106 - Growth

Mommy and Me

Thursday, March 15, 2012

It is the Ides of March, children, and Mommy has had the most amazing realization!  I thought the two of you were unhappy over my food choices the last couple of weeks, but that wasn’t it at all.  According to my fine friends at Google, what I felt wasn’t indigestion, but movement – from you!  That usually doesn’t happen until much later with single babies, so I had no idea.  Being twins, you snuck up on me way earlier than I expected you to.

Mommy is seriously slacking in the research department.  Which is sad, seeing as I have nothing else to do.  I did organize a volunteer program at the Red Bank library, though.  Different leaders of the community will be coming in for story time every Saturday.  Daddy doesn’t know it yet, but he’s on the schedule for next Saturday.

You just moved again!  This is VERY cool.  Daddy’s jealous because he can’t feel yet.  For now it’s just me and you, kids...

Love you, my high-kicking Poppies.

❧❧❧

Mommy and Me

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Poppies! 

Daddy was thrilled to find out Mommy has some Irish ancestry.  He says he wishes HE were Irish, but he isn’t drinking green drinks to try and make it happen.  He will be content having twins with a leprechaun legacy.  Of course, now he’s calling my belly the pot of gold.  Silly Daddy. 

Speaking of my belly, it’s getting bigger by the day it seems.  I swear I’m almost as big as your Aunt Desiree – who is having a boy, by the way.  They’re talking about naming him Michael Francis after your Uncle Tony, Grandpa John and Daddy.  Mommy’s been meaning to tell you that, but when I come here and start talking it ends up being all about us.  Bad, self-absorbed Mommy.  J

I’ve been trying to share my belly-woes with Aunt Des, since she’s the only other pregnant person I know, but she has no sympathy for my rapidly expanding waistline.  She says it serves me right to have twins and be as big as a house since I didn’t have morning sickness.  I thank you for that.  You’ve given me a lot of surprises, but I very much appreciate you leaving that one from the list. 

Okay, it’s time for me to fix Daddy’s dinner – corned beef and cabbage.  Irish ancestry or not, that’s yucky. 

The things I do for your daddy…. 

❧❧❧

Mommy and Me

Wednesday, March 22, 2012

Well, your Aunt Riley is still angry with Mommy.  It’s been two weeks and she’s still refusing to listen to your song and forgive me.  It doesn’t matter that what I did happened a long time ago. Your Aunt Riley is a stubborn woman – kind of like your Mommy.

Today’s life lesson my children:  Nobody can love OR hate you like your siblings.  Remember that and be kind to one another whenever you get the chance.  Okay?

On the bright side, the press has been minding their own business instead of Mommy’s and Daddy’s during those two weeks.  Little victories can be really sweet.

❧❧❧

Mommy and Me

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Well, babies, today was Daddy’s turn to read at the library and I must say that he did a fantastic job.  He had the children there as enthralled with him as any of the people that pay to see his concerts.  Your Daddy is just one of those people who is positively charismatic – when he wants to be.  Other times he’s a grumpy puss.  Either way, we love him.

The book he read was called “Sammy and the Pecan Pie”, which he then made me buy for the bookcase that he also insisted I buy for your room.  It’s your very first book and Daddy can’t wait to read it to you.  It’s about twin squirrels – Sammy and his sister Sophie.  Mommy won’t spoil the story, so you have something to look forward to in a couple of years.

Did I tell you Daddy’s convinced that you’re one of each?  A boy and a girl.  He tried to call you Sammy and Sophie today, but Mommy put a stop to that.  We are NOT naming you after squirrels.  End of discussion.

Remember when I told you Mommy can be assertive when she needs to be?  Yeah.  I needed to be.  Mommy still loves Daddy to pieces though, and I’m pretty sure I always will.  He’s a good guy, your daddy.

❧❧❧

Mommy and Me

Friday, March 30, 2012

It’s Produce Day in the belly, my sweet Poppies.

I know you’re just dying of anticipation to find out what fruit or veggie the wonderful people at thebump.com have designated you this week.  Are you ready?  This week you are... avocados!

That makes Mommy want Mexican food.  Maybe Daddy will take me to that place in Red Bank he’s been trying to get us to for the last month.   Or we could just wait until we get to California tomorrow.  They probably have better Mexican food anyway.  How do you feel about Mexican?

