We Are Free

Big House, Big Problems

*December 28th*
*8 weeks pregnant*
Today we have the house meeting. I really feel like this house is the one. Halo does to. We get everyone dressed and ready to go. This is a big step but we are more than ready for it. The meeting is at 1:30.
    The kids play with their new toys and things they got for Christmas. We have collected boxes and totes. We have started putting things we don't use everyday away in order to make the process easier as it comes. The house does look a little empty.
    We all decide to take Halo's car. I drive because she is tired. She don't like driving when she feels tried because she feels unsafe. We get to the house. It was marvelous. It has a long paved black top drive way and a bunch of trees behind it.
    We have neighbors but they are beyond a line of trees. The kids need to take the bus once again though. Now that Emily is getting older they can just come home on the bus and they will be fine. Rebel will need to go to Anna's house.
     We will figure it out as it comes. We pull up to the house and there is another car there. We get out and I grab Rebel. I put her on my waist and we go to up to the porch. She was standing there. We shake her hand.
I'm Sarah." She says with a smile as she shakes are hands.
"I'm Jace."
"I am Halo."
"This is Rebel." I say to her putting my hand on her head. "This is Emily and this is Andrew." I say and she nods her head. We go inside and instantly it was just drop dead beautiful. There was a huge open living room that was carpet.
     There was a huge open fire place. Attached to that was a huge beautiful kitchen with a door that leads to a hall way. Down the hallway there is a door that leads out back. The yard was fenced in and it was huge. There is a sand box, play tower, pool, trampoline, jungle gym, and basketball hoop.
     It is big enough to add a soccer net and still have lots of room to run in. We go back inside and there is hooks on the hallway wall and another door. Through that door is a barbecue area. It is all blocked in and can be shaded. We go back inside.
     In between the living room and the kitchen is a laundry room and a door. The basement is below that and through a door in the basement is a door to the garage. It is a two car garage.
     We go back to the living room and go up a flight of stairs. There is a first landing and a bathroom attached to the bedroom. There is a bathroom downstairs and 3 upstairs.
    We told Emily that if she wants it she can have the second bedroom with the bathroom that is with it. Halo and I get the other.
"I want this room." Emily says.
"Okay then." We say and go up another small flight of stairs. On that landing is a hallway. Down that is 3 more bedrooms and a bathroom. They claim their rooms and we go see the last 2. We go back downstairs and to the kitchen counter.
"What do you guys think?" Sarah asks us and we look at each other.
"It's beautiful." I say and that's all I could say.
"Yeah, it is I'm in love. It has so much space." Halo says.
"For a family of 5 yeah." Sarah says.
"Actually make that a family of 6." I say. Sarah looks at me funny.
"I'm pregnant." Halo says to her.
"Well congratulations."
"Thank you." Halo says to her.
"What do you guys think?" I ask the kids. Rebel runs in circles.
"Can we get it? Please Jace." Emily says to me.
"Yeah, can we?" Andrew says as they jump up and down. I look at Halo. She smiles and the look in her eyes say it all. I love it, she loves it, and we love it.
"Let's do it!" I say smiling.
"Yay!" All the kids yell. We start laughing and Sarah pulls out the paper work.
     "Okay since this is a rent to own I need to know how much a month that you could pay in order to be able to pay the house off." She says as we look over the paper work. We come up with a number and sign the papers. She gives us the keys.
      "Well congratulations! Move in when ever and good luck!" She says to us. We thank her and she leaves.
     "Oh my gosh we just did that." Halo says. The kids are super excited. Now we can start moving in. The kids play in the yard for a little but while I call Zac. I tell him about the house and he says he will help me move once again.
    He just said it and I know that saying no won't do anything. We go home and start putting more things in boxes. It will be a big move.
*February 25th*
*12 Weeks Pregnant*
Today is Halo's first appointment. She has a small bump but it isn't visible through a baggy shirt. We have been packing slowly. The wedding is in 2 months. We have some moved into the new house and this one is looking big.
     We want to move into it now but we can't. Emily and Ava are going to spend the weekend together. Since she was moved to a new school they don't get to spend a lot of time together anymore.  We will go to Halo's appointment.
    Then we will go pick up Ava. She wants to see the new house, so we're going to take her to go see it. The kids are very excited. They want to see the baby, but I suppose that these days there is so much to be excited about.
     We have the main stuff for the house to move than we are done. We will do that next weekend, we are taking Thursday and Friday off. We go to the doctors office and wait.
     "Halo." The nurse says and we get up. We go back and Halo lays on the table. She pulls her shirt up to her bra line and the doctor comes in. The doctor puts the gel on her belly and the camera over that. She moves it around a little bit before finding the heart beat.
     She finds it and the baby. We see little fingers and toes. We see the mouth and nose.
     "There is the baby." She says and the kids go nuts with excitement. I have to contain mine. The doctor takes pictures and hands them to us.
     "Well baby Parks is happy and healthy. I want to see you again at 25 weeks for the gender of you want to know. I know that last time you wanted to wait." She says and we nod. We haven't thought about that. We might just want to know. We leave the room and make another appointment for at 25 weeks.
     We go to Ava's house and they were waiting on the porch. Ava has all her bags. Emily's eyes light up. She presses her hands to the glass. Rebel isn't home. She is with Zac so we are able to get Ava in the car. We are going to buy a new car.
