by DW Cee
We all decided to make an early night of it, and I was up and ready to leave. I figured Max and I would come back in the morning, and it wouldn’t matter whether or not Donovan chose to come back since Max was around.
“Can we leave?” I don’t know why I had to ask Laney for permission, but I did. “Max and I’ll be back early in the morning to help you?”
“Sure,” Laney agreed.
“Babe, I don’t feel comfortable leaving Laney here by herself with the babies. Maybe I should stay here with her.”
Say what??? I don’t think so!!! “We’ll be right across the street. Jake never said which one of us had to stay here.”
“Why don’t I stay for a while, then I’ll leave when Laney is ready to sleep.” Max kept insisting. This big brother bit was going too far. Max could tell I wasn’t happy.
“How about I stay with Laney?” Josh suggested with a squirrely smile. He was such a cutie!
“Out of the question,” Donovan said.
Max concurred. “No. If something were to happen, I don’t know that you’d be much help.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” Josh complained, Max chuckled.
“I don’t need any of you here. Thank you, Max, but I have my stuff here already and I’m happy to stay with the kids by myself. I’ll go to sleep as soon as you guys leave so you don’t need to worry about me.”
“I’d feel much better if you let me hang out a bit longer.”
“Well, suit yourselves,” I exclaimed and headed to the back door. “I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.” I waved goodbye to the three men and started out the door.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” Max whispered.
“Don’t count on it,” I whispered back.
Believe or not, that earned me a quick, but wet kiss. I was blushing by the time Max let go of me.
Fast forward to today, Monday, early evening, Jake’s backyard for Emily’s birthday dinner. I walked in with a beautiful gift in hand, ready to greet my sister.
“...next thing you know, James pees on Jane’s face, she screams like a little girl, and he rolls off his changing table trying to get away from her...” Everyone gasped as they heard Donovan, that rat, tell an exaggerated version of what happened the other night. My brother is glaring at me even though he’s told that nothing happened to his beloved one-year-old.
“That’s the last time I put the care of my kids in your hands,” was the thanks I got for playing tirelessly with both kids on Sunday to try and make up for the near accident. I lost count of how many times I stacked both sets of nesting blocks so Ellie and James could karate chop / karate kick them down. I even gave them their first lollipop, which did not make Laney happy, but those twins sure were happy.
“Ellie, you want to play with Auntie Jane?” I asked the little girl who was draped over my boyfriend.
“NO!” was the emphatic answer that greeted my question. If that wasn’t enough, she said a few more times, “NO! NO! NO!”
Obviously, this motherhood stuff wasn’t for the weak-hearted, and obviously it wasn’t for me...at least not yet!
May 23, 2013 Introducing James and Elizabeth Reid
Max and his brothers decided to lowball the already low price on the house, and the builders accepted the bid. I think it had everything to do with the fact that they would have three sales at once. The Davis boys were psyched, and we all ended up celebrating at Emily’s house, of all places.
“Emily, you’re the greatest!” Josh brown-nosed my sister. “Thanks for inviting us to this impromptu barbeque.”
“I’m glad you could make it. I want you and Garret to visit more often. I see Max because he comes over with Jane, but you guys haven’t been here since the birthday party. Don’t you miss me?” She smiled while Jake frowned.
“Of course we miss you,” Josh said, while putting his arms around Emily’s shoulder. “But,” he then whispered, “that man you married doesn’t look like he wants us to miss you.”
Emily laughed so hard, the twins stopped what they were doing and laughed with her. Babies were the oddest creatures. They had no idea why their mother was laughing, but they decided that if it was funny enough for her, it was funny enough for them.
It may sound like I’m bragging, and I kinda am bragging, but I will swear on the Bible that my niece and nephew are the best looking one-year-olds on this planet. When they were first born, they looked almost identical to one another but as they grow older, not only are their appearances contrasting, but their personalities are like night and day.
They both started with a full head of black hair and beautiful blue eyes. I guess you could say they looked like a Reid since we three have the same coloring. Ellie’s blue eyes remind me of a deep sapphire sometimes. They’re almost as black as her hair, but when she’s out in the sun like she is now, they look like a beautiful ocean. She shares the jet-black hair with her dad and her aunt and uncle, but she has something I’d give half my shoe closet for—curls! Think ringlets now, but soon will look like Victoria Beckham / Kate Beckinsale’s loose waves with giant curls at the end. Because of her curls, her hair only appears to reach right below the ear, but once she grows and her hair relaxes, she’ll have beautiful waves from head to halfway down her back. In the skin department, Ellie has beautiful baby skin with naturally rosy cheeks. No matter what she’s doing, even while sleeping, her cheeks have a blushed glow.
