Thursday 24th December 2015

It was Daniel's first Christmas Eve and at 15 weeks old, the little boy couldn't go a day without giggling which always pleased his parents. Sam and Tom had finally gotten around to getting a christmas tree, but they didn't fancy cleaning up all of the pins from a real fir so they had gotten a fake christmas tree that stood in the corner of their living room where Shadow's whelping box used to bed - the puppies who were the same age as Daniel now slept apart from their mother, ranging from the living room floor to the foot of Sam and Tom's bed. Tom was decorating the tree whilst they had Christmas music playing in the background and Sam was sitting on the floor, cross legged with Daniel in her lap as he felt the different decorations.

"He definitely likes tinsel." Sam smiled as Daniel waved it about in the air in his fist.

"Rockin' around the christmas tree-"

"Please stop singing or you're gonna make him cry." Sam moaned.

"Why? I've got a beautiful singing voice." Tom protested jokily.

"This time last year, on Christmas Eve, I was taking two pregnancy tests and I was four weeks pregnant with this little rascal." Sam smiled at the memory that she would cherish forever.

"And then you gave me the two white sticks that I remember had a purple end in a little yellow box on christmas morning that you said was a last minute present." Tom stated. "You're not gonna do the same again tomorrow morning are you?" He joked.

"Nope. Definitely not." Sam hand sternly. "By the way the estate agents emailed me this morning, they've set a date for the move; Saturday 5th March."

"Oh right. So we've got just over two months to sort everything out. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time."

"Mm. I'm just worried that it might unsettle Daniel." Sam admitted. "With me returning to work on the 4th of January, and Daniel will have to start going to the crèche. I don't know if it might cause some problems."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Besides, maybe moving could be the perfect time for us to move him into his own bedroom."

"But he'll only be six months old." Sam protested.

"So? Sam loads of parents move their kids out within weeks of them being born." Tom stated but he had a feeling that Sam wasn't concerned for their son, she was just concerned that she wouldn't get to have Daniel sleep in their bed like he did two or three times a week when he was being a little bit fussy or restless. "Alright, he can sleep in our room still. But maybe it would be best if we move him out of his bedside sleeper and into his cot because he's getting a little bit too big for that now, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." Sam mumbled.

"Come on, Daniel's got to put the star on the tree." Tom smiled as he put his hand out and he helped Sam to her feet before they looked at the green tree that was decorated with silver baubles and tinsel.

"You lift him, I'll guide his hands." Sam said as she handed Daniel over to his father, and then Tom held Daniel under his arms and hoisted him to the top of the tree. "Daniel, you want to hold this? You like sparkly things don't you?" Sam cooed and Daniel's mouth fell open as he saw the big silver star covered in glitter that shone in the light. He reached his hands out and touched it while Sam lowered it onto the top of the tree. "Now let go, let go. Good boy." Sam praised before Tom lowered the infant and held him against his chest

"Beautiful." Tom exclaimed as the family looked at the glistening tree. Sam bent down to switch the lights on, but once she had done so, she didn't stand up.

"Crap." She muttered.

"What?" Tom asked worriedly but when he looked down and saw her on the floor, he knew what was wrong. And his thoughts were confirmed when a single drip came from between her legs out of her leggings and fell onto the cream coloured carpet. "Come on, I'll give you a hand." Tom said as he balanced Daniel on his hip and he pulled Sam up to her feet. She then mumbled a thanks before she went to the bedroom, followed by the bathroom.

Friday 25th December 2015

As agreed, Sam and Tom were sharing a shower on Christmas morning, and Daniel - who was being held against Sam's chest - was very happy at sharing a shower with the two most important people in his life. It was only 6am, but they were used to early mornings because of their son, and they had agreed that they were going to get washed and dressed before they went and opened their presents - none of which could be hidden under the tree because they had three mischievous puppies in the home and they weren't to be trusted.

"You always moan that he wees on you in the shower but he's never once done that to me." Sam stated. They had taken turns in showering the infant every morning since his umbilical cord had fallen off because the young boy strongly detested baths (well he had done when he was a week old, they hadn't tried him in a bath since because they enjoyed showering with him so much.)

"Maybe you just don't notice." Tom shrugged.

