Of Rubber Ducks and Bath Time Fun

The Day Caleb-saurus Visited The Museum

The alarm clock said it was six in the morning, rubbing my eyes I stretched and leant over to move the hair that covered Chloe's neck... in her sleep she had a child like innocence to her until the smile crossed her face showed she was very aware of my lips on her neck. As much as I would have loved to have stayed there in the dark with my gorgeous girl we had a day filled with adventure and dinosaurs waiting us.

I had promised my little boy a day out and here we were. The sun was shining although hidden behind the thick cream curtains, the National History Museum awaited us all. The sound of giggling and Aeryn's not so quiet whisper alerted me to my two eldest children's presence in the room.

"Daddy is kissing Mummy!!! It's icky!!!"

I couldn't help but chuckle as I kissed Chloe once more before finally acknowledging their presence as they dive bombed the bed and nearly crushed their mother who was still half asleep, her dark hair curled due to moving and curling up in my arms as she slept.

"Well Good Morning to you both.... Aeryn, can you please tell me how Caleb got out of his cot? Again?"

Her beautiful face went white as the realisation hit her that yet again, she would be in trouble for helping her little brother climb out as well as being the one to have opened the safety gate we had on the nursery door.

"Daddy he wanted Mama, I just wanted to make him stop crying. Ryn loves Caleb lots Daddy. I'm sorry."

My daughter had no idea being the age she was at what a risk there was to her beloved brother's safety if he fell. Caleb was fast at running and walking it was true having quickly learnt how to do both by watching Aeryn run everywhere but he was still very unsteady. The last thing I wanted to do though was tell her off especially this morning when I knew both the wriggling monsters in my our bed were beyond excited but I had no choice, she had to learn and learn fast.

Pulling Aeryn close to me and settling her against my chest I began stroking her, just as I did with her Mother when she was also upset. The quiet snuffling of my daughter crying hit me hard, like any parent I didn't want to hear her cry...

"Sweetheart, I know you love Caleb but you can't keep helping him out of his cot - he could fall Aeryn and you don't want that do you?"

Her head moved against my body, before she clung tighter to me, pulling Caleb against her as well - the love she had for her baby brother was intense and the realisation that she may have put him in danger had obviously registered. As she cried I felt Chloe move although half asleep, to wrap her arms around us all... four of the five members of the North family enjoying a family cuddle. Although I was having to calm Aeryn and reassure her that she hadn't hurt Caleb this time, I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of having my family all around me. The sweet contentment of feeling loved by all of them and loving them all in return was so easy to enjoy for as long as possible.

"I'm sorry Daddy... I promise I'll be good... promise on Annie doll." 

God. She must mean it, that doll had been a constant since she had been born, it had lain next to her when she had been a tiny 7lb 3oz baby in a plastic crib in the maternity ward - the doll being a treasured possession of Chloe's.

Gently I moved the two children further into the bed as they curled up around Chloe, the sound of Elly in her nursery came over the baby monitor... it seemed to be a pattern with the children, not long after Aeryn and Caleb woke, Elly would wake and call out for us. Though this morning, it seemed my tiny girl was in bad mood... she was teething again and damn the weeks she went through that were Hell itself. Making my way along the hall to her room, now decorated in soft pinks and lilacs I lifted her onesie clad body up into my arms and took her to Chloe - it would seem our bed was going to be taken over by our children.