I left our little Madeline in the hands of my grandmother,
mom and sisters. They went out to have a last minute Christmas shopping with
her. My wife and I were left in my parents’ house to make sure everything’s
good to go for the family’s Christmas dinner.
Whilst I was in the middle of
helping my wife check the food, my sisters come in.
“Wasn’t that fun, Maddy?” I heard
Jazzy’s voice cooing to my five-year old daughter.
I walked out of the kitchen to see
my sisters’ arms occupied by plastic bags. My daughter was the first one to
greet me.
“Daddy!” she cried. Jazzy let her
down onto the ground and she ran up to me as fast as she could go on those two
stubby legs. I crouched down to welcome her in my arms; she buried her face in
my chest. I lifted her up and started talking to my sisters.
“So how was the shopping?”
Madeline tightened her arms around
my neck, pressing her chubby cheek onto mine.
“Great! We bought loads of stuff for
her,” Amber grinned.
“Wait, you mean for Madeline?” I
asked.
“Yeah!” Jazzy replied with glee.
“Look!” She gestured the big bags at me.
“Guys, you’re not supposed to spoil
my daughter this way. It’s really sweet, but that’s way too much stuff,” I
shook my head.
“It’s okay, Daddy. You can have some
of my stuff,” Madeline squeaked.
My sisters laughed in a chorus then
went into the living room to settle down. My mom came in with my grandmother
after that.
“Aw, little Madeline, you look
precious!” my mom approached her, squeezing her cheeks. I didn’t understand why
she said that because obviously my mom had spent her entire day with her.
“Thank you, abuelita,” she mumbled then received a kiss on the cheek from my
mom. I brought my daughter into the kitchen after greeting my grandmother.
“Mommy…” Madeline called out to my very pregnant wife who was arranging the
lettuce on a plate.
“Hi, Madeline!” my wife chirped,
stopping her work then carried her away from my arms. Madeline is placed on the
kitchen counter. “Did you have fun?”
Our daughter nodded eagerly.
I glanced over at my wife. Her long
shiny hair trailed down beyond her shoulder blades and her belly bulging out.
We’re excited for this baby; we told the doctor to not reveal the baby’s
gender. Either way, I’ll love it just as much as I love my two favourite girls.
“How about you go sit down with
Madeline?” I placed my hand on her back as she continued on to lay out lettuce.
She gave me a smile.
“How ‘bout you go sit down with Madeline?” she said.
“You’re pregnant. I think you should
lie down,” I insisted. She dropped what she was doing, gave me a peck on the
cheek then carried away Madeline into the living room.
My mom came in with my grandmother
after that. They started to talk to me about the new baby coming in a two more
months. Yes! Our baby’s going to be a February baby! I think it’s a nice month
(not because Valentine’s Day falls in it).
They helped me out with the food. In
no time, everything’s prepared. I walked into the room where my wife, Madeline
and my dad sit in. They were conversing about Madeline.
“So, Madeline, what do you like to
do for fun?” my dad asked her. Madeline liked to shy away from my dad most of
the time; the few guys she opens up to wholly are me and Daniel. She loves Daniel very much. Once my brother
volunteered to babysit her while my wife and I were gone for work out of state.
When I came back first, Madeline couldn’t stop talking about how funny ‘Uncle
Daniel’ was and how he would let her do anything her heart desired.
“I like… listening to music…” she
crawled around the couch, finding a hiding spot to conceal herself from my dad.
“Guess the apple doesn’t fall far
from the tree, huh?” my dad smiles at my wife and she nodded, agreeing.
“There’s my favourite niece!” Daniel
came bursting into the room and tossed Madeline in the air. My daughter’s
giggle filled the room, even in the little corners. My brother had grown a lot
since high school. His hair was longer, his facial hair started to kick in and
he’s taking college music as a major since he loves playing instruments. “You
look beautiful today!” he said. She
giggled louder.
My family had a streak for spoiling
my kid rotten. Luckily my wife and I agreed to not give her constant treatment.
She reeked of havoc when she’s not around my family members and, just me and my
wife. Her toys would act as a trail to her whereabouts, she would lead Chubby
the Corgi to really strange places in the house and she would bother me when I’m
writing in my music room. Trust me when I say that I don’t enjoy reprimanding
my wonderful, hyperactive daughter. Discipline is discipline after all.