We’ll see if we can get a good recommendation from Jeri.  Have I told you about Jeri?  Jeri is awesome.  She works for Daddy and magically knits all the details of his life (and ours, by association) together.  An amazing woman.  Daddy couldn’t live without her.  I haven’t even asked where we’re staying for this trip, because I know Jeri will have something perfect planned. 

And I bet she knows a good Mexican restaurant, too.  Olè from your mamacita!

❧❧❧

“And you offered to let her hear the song?  Damn, Kitten...  Riley’s really mad at you.”

His wife’s face puckered into a delicate scowl as she tossed some panties into the suitcase.  She swore they were maternity panties, but the little scraps of lace looked just as sexy as the ones she was wearing when she got pregnant.  Just like those sweaters and long-sleeved tees looked like her clothes from before, except maybe a little bit longer. 

“I know she is, but I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Running away to California probably isn’t the number one choice.”

That brilliant observation earned him an annoyed glare. 

“Spring break is spring break and your kids deserve a trip.  It could be worse.  We could be going to St. Barth’s.”

Which she had been adamantly opposed to when he assumed that’s where they would go.  It was where he’d always taken the kids for spring break, but she’d said they should probably instill their own traditions.  St. Barth’s should be a memory they shared with Dorothea and Sheridan didn’t want to muddle those memories. 

Fortunately, Romeo had come up with the solution.  Uncle Tony had said something about Disneyland when he’d been here for the housewarming party, and it had stuck with Jon’s youngest child like a burr.  Apparently, he’d like to take his dear old uncle up on that offer – immediately.

So California for Spring Break it was.

“True, I guess,” he conceded.  “Why is she so friggin’ mad?”

Dropping her backside onto the bed, she rearranged the contents of the bag to suit her.  “She’s not really mad, I don’t think, so much as hurt.  We’ve always been close, but now she’s questioning that because I didn’t tell her about the egg donation.”

If anybody was mad over the egg donation news, he would have expected it to be Suzanne.  She, however, had been totally cool about the whole thing. 

No, she didn’t want Madison to know about it yet.  She thought it would be best served to wait until the girl was old enough to really understand how much love was involved in such a gesture. Other than that, however, she didn’t care who knew what Sheridan had done for her.  Vowing to stand beside her best friend, regardless of what happened, she’d been in line behind only Jon in offering to go talk to Sheridan’s parents with her. 

“Does Riley know about Madison?”

“Yes.  She said she feels like Suzy is more my sister than she is now.  Ugh.”  Her hands dropped into her lap and she popped out her lip in a pout worthy of any churlish toddler.  “I need to get away.”

Jon went to stand in front of her, chuckling as he took his index finger and pushed the lip back where it belonged.  “I’m taking you away, Kitten, but you’ve got to work it out with her.  I can tell it’s eating at you, and if it’s eating at you, it’s eating at the munchkins.” 

When she threatened to poke the pouty lip back out, he backed down and changed the subject. 

“Last chance to choose where we stay in California.  I’m making the decision if you don’t.  Richie’s or Tony’s?”

He’d asked her the question a couple of times in a generic form.  Just a simple “where ya wanna stay?” kind of thing.  Sheridan, being Sheridan, said it didn’t matter and that anyplace was fine.  If he knew her as well as he thought he did, that claim was about to be disproven. 

“Are you kidding me?”  Her smooth forehead wrinkled with alarm.  “We’ve moved past it, but I’m still not ready to stay with Richie again.  You don’t really want to do that, do you?”

“If it was just me I would just because Richie’s got a bigger place.  I agree, though.  It’s probably still a little too soon for that.”  Particularly since his friend had called after that third Cosmo article had published.  He was very appreciative of Sheridan’s gift for words.  They’d never had issues over a woman before, but Jon preferred not to put that to the test.  “Tony’s house will hold us all without a problem.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate the hospitality, but are you sure your brother won’t mind us invading?”

“Hell, no, he won’t mind.  He’ll do his thing and we’ll do ours unless either of us wants  anything different.  Besides, he’s always after me and Dottie to send the boys for a visit.  Loves the yard apes to death for some reason.” 

His eyes lit on the bedside clock and he dipped in for a fleeting kiss from her pout-free lips.

“Speaking of which, they should be here soon.  I’ve got my shit packed, but I wanna grab a quick shower to wash off the gym sweat.  Listen for the door, would ya?”

