Second Chance

Cookout

I've been up since 4 am. I put Brooke down for her nap early today. I want her to be awake and alert while we're at Dad's. I know he said we didn't have to bring anything but ourselves but I can't show up empty handed. My mother taught me to never show up empty handed. I really miss her at times like this. She would have fallen in love with Brooke as much as we have. I've made brownies, cookies, and cupcakes. I also made the macaroni salad Dad likes and potato salad for Steve, just to be safe. I even made deviled eggs for Scotty. I might be stress cooking again.

I'm in the middle of chopping up fresh fruit and veggies when I hear the baby monitor crack. Before I can clean my hands to get to her we I hear Steve over the baby monitor. I know they'll be down here in a little bit. I miss having her in bed with us at night. I enjoy not having her there too. It's weird. It's good to get back to the way we were before. I do miss my husbands touch. But at the same time I also miss having her cuddled up between us at night. Maybe I can get Steve to let her in our bed a few nights a week. I know we haven't had her long but it's like she was born to be ours.

I jump a little when I feel his arms circling my waist and his lips on my neck. "Hey love. Look who just woke up."

I turn around to face them. "Hey. How are you baby girl?" I reach out to grab her.

"No." She whines as she turns her face back into his chest hiding from me.

We both laugh at her. She's grumpy when she first wakes up. "Take it you don't want me right now. That's fine sweetie. Papa is going to get you dressed anyway then you to meet your Grandpa." I kiss the back of her hair and rub her back before turning around to finish what I was doing.

Steve give me another kiss before walking off. "Finish up and get dressed we need to leave here in about 20 minutes."

"I need at least 25 minutes to get all this awesomeness ready." I call out teasingly. I can hear him laughing at me. Mission accomplished. He laugh with his whole body and it sounds like sunrise, if sunrises had a sound. Which they might, I don't know. I'll have to look into that.

The last few days have been pretty uneventful. Sam has been by to finish up the playroom. The activity unit is perfect. We spent a whole day going over what it was going to have. There were so many choices. I didn't even know what a third of them were for. I Know Steve has no idea what half the things do that I picked out, but I'm excited about them and Brooke seems to be too. Steve swears she's too little still but I know better. She's always watching everything we do and I know when she starts walking we're going to stopping her from doing all the things.

She's still getting used to us, but she's always . We've stayed home the last few days, at Steve's insistence. It's been good though. We've watched movies and played outside. She likes being outside. Well she likes rolling in the grass outside. She's been trying to crawl. I know this because she has be hoisting herself up on hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Oftentimes, diaper first into the nearest corner which is just hilarious. If you've never seen it before, you're missing out. She enjoys being held in a standing position so she can bounce up and down. Steve swears it's a mini-workout to strengthen her leg muscles. He likes the idea of her being a health freak like him. I'm hoping she's just going to start walking soon. But not too soon, she needs to master the crawl first. Plus I don't know how to go about Brooke proofing the house yet. I take it back, No walking ever. She's not allowed, I won't allow it.

I finish up what I'm doing after I take a peek at the the time and race upstairs. Steve and Brooke are sitting on our bed playing with her wolf. He's got her in a pink tank top with blocks that look like they been shaken and says 'They Shake Me' and a pair of baby blue jeans with pink socks. Her hair is pulled back in pigtails and she has her curls framing her face.