Rowen Curtis

45

Everything has been great for the three of us. Today is Ember's 1st birthday and we are celebrating with the gang at our house. Evie, Sophia (Darry's girlfriend), and Taylor (Soda's girlfriend) are coming too. Darry and Soda met their girlfriends that same night at the same place, Sophia and Taylor are cousins and are Buck's nieces. Each of my brother's have their own room in the house and Sophia lives with Darry. Pony graduated college early, like super early, so he is back living in the house which is nice. Him and Johnny still hang out together and with Dally.

The puppies are growing everyday and are still cute and gentle things. Maggie is attached to Ember and is her guard dog, she protects my baby girl and I think that it is cute. Stormy is attached to me and follows me around as well, I can say he is my guard dog but since he is the male of the house he is like the alpha and protects all of us.

"Mommy, up" Ember says walking over to me. I pick her up and place her on my hip before walking over to join my husband in the kitchen. He hands Em a sippy cup of apple juice and then we walk over to the couch and join the gang.

"Okay, the girls will be here any minute, so once they get here we will eat. Then it will be cake and ice cream, and then presents. Just so you know I made two cakes, I made one big one for the gang and then a little mini cake so Em can have her own and mess around with it." I said to everyone.

A minute or two went by after I made the announcement the girls showed up. We ate the food that I had made which is, chicken nuggets, tater tots, salad, and mac & cheese. Since my house doesn't have any alcohol there is Pepsi, Coke, 7up, water, and rootbeer. Once the boys ate all they could and still have room for cake we decided to have cake. I cleaned off Ember's high chair table and herself before I grabbed her cake (no candles) and sat it in front of her, I had Evie take pictures with my camera.

We sang Happy Birthday to her and then she looked at the cake and then back at me.

"It's okay baby. Put your hand in it." I say softly, encouraging Em to touch her cake. She looked up at me before she slammed her hand into the cake and then started crying.

"Princess, you're okay it won't hurt you. Why don't we go get you cleaned up and changed." Johnny said picking her up and taking her to the nursery.

"While Johnny does that, I will cut slices of cake and then Soda can scoop the ice cream. If you guys just wait in the living room they will be brought out." I said heading into the kitchen Soda and Taylor following me.

I cut the cake and put it on a plate before sliding it over for Soda to put ice cream on. The Taylor would take them to the living room and then come back for more. I thanked both of them before I took both mine and Johnny's places to the coffee table by the couch after putting the ice cream away. As I sat down Johnny came back with a clean and changed Ember but she still had tears.

He sat next to me placing Em on his lap and kissed her head before grabbing a plate from my hand that I picked up off the table. He leaned down and kissed me and thanked me before eating. I turn my head to look at Ember and see she is still upset and fussy. I sigh and pick her up from Johnny's lap and put here in mine.

"Baby Girl, why the sad tears? You're all clean, no more mess. I bet you're tired, you didn't sleep well last night." I say softly wiping her tears away.

I kissed her head, then her cheek and nose before turning her around and laying her head on my left shoulder. She had her face facing Johnny and had her fists clasped onto my shirt pulling it down, but I didn't care at the moment. I rubbed her back up and down with my fingers, calming her down. Once I felt her hiccuping and tears stop, I looked over at Johnny he was already looking at me nodding that she was asleep. He continued to watch our baby sleep while I talked quietly with the girls.

"If you don't find we will let her sleep for a little before we open presents. She wasn't been sleeping well, I think she is starting teething so her mouth hurts and it keeps her up.

"Don't worry, none of us are in any rush to go anywhere" Darry reassured me.

About 45 minutes later I felt Ember move.

"Look at the happy girl. You ready for presents huh, birthday girl." I cooed at her. She smiled and giggled when I tickled her sides.

Ember got a lot of clothes and shoes, sippy cups, toys and stuffed animals, a few blankets, winter gear, and new bed sheets. Once it was getting dark we said goodbye to the others and I went to the freezer and grabbed a teething toy and Orajel from the medicine cabinet and gave them to Em. I put the Orajel in he mouth on her gums to numb them and the teething toy is cold to help numb them while she chews on it. About an hour later we put her to sleep before watching TV for another hour or two and then headed to bed.