We Are Free

Christmas Surprize

*December 24th*
The kids have no school because of winter break. They are excited for Christmas. We haven't told anyone that Halo is pregnant but we want to move before she gets to far along that she can't lift anything. She isn't having any morning sickness and she is feeling fine.
     She is 7 weeks pregnant now. We have are first appointment at 12 weeks. She isn't showing yet though. This baby wasn't planned but that's okay. I have been house looking more and I found a beautiful one. It was 6 bedroom and 4 bathroom.
     It has a huge pool outback and a huge fenced in yard with a jungle gym. It had a sandbox and play tower. It is absolutely perfect. Halo agrees. We can stay in the same school district. I called. It is a rent to own. We will keep this one for a vacation house and then have the big one.
    The kids are excited and want to see it. They just want to stay in the same school but they want more room to move around. They can't walk in the house with tripping on something or walking into a counter, chair, table, or Rebel's toys.
    We are breaking the news tomorrow at the Christmas party. Emily, Andrew, and I made a banner out of poster board. We rolled it up and will take it with us. It says Halo's pregnant. Nothing fancy. This pregnancy is easier on her so far then when she was pregnant with Rebel.
    She has only puked once and that one was because the baby didn't like what she ate. We sit on the couch with Rebel on the floor in a sleeping bag. The kids were in the chairs and we all have hot chocolate. Rebel's was warm more cold then hot in a sippy cup.
    The kids have water bottles and we have mugs. They made their own with marshmallows and candy canes. They chose the Christmas movie and we spent the day making cookies for Santa. We laid carrots outside for the reindeer and they are all in their footie pajamas.
"Daddy." Rebel says.
"What." I say looking at her. She makes grabbing hands at me.
"Up" she says. I get up and grab her sleeping bag and all. I sit back on the couch and she sits next to me with my arm around her and drinks her hot chocolate.
"Better?" I ask her. She takes her sippy cup out of her mouth and swallows her drink. Some dribbles out and onto her chin.
"Yeah!" She says as I wipe her chin with a napkin, she smiles at me. We finish are movie and put the cups in the sink. I lay Rebel down for bed in her crib and kiss her cheek. I say goodnight to Emily and Andrew. We lay in bed and I lay with my hand on her stomach.
     "When do we go see that house?" Halo asks me as she runs her fingers through my hair.
     "The 28th, and if we like it we sign the papers and move in." I say and she smiles.
     "You make it sound easier then it is." She says shaking her head back and forth slowly.
     "Yeah, I know." I say but it is true. 
*Christmas Morning*
      "Jace, Halo." Emily's voice wakes me. I see light pouring through the window lighting up the room. Usually they wake up while the street lights are still on. I hear a unmistakable squeal come from across the hall. Rebel is excited as she squeals once again.
     Andrew's head peaks into are door and his eyes are full of sleep. He just woke up. I crawl out of bed but Halo is still sleeping.
      "Wake Halo." I tell them as I ruffle Andrew's hair and go to Rebel's room.
     "Daddy!" She says.
     "Hi baby!" I say to her and she makes grabbing hands at me. I grab her out of her crib and put her on my waist. I go to my room where the kids are still trying to wake Halo. I set Rebel down.
     "Wake up mommy." I tell her and she smiles happy to comply. She crawls to Halo and gently pats her shoulder.
     "Mommy!" Rebel says to her but she doesn't wake up. "Mommy! Wake up." She says. Halo's eyes finally flutter open and she smiles.
     "Hi princess." She says as she pokes Rebel's belly. She gets up and the kids sit in our bed. Halo uses the bathroom then we go to the living room. They all sit on the floor and Halo helps Rebel. I pass out presents once the kids go through their stockings and put all they find into their laundry baskets.
     Rebel got lip gloss and so did Emily. Andrew got play dough. Rebel pulls out some hair ties with decorations on them.
      "Pretties." She says then smiles.
     "Yup hair pretties." Halo says to her. Between Emily and Rebel we are drowning in hair ties and head bands. They are laying everywhere and we pick at least 10 up in a week. That doesn't count Halo's as well.
     The kids keep opening presents. They got spoiled yet again, but it isn't over. Since they woke us up late we have less time to get ready and get to Anna's house. Rebel is now old enough to go outside with us. With Halo being 7 weeks pregnant she won't be going out with us.
     I got her a small baby monitor. She puts it in her belly and she can hear the baby's heart but she has to wait at least another week. I want to hear the heart beat to but I am doing a better job at hiding my excitement. Emily and I tag team it on making breakfast while Halo gets Rebel dressed.
    She gets dressed and so does Andrew. She watches breakfast while I get dressed. I take Rebel with me to my room and set her on the bed.