❧❧❧

“What are you gonna do while we’re gone, Mom?”  Jesse asked as they navigated Navesink River Road.  No doubt his sister had put him up to it.  Dorothea had been hounded incessantly ever since Jon had made plans to take the kids for the week.  Her eldest child was evidently worried that she was going to wither away from boredom while the boys were out of town. 

If you’d tell her about Michael, she wouldn’t be worried.

But she wasn’t ready to do that.  They’d been talking to each other for a while, but since their first date on Valentine’s Day – six weeks ago – they hadn’t had the chance to spend more than a handful of evenings together.  This week would tell her more about whether this was worth pursuing further.  Until it was something with substance, her children didn’t need to know about it.

“Absolutely nothing, and I’m going to love every minute of it.”

“Are you gonna miss us?”  This from her youngest child, whom she still couldn’t believe was two days past turning eight years old.  There were times she wished the hyperactive child grown and gone, but those moments were fleeting.  More often than not, it seemed as though time flew by faster than she realized.

“Of course I am!  What kind of silly question is that?” she demanded, flipping on her turn signal before steering the vehicle into the driveway of Jon’s new house. 

Impish brown eyes sparkled in the rear view mirror, the only one pair in the entire brood that matched hers.  His gap-toothed grin was enough to melt a mother’s heart.  “Just checkin’.”

She chewed lightly on the inside of her mouth as the house came into view.  So far, she had avoided this moment by having Jon pick the boys up whenever they came to stay with him.  With Romeo’s counseling appointment in the city this morning and the last-minute things the other boys ‘had’ to have before traveling, it had made more sense for her to drop the boys off when they were finished.

So, now…  She was visiting the first home – other than his parents’ – that Jon had lived in without her.  

The sting at seeing the beautiful house wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be.  Maybe that was because she was ‘dating’ someone now.  Elsewise, it could be because her feelings toward Sheridan had significantly mellowed.  The woman had been forced to endure a significant amount of bullshit since marrying Jon. 

While there was that little bitchy part of Dorothea that wanted to protest Sheridan may have created that bullshit in some attention-seeking maneuver of manipulation, she tried not to indulge the bitchy.  That wasn’t who she was by nature and, even if she was, Romeo’s birthday party on Thursday night would have been enough to stifle it.

The guest list had been predominantly family, with a few of Romeo’s friends and their parents thrown in for good measure.  Two of her sisters and their children were there, Matt and Desiree with their kids, David and Lexi…  Jon and Sheridan.

Claiming fatigue and graciously avoiding the event would have been easy for Jon’s new wife to do in her condition, but she hadn’t.  She’d come on her husband’s arm, bearing a pleasant smile and a complete set of R.L. Stine books for the birthday boy. 

Seeing how pleased the boys were to see their stepmother, and that Matt and Desiree were just as pleased, had made an impression on Dorothea.  She knew from personal experience that all of them were good judges of character and they made her feel the tiniest bit remorseful about her behavior with the woman.  Deep down, she knew that her anger had really been with Jon, not Sheridan, and that it was borne more of hurt that he’d moved on than anything. 

Catching her in a quiet corner of the kitchen during the evening, Linda had tried to play the role of supportive sister and be catty about Jon’s new wife.  Dorothea appreciated the show of support, but she had told her it wasn’t necessary.  She was ready to let go of the bitterness and move on.

Not that Sheridan knew that.  They hadn’t done more than exchange hellos and goodbyes at the party. 

It doesn’t need to be an Oprah moment, she schooled herself as the boys piled out of the car and dragged their bags from the trunk.  Just don’t treat her worse than you would a perfect stranger.

“Daaa-ad!” 

Jake threw open the door and bellowed for his father before Dorothea’s boot hit the driveway.  That meant she was bellowing, too, when she scolded, “Jacob Hurley!  You don’t walk in the front door screaming like a banshee!”

Appearing in the doorway with a laugh and affectionate shake of her head as the boys dumped their bags in the foyer, Sheridan assured her, “It’s okay.  They’ve discovered that the acoustics here are really good.  I have a feeling that Jon heard that from all the way upstairs.”

Was she ever going to be ‘besties’ with the blonde, buxom woman who was ten years her junior?  Who looked good even with a swollen stomach?  Who would probably still look good when that stomach tripled in size? 

No.  Not a chance in hell. 

But she could be nice. 

And not begrudge it.

Smiling at the younger woman, she instructed her children, “Sheridan’s not used to dealing with you guys for a solid week.  Take it easy on her, okay?”