     We are going to do that after we move in. Ava gets in.
"Why is there shoes all over?" She asks.
"Rebel likes to take her shoes off." Halo says to her. It is true. All of them like to do it but we just leave the shoes in here. Halo has Emily throw all the shoes into a bag. We go to the new house. We go inside and Emily shows Ava all around. They go out back and we let them play for a while. Halo and I talk.
"What do you want the baby to be?" She asks me.
"I don't really care." I say shrugging my shoulders. "As long as you and the baby are okay it doesn't matter to me." She smiles. We would love to have a boy but we don't care. Emily just wants the baby to come and so does Andrew. We have a long way to go. We also have a wedding and a house.
     Ava and her mom have been invited and will be there. My grandparents in Florida can't make it. They just can't handle the traveling. I would love for them to meet Rebel and see the kids again. There won't be many people there but we have invited Dan. He says he will make it to.
"I'm a little upset that I will be so pregnant when we do get married." Halo says to me.
"Don't worry, you look sexy pregnant." I say and she smacks me in the chest lightly. We giggle a little. I kiss her and we get the kids. We go home. When we start making dinner Rebel is dropped off.
"Daddy!" She says and I pick her up.
"Did you have fun?" I ask her.
"Yeah!" She says to me. We finish cooking dinner. She sits in her high chair.
"Mommy." Rebel says.
"Yes." Halo says to her.
"Juice." She says making grabbing hands.
"What do you say?" Halo says to her.
"Please." Rebel says smiling. Halo gets her some juice. We continue dinner. We pack some more that night and put it in Halo's car. Now we are just down to what we need in the house. We will get a U-Haul and bring the rest next weekend.
*March 2nd*
Today we are moving everything into the new house and hopefully sleeping there this weekend. The kids are kinda sad we are moving now it has been 5 almost 6 years in this one and we have made a lot of memories. Zac gets here early in some comfy clothes. Chloe has his kids and we are getting ready to move some more out.
     "Before we get the U-Haul we need to take all these boxes to Goodwill." I tell him and he nods. We start taking boxes out. We get them all out and go to Goodwill. We drop them off and get the U-Haul.
     They have all seen the house and we know it will be a challenge to move in. If we keep working we could get it all there tonight. We go back to the house and everyone has boxes and totes outside. Zac and I move all the living room furniture to the U-Haul. The house really looks empty now.
     "I'm sad." Andrew says to me I hug him.
     "Why are you sad?" I ask him.
     "We are moving." He says to me. I have to admit I am sad to. I won't tell him that though. Halo can see that I am sad. I can see that she is to.
     We finish moving everything out of the living room. We take the kitchen table and chairs. We just had the kids sleep on mattresses last night and Rebel slept with us.
     Zac and I take the bed frames out. We take the dressers, mattresses, and any other big item out. We take their blinds down and curtains. When we are done the rooms are empty. Emily comes into it and her face drops.
     I hug her. Now we just have boxes and totes to take out. It is 3:00 in the afternoon. We all pitch in and get the totes and boxes out in a half hour. Halo sweeps the floors and vacuums once more. We put every last thing in the U-Haul.
     The house is purely empty. I lock the door with Rebel on my hip and the kids at my side. It's almost like I'm moving in for the first time when Andrew was on my hip and Emily at my side. Now I have my daughter on my hip and them both on my side going to start a new life in a new house with my daughter, sister, brother, and fiancé.
     We get in the car. Halo drives and I take the U-Haul with Zac. We go to the new house. It's only about a 10 minute drive. We get to the new house and I unlock the door.
     "Okay, Zac and I will carry everything in. What you can unpack like food, and stuff. We will get the cold stuff in there right away." I say to Halo.
     "Okay, that works." She says. We take everything in for the kitchen and they put food away. Emily and Andrew help. Rebel does what ever in the kitchen. We take the bedroom stuff to each kid's bedroom.
     We just bring everything into the room and set it down. Halo takes Rebel and goes to get some dinner. We keep working. We have the U-Haul empty by now. We are putting beds together. Emily and Andrew put clothes in the dressers and things on hangers. Emily hangs them in the closet. We get down with Emily's bed.
     "Okay missy, you get to organize your room how you want it." I say to Emily and she nods her head her pony tail moving side to side. "If you need help let me know. Let's go Andy" I say to Andrew and he fallows us. We go to his room and set it up. The girls come back with dinner and we sit on the floor and eat. Zac lays on the floor and groans. Rebel laughs.
"Is uncle Zac funny?" Halo asks her and she smiles.
"Yeah!" She says. Zac sits up. He makes a funny face. Rebel laughs again. She falls backwards laughing then laughs harder. We laugh at her. She is always such a happy baby. We finish eating and we stay up until 11:00 setting things up.
     Things get put away and we hang the tv on the wall. We are not entirely done but Zac does fall asleep on the couch and we leave him. I call Chloe and let her know he is spending the night. She laughs a little before we hang up.
     Halo and I lay in bed for the first time in the new house. I lay my hands on her belly and wish I could feel something. Bowser jumps in bed and lays her head on Halo's belly to.
     "Hey, my baby." I say to her and she gives me a funny look. Halo laughs. We let Emily keep the turtles in her room. They are on their stand in their tank.
     Bowser eventually leaves the room. Halo falls asleep but I lay there. So many new things run through my mind. Now I am ready to get married.