Thomas' POV:
"You got her clothes?!" I shouted, running frantically through the house. Dylan, Camden (our daughter), and I have family pictures for our Christmas cards and we have a special announcement for everyone that will receive the card. But, of course, we're running late. We took extra precaution by setting both of our phone alarms and our alarm clock, but somehow sleeping trough all 3 of them. We still had to get Camden dressed and get ourselves ready as well.
"Ya! We just got to get her now!" Dylan yelled from downstairs.
"We'll just dress her when we get there!" I yelled back. "You got the sign, too?"
"In the trunk!"
The difficult part is that Camden is NOT a morning person. Don't get me wrong, Dylan and I are relieved that she sleeps through the night, but when we need her to wake up it's awful.
I went up the stairs to Camden's room. She was all snuggled up in her bed, her blonde hair going in every direction, and with her little arms wrapped around her teddy that my mum and dad gave her as a newborn. I walked over to the side of her small bed and knelt down so we were face-to-face. I put one of my hands on her back and the other one on her shoulder, giving her slight nudges. She started wiggling in her covers and slowly opened her beautiful, green, eyes.
'Wow today's morning wake up call isn't horrible.'
"Good morning, my love," I said, kissing her cheek.
"Morning Daddy," she said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her tiny hands.
"Come on, we have to get our pictures taken." I uncovered her and picked her up.
"Where's Papa?" She asked tiredly.
"He's in the car waiting for us."
I felt her give a small nod and rested her head on my shoulder.
We made a quick pit stop to the bathroom to grab a hairbrush and her toothpaste and toothbrush. After, we went downstairs and walked to the door. I was making a mental checklist of everything we needed or need to do before we leave. Everything was checked, except things involving Camden.
We walked outside and made our way to the car, where my wonderful husband was waiting for us. I opened the door and buckled Camden up in her car seat, gently placing her car blanket on her. I closed the door and jogged to the other side of the car and sat in the back to, at least, get her hair and teeth brushed.
Dylan looked in his rearview mirror and gave me a confused look until he saw what I was doing. He backed out of the garage and floored it to our appointment.
I started to brush her long, beautiful, blonde hair, "am I brushing too hard, Rapunzel?"
"No, I'm fine Daddy."
Dylan and I call her Rapunzel, not only is she Camden's favorite princess but looking a great deal like her; Camden has Rapunzel's long blonde hair and the big green eyes. She sure is a dream come true for Dylan and me.
I pulled her toothbrush and paste out of the little plastic baggie and prepared to brush her teeth. "Angel, can you brush your teeth while I finish your hair?"
"Of course Daddy!" She took the toothbrush and brushed away. She was very good about brushing her teeth, but ONLY if it was fruit flavored; specifically berry flavored. When she was done she held it in her mouth and started looking around.
"What are you lo-" I just remembered that she has nothing to spit in. I frantically looked for a bottle or cup or something that we could just throw away. I looked up at Dylan and saw that he had brought his half-empty water bottle. I took it and quickly unscrewed the cap and told Camden to spit in the bottle. She did and whipped her mouth on her blanket.
"You know I wasn't done with that?" Dylan asked with a smirked plastered on his face.
"Well did you want our daughter to just keep the spit in her mouth till we got there?" I retorted.
I started brushing her hair again and made sure there were no knots, tangles, or any other crazy things going on with her hair.
The car then came to a jerk followed by honking horns. "Where'd you learn to drive, you-"
"DYLAN! WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" I said, covering Camden's ears.
*10 minutes*
We successfully got to the photography studio in one piece. I got out and jogged over to Camden's door and got her out of her car seat. While I was holding her and grabbing her outfit, Dylan was getting our sign from the trunk.
Now, you're probably wondering, "Thomas, what's the sign for?". Well, we are making an announcement that we are adopting another child. Since she can't read yet, we're going to have her hold the sign in her picture. It'll be perfect! Plus, she has no idea that she's about to be a big sister, which makes it more perfect!
We walked into the studio and I looked around for a bathroom to get her dressed. We walked over to the desk and was greeted by a young woman, about 26 years old.
She looked up and gave us a big smile. "Hello. Do you have an appointment?"
"Ya. We should be under, 'O'Brien-Sangster'," Dylan said.
"Your appointment was at 11:30," she said, sorrowfully.
"What time is it?" I asked, bouncing Camden on my hip.
"It's 17 minutes after noon."
"We missed our appointment?!" I said in disbelief.
"Nope! The family after you canceled, so we thought we would leave that slot open for you," she said, excitedly.
I let go of the biggest sigh of relief I had ever had and chuckled a bit.
'We made it. We actually made it.'
"Oh, can you point us in the direction of the restrooms?" I asked.
"Of course, second door to the left," she said.
"How 'bout you get us set up and I'll get her changed," I suggested.
"Alright babe," Dylan said, walking through the studio doors.
I went to the men's bathroom and went to the big stall to get her dressed.
*10 minutes later*
We walked out of the bathroom holding hands and into the studio doors. Dylan was talking to the photographer and showing her the sign we had brought.
"We ready?" I asked.
"Yep. Right over here," the photographer said, "we'll have you, two men, first."
*15 minutes later*
After Dylan and I got our pictures taken, it was Camden's time to shine. The photographer sat her in front of a Christmas tree and handed her the sign. "Ok sweety, turn this way a bit," she said, pointing to her left. Camden did as told and smiled wide.
*click* *click* *click*
Dylan and I walked over to Camden and knelt down and decided to tell her the big news.
"Camden, do you know what this says?" Dylan asked her.
"Umm...," she smiled with her fingers in her mouth, "no..."
"Well, this sign says that you're going to be a big sister," I said excitedly,
"Really?" She asked happily.
"Yep. Next July you'll be a big sister," Dylan said.
Right at this moment the photographer snapped a picture of all our reactions. And let me just say, the O'Briens and Sangsters are ready for this big change.
