Never Ending Love [COMPLETE/PUBLISHED]

Chapter 10: Worth the Wait

8 months later...

Who knew taking care of a toddler would be so exhausting? Everyone except Mark and I. The number of times that I called Willow, Mom, and Kate during the early months in tears. They guided me through the world of parenthood until their lives started to pick up and I had a let myself learn these things on my own. Mark has been an... interesting parent. He is not a bad parent by any means, in fact, he is fantastic, but there are just some things that he does that makes me question everything about him. Like for instance, he told me that lullabies are overrated and he started to make up his own.

The cow can't jump over the moon because they are too big.

Also, why would the dish run away with the spoon?

Then why is the cat playing with a fiddle?

You know, baby girl, these songs are trash.

See what I mean. I swear this man needs help. I also went back to work 2 months ago, because my maternity leave went into summer break so I had extra time off. Now that my kids from last year are first graders, they stopped in with their parents and said hi. They wanted to see pictures of Bella. She is thriving and she is my little monster.

I pull out a photo of her and Mark together from one the first days home. Mark is sitting in the rocking chair and singing and cradling her to sleep. I had finished feeding her and he wanted to put her to sleep. I snuck away and got my phone and took a photo. I open the baby book to the "First Few Days" page and I add it and write out the date. I look up to check on the tummy time mat and see that she is gone.

Ummm, what? Shit, where is she? She hasn't started crawling yet. I stand up from the couch and I look around. She isn't over here. How long was I in my own little world? A long time Murphy, did you forget about your internal monologue. I roll my eyes at myself. That's weird but do it anyway. I walk into the kitchen and there she is sitting in the middle of the floor messing with an old piece of food that was on the ground.

"No, Bella, don't put that in your mouth," I say picking her up and taking the old food from her hand. She coos and starts to mess with her hair. I carry her back to her mat and I lay her down. She starts to play with her toys again and then lifts her leg and shoves her toes into her mouth. Gross. After a while, I notice that she starts to get tired and I nurse her and she falls asleep. I take her up to her nursery and I lay her to bed. I watch her sleep for a little and I feel my heart swell. I love this little girl more than life itself. We are so grateful for her. I set up the baby monitor and I take my part downstairs. I sit back on the couch and I look at all the photos that we collected over that last year and a half, from our first ultrasound to the gender reveal and the day she was born. We have been capturing every moment because before we know it, she is going to be 18 and going off to college.

I saw something online that hit me near and dear to my heart. Anytime you have a baby after you had miscarried at one point, that baby is your rainbow baby. Bella is our rainbow baby. I know that we dwelled on the fact that we lost a baby 3 years ago, but I wouldn't ever trade what we have now for the world.

Bella is a piece of us and I will cherish and love her forever.

Mark and I's love for our baby girl is never ending, just like our love for each other.

And I couldn't be more grateful.

4 months later...

Bella's first birthday. A huge milestone. 1 year since the best thing came into our lives. 3 years ago, I promised Murphy that I would do everything it takes to make sure that we would have a family. That promise was broken very quickly because we were both hurt. We hated that we could have what we wanted. We hated that we lost that one speck of hope. We hated everything and it nearly tore us apart. Bur our friends brought us back together and showed us that we are better together rather than apart. They showed us that we couldn't lose hope because then we lost hope in each other. Time went by and we took it day by day. We watch our friends expand their families and then we got the biggest news of all. All the appointments, all the medications, finally had worked. We were finally expecting a baby. The pregnancy flies by and we find out we are having a girl and then she arrived. Isabella Alexsia Stevens. Our little baby girl. Now, she is smashing cake against her face and being freaking adorable all the damn time.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday dear Bella!

Happy birthday to you!

Murphy and I lean over and blow out the candles. Bella bangs her hands against her tray and we out the smash cake back in front of her. She starts to play with it sticking some pieces in her mouth.

See, adorable.

Later that night, after everyone had left, Murphy had gone and fed Bella and put her to bed and I was waiting for her in our bed. She walks in and quickly changes into her pajamas. She jumps into bed with me and snuggles into my chest. I know that she missed this when she was pregnant.

I look down at her, "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Everything," she mumbles.

"Is that a good or bad thing?"

"A very good thing," she says lifting her head at me.

"And why is that?" I ask leaning closer to her.

"Because everything was worth the wait." She closes the gap between us and I would like to say the rest of the night is history, but well...

A cry fills the room from the baby monitor and Murphy's head drops onto my chest.

"Duty calls." She gets out of bed and slaps my chest. She runs out of the room to check on Bella.

These nights, even though they make suck, made everything worth the wait.