James started with straight jet-black hair and sparkly blue eyes, but now his hair was turning a wavy dark brown, with curls at the end. His eyes have a cool blue-green hue to them and he is a sight to behold, especially when he smiles. Though his cheeks aren’t naturally flushed like Ellie’s, his are fuller and even more lovable than Ellie’s. He has those great big cheeks you wanted to kiss and squeeze all day. I can see why Laney was always kissing his cheeks.
At age one, it was hard to tell what my niece’s body would eventually look like since there were so many rolls of fat everywhere, but she had long legs (even for a one-year-old). And if she had her mother’s genes, she’d have no issue with weight, no matter what and how much she ate.
James was already taller than his sister, and he was looking more like Emily as he got older. Ellie looked and acted like Jake as the days passed us by. It was amazing how their temperaments were so different from one another. Ellie was a “NO!” girl, and James was a “yawsh” boy (that’s how he pronounces his yes—yawshshshsh—it is so damn cute). Just like my brother, Ellie wants everything NOW and she has to be FIRST in everything. It is like Jacob trying to usurp Esau’s birthright. If James wasn’t careful, his sister wouldn’t surprise any of us if she tried to convince everyone that she was the firstborn.
Of course, with James’ easy-going personality, he probably won’t care whether Elizabeth acts like she’s his elder. He’ll wait his turn in playing with certain favored toys, in receiving his snack, in getting in his cuddle time with Mom. Emily does a great job of making sure he comes in first at least half the times, but with a vocal daughter, it isn’t easy. But, I do notice that if there is something of importance to James, he doesn’t lose out to his sister. Case in point, James loves the Dr. Seuss book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and he makes sure he is the first one to “read” that book and only when he is done, does his sister get to even touch the book. James is also very protective and possessive of his mother. She is the cat’s meow for him. Of course Ellie loves Emily, too, but there is an extra special mother-son bond, for now. Ellie, being an attention monger, is an equal opportunity lover. My brother once stated that she’d “charm anyone within a smile of her” and he wasn’t kidding. She spreads the love and men fall like flies already, and she’s only one. Imagine her lure when she turns eighteen. SCARY!
“What are you smiling about, my muse?” Max whispered in my ear, and kissed it the same.
“I was thinking about my niece and nephew and how cute they are.”
“They are as adorable as they come. You
think if we had babies, they’d be that cute?”
Babies...us...??? Yowza, I’d never thought of making babies with this man!
“I think they might have a fighting chance...we definitely will have a good time trying...” I left it at that with a wink and a pat to his inner thigh.
“Wawa! Wawa!” Ellie called out, and pointed to the pool as soon as her meal was done.
“Again, Elizabeth?” My brother asked.
“Ellie and James love the water, and she’s been badgering Jake to take her in every night since the weather’s warmed up.” Emily explained.
My brother got smart and picked up Ellie and started asking her, “Do you want Uncle Max to take you in the pool?”
In my brother’s mind, he was trying to pass the buck, but in my mind, all I could think about was the moniker, Uncle Max. It had a great ring to it.
“NO!”
Okay...
“How about Uncle Nick?”
“NO!”
“What about Uncle Doug?”
“NO! NO! NO!”
It looked like Jake wasn’t getting out of hopping in the pool with both kids.
“Anybody home?” Donovan walked in through the back yard gate. “Am I too late for dinner?” He asked while giving Emily a kiss on the cheek and dropping a huge bag of presents.
“I’m glad you could make it. What’s in here?” Emily started rummaging through the bag.
“Just some stuff Kate and I picked up for the twins in London.” He and Kate??? “I’m afraid Ellie has a disproportionate number of gifts, compared to James.” He confessed while picking up James, making double sure that the mashed potato all over James’ face did not get on his suit. “Sorry, Bud! There’s just more girl stuff in this world.”
My gorgeous nephew gave Donovan a beautiful smile, and patted Donovan’s cheeks with his gravy and mashed potato-stained hands. Donovan couldn’t get away from him quickly enough to avoid being “mashed.” We all had a good laugh.
“You want your godfather Donovan to take you in the pool?” Jake was still looking to replace himself.
I always knew this girl was going places, but was absolutely convinced when I saw her jump from Jake’s arms into Donovan’s body. She nodded her head yes—like a million times—smiled a brilliant gummy smile and kissed Donovan on the cheek. Then, she hung her chubby arms around Donovan’s neck and cradled her body into his. Her godfather had no chance of resisting. He smiled wide, gave Ellie a kiss on her head and took her toward the pool. Damn! That little girl was good. I needed to take lessons from her.
