Onward And Sideways (Completed.)

Chapter 23 - 5 years later

I heard the shriek of a toddler and look up from my crocheting.
A little blonde girl runs ,shrieking, through the otherwise calm living room of mine and Ethan's home in Maine. She's Sam's little girl, Aubry, who is a wild 3 year old.
I smile softly, holding my half finished dragon in one hand as my other goes to rest on my pregnant belly.

The passed few years have been eventful, to say the least. Most of us are married now. Starting with Sam and Cat, quickly followed by Ally and Colby. Then Ira and Noah, and finally, 2 and a half years ago, Ethan and I got married.
It was a very busy few years, with a lot of wedding to attend.

And then our miss-matched family started growing more. Sam and Cat had a little girl, blonde as sunshine and with an attitude as wild and unstoppable as a forest fire. She's almost 4 now.

Then came Ira and Noah, who welcomed a little boy that they named Phoenix. He is sweet as anything, with sandy blonde hair that sticks up in the front no matter what his mama does with it, because he puts his little hand in it while he sleeps. But he's such a good boy, and his parents wouldn't trade him for anything. He's only 2 now.

Ally and I were a little slower, though. But at the moment, we are both expecting our first baby boys. She's only about 6 weeks, give or take, further along than I am, but we keep connected, swapping stories, experiences, and tips that we've found helpful.

At the moment, we're all contained inside the first house Ethan and I bought. A cute little light blue 2 story with white trim, a gray roof that we just replaced, and a white porch that spans the whole front of the house. We only moved in about a year ago, after we decides that Maine would be a good place to raise a family. My mom is seriously considering moving over to the area, because "It's not fair that one set of grandparents get all the fun." She has been excited about grand babies since before I even met Ethan, so she is going to find a way.

Anyways. Because Ally and I are in our third trimesters and not able to travel by plane, Sam, Cat, and his daughter flew to Maine from Kansas, and Ira and Noah from Minnesota, with Phoenix.
Colby and Ally drove here. How, I have no clue, as it's like a 23 hour drive, and Ally is 36 weeks pregnant. But I couldn't drive the same trip this time, because my doctor doesn't want me to travel if I'm a sensitive snowflake who's prone to severe motion sickness.
So here we all are.

"Hold up, we've got dino nuggets in the freezer." I heard Ethan call to one parent or another as he came over to where I was sat on one end of the couch, crocheting baby gifts, with Ally on the other end of the big sectional in the living room.

He smiled, sitting down next to me and kissing my cheek. I smiled back at him, returning the gesture. He's grown some facial hair in the passed few years, and the dark stubble almost made me sneeze. It wasn't quite the mountain man bush beard that he's always wanted, but it was cute. Now people would stop assuming he was 12. I had the same problem, but at the moment, pregnant, I looked closer to my age.

Ethan put an arm around my shoulders. "Hey babe." he greeted with that cute smile I fell in love with. "How are you ladies doing?" he asked.

I looked over at Ally, who was flipping through a photo album that was full of photos documenting our lives so far. She smiled at a page before glancing up at me.

"Oh, hi Ethan. We're pretty good. But now I want chicken nuggents." she mumbled the last part.

He laughed. "We figured. Colby asked if we had any in the house that we could make. He said you've been craving them lately. It's about to get pretty lit up in here, we have 2 full bags." he said.

Oh. He wasn't talking to a parent. Just a fellow husband with a very pregnant wife with cravings.

Ally perked up, a smile spreading across her face. "Oh my gosh, I love that man." She announced, looking towards the kitchen. "I usually crave fruit, but as the weather's gotten colder, I've joined Colby on the nugget train."