Derek hauls Cassidy upstairs for her bath while I settle in on the couch in our bedroom to feed Jamie. When we got the new house, we decided since we had such an enormous down payment from the sale of my house, we could afford to step it up a little. Not only does our bedroom have an en suite bathroom and a walk-in closet, but in front of the walk-in closet there was so much space, Derek put up some bookshelves and a couch so we have our own little sitting area in here. It’s a ridiculous amount of space for a bedroom, but it has been so nice to have while Jamie adjusts to how humans sleep.
His only flaw so far is his sleep schedule. He keeps me up so much during the night. I didn’t take any maternity leave from work beyond the two days I spent in the hospital, so adjusting to working while having him up all hours was a challenge, but it has to end eventually.
In the meantime, I’m just going to nurse him on this couch right now and try not to fall asleep.
Once Cassidy is bathed and in her pajamas, she runs in ahead of Derek and jumps on the couch beside me. I grimace, looking down at Jamie. He fell asleep nursing, but her jostle didn’t wake him.
“He’s sleeping,” she whispers.
I nod my head, absently rubbing my thumb over his arm. “He’s so cute when he sleeps, isn’t he?”
Cassidy nods, then informs me, “I still want a little sister.”
Chuckling, I tell her, “Goodness, child, give my body time to heal first. I still have a balloon belly.”
“That just means the baby already has somewhere to sleep,” she says reasonably.
Derek finally makes his way into the bedroom. He comes over to the couch and looks down at us all snuggled up. “Are you girls gonna pass out on me? I thought we were having movie night.”
“I’m awake,” Cassidy assures him, even as she rests her head heavily on my shoulder.
“I can commit to trying,” I volunteer.
“Lightweights,” he says, shaking his head at us.
I smile sleepily as he picks up Jamie and moves him to his shoulder. Just when I think my heart can’t get any fuller, Derek goes into daddy mode and makes my heart explode. His big hand rubs Jamie’s back reassuringly to keep him asleep as he heads for the nursery right next to our bedroom. He’s back a moment later. Cassidy gave up the good fight and passed out on my shoulder, so he picks her up, cradles her much longer body in his arms, and hauls her to bed, too.
He lifts an eyebrow when he comes back and finds me yawning on the couch. “Do I have to carry you to bed next?”
“We’re supposed to watch a movie,” I tell him, yawning again.
“How ‘bout a raincheck?” he offers.
“I don’t want tomorrow to be Sunday. Weekend is almost over. The work week is dumb.”
“The work week is dumb,” he agrees, taking my hand and pulling me up off the couch.
I wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his shoulder; he wraps his arm around my waist and hugs me tight. “Weekends are the best.”
“You’re the best,” he tells me, before kissing his way along my jaw.
“Cassidy is still trying to breed me,” I tell him.
“Now that I’ve seen how cute our babies can be, I can’t blame her,” he reasons.
Grinning sleepily, I bob back and look at him. “That’s true. I think we made the cutest human being in the known universe.”
“We owe it to the world to make at least one more,” he agrees.
I sigh, closing my eyes and resting my forehead against his. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he answers.
“I love our house. I love our kids. I love our whole life. Together we have more than I ever could have wished for, Derek.”
“I have everything I ever could’ve wished for right here in my arms,” he tells me. “All the rest is extra.”
Brushing my lips against his, I murmur, “You make it really hard not to jump you when you say things like that.”