“Um, you need to change before going in the pool,” Jake reminded him. “Bring Ellie and let’s go upstairs. I’ll lend you swim trunks.”
“You know I just got in and haven’t had dinner yet.”
“I’m sure they fed you plenty on the plane. Plus, Emily has food put aside for you. But first, you can appease your goddaughter.”
“The things I do for you Reids...” Donovan chuckled and carried Ellie with him, not that he had a choice.
“Where’s Laney, Emily?” Of course, Josh was the one to wonder.
Emily whipped out her phone and called Laney, I assume. “Hey. You busy? I tried calling you earlier, but you didn’t answer. You did?” Emily’s voice went up an octave with those last two words. “Come over with your bathing suit and have dinner with us. There are some people who’d like to see you.”
Emily gave Josh an affirmative wink and then proceeded to clean up James. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go change James so he can go swimming as well. Why don’t you all go and put on your swimsuits? I’m sure the three of you can borrow from the three men here.”
“I love watching you Reids,” Max whispered after giving me a delicious kiss. “This is what a family should be like.”
“If you keep kissing me like that, swimming’s shot. We’re going to have to go back to my room...like now!” I whispered back.
“Then stop caressing my inner thigh. I can’t get up from this table without showing a lot more than I’d like to show.”
That, to me, was a challenge, and I always rise to a challenge! As the four boys were getting up to get bathing suits, my hands went further up his inner thigh and fondled the parts that needed to be fondled, but only briefly, so he’d be frustrated. Then, my hands came right back to my lap.
“More?” I asked innocently.
“Anymore and I’ll embarrass myself. Let’s wait till we christen your new toy tonight. I hope the four seniors in the house sleep soundly ‘cuz you’re going to make some noise tonight.”
My body shivered in anticipation. “You spending the night?”
“Yeah, but I won’t be sleeping. Since we won’t see each other all weekend, gonna have to get my fill tonight to tie us over till next week.”
I shivered again. “New toy? What kind of new toy?”
“All I’m going to say is 3-speed.”
“Can’t wait,” I kissed him a little more enthusiastically than necessary in front of an audience.
“You two not swimming?” Jake was back with James in his Superman swim trunks, while Donovan carried Ellie in her Wonder Woman two-piece. They were DARLING! James’ swim trunks were red, almost speedo-like and his rash guard was blue with the red and yellow Superman logo. It even came with a cape that attached to the rash guard. He looked so darling, I just wanted to eat him up.
Ellie had on a blue bottom with white stars and her rash guard was a red top, with a golden eagle emblem drawn onto it. Attached to the rash guard was a little loop where she carried her lasso of truth. She also wore her floaties-cum-bulletproof bracelet, and she even had the red-starred golden tiara-cum-headband. All she needed were a pair of red and white go go boots and her invisible plane, and she was ready to star in a Marvel comic. Already, this sassy girl knew she looked adorable. As we ooh’ed and aah’ed over her swimsuit, she insisted on walking and practically pirouetted towards the pool. Of course, as she got to the gate, she demanded, “Up!” from her godfather and the two jumped in the pool together.
Ellie wasn’t expecting the jump. She almost looked like she was going to cry, initially, then she giggled and loved it. She now demanded, “Morrrr!” Donovan obliged and got out of the pool and jumped in again. By their fourth jump, all the men, except Jake and Max were in the pool.
“Max, you want to borrow swim trunks?” Emily offered so kindly.
“Naw, Em. I think I’ll stay here with Jane.”
“Good choice,” she said with a loving smile.
“Ne Ne!” We heard James greet Laney, and she immediately went to him and adored him. Those two had a bond that not even I could break.
“Hello, sweet boy. Are you my superhero, today?”
“Yawshshshsh!” He nodded his head furiously, then pointed to the pool.
“Can I take him in? Is he ready?”
“Be our guest, Laney. By all means, enjoy your nephew.” Jake sent those two off then approached his wife. “Finally! Alone time, Love.”
“Uh... you’re not alone. We are watching.” I warned. “Please don’t make me want to throw up my dinner. And let me just reiterate that Laney is NOT James’ aunt. I am his only aunt.”
“Then start acting like an aunt and stop threatening my kids’ lives with your baby-handling ways.”
“Oh my gosh, did you just tell me that I baby-handled your kids? Do you know how much I love those kids? I...”
“Enough.” Jake cut me off. “You want to clean up here while I take Emily upstairs? I think she’s done enough work for a day.” Though this might have sounded like a question, it was a command.