"Can you hold him now? My arms are getting achy."

"Yeah sure." Tom smiled as they carefully exchanged the slippery baby and then he held his son against his chest. "Don't you think it's amazing that ever since he's been born, all he's consumed has been your breast milk, and even since your egg was fertilised with my sperm, he's been taking nutrients from your body. So for over a year, all of his nutrition has been coming from you."

"Mm, and I'm definitely feeling it." Sam admitted tiredly.

"Well you don't look it. You look almost exactly the same before you were pregnant except your nipples are darker, your breasts are bigger and you've got a couple of stretch marks on your hips. Your stomach is as flat as it used to be and you only gave birth 14 weeks ago."

"At my heaviest when I was overdue, I was 29 pounds more than usual. And now I've still got a couple of pounds left to lose." Sam said ashamedly as though it was her fault that she had not yet gotten back to her pre-pregnancy weight.

"Sam, you don't need to lose any more weight. You're beautiful just the way you are." Tom said reassuringly. "Besides, you're exclusively breastfeeding so I bet that you've got about two or three extra pounds of breast milk and fat stores in your breasts to feed our son. And that is weight that you need to maintain, not lose." Tom said sternly.

Daniel was laying in his play gym as he batted his fists at the toys dangling above him whilst Sam and Tom sat on the carpet and they had just finished opening the few presents that they had gotten each other.

"What are we going to do for the rest of the day then?" Tom asked seductivley as he pinned Sam down on the carpet and rolled on top of her.

"I'm not really in the mood for that. Sorry." Sam admitted slowly.

"In the mood for what? I haven't suggested anything yet." Tom winked as he did a 180° turn so that Sam was on top of him and he was on the carpet. "How about we wrap our little man up in plenty of layers, and then we can take him, Shadow and the pups to the park for a nice gentle walk in the park like we did last year?"

"Sounds good to me." Sam nodded before she snuggled her face into Tom's chest.

"You know you're gonna have to get up for us to go." Tom chuckled as he stroked Sam's hair.

"Mm. Oh and I've got to feed him before we go." Sam announced as she got up and collected her son who was quite happily entertaining himself in his play gym. Tom remained sitting on the floor as he watched Sam curl up in the corner of the sofa before she began breastfeeding her son.

"You really look so beautiful when you breastfeed. You've got such a strong bond with him already." Tom said softly.

"You've bonded with him too." Sam protested.

"Yeah but all he thinks I'm good for is changing nappies."

"And taking him for walks, and reading stories to him every night, and holding him in the shower every other day and there's loads more. Tom he loves you, and he already knows that your special. His face lights up when you walk into a room and he doesn't giggle for just anyone. Just because I'm feeding him, doesn't mean he loves me any more than he does you. Besides, you should've told me that you felt that way. I'll start expressing more so you can feed him more often."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's no problem."

"Alright, thanks." Tom smiled as he got up and pecked Sam on the forehead. "I'll go and sort out some warm clothes for him. It must be freezing out there."

"When you said earlier that you weren't in the mood for sex... I mean, is there a reason for that? Are you feeling unwell? Have you started your periods again? Or are you just genuinely not in the mood for it?" Tom asked curiously as they both walked slowly around the park. Tom was pushing the cream and black pushchair whilst Sam had a bag of treats in her pocket and she was in charge of the three puppies and Shadow who were more than happy to run around on the frozen, frosty grass around their owners and play with each other rather than interact with the other dogs in the park. And Daniel was content with sleeping in his thick blue puffer jumpsuit that covered his hands and feet and he had a blue hat on, as well as having the hood up to keep him warm as his father pushed hia stroller along the pathway.

"No, I haven't started yet. But... I don't know." Sam shrugged. "I just don't think I've got the energy for it to be honest."

"Alright." Tom nodded. "Let's hope that we don't run into that massive dog again like last year." Tom joked to change the subject.

"Yeah only this time, I think Shadow's too busy protecting her own kids rather than me."

"Shadow is a lot more maternal than I thought she'd be." Tom admitted.

"Well they are her offspring. She must have some sort of knowing that they came out of her when she gave birth."