     "Baby!" Rebel says. I know that she knows that Halo is pregnant. I finish putting my shirt on. I sit on the bed as I put my socks on.
     "Yup, baby, your going to be a big sister." I say to her and she smiles at me.
     "Baby!" She says then she giggles.
     "The baby is very tiny and in mommy's belly. We have to wait a long time and as the baby gets bigger mommy's belly will get bigger." I say to her.
     "Baby, big." She says opening her arms wide.
     "The baby will get big." I say to her as she bounces on the bed. She stands up and falls down again. I take a deep breath and let it out. I just realized how much is going on. We are getting married in 4 months, we are going to see a house and possible buy one in 3 days, we are going to get a new car, and we will have to move, plus we have a new baby on the way adding to 4 kids.
    It is stressful but we will do it. We just need her dress and we need to go tux shopping. Zac and I are going with the boys next month. We are doing the wedding over the kids spring break then we are going on are honeymoon. Anna is taking the kids.
     We have it all figured out we just have to get it all ready. That's another story. We will just take it one day at a time. I grab Rebel and leave the room as breakfast is being served onto the table. We all sit down and eat are meal then we put everything in the car. Presents, food, snow gear, sleds, snowboards, what the kids want to bring, diaper bag, and some other things.
     We feed the animals and leave the house. We get to Anna's and as soon as we enter we are hit with warmth. The smell of food that she has been up cooking since before the rooster crows smells up the whole house.
    Ham, potatoes, pie, baked beans, homemade macaroni and cheese with bacon bits in it, and much more. I don't even want to know how early she was up. She loves doing it though. We get the kids out of their coats, hats, gloves, and boots. They all give Anna a hug. She hugs us.
"Hi mom." Halo says to her with a smile. I know why she has that smile but Anna doesn't.
"Hi honey." She hugs Halo back before coming to me.
"Hi mom." I say to her.
"Hi Jay." She says as she hugs me. Her apron was white and her hair pulled back. Sweat beaded her forehead from the hot stove and oven she has been cooking over since this morning. I have started warming up to the fact that the kids call her mom.
    She doesn't mind and either does Halo. She is the only thing they know of as a mother figure and if she wants to be there then that's fine with me. I won't stop them. By now she is are mom after all she has done for us and continues to do.
"Hey mom." Emily says to her. She looks her way. "I got a new Barbie." She says showing Anna her gymnastics Barbie doll she got this morning from Halo.
"That's so cool. She looks kinda like you." Anna says to her. Zac walks in. With a tote full of their things and their three kids in hand they shake off the winter cold with the new found warmth of Anna's house.
     They take their winter gear off and hang it up. Well Anna's house won't be in one piece for long but that is okay with her. She loves it when all the kids get together and destroy her house. We call her crazy but she likes to think of it as a normal family gathering.
"Hot chocolate has been made. Just warm it up when you want it." She says to us. We brought the snacks because Halo and the kids have been busy in the kitchen the last week making all sorts of goodies. Zac and Chloe brought a dish to pass.
     We lay all the presents under the tree. When we are done it looks ready to puke. Anna comes out to the living room and sits down for a moment. She starts talking to Zac and Chloe while all the kids play. We put the poster board behind a wall in the hallway. I look at Halo and she nods.
     "Hey, mom." I say to her.
     "Yes."
     "We have a present for all of you and they both say the same thing, but it is special." I say as Halo hands her and Chloe a card. The kids grab the poster board and turn around. They hold it up but we can't see what it says. When they finish reading the cards they are confused.
"Okay turn around guys." Halo says to them. They turn around and all three of them look at the poster board. Anna is the first one to finish and she smiles.
"Oh my gosh, congratulations!" She says hugging us. Zac and Chloe congratulates us and Zane looks at us.
"Auntie Halo is pregnant?" He says.
"Yup." She says.
"Let me see." He says and lifts her shirt. We laugh at him. "There isn't anything there. Is Uncle Jace carrying the baby this time?" We laugh more.
"No, I am. The baby is just small." She says. She lifts him onto her lap so he can look at her belly.
"How far are you?" Anna asks her.
"7 weeks." She says as Zane slides off her lap.
"Well I am happy for you." Anna says to us.
"Thank you." She says. Anna continues to tend to the kitchen. We all visit for a little bit.
"Daddy, can we go play in the snow."Blake asks Zac. All the kids start getting excited about playing in the snow so we get dressed in our snow gear and go outside. We sled down the hill and play games. When they get cold and start shivering we go in.
    Once we get inside we are hit with the scent of hot chocolate. We take are snow gear off and hang it up to dry. We sit at the table and get are drinks and snacks. We all sit at the table and eat are snacks. We drink our drinks and Zac and I finish first.
