17 & Pregnant [ORIGINAL VERSION}

Chapter 45

LIV

"Something smells good," Rob says as he comes downstairs with the kids. The way he carries them sometimes makes me shake my head. He has Nuru on his left side, Jessie on his right, and Neil is grabbing on for dear life from behind him. And in order to make sure none of them fall, he's bent over like the hunch back of Notre Dame.

But that smile never leaves his face.

I make my way around the island counter to peel the kids off of him. They're just laughing the whole time.

"I am making some smoothies, there's some fruit, and in the oven is some banana and peach bread," I tell Rob, then give him a chaste kiss.

Rob smiles down at me, holding me close to him.

"What?" I laugh, smiling back at him.

He kisses me, then closes his eyes, "you... taste so sweet!"

"And you are so cheesy," my hand goes to his chest, and I go back into the kitchen. "So, what is your day like today?"

He grabs a piece of watermelon from one of the bowls, then looks up in thought. After like five minutes, he finally says, "I have a full day of classes, prep, and then I have a couple of meetings downtown. Why?"

"Meetings with whom?" I ask, curious.

He shrugs, "some potential donors for the school."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

The blank and confused look on his face tells me that he has completely forgotten. With a sigh and a smirk, I tell him, "we have a photo shoot Uptown at 7:30, with Marcia and Henley. They're from my club, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I have that in my schedule, don't worry. I will be there," Rob says.

My eyebrows furrow, and I give him a quizzical look, "promise?"

"I promise."

******

Alright, this looks delicious! I mean, it's very green, but that's healthy. And, to babies, colour is what matters. The vibrancy will inspire them to enjoy the food...

There's also some sweeter mash as a backup. Kids can be picky.

"Okay, it's time to eat," I announce, bringing each of the kids their early dinner to their high chairs. On the menu for today is pea, carrot, broccoli and banana puree, with some strawberries on the side.

The strawberries stay on the counter for the moment, because there's no way they'll go for the main meal first with strawberries in their sights.

I line them up beside each other so I can feed them at the same time. Well, Neil has already started to feed himself, so I mostly help the twins. But, it's nice to have a family meal.

"Brrrrrr, here comes the race car... Yummy!" The girls smile as they eat the food, amused by my car-spoon thing. Neil is also smiling, but he stops momentarily as he focuses on bringing the spoon from the food into his mouth.

After about fifteen minutes, all the mash from all the bowls has been eaten, and dessert is being served.

"Here you are my angels; cut strawberries," I place the colourful bowls in front of them, and they go at them.

I'm no longer allowed to feed them finger foods. I tried to help them a few weeks ago. Neil pushed my hand away and starting eating them himself, Jessie said 'no', and Nuru gave me this look then shook her head at me.

All their first words were no. I was so happy that they started talking, but then I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I'd always dreamed that their first words would be 'mama' or 'dada'. Which, in retrospect, is pretty unrealistic.