Gen 1.8 – The Life Flow

I fell into the role of working and parenting. As much as I had feared it, it really seemed to come naturally. I was amazed at how naturally it seemed to come to Don too. He was excellent at helping with Darian as a baby. We were working opposite shifts so as he slept I would get up with Darian and as I slept he would get up. It worked amazingly well.

I always heard of those parents who said newborns were so hard, but I honestly wasn’t feeling that way. It also helped that we had a stream of friends stopping by who were ready and willing to help out if needed.

Gavin even came by to welcome the newest Decker and catch up on our growing family.

On Don’s birthday I baked his favorite cake, chocolate. As soon as he got home from work we lit the candles to celebrate.
“Thanks baby! Although, I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“You’ll be great, it’s not like it’s that much difference between this year and last. You’re just a full fledged, card carrying member of the adult club now.”
“I guess I do feel like a full fledged adult now. I have a beautiful wife, a perfect son, a house …” He looked around and wrinkled his nose “That one needs a little work. Everything keeps breaking and we need to finish the bedroom for Dar.”
“We’ll get to that in time! Make a wish!”

I grabbed a slice of cake and plopped down on the couch.

“I’ve got to say,” Don sat next to me as he spoke, “I’m glad we had a boy. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a girl.”
“What does that mean? Do you not want a girl?”
“No, I mean, I guess if it happens … but I remember being a teenage boy. Heck, I remember being a young adult not long before I met you. And what if a daughter looked like you?” He threw his head back, “We’d be doomed.”
“I don’t know, I think it’d be nice to have a girl. Even up the teams a little bit you know. Besides, they make cute boy clothes and all but have you seen what you can buy for a girl?”
“I’m not opposed to a second child, but I’m just saying. I’m terrified of having a baby girl.” He shoved forkfuls of cake into his mouth, “This is really good. You’re cooking skills are getting to awesome level.”
“Hmmm, but you aren’t opposed to another child?” I had been having serious baby withdrawls, especially knowing that Darian was about to start school.
Don winked at me, “I’m surprised we don’t have another already.”
“Well …” I put my plate on the coffee table. “We could arrange that.” I scooted closer to Don and cuddled against him. He looked somewhat surprised.
“Are you insinuating that we ….” I gave him my best flirty eyes and blew him a kiss.
“Why not?” Don smiled.
“I suppose I’ll have to call our contractor tomorrow about finishing Dar’s room and maybe adding another.”

“Don!” I screamed.
“What?! What’s wrong?!” He busted in the bathroom door and when he realized I was in no real danger he stood there with total confusion on his face. “What? What’s going on?” I held the positive pregnancy test out to him. “What! Is that … Holy crap!”

Next was Darian’s birthday. I was far more emotional than I thought I would be. My baby was ready to start school. He revealed himself to be quite the art lover, although we weren’t sure where that trait came from. He also wanted to be a whiz kid in school.

“I wanna do better than nobody.”
“Anybody baby.”
“Any body.”

Darian also proved himself to be a little social butterfly. He frequently cornered our neighbors outside, luckily they loved talking to him and hearing his creative stories.

We also did a few renovations to give Dar a place for his bed. It wasn’t a full bedroom, yet, but we were also able to buy him a violin. Because he was such a lover of all things artistic and creative, and because he wanted to excel at everything, it turned out to be a good investment.

A much better investment than the cheap plastic dinosaur that he kept poking himself in the eye with.

For me, pregnancy this time was moving much more smoothly. I still felt tired, nauseous and like I had to pee all the time, but I felt much less miserable. However, between being pregnant, Darian and our work schedules Don and I were finding it hard to connect. He had taken to stomping around the house in a permanent state of stress. Although he never took it out on me or Darian I could tell the tension was at an all time high.

“Talk to me babe. What’s going on?” Don sighed and shut his book.
“Work, it’s just very stressful and promotions … I keep getting passed over. It’s driving me crazy. I’m considering just quitting and finding something else. Then there’s us. I mean … I love you and I love our family but there hasn’t been much in terms of ‘us’ lately. I get everyone has a lot going on but I don’t think we’ve so much as held hands in the last three months.”
“I see …”
“I just needed to vent. I know it’s not your fault or anything.” Don was right. Family life was taking a real toll on our romantic life.
“I think I know what we need. Let’s get a babysitter and go on a date.”
“That sounds pretty good actually! We didn’t really do much of the whole dating thing.” I grabbed Don’s hand.
“Well, what better time to start? This is like the calm before the storm. Darian can somewhat take care of himself and this …” I patted my growing belly, “will be here soon.”