who had her hand wrapped around her finger. "You know all about early eviction, it's not that bad in the real world is it Pey?"
"I get a turn!" Aria stood up and brought the small baby back to the sofa next to Hanna. "Oh, you are soooo tiny! Remember when we thought Parker was so small?" the dark hair girl recalled as she rocked the little baby.
"Parker weighed a pound and a few ounces more at birth than Peyton weighs right now." Hanna spoke leaning over and giving her youngest a kiss on her head.
"Wow, so crazy." Aria mumbled. "Thank God you are here safe and sound."
"Absolutely, now we have to wait on those Cavanaugh twins to get here." Hanna smiled as Spencer rubbed Megan's distended middle.
"I'll drink to that!" Megan cheered.
"Not yet, preggo!" Spencer corrected as everyone laughed.
Authors Note: Heeey Pretty Little Readers! Hope you all are having a great start to your weekend. I feel like I am going to be wrapping up this story soon, all good things must come to an end. I just wanted to Thank each and every one of you that has stopped by and read and/or reviewed my what I have written. I looked at my stats the other day and I had over 2k views! Whaaaat?! That is crazy! I am humbled that even one person would read it let alone thousands! You guys are insane and I heart ya! Here is to a great weekend and it going by fast so we can watch our favorite show on Tuesday! Yay!-Brostow