Page 43 of That Baby (That Boy 3)
Danny shakes his head. "I can't win."
"Danny, if you make a big purchase, it's probably a good idea to tell your wife about it," Phillip suggests.
"It was supposed to be a fun surprise." He runs his hand across the hood of my car. "You know, she commented the other day about how all the other players' wives have luxury cars. Couldn't you have gotten Jay a nice safe Toyota or something? Although, I'll be damned if I'm getting her one until she starts leaving the house. You know she's started ordering groceries online. She's paranoid the baby will catch a germ."
"Maybe you should take her out on a date," Phillip suggests.
"That's why I bought the boat, people. It was supposed to be the best of both worlds. Baby sleeps. We can relax, talk, and reconnect."
"Maybe we could all go out in it," I suggest. "That would be fun. Or we could watch the baby while you go out."
"Let's all go," Danny says.
Danny and Phillip pick up the boat, get it pulled up to the dock in front of their house and, by some miracle, Lori has agreed to go out. Devaney is safely strapped into her baby carrier, which is set on the floor of the pontoon in the shade. Danny wrapped a life jacket around the top of the handle, so in the unlikely event that the carrier gets knocked into the water, it won't sink to the bottom.
Danny cruises around in the boat for a bit and once Devaney is lulled to sleep, he stops in a calm cove, drops the anchor, and pops open a couple beers, tossing one to Phillip.
I strip off my tee and shorts. "Let's get in the water!"
Phillip grabs my hand and together we jump off the swim deck. "Ahhh! That's cold!"
Danny dive bombs right in between us. "This is awesome," he says. "Come on, Lori. Get in."
"I'll pass," she says. "I'm afraid my body is not swimsuit ready yet."
"Who cares," Danny says. "It's just us."
"I care, Danny," she says in a snotty tone.
As I get back into the boat, she looks me up and down. "I never would have worn a bikini when I was pregnant."
"I think she's beautiful," Phillip says, rubbing his hand across my belly.
"I don't mean this in a bad way," Danny says, "But your stomach doesn't seem that big."
Lori rolls her eyes.
"The doctor says because I'm tall the baby has more room lengthwise. We just had a third ultrasound and the baby's right on target."
"I like how you've been posting pictures of your bump with the chalkboard that shows how far along you are," Danny says. "We'll have to do that for the next one, Lori."
"Do you want to wait a while to have another or have them close together?" Phillip asks them.
"I can't even think about that right now," Lori says.
"That makes sense," I say, trying to be nice. "I think I'd like our kids fairly close together, but that's all just a theory at this point. Babies are obviously a lot of work. I can't even believe how much Devaney has grown already though. She's beautiful."
"She's really developing a little personality too," Danny says. "That's the fun part. When she smiles, she just melts my heart. My new goal in life is to make her laugh."
"When do they start doing that?" I ask.
"Three to four months," Lori says. "And Devaney is very advanced, so I'm sure it will be very soon."
Danny tosses Phillip another beer. "Lori, you want one?"
"I'm nursing," she says, like he's an idiot.
"I thought you could pump and dump?" Danny counters.
"Do we even want to know what that means?" Phillip asks with a laugh.
"It's when you pump breast milk out and throw it away. Lots of women do it when they want to drink, but don't want to pass alcohol along to the baby," Danny replies, holding out a beer for Lori, who declines.
"That's awesome," I say. "I'm totally doing that. I can't wait to drink again."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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Dear Baby Mac,
You're 17 inches tall and weighing in at around 3 lbs. You're not going to grow that much more in length (only a few inches), but as we get closer to your birth you're going to pack on the pounds at a rate of a half a pound per week.
Since your dad can feel you kick all the time now, he's starting to freak out a little.
The good news is, I got a really gorgeous new car out of the deal. I've been complaining a little about losing my two-door sports car, but I freaking love this SUV. It's luxurious, sleek, and even has heated seats, which I can't wait to use this winter.
