Another Life

23

I sat back in the chair and held back a laugh as I watched Jay let out a string of mumbled curses, him trying not to be too loud because Macie was in the room, but I could tell that task was getting harder as more time went on and as he got more frustrated at the piece of furniture he was trying to assemble.

He hears my terrible cover-up of a chuckle and he turns his head over his shoulder and sends me a proper death stare, only making me laugh more. Macie then catches on to what I was doing and started laughing herself, despite the fact she had no idea why and she was only doing it because I was.

For the past two days we had been getting things ready to decorate the nursery, picking up all the bulky furniture on the first day after work and spending all day yesterday and half of today painting, that job taking so long because Mae's favorite thing to do was stick her hand in the paint and put it everywhere but the walls we were trying to paint. Now that that was done however it was time to assemble the bigger pieces of furniture, which by the looks of it Jay was having a blast over.

He grumbles an annoyed sigh and looks back to the stack of wooden slats and bolts and frame, throwing the paper instructions to the ground. "They make this stupid thing impossible to put together and then they sit and laugh on the other end of the phone when you call up and ask how the hell you're supposed to build it."

I chirp up from the rocking chair in the corner of the room. "It's just a crib."

Jay shakes his head quickly. "No, it's a pain in the a-"

"Child!" I cut in before he could finish his sentence, making a nod to Macie, who had returned her attention back on to throwing the unpacked diapers and bags of wipes into the dresser.

He rolls his eyes and reaches forward again, grabbing the instructions and reading through them for the hundredth time, attempting to make sense of them.

I would help out but I was quite happy here watching him get agitated over a piece of furniture. Plus I had been on my feet all morning with the painting and had been having a few braxton-hicks because of that, so I had to stay sat down for a little bit longer as a change of position.

Macie got my attention up from folding a few of the larger onesies as she ran over, handing a pack of wipes to me. "Don't fit." She says, shaking her head and then pointing to the dresser as to ensure I knew exactly where the wipes didn't fit. I look over her shoulder and see the drawer still open and the messiest organization skills ever, no wonder why the pack didn't fit, but I smile and nod, telling her I would make it fit.

I then grab her before she could run off again, using the sleeve of my hoodie (well Jay's hoodie) to try and scrub some of the cadet grey paint she had on her nose and I can't help but notice the tint of blue in the paint brought out her eyes more than normal.

We had gone that stereotypical route with the paint, but rather than going the full baby blue we had instead picked a shade of blue-grey because it matched the changing table we already had. The specific shade we had picked though wouldn't have worked on all four walls, it would have made the room feel too small so three of the four had been painted white, with the cadet blue on the farthest wall from the door, the wall where we were planning to put the crib - when it was finally built.

Jay looks up from the instructions, putting them back down on the carpet and nodding confidently to himself. "I think I've got it." He says and I get up from the chair, helping him out.