     We start wrestling on the floor. The girls ignore us. The boys do to. Zac pretends to choke me. Rebel looks over at us and starts crying. Halo looks at her.
      "Jace, why is she crying?" Halos asks me.
      "I don't know." I say.
      "I was pretending to choke him." Zac says to her.
     "Well, Jason you better figure out how to fix it." She says and I go to her. Halo doesn't say my full name often but when she does I know she means business. I pick her up.
     "Daddy!" She says and touches my neck to make sure I'm okay.
     "Hey, I'm okay." I say to her rocking her. "Uncle Zac and I were playing."
     "Mean!" She says and I kiss her cheek. I put her on her back and her shirt goes up. I blow raspberries on her belly. She giggles and forgets why she is upset. I set her down and she goes to Zac.
     I get on my knees and crawl to Halo on them. I grab her hand a kiss it. I kiss her arm then get up and her shoulder. I kiss her neck, jaw, ear, cheek, temple, and finally her lips.
     "Do you forgive me?" I ask her whispering into her ear. She nods her head and I smile. Everyone finishes their snacks and drinks so we all sit around the fireplace. It is lit and adds to the beauty of it all.
     Snowflakes on the wall that the kids made and candy canes hanging from a string of lights strung up on the mantle. Fake snow laid under the fireplace next to it the tree. We set the kids laundry baskets next to them and the open their stockings from Anna.
     They find all sorts of goodies and treats inside them and their was one for all of us as well. We made a stocking for Anna to return the favor. We finish with our stockings and Zac plays Santa. We all get our presents and open them.
     We get spoiled with things beyond imagine and I am glad that we did our yearly clean out just a couple weeks ago. Their laundry baskets are over flowing. We all pitch in to clean up and Rebel comes to me with a toy. It was unopened.
     "Open." She says to me holding it up.
     "What do you say young lady?" I say to her.
     "Please." She says.
     "Yes, I will open it." I say taking it from her. I open it and hands the toy to her. She takes it and goes to play with Blake. We all talk and visit until 4:00. We all help Anna set the table. We have to add a whole other table to it.
     We set up the chairs, plates, forks, napkins, food, knives, spoons, and booster seats. We set the kids at the table and give them food to eat. We get our food and sit. We grab hands and say a prayer before eating. Anna really went all out once again.
     "Have you thought of any baby names?" Chloe asks us.
     "We have actually." Halo says to her. "For a boy it will be Ethan Daniel, for a girl it will be Scarlett Lynn."
     "That's so cute, Scarlett Lynn." Chloe says.
     "How did you come up with Scarlett Lynn?" Anna asks.
     "Kinda like we came up with Rebel and Ethan. He liked Lynn and I liked Scarlett so we compromised." Halo says to her. We finish eating. The kids play as we clear the table.
      "Emily, be nice to your brother." I say to her as she keeps taking Andrew's things.
     "I want that one though." She says.
     "I don't care you need to ask him before taking it from him." I say to her and she crosses her arms. They are good kids but they have their moments that's for sure. I shake my head and put the plates in the dishwasher. I go back to the living room to see a tear rolling down Andrew's cheek.
     "Why are you crying Andy?" I ask him and he sniffles.
     "Emily took my things and she won't give them back." He says, I look at Emily.
     "Emily Marie what did I say?" I ask her tapping my foot.
     "I don't know." She says lying to me.
     "Yes you do. You can go to the corner until you can tell me what I said to you. Go on and go." She crosses her arms but admits defeat knowing she did wrong. She goes to the corner and stands there.
     I don't spank and I don't smack them because it brings back memories and I feel that it is abuse. Halo feels the same way. We stick to time outs, groundings, and taking things away from them. We rarely ever have to do it.
     I finish helping them clean the table and put things away. When I am done I call Emily to me.
"Do you know what I said now?" I ask her and she nods her head.
"You said not to take Andrew's things and ask to use them." She says with her arms crossed.
"That's right." I say. "I want you to go apologize to him and give him a hug." She nods her head and goes to Andrew. She gives him a hug and says sorry to him. We help Anna clean up the kitchen. When everything is all clean and everything we own is in the car Andrew lays next to her.
     Eventually we leave and go home. Rebel was sleeping on Chloe and Ryker was sleeping on Zac. We get home and put everything away. The kids get baths and lay in bed. Halo and I shower and get in bed. I lay with my head close to Halo's belly like I have done every night since we found out she was pregnant.
     I can't wait for this baby to come. I can't wait until she has a belly and I can feel the baby moving around. I can't wait until we hear its heart and see its tiny little body. I can't wait for a lot of things.