Your dad bought us the safest car he could find, because he says we are his most precious cargo.
Which is really pretty sweet.
He's also having our home security system redone. We used to have basic door alarms but he's adding glass break detectors to all the windows and something that detects if they are opened.
(Poor child, you'll never be able to sneak out at night.)
He also made them add a cellular uplink, so in case someone ever cut our phone lines the alarm would still go off.
He also has baby-proofed the house.
This is something you typically don't do until your little bundle of joy starts to become mobile.
But we now have covers over all the outlets and annoying little latches on the cabinets. I guess the good news is when you do start moving around, we'll be ahead of the curve.
Angel is getting bigger and bigger. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She doesn't look like my little baby puppy anymore. She loves to go jogging with us and whines and sits by the garage door when it's time to go to work.
Mostly, she likes to go to work because Peggy brings her Chick-fil-A biscuits every morning. The other day, it was pretty funny. Angel puked the biscuits up all over Peggy's purse. I thought she'd get upset, but she wiped it off, called her a little minx, and then gave her a cookie.
Although Angel isn't allowed to get close to Devaney, when she has she's so gentle. Which considering how rambunctious she is, says a lot. I know she's going to love having you around.
She had to go to the groomers the other day after she decided rolling around in goose poop was a fun activity. They sent her home with a hot pink bandana, and she looks so stinking cute. It fits her spunky personality.
Although I've known it for quite some time now, your dad just realized that Angel isn't really an angel.
While he was in the shower this morning, she shredded the bathroom rug.
I have no idea how he didn't notice she was tearing it into bits when the shower door is glass.
July 23rd
Could be a boy.
I come home from work to find Phillip's mother surrounded by bags.
"Looks like someone's been shopping," I observe.
"I have been. I got so many cute little pajamas for the baby. And some toys. I also bought an assortment of diaper sizes. Oh, and look," she grabs my hand and pulls me into the entryway, pointing toward our dining room.
I swallow hard. "You bought us a picture. Of a storefront in Paris."
"Your dining room looks so pretty since you got the new chairs, rug, and curtains, but that wal
l just looked bare."
"We were waiting to get a painting at the art fair this fall."
"Oh, well, now you don't have to!"
"Uh--" I start to say, but she pulls me back into the living room and distracts me with adorable baby clothes.
She pulls out a list. "Phillip found this list of baby needs online. I'm working my way through it."
"You don't have to buy all this stuff," I tell her. "It's really nice of you though."
She gives me a beaming smile. "I tell everyone I see that I'm going to be a grandma. I can't wait. I noticed Phillip has been baby proofing."
"Yes, I suspect he's going to build a plastic bubble over the house soon."
She laughs. "He's pretty excited. I think he'll be a very good father."
"I think he will be too. Although, I'm going to have to hide the pregnancy bible. He keeps reading the worst-case scenario section."
"That's normal for a first-time dad, and I can see it being important to Phillip. He's a boy scout. He's always supposed to be prepared."
"That's true," I laugh.
She looks up at the ceiling then says somberly, "I'm sad your parents aren't here for this."
Her sudden change in conversation catches me off guard and her words fill me with sadness. "I am too."
"I think it's part of the reason I'm going a bit overboard on the clothes and toys. Can you imagine the fun your mom and I would have had shopping together?"
"She did love to shop."
"This is something she would have bought," she says, showing me a pink onesie with an attached tutu, flower ribbons, a matching floral headband, and socks. "She dressed you like this when you were little. All pink, flowers, and glitter."
"Until I learned the word no."
"You always wore dresses. In fact, you didn't actually ever crawl. You did this weird handstand thing, because when you were on your hands and knees, you would crawl onto your dress and get stuck."
"That's funny. I didn't know that."
"I also bought a bunch of baby hangers. Do you have time to go put this stuff in the nursery?"
"Yeah, let's do it. Hang on, though. The baskets I ordered for the changing table came in. We can put all the diapers away too."
We're organizing all her purchases when my phone rings.
