Once a Stranger

Chapter 123: Build-A-Bear

Pov y/n

Time really flies by fast.
The rest of February is like a blur.
I help Rose with her lines and celebrate when she tells me she got a small part in the play.

Scarlett and I go shopping for baby essentials and slowly fill every drawer of the changing table. Every time I go to a store that has clothes now, I look at the baby clothes and most of the time end up buying at least one piece.

When I'm not at work or at the store, I take care of Scarlett and make sure she has everything she needs. She just has to say the word and I'm off to get it for her.

The check-ups are all good and the doctor tells us that the baby is healthy every time, which I'm really glad about. Even if something was wrong, it wouldn't be fatal anymore if the baby needed to be brought to live via a c-section.
But I have high hopes that everything will be alright and Scarlett is going to give birth in the common way.

We have a midwife now that's great at calming me down and helped me pack a hospital bag. It's one of the things we did to calm my nerves. This way I know everything is ready in case we need to move fast.
We also looked for a hospital in which Scarlett wants to give birth in. Her mom is informed about taking Rose and we talked to Rose about this as well. We still have a little over two weeks left until the baby is due but I prefer being ready for everything.

Today all of that isn't important though because there's something else much more important happening today.

"Happy birthday, little dolphin." I say and give Rose a big hug. She grins happily and hugs me back.

It's crazy that she's nine now. It feels like yesterday that we celebrated her seventh birthday together.
But time went on and now here I am with my little girl that isn't little anymore. If time continues to go by like this, she's going to be a teenager before I know it.

"Thank you, Mama." She replies and lets go of me to go to Scarlett.

"My baby, happy birthday." Scar says and gives Rose a hug from her sitting position.
I took care of waking Rose up and getting her ready up to now.
Scarlett takes a little longer to get ready with the huge baby bump. I can't help but to admire it whenever I look at her. Just a few months ago you couldn't see anything and now there's a whole baby inside of her.

"Mama made you pancakes for breakfast." Scar tells Rose and brushes some hair out of her face.
Her head turns to the side and she looks at the dining table with a huge smile. Usually, we don't have pancakes on school days because that takes longer to prepare but today is a special day.

"Thank you!" She exclaims and sits down to start her breakfast. I smile and kiss the top of her head as I walk past her.

"You're still okay with our plans for today?" I ask and grab a plate to put pancakes on there for Scarlett. She gives me a thankful smile and starts eating as well. Rose nods and swallows before speaking.

"Yes. I am excited for my present and I'm looking forward to the party on Saturday." She tells me and swings her legs cutely.
With all the preparations we're having for the baby, we lost a bit of track of Rose's birthday. It was always in the back of my mind but not really the most important thing I thought of.

When Rose told us she wants to go to Build-A-Bear for her birthday, I was very relieved because that's something we can definitely do. She also wanted to pick toys out at the toy store because she wasn't sure what to wish for.
It's almost as if she wanted to make it easier for us today.

Although I doubt she did it on purpose. There are just so many things she wants to have and couldn't decide on what to wish for first. So, to help with that, we promised to take her to a toy store today and told her she can pick three things.