Forever - Christian Yelich

A Phone Call Away.

Brooklyn~

I walk into the mess of our little boy's room as I was called up to come see the progress my dad and Christian have made in his room. 

I gasp, "It looks so good," I say and look at the painted walls and the few shelves that are mounted. 

"Honey, is this straight?" my dad asks as Christian and him hold up a wood shelf. 

I stand back and look at it, "No," I laugh, "Christian, your end needs to go up a little bit."

"Right there," I say and they get it screwed into the wall. They both stand back and look at what they've done so far. "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"I still need to do my painting thing before anything gets built. I'm gonna do that tonight since there is no game later."

"Okay, well you guys have fun with that. I'm gonna get going so I can make it back for dinner with your mom."

"Okay, thank you for coming by. Love you."

"Love you, too. Let us know if you need anything." Christian and I both nod and watch him head out of this room, "You guys got a lot done."

"It's come a long way from this morning." It started out with white walls and now we're at grey walls with shelves. I look down at my bump and notice I can no longer see my feet but quickly notice our little guy stretching his legs and we can see faint foot imprints. That's so amazing, but also weird at the same time. "When are you going to start painting?"

"After we eat, which should be soon."

"He's getting big," he says and runs a hand over my belly. "Tell me about it." He laughs as we start to walk downstairs, "I've been thinking about it and I don't think we're making it to November. I feel like he's gonna be a couple of weeks early, which that's fine with me." He's gotten so heavy recently and it's been killing my back so if he wants to come a couple of weeks early, that's fine with me.

"That's okay with me as long as he's healthy. We can love him a little earlier than expected."

"Okay, be honest, where do you think you guys are with the postseason?"

He hands me my plate before sitting down next to me, "We're like three games back as of right now and you know how we tend to perform in September, so I would say yes postseason, but I'm thinking we'd start in the Wild Card. Of course, I want to be in the postseason again and go far but if you're thinking he's coming early, I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to be in another city playing a baseball game while you're having our son. I would never say this in front of the team, but I don't really want to make it that far this year. I don't want him to come in the middle of the postseason and I get to be with both of you for three days and then I have to go back playing. I want you to be as comfortable as possible."

I sigh, "Clearly, I haven't been paying attention to the games as I'm just trying to get shit done. But, if I'm being honest, I'm terrified that you're going to be in Atlanta or New York, hundreds of miles from me and I'm going to start going into labor. I'm clingy right now, so when I stop working the away games, I already know that's going to get worse. I just don't know what to do. I know it's going to suck when you do have to go to a part of a series."

"Hey, you know you can always call me or Couns if something happens. One of us will always answer. Mom's flying in soon. So someone will always be here with you."

"I know, I just don't want you to miss anything."

"Well, let's just hope he wants to come when I'm here in Milwaukee or when there is no baseball for us."

"I wish it was that easy." He scoots his chair closer to me and takes the silverware out of my hand so I can hug him. 

"I know you're stressing about this, but you don't need to. We have this figured out. Your parents will be around, my mom and Collin will be around, Maggie is always around, and when I'm gone, I'm only a phone call away. You know I would try my hardest to get on the first flight back here." 

I let go of him and wipe under my eyes, "I know you would. We just need to stop talking about this because I'm just going to keep crying."

Christian frowns at my sad, stressed face and leans in to kiss me. "I love you and I love our little boy."

"I love you," I say quietly and run my fingers through the top of his hair.

"Babe, this looks so good. Did you draw that out?"

I turn around and see Christian watching me at the door. "Thank you. Yeah, drew it out on a piece of paper and made it bigger."

"What's this going to be?" he asks pointing to an unpainted animal. "A monkey."

"What else are you doing in here?"

"I have the main part done being the tree. So now it's just the animals around the room."

"It looks great. I couldn't have done a better job, so I'm glad you did it." I chuckle and set the small can of paint down so I can get a drink of water. "When'd you want to build the crib?"

"Um, well, I'm might do a second coat on some of these, but none are going where the crib is, so we can do it soon."

"Are you almost done for tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm getting tired and my body hurts."

"Okay. Do you want me to do anything?"

"I'm just going to fill this spot in and then call it a night."

"How big is he?" Christian asks me as he gets settled into bed after his shower. I've been chilling out in our very comfortable bed after a long day for me. 

"He is as big as a squash. A squash-sized baby who wants to do karate right now."

"Oh, karate?"

"Yes. He doesn't like it when I settle down for the night. That gets him going and it's almost nonstop."

"He's gonna be an active little guy," he says and snuggles into me and rests his head and hand on my belly. 

"I think I'd be concerned if he wasn't. One very active, athletic parent, and another who is go, go, go, all the time."

"Have you thought about any names?"

I look down at Christian, "No, nothing has really spoken to me. I don't want to be set on a name and then he doesn't end up looking like that name we picked. I'd rather maybe have a few choices in the back of our minds so we have an idea."

"Well, we know Christian Jr. is a no." 

"I don't even think you would like that." He shrugs, "You're right, I wouldn't."

"What about a letter?"

"Personally, I feel surrounded by C's with you, Collin, Cam, and Caleb, so I think we should stray away from those. But I'm open-minded about anything."

Our little guy kicks the side of Christian's head, "Dang, he is strong." 

"See? He's strong for still needing to cook a little longer."

"It's crazy he's going to be here in less than 11 weeks. What day are you betting on for him to be born?"

"I think I'll go October 22nd and I think he's going to be stubborn and want to make his appearance super early in the morning at 4:12."

"I was thinking you would go a little closer to your due date. But, I think October 26th and at 11:42 in the morning."

"At least we're close with the dates."

Christian turns his head and rests his nose and forehead on my belly, "Hey, little dude, you're getting big and your momma and I can't wait to meet you soon. You come when you're ready, preferably when I'm with both of you, that would be great and not stress out your momma even more. We love you so much and can't wait to start this new journey with you."