(Jen's P.O.V)
Brad and I have been attending appointments after appointments with River to see his paediatrician. She is saying that he's developing really well now and he's only a few months behind where he should be. He's progressed so much, and I'm so proud of my baby boy for continuing to blossom into the wonderful little boy he's becoming.
River is now 10 months old and Brad and I really think that soon, he'll start crawling. It is hard having a child that relies on you for everything, especially since he is 10 months and he's not crawling yet, so he needs to be carried everywhere but obviously none of us would change him for the world. He's our little boy and we will love him no matter what.
<><><><><>
We are all sitting around the dining table eating breakfast. Brad, myself and the girls have scrambled eggs with bagels and River is breastfeeding.
"Brad, I really feel like we should start trying to wean him onto solid foods now?"
"I've been thinking about that too. I think he has enough teeth now so he won't keep choking like the last time we tried"
"That's exactly my thoughts too. Also, I want him to be able to eat some of his birthday cake on his birthday"
"You stay here and finish your eggs and I'll go and make some baby porridge for him"
"Thank you baby"
"Pollyanna, what are you doing?" I ask as she's just playing with her plate full of food
"I not hugwy mama"
"Now I don't believe that. Come on, eat your food please"
"But mama-"
"Pollyanna-Grace. You're not wasting food"
"My bewy hurts" I sigh as she's been doing this a lot lately
"Have a nice drink of your water and then eat some more okay?"
"Okay mama"
Meanwhile Ophelia has polished off her food and she is now licking the plate clean... I don't have the energy to tell her to stop, so I just let her carry on.
"His porridge is ready Jen"
I sit River in his high chair and pull it close to my seat. Brad places a bib around his neck and when he sees the bowl of food coming towards him, he starts flapping his arms in excitement.
"Ooooo this looks very yummy mister River" I say as I take a small amount onto the baby spoon
I put the spoon of porridge in my mouth first, just to make sure it's the perfect temperature for him and then I lift the spoon to his mouth and he opens up to let it in. At first he has a weird look on his face, trying to adjust to the new tastes and textures but he soon swallows and opens his mouth for more.
"Take a picture of this Brad. I want to put it in his baby book"
Brad takes a photo of me feeding him his first proper breakfast. Within minutes, the whole bowl of porridge is empty, indicating that our baby really enjoyed his breakfast.
<><><><><>
"Come on baby, you can do it" Jen says as she's sitting on the floor, waving her arms at River who is sitting in front of Brad
"Crawl to mama baby, come on" She's trying to coax River by shaking one of his favourite toys
Brad lifts him up and places him on his hands and knees in the hopes that doing that, will encourage him to start moving. Brad moves fro, behind him and goes to kneel next to Jen and now bath of them are waving their arms, encouraging River to crawl to them.
"He's so close to doing it Brad. Look how eager he is"
"I know babe. Come on baby, crawl to mama and dada"
After a few more minutes of Jen and Brad acting like complete fools to try and get their baby to crawl, River lifts one arm up and places it forward, followed by one of his legs.
"OH MY GOD, Look Brad. Oh baby, good boy" Jen cannot contain her excitement as she's witnessing her baby boy taking his first movements
"This is so amazing" Brad says as he starts to choke on his words, getting very emotional alongside Jen
Just when they thought he was going to give up, all of a sudden, River starts crawling properly over to them. He crawls straight to his mama, who is now sobbing as she picks him up and throws him in the air.
"You're such a big boy now! Mommy's so proud of you handsome"
Jen holds him tight to her chest as she lets out a few more tears. Brad joins in on the cuddle, wrapping his arms around both Jen and his son.
"Daddy is so proud of you too baby"
"We are both so proud" Jen says as Brad kisses the side of her face and then he plants one on River
<><><><><>
(Brad's P.O.V)
"Oh babe, I can't believe our baby is now crawling"
"I know, it's such a huge milestone for him. I'm so proud of how far he's come"
"He's so amazing and I-, Pollyanna, are you okay princess?" As I'm talking to Jen, I notice Pollyanna looking very pale and grey
"My bewy hurted dada"
"Oh baby, come here princess. Dada will rub your belly"
She walks over to me, looking like it's taking so much effort and when she reaches my legs, I pick her up so she's sitting on my lap on the couch. She lifts up her top so I can start rubbing her stomach and she takes my hand and places it where it hurts.
