• Forever •

Chapter 55

Chapter 55:

The day after Liam is born, we're flooded with visitors. My mother and Haymitch arrive with Addy and of course she's over joyed to meet her new brother. When she comes in I don't think she realizes that I'm holding him because she just runs and jumps up on my lap.

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down hon, Mommy's holing the baby." Peeta says. "You have to be carful, or else you can hurt him."

She looks down at her sleeping brother in my hands. "It's a boy?" She asks.

"Yes, his name is Liam." I say. She gets really close to his face and just stares at him and takes in all his features. "He is so cute!" She wails.  I can't help but crack up. Peeta laughs along with me.  "Do you want to hold him?" I ask.  She nods eagerly and extends her little arms. I place him gently in her arms and still support his head. She makes faces at him and talks to him in a baby voice and my heart just melts at how much she loves him.

"Momma was I this itty bitty?" She asks.

"Well honey, you were small but not this small. Liam was born a little early, so he still has a lot more to grow." I say.

"Yeah every night the nurse comes and takes him to get put in an incubator, to keep him warm and sometimes he needs help breathing so they give him breathing treatments." Peeta says.

"He seems like a lot of work." She says.

All I can do is chuckle at her remark. Liam starts to squirm in her arms and I can tell he needs to eat so I tell Peeta to get me a bottle. He starts to wail and Addy looks so terrified, as if she's done something wrong. Now she looks like she's about to cry. I quickly take him from her and she relaxes a little.

"I promise I didn't do anything wrong mommy." She says so innocently.

"No, no, it's not your fault, he's just hungry. Since babies can't talk, they cry when they want something."

I start to feed Liam and Addy still looks confused. "But how do you know what they want?" She asks.

"Well that's what the mommies are for, to figure out what they want." I reply.

She still looks perplexed at Liam. I don't really think her 5 year old brain can wrap her mind around this yet.

After my mom, Haymitch, and again, Addy hold Liam, they decide to leave around 6 o'clock. The nurses said we could leave tomorrow morning so I get up to start packing our things after our family leaves. As soon as I reach down to get my bag, Liam starts wailing.
"I'll get him, just finish what you're doing." Peeta says. He picks him up and starts to calm him but it's not working. He just cries and cries and we can't figure out why. Peeta looks flustered and scared like he's done something wrong, but I just fed him and his diaper is empty. "Let me see if he needs to be burped." I say reaching for him. As soon as he comes into my arms and I coddle him into my shoulder, he stops. Peeta is in awe. I'm shocked myself.

"I guess you're the favored parent now." He says.

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When we leave the hospital, just like with Addy, there's a mass of people awaiting our exit. This time the hospital let us out the doors in the back of the hospital to avoid all the commotion. Being home with Liam is a totally different experience than Addy. Not only do I have a curious 5 year old that thinks the whole house is her art studio, but I have Liam with me constantly because I'm the only one he likes. Peeta can feed him, change his diaper and change him, but he only likes me to coddle him and put him down for naps and bed. Peeta insists on getting up in the night to take care of him, but I always try to get there first. I know that Peeta will try his best to calm Liam, because he hates having me get up every night, but then he just makes it worse because Liam cries harder when he realizes I'm not the one holding him.

Peeta is such a sweetheart, and I don't know how I could have ever made it without him, and I know he feels bad that I'm with Liam every second of everyday. I've started wearing him in this baby wrap I got when I had Addy. It makes my daily tasks much more manageable but as Liam grows it becomes more of a hassle.

One day I'm getting Addy ready for school, while carrying a 3 month old Liam on my chest. Addy is putting her shoes on while I am packing her lunch. I can't see Addy in the living room but I hear the door open. I figure it's my mom or Haymitch because no one else would just walk into my house and Peeta is at work. But then I hear Addy squeal "Daddy!" confused, I walk into the living room and see Peeta with Addy wrapped around his legs. "What on earth are you doing home from work?" I ask. "I'll explain later, but," he says looking at Addy, "I haven't taken miss Adeline to school in quite some time so I was wondering if she'd let me walk her today?" Addy gets super excited and says, "Yes!!" Her new thing is apologizing like "adults" so she comes over to me and says "Mommy, I have to tell you something." I look at Peeta and giggle. I lean down so that Addy can whisper in my ear. "Daddy is going to take me to school today, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." I hugged her and whispered back "it's okay, my feelings aren't hurt, I want you to have fun with daddy today." She smiles at me and then I kiss her cheek.

I get her stuff ready and send her and Peeta off, giving Peeta a kiss before he leaves. "We'll talk about work when I get back." He says. "Alright, please be careful you two." I say waving. The whole 15 minutes he's gone, all I can think about is what happened to him at work today.