"She did, after all, eat four placentas, umbilical cords and their amniotic sacs." Tom said disgustedly.

"I didn't say it at the time but watching her do that did make me feel rather sick."

"Yeah I noticed, you turned slightly green." Tom smirked.

"Can we watch a movie tonight?" Sam requested.

"Yeah sure. We can put Daniel to bed and then lie down on the sofa together under a blanket." Tom nodded. "What do you want to watch? A Christmas film?"

"Nah, they're all boring. How about... 12 years a slave?"

"Have we got that on DVD?" Tom asked.

"You got that for me for christmas and I unwrapped it in front of you this morning!" Sam protested.

"Well I can't remember what I got you because I did it in advance, I didn't get anything last minute. Surely that's a good thing?" Tom laughed and Sam couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. Suddenly, they heard a high pitched scream which was abruptly stopped and Sam and Tom both looked around the park until their eyes fell upon two men who were obviously attacking a young woman and one of them must've had his and over her mouth which was why the scream had stopped. "Stay with Daniel." Tom ordered before he sprinted as fast as he could across the grass. Sam quickly held onto the pushchair and squatted besides it so that she could see that her baby was safe and she suddenly became paranoid of the other people walking in the park. She then noticed that Shadow was herding her children until they were all standing around the pushchair and Shadow sat right next to Sam as though she was protecting her puppies, Sam and Sam's baby. Sam looked over, once her child was safe, to see that both of the men had ran off and Tom was consoling the young lady.

"Hey, sshh. Mummy's here, it's okay." Sam said softly as either the scream or the lack of movement had woken Daniel. Sam held his hand gently and cooed him back to sleep just as Tom came back over and he had a bloody nose. "What happened? Are you okay?" Sam demanded as a she grabbed a pack of tissues out of the bottom of the pram and she began cleaning Tom's face up.

"Fine." Tom muttered. "Absolute scumbags trying to take her phone and purse. Who does that on Christmas Day?" He was clearly seething about the situation but he grimaced so Sam handed him the tissue so he could wipe the worst of the blood away without causing him more pain.

"Clearly, some people have no morals." Was all Sam could think to say. "Shouldn't you go with her to the police?"

"She doesn't want to go to the police." Tom stated. "She said she doesn't live around here and she was already late to go to her parents' place for christmas lunch but I gave her my number just in case she changes her mind and needs a witness." He explained. "How am I looking?" Tom questioned.

"It doesn't look broken but it's still bleeding. Come on, let's get home so I can clean it up properly." Sam ordered as she grabbed the four leads out of the bottom of the pram and sorted the dogs out. Thankfully, Shadow was well behaved and could easily be walked alongside the pram without pulling, and her puppies seemed to have gotten the message and followed in a straight line too as they made the journey home after a, once again, eventful Christmas Day walk.

"This brings back memories." Sam smirked as she was wiping the blood away from Tom's nose whilst he sat at the kitchen table.

"Oh yeah, the festival." Tom nodded.

"Keep still." Sam ordered as she held his chin steady with one hand and held an antiseptic wipe in the other to get rid of the congealed blood.

"I'm still waiting for the 'you shouldn't have done that' speech." Tom stated as Sam had been giving him a stern look since he returned from the incident.

"I would. But at the same time, if we didn't have Daniel or the dogs to worry about, I probably would've ran over too so I'd be hypocritical if I told you what you did was wrong." Sam replied. "Have you got a headache? Any blurred vision?"

"I'm not concussed." Tom stated bluntly.

"Any nausea?"

"Nope."

"Would you like some paracetamol?" Sam offered.

"Nah, it was only a scratch." Tom joked.

"You had a nose bleed for ten minutes." Sam argued sternly.

"Well thank you Dr Kent but all I need to feel better is a nice peck on the lips." Tom grinned. Sam smiled before she leant in and gave him a more passionate kiss and Tom pulled her onto his lap with her legs straddled around her waist but as she landed on his lap she pulled away and looked down at her light blue skinny jeans to inspect the damage. "Did you leak?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, but for once I remembered to put a pad on." Sam quipped before she leant in, began snogging once more and wrapped her hands around his neck.

After a long day, Sam and Tom were spooning on the sofa, watching 12 years a slave in the dark living room whilst their son slept away in his bedside sleeper in their bedroom. They had a baby monitor bedsides them, but they heard little more than the occasional babble that he made in his sleep.

"How's your nose?" Sam asked curiously.

"Fine... I know it's probably the last thing on your mind right now," Tom began, "but what are you thoughts on having another child? I don't mean like soon but I just want to know if you'd be happy to have another baby."

"Definitely not for a couple of years yet, but yeah. I think I want another baby." Sam said quietly.

"And another one after that?" Tom questioned.

"That's pushing it." Sam said sternly. "Ask me once I've had the second one and I'll have a better idea." She added before she stifled a yawn.

"You wanna go to bed?" Tom asked quietly as he tucked a bit of hair behind Sam's ear to see her face.

"I want to sleep here but I know I can't because of Daniel." Sam stated sleepily.

"Come on, last one into bed smells!" Tom said excitedly but Sam didn't move an inch and he couldn't move because she was in front of him.

"I'm not a two year old."

"Oh right, so you're too old to be carried to bed then?" Tom questioned.

"I'm never too old for that." Sam smiled as she turned to face him.

"Come on then mummy." Tom smirked as he pulled her onto his lap and then he heaved her bridal style against his chest as he carried her to the bedroom. "I don't know if you're aware, but you're a little bit heavier than Daniel is." Tom stated as he slowly lowered Sam onto his side of bed and then she shuffled across so that she was lying next to Daniel's bedside sleeper. "Er hang on." Tom protested as Sam carefully lifted her sleeping son up.

"What? It's his first christmas, he can sleep with us, can't he?" Sam asked as she fluttered her eyelids at Tom whilst he climbed into bed.

"Go on then." Tom chuckled as he faced his wife and Sam laid their son in between them on the mattress.

"It's so weird, it seems like yesterday I was watching you throw snowballs at Shadow and then I was hugging Shadow in bed and you was hugging me. But that was just last Christmas." Sam stated quietly as their son awoke at the moment but he was wide eyed and gave a gummy smile at his parent. Daniel amused both of them for a couple of minutes whilst he made strange noises, before the 15 week old baby rolled onto his side and put his hands on one of Sam's breasts. "You hungry?" Sam asked.

"Yeah I am actually." Tom admitted and Sam rolled her eyes at Tom before she peeled Daniel's hands off of her and she unzipped her onesie and then unclipped her nursing bra. "I'm gonna something to eat, you want anything?" Tom asked as he slowly sat up.

"Just a bottle of water please." Sam requested.

"Fine, more cake for me." Tom grinned.

"Tom it's eleven o'clock at night!" Sam protested.

"Thank you but I didn't ask for the time." Tom joked from the kitchen. Sam didn't usually need to help Daniel to latch on anymore as he was perfectly capable of grabbing what was in front of him and then suckling to get his milk. Sam laid on her side with her hand supporting her head whilst Daniel made small swallowing sounds until Tom returned with his mouth stuffed with cake and a bottle of water in his hand. He gently got into bed and gave Sam her drink before he rested his hand on Daniel's side so that he knew his daddy was right behind him.

"Do you think I'm a bad mum for going back to work so early?" Sam asked.

"Course not. Plenty of mums go back earlier than the 16 weeks that you've taken off. Besides, he's going to be in the crèche and we're both gonna see him every couple of hours during our breaks so that we can feed him." Tom said reassuringly. "You've already got a strong bond with him and he'll have to get used to a routine of me and you being at work during the day so that he's ready to start school when he's four or five."

"Merry Christmas Tom."

"Merry Christmas." Tom replied as he leant across and pecked Sam on the forehead. Sam watched as Tom rested his head on his pillow, and soon he was asleep. She smiled at the sight of her husband whilst her son had his evening dose of milk and minutes later, she looked down to see that Daniel had finished suckling and was still latched on but he was fast asleep. Sam used her little finger to break the deal and then she decided that she was better off not winding him because then she would have to wake him up so she just laid Daniel on his back, did up her bra and onesie and settled down to go to sleep herself.

Coming up: Sam returns to work for the first time since she went on maternity leave.

Thanks for reading, please review :)