Chapter 3.10 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 3.12

Generation Three: Red

Appearance: Red hair, scandalous clothing style
Traits: Romantic, Hot-headed, Art Lover
Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Occupation: Art Critic
House Goal: 30,000 worth

First Steps

I tried very hard to make our life all about the new baby, and to that end, I even arranged a date night for New Year's Eve. We went out to Sulani's only restaurant, and Mom came over to watch the kids. We had a lovely meal, and I even got to surprise Kado with a kiss under the Mistletoe they still had up in the lobby.

Oh, and speaking of Mom.. I've started really noticing things. When I had introduced her to her new grandbaby, I really took a look at the wrinkles and the grey hair. Mom was getting older. And I hated it. I've never been much of a mama's girl, but the day will come when Mom isn't around anymore, and I'm dreading it.

So I'm sitting here on the bed, watching little Christian sleep, and wiping away tears for an event that hasn't even happened yet. Maybe it was my own upcoming birthday that was making me really feel the passage of time, but I couldn't help it. I vowed to try to involve her in our lives a bit more. I acknowledged the fact that she disapproved of my footloose lifestyle had kept me away from her in the past. But things were different now. I had no intention of wavering from Kado, and no desire to.

With a soggy smile, I glanced out the window, and watched my dear Kado watering his new project- a real vegetable garden. We were supposedly going to have fresh veggies this spring, although secretly I wondered if the sandy beach soil was actually going to produce said veggies.

Wiping away my tears, I took a deep breath, and left Christian safely sleeping in his bassinet to go prepare for my little birthday "party". I wasn't actually having a party, I guess because I didn't really want to acknowledge that I was getting older... because that just highlighted to me that my loved ones were also getting older. Shaking off the thought, I reached for my phone. First thing on my list was to invite Mom over, she could watch the little ones again while I baked my cake.

Charlie greeted her grandmother at the door, and I smiled to myself to overhear her excited tales of scouting and school. It was hard to remain maudlin with Charlie's energy and pure zest for life filling up the whole room.

Before long, however, my Mommy sense tingled, and I heard the beginnings of a tantrum from Chris, who had clearly woken up and objected to having been left alone.

Mom waved me off, and headed towards the bedroom to rescue her youngest grandbaby. She couldn't hide that her back hurt, though, even though I know she tried. Sighing, I turned back to my cake batter, once again holding back tears. Geez. You'd think I was pregnant again with these emotional swings I was having. But I knew I wasn't. I had tested this morning just to be sure, and maybe the big fat negative sign on the test had triggered some of this sadness, too. I hadn't even WANTED to be pregnant again until I saw the negative test, and the disappointment I felt had surely started this whole mood.

Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I finished getting the batter ready, poured it into the cake pan, and popped it in the oven. Looking over, I watched Charlie forlornly working on her homework alone, and I quickly cleaned up the kitchen so I could relieve Mom from Chris duties and let her get back to spending time with Charlie.

A few hours later, to my surprise, as I put Chris down for another nap, Mom called me down to blow out my candles. It wasn't until that moment that I even remembered the cake I had left in the oven... and I was thoroughly chagrined when I saw it sitting there, perfectly frosted and festooned in candles.

Mom and Charlie insisted I hurry and blow them out before they melted all over the cake, so I did... but not before looking around to see if Kado was there. He wouldn't want to miss this. As if I had summoned him, a filthy and happy Kado peeked his head back inside, and helped sing "Happy Birthday" to me before he headed to wash up from all his gardening.

Apparently Mom and Charlie had cooked dinner as well as finishing and frosting the cake I had started, and Charlie happily set the table while we waited for Kado to reappear.

Dinner was a cheerful affair, and you'd never know that I felt thoroughly disconnected from the celebration. I laughed with them, and participated in the conversation, but inside, I still felt the sting of realizing Mom was getting older and finding out I wasn't pregnant.

Before long, the party (such as it was) was over, and Mom bid a loving goodbye to Charlie, and headed home across the bay.

Kado put Charlie to bed, and by the time he came to bed, I had managed to at least control my emotions. I hadn't, apparently, hid my melancholy from him, though, and I had to confess the worries in my head before sleep. He held me while we fell asleep, which helped my mood considerably... and somehow, I slept quite well (despite what I had expected).

The next day, Chris took his first steps while Kado was outside, and Charlie was at school. Luckily, I was sure he would perform a repeat later, so I hid a secret smile at being the first to see him walk, and planned to let them be surprised later.

Charlie came home from school practically glowing... apparently she had aced a Math test. Kado congratulated her, fixed us a late lunch, and we all went outside to play.

Christian quickly showed off his new strides for Kado, and even Charlie cheered. Kado, beamed with pride, and started showing his little boy how to climb the slide. He was determined that Chris would start his athletic mermaid life early.

Chris was clearly on board with this, and it took seemingly no time at all before he was eagerly sliding down on his own to land with obvious glee in Daddy's arms.

And so.. the weeks passed. No more mention was made about another baby, probably because little Christian was into EVERYTHING. With him walking, we were all on edge at all times, keeping him out of thing that would have been dangerous for his little hands.

On Love Day, I had Mom come over to babysit again, and took Kado with me into the city on a lovely date. It felt like ages since the last one, and he didn't even seem to mind the quick stop by the office to drop off some columns I had written earlier in the week. My boss seemed a bit stunned to actually see me in person, and quickly shooed Kado and I out of the office, making us promise to have enough fun for him, too, while he finished the layout for the morning edition.

San Myshuno still seemed to be wreathed in cold, despite the warm weather back home, so we had dressed quite warmly. I was definitely glad for that as we had dinner from a festive food stall, and I put a few paintings up on a sales board to see if anyone might be interested.

By the end of the night, I was several hundred dollars richer, and Kado and I were exhausted, and more than willing to hurry to catch the last bus to head home to our precious babies.

Chapter 3.10 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 3.12