"Close your eyes baby and go to sleep on dada if you want"
"Brad, she can't sleep or she won't go to bed tonight"
"Just let her have thirty minutes to an hour if her belly is hurting"
"She is such a brilliant actress, I think I know what her future career will be. She did this to me every day last week, pretending her stomach is hurting. I think she's just getting a bit jealous that's all"
"I not jeawous mama"
"Don't listen to mama baby, I bet you just want cuddles with dada don't you"
"I wat dada to make me feew bettew"
"Dada will make you feel better princess"
For the next twenty minutes, Pollyanna has been laying so still whilst watching some of her favourite cartoons. I don't know what's the matter with Jen lately, sometimes she can be absolutely fine but then other times she can be really short with me. I'm quite annoyed at her that she didn't show a little sympathy for Pollyanna earlier. I know she probably stressed with work and looking after three children, but even if Pollyanna is faking it, she obviously just wants some love and attention, which is something I'm definitely going to give to her no matter what the circumstances.
"Owie dada, owie!" Pollyanna starts to cry and I keep rubbing her stomach
"What's hurting baby? Your belly?"
"Yeah, my bewy hurted dada"
"You'll be okay baby, dada's here"
"I feew sick dada"
"JEN, CAN YOU BRING THE BOWL IN HERE QUICKLY" I yell to Jen who's in the kitchen and she comes into the living room with the designated 'sick bowl' in hand
"What's wrong with her?"
"She said she feels sick obviously and unlike you, I actually care about how she's feeling" I kind of feel guilty after I just said what I did but she has to know I'm not okay with the fact that she didn't give our daughter the time of day earlier when she said she didn't feel well
"What's that supposed to mean?" She stays standing up, looking down at me with her hands on her hips, and a face that will scare me until the day I die
"I just didn't like the way you treated her earlier when she said she had a bad stomach"
"You didn't like the way I treated her? What's wrong with you? I simply said she's been doing this a lot lately and that I don't believe she has a bad stomach. That doesn't make me a bad mom Brad"
"I didn't say you were a bad mom Jen, don't twist my words. We've had a lovely day today, our son started to crawl and you don't even show a little compassion to our two year old who says she has a bad stomach. Look at her Jen, she's white"
"Sick dada, sick" Suddenly Pollyanna lunges forward and projectile vomits into the bowl in front of her. I look at Jen, to give her the 'I told you so' look, but I see she has the look of complete guilt washed over her face, so I decide it's best not to push it any further than I already have
"It's okay baby, dada and mama are here" I say as I rub her back, trying to give her words of encouragement
"No baby, you have to keep your head over the bowl" Jen says as Pollyanna tries to turn around and nuzzle her face into my neck
"Listen to mama baby"
"Noooooo, I wat cuggw"
"Do you want cuddles with mama or dada?"
"I wat mama" She holds her arms out to Jen, who cradles her and sits on the couch next to me. Even though she's sitting next to me, I know she's still not happy with what I said but she's trying to put that aside for now, so we can care for our little girl who's not very well
"Shh... Shh... Shh... Shh... Shh... You're okay sweetheart. Mommy's got you"
"Mama-"
All of a sudden, Pollyanna ends up vomiting all over Jen. I do feel kinda of bad because I've never actually been thrown up on by any of the kids but Jen on the other hand, she's been vomited on more times than I can count on my fingers and toes. She quickly positions Polly over the bowl so she can continue to throw up, whilst I can tell that Jen is trying not to throw up herself.
River is actually sleeping now and Ophelia is occupied watching cartoons, so Jen walks to the downstairs shower with Pollyanna in hand and I follow her, so I can help.
"Right, if you get her undressed and when I've washed all the vomit from my hair, pass her into the shower with me and I'll wash us both at the same time" Jen says as she strips down, butt naked and turns on the shower
"I've got to say, even covered in vomit, you are so sexy" I whisper so Polly can't hear us
"Don't Brad!" Yep, she's still