three hearts in one home (l.s.)

three months later

“And, done”, Jonah says and draws a little red cross into the calendar, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth carefully, “Only so much longer, Papa. Three weeks. That is not many days.”

“Come on, you know that. How many days is that. Seven plus seven plus seven?” I pour the milk over Jonah’s  cereal and place it on the table.

“Twenty?”, he asks, bouncing up and down on his chair impatiently.

“Honey, don’t be lazy. Tell me how much it is.”

“Twenty-one”, he says and rolls his eyes before grabbing his bowl, “You’re so annoying.”

I laugh. “That’s my job. I’ll go and wake up Louis, alright?”

He nods and keeps eating his muesli while still staring at the little calendar we got so he could count the days until the predicted birth date.

We decided to keep the gender a surprise until the day of birth, even though it’s all killing us a little bit, being as impatient as we are.

I wave at Jonah and walk through the hallways to our bedroom. Louis is always the one sleeping in on the weekends, so we usually have to wake him up.

I lay down on the bed next to him and kiss his cheek once before brushing a strand of hair out if his forehead. “Hi, baby. It’s already ten, J’s having breakfast. Made some for us too.”

Louis smiles a bit but keeps his eyes closed as he pulls me in by my neck to kiss me once. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec.”

I lay my head down on his chest carefully and enjoy the soft brushing of his hands though my hair. “Good morning”, he mumbles and kisses the top of my hair once, “Slept well?”

I nod and intertwine our fingers, brushing my thumb over his palm. “You too? Weren’t awake for too long yesterday?”

He shakes his head. “No. Stopped searching after an hour. I swear, we should’ve let them tell us the gender, like this we have double the work.”

“You’re right. Favourites right now?”

He shrugs and pulls me up by my waist so he can kiss my forehead. “Noa. Or Matilda, maybe. And for a boy Mateo. What do you think?”

I nod. “Like them all. We still have a bit of time, don’t we?”

I sit up carefully and he does the same, leaning against the headboard, looking at our hands. “Not sure whether to be excited or nervous”, he says, “I’m sure we’ll do good, I just hope everything will go fine so badly.”

I nod and lean my head against his shoulder. “I’m sure it will. Mandy is strong, she’ll do well, won’t she?”

He nods and smiles broadly. “Can you believe we’re having a baby, Haz? I don’t think I’ve realized it yet.”

“You boring, lazy dads”, Jonah says, stomping into the room loudly, Theo in his arm, “I already ate my cereal, counted days in the calendar a billion times and even gave Theo food, but you’re so slow.”

He climbs into the bed and squeezes between both of us.
I laugh and Louis pills Jonah in for a good morning-hug.

“When the baby sleeps here, does it mean I can’t come and sleep here when I can’t fall asleep anymore?”, he asks, looking up at us.

“No”, me and Louis say at the same time and smile. “Look, baby”, Louis continues explaining, “Maybe sometimes, when the baby will cry a lot, you will have to be a big brother and try to play without us for some time, for example. But most times, the baby will sleep, or just hang around with us, and that means that either Papa or me will be there for you. And if you ever feel left out, you have to tell us and we’ll find a solution.”

“But you can always come to our room when you can’t sleep”, I add, “The baby will have it’s own little bed right next to this big one, so we’ll  fit in here all four.”

Jonah nods contently and wraps an arm around both of our necks. “Good. That’s very good.”

I smile and press a kiss to the top of his head. “Plans for today?”

“Can Betty come over? And Juliet too?”

“I’ll ask Taylor and Joe to meet us at your favourite playground, is that good?”

“Yes, super good. And now you come to the kitchen, eat breakfast.”

~~~

We meet the four others about two hours later, at one of the children’s favourite playgrounds.

“Juliet is so cute”, Jonah says and smiles fondly as he pushes her on the swing, “Can’t wait to have a cute sibling too.”

I smile and ruffle through his hair carefully, watching Juliet’s blue eyes glow with happiness, her small, chubby arms thrown into the air as Jonah pushes her as high as possible.

“Higher, Jonah”, she says and giggles, “Wanna go higher.”

I can’t really stop smiling while I watch Jonah, my amazing son, be so adorable, already seeing how he’ll be the best sibling on earth.

I walk over to Louis, watching Jonah help Juliet out of the swings before running of to Betty, sitting in the sand.

“Isn’t he the cutest?”, Louis whispers and pulls me in, “I can’t wait anymore. Can’t the baby hurry up a little?”

I laugh and nod, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind. “Wish so too.”

Taylor walks over to us, shaking her head slightly. “I think we gotta take a break from this friendship. I can’t see you anymore once the baby arrived because I feel like I’ll want another one. And two are definitely enough.”

I laugh and shrug. “Not too sure about that. Maybe three are enough. Or four.”

Louis grins. “Agreed.”

Taylor rolls her eyes and sits down on the bench next to us, crossing her legs and watching the kids play with Joe in the sand. “Nah, as cute as they are, I can’t deal with another one, not now that they’re both finally out of the age where you literally don’t know what to do with them.”

“Cuddle them”, I suggest.

“Adore them”, Louis continues.

“Stare at them and try to take in the fact that they’re yours.”

Taylor laughs and rolls her eyes. “We’ll talk again once the second is grown up. If your energy isn’t gone by then, you’re probably some super natural parents.”

“We’ll try to be”, Louis mumbles, “right?”

I nod and tighten my embrace around him a little, watching Jonah, playing with Betty and Juliet happily, thinking about how excited I am for the future.

~~~

baby chapter sooonnnn<3