“What time are the guys due in today?” my wife asked.
“Four,” I responded. I stood up and brought my lunch plate to the sink. “Zoë and I will probably leave here in about an hour.”
“That early?” Clare questioned, turning around in her chair.
I smiled and rubbed her shoulder gently, “have to beat weekend traffic, plus I promised our daughter an ice cream at that restaurant we always go to in the airport. What’s the name of it again?”
“Rusty Jack’s.”
“Yeahhh Rusty Jack’s.” I picked up my wife’s finished plate and put it in the sink next to mine.
Clare rose to her feet, “I’ll do the dishes, can you go check on the babies?”
“Of course,” I responded backing away from the sink. “Hmmm when given the choice between baby-playing and dish-washing I chose the first one.” I winked at my wife before heading up the stairs to the twin’s room.
The door to the room was partly closed and the lights were off, so I gently tip toed into the bedroom and turned on the lamp on the desk rather than the overhead light. The crib next to the door was my first destination. I leaned on the railing and smiled down at Lorelai, my third eldest daughter, sleeping on her stomach. I watched her tiny blanket move up and down with the rhythm of her breathing. “Lorelai,” I said softly, reaching into the crib and touching her tiny arm. “Daddy loves you,” I whispered, running my index finger up and down her arm. She sighed and moved her arms up and down. I grinned and allowed her to catch my finger in her tiny fist. Into the mouth it went, her tiny gums trying hard to chew on the tip of my finger but unsuccessfully doing so. “Lorelai Taylor, you’re less than three weeks old, what do you know about chewing?” I joked. I gently pulled my finger away from her mouth and wiped it on her blanket. I leaned over as far as I could into the crib and kissed the back of her neck. “If you’re hungry give Mommy a yell because she’s all set to give you some lunch.” I kissed her again before moving to the next crib.
Crisanthee was a little smaller than Lorelai but not significantly so, we only knew because we had been told by the doctors. They said she’d catch up to her older sister within the next month or so, but we should be cautious and watch after her carefully to make sure she was growing correctly. There was no sign of any birth defects yet, thankfully after the ordeal Clare had to go through in order for Cris to be born, but we had to watch her just in case. She tested negative for the common defects at birth, but the doctors warned us that some things don’t develop until the first month or so. We had taken her to the doctor twice since she had been born for follow-ups and testings, but everything was perfectly normal except for the weight and measurement of her small body. We just had to be careful, that’s all.
I reached over the side of the crib and picked up my youngest. Despite her smallness, Crisanthee had large, beautiful green eyes. I saw them through the darkness, curious and un-tired, and known she was awake. I held her close to my chest and sat down in the rocker next to the window. She didn’t make a sound and even allowed me to rock her gently without a peep.
“Crissy,” I whispered in a soft sing-song voice. “Crissy, Crissy, Crissy.” I held my right hand on the nape of her neck, supporting her head, and the other under her bottom. “My baby of babies,” I said with a grin. I pulled her away from my chest and rested her head on the inside of my elbow. I kissed her nose. She yawned and stretched her arms out. “Ah, I see you have discovered that you have arms.” I chuckled. “I think we have a baby genius on our hands here.”
“Taylor?” Clare knocked on the door gently. The light from the hallway spilled into the room as my wife entered. She smiled at the sight of me holding Crisanthee in the rocking chair.
“Cris, look it’s Mommy!” I held the baby up so she could see Clare walking in towards us.
“How’s my baby girl?” Clare asked our daughter, taking her from my hands. She patted Cris’ pajama bottom. “Daddy neglected to notice that someone has a wet koo-lee.” Clare pretended to glare at me while she walked the baby to the changing table.
I got up from the chair and walked to the two girls. Clare had the baby on her back already and was getting out a fresh diaper. She was holding Cris down with one hand and was groping under the table for a diaper with the other. Her eyes glanced up at me when she retrieved the diaper. “Oh my,” Clare gasped, her face becoming flustered. The hand that was on Cris’ stomach immediately went to her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quickly, touching my wife’s arm. “Are you going to vomit?”
She shook her head but kept her hand to her face. I heard squeals of laughter coming from her mouth.
“What?” I asked again. Clare shook her head and pointed at my lower body. I
looked down and noticed that the front of my pants were wet. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes,” Clare managed to choke out between laughter. She turned back to our daughter and started changing her diaper. “Looks like Daddy needs a diaper too. Can he borrow one of yours Cris?”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” I whined jokingly. I pointed at Cris. “She did it,” I accused. “She went pee-pee on me! Mommy tell her to stop!” Cris’ mouth turned up into what might have been called a smile. I leaned over, grabbing her small feet with my hands, and blew on her now bare stomach. Crisanthee made baby noises and her mouth turned up
more. “She’s smiling,” I told my wife.
“You better move your mouth before you get a real shocker,” Clare kidded. I jumped back and allowed Clare to finish changing the baby. She handed her to me and went to get Lorelai. I bounced around with Cris while Clare changed Rory’s diaper, making up songs about how I had to change because of a certain a little special baby. I held Cris’ hand in mine and danced a waltz around the room.
“You are a lovely dancer,” I told my daughter in a rather bad British accent that had come out of my mouth. “We will do it again sometime, and maybe next time you’ll have your own two feet to dance on.” I squeezed her feet gently.
Clare picked up a clean diapered Lorelai and joined us by the cribs. “I think it might be lunch time for the children,” my wife said, noticing Lorelai was pursing her lips.
“That one tried to eat me before,” I said, pointing towards Rory with Crisanthee’s bottom.
“Man Taylor, eaten... peed on...” she stopped her joke short, “Oh will you go and change already!”
I laughed. “Let me just help you get settled and then I’ll change and check on Anya.” I grabbed the milk towel from the dresser and placed it over my wife’s shoulder as she sat down. I took Lorelai from her arms for a brief moment so she could undo her shirt. “Can you get this alone?” I asked my wife.
Clare nodded and took Rory from my arms, settling her small head on the inside of her elbow for the time being. “Just put Cris in her crib for now.”
I placed Cris on her stomach and drew the blanket close around her neck. Before I left to change I leaned in and kissed her head softly. Her mouth was wide open, yawning, and then lips pouted as she waited for her sister to finish eating. I rubbed her back with my index and middle fingers for a few minutes. It was amazing, those two fingers were all that could fit on her back.
“Taylor?”
I turned to the sound of my wife’s voice.
“You’re starting to smell.”
I glanced down at my pants. “I’ll take that as a hint to leave.”
Clare nodded. “Be-gone, Smelly.”
I leaned over the drinking baby and kissed Clare’s lips long and hard. “Smelly will be back but under new management, Old Spice.”