“Thank you, Uncle Daniel, you look
handsome today too!” she squeaked, still panting from her giggle fit when she’s
brought into my brother’s arms.
“May I?” Daniel turned around to ask
for my permission to carry my daughter to wherever around the house. I nodded,
of course. Then Daniel whisked my daughter away out into the porch, leaving me,
my wife and dad sitting in the living room. We had the big old Christmas tree
fixed up too. I caught my wife losing herself into the stream of twinkling
lights. I decided to take my place next to her.
“How’re you feeling?” I asked my
wife, sounding rather concerned. The more months she’s into the pregnancy, the
more she’s been having morning sickness. For the past 3 months, she was
admitted to the hospital because of it. I didn’t want her to feel left out on
this ‘strange’ pregnancy. To add more onto the load of morning sickness is the
ongoing headaches. The most recent one was last night. Since we’re in Murray
and not Salt Lake for Christmas, we stayed in my parents’ house. So last night
she kept moaning about how she kept seeing stars whenever she opened up her
eyes. Of course, I did give her some pills but that didn’t seem to work out for
her.
“Fine,” she strokes her swollen
belly. “A little woozy though.”
“Don’t…”
“Hurt yourself. I get it,” she
placed her hand on mine and I grabbed it, squeezing it tight.
Think about it: two kids, running around
in the house when they’re toddlers. When they hit their pre-teen age, they’ll
start bickering and bringing us gigantic headaches. Finally when one goes off
to study for college, everything starts to fall in place—they’ll miss one
another and all that. My wife and I have decided to let our kids be Mormon eventhough
she isn’t one. She wanted our kids to be just like me—wise beyond their ages
and passionate. Madeline is already baptised. Next is the little life inside of
my wife.
“I need to go lie down on the bed,
David, would you walk me?” she tugged on my arm a little.
“Of course,” I whispered. We stood
up and I rested my hand on her back, supporting her build.
“You’re doing the ‘trying to be the
best husband’ thing right, just so you know,” she joked. I kissed her forehead
as we walked (more like waddled) into the foyer.
I led her up the wooden staircase
slowly. She lifted one leg after the other after trying to balance herself onto
the steps.
“Man, I’m huge,” she mumbled to
herself (or me).
“Yeah, you kinda are,” I chuckled.
She shot me a look.
“Thanks, I needed to hear that,” she
sarcastically replies. Goodbye ‘trying to be the best husband’ streak.
We went into our room where the bed
is unmade and clothes were everywhere. First thing she did was to wait for me
to lie her down since she couldn’t plop herself onto the bed, afraid that the
baby might kick her hard. I held her hand as she slowly rests her head onto the
pillows.
“David, I hate headaches,” she
groaned, squeezing my hand tighter. Sometimes I felt bad because this baby is
giving her twice the trouble when Madeline was in her belly. I managed to pull
myself closer to her, sitting on the bed right by her side.
“Do you need-”
“Those things are no good for me!”
she cried. “David, it hurts—my head hurts really badly.”
I kept quiet, hoping the headache
would calm if I don’t make a peep. She kept quiet too. We basked in the silence
with our hands interlocked with each other.
“Is everything okay in there?” I
heard my mom pass our room then stopped immediately on her tracks to see my
wife on the bed, trying to withstand the banging in her head.
“Yeah,” I said to her. I was trying
to keep my volume at a constant minimum. “Headaches again.”
Then she walked away (with her
footsteps sounding as gentle as the rain) to the living room to set up the
table.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.
This makes one more child to spoil!” my dad laughed out of nowhere (I think he
was saying that to my wife? I don’t recall my dad ever calling me ‘sweetheart’).
I jumped and turned my attention back to the doorway; he was holding Madeline.
I told him that she’s having a headache but he didn’t mind at all. I couldn’t
argue that time because he’s been with my mother through over five pregnancies,
and headaches, probably, were the least of his concerns. I glanced back to my
worn out wife.
She beamed at me with tired eyes.
“One more child to spoil,” she
murmured to me with lips curved upwards.
My dad constantly reminded me that
having a kid will be worthwhile and that’s what kept me going. I looked back at
my dad and Madeline, she looked as happy as ever.
“C’mon, Daddy, we’re going to unwrap
presents soon!” she said to me.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” I
replied. After that the two headed off downstairs yelling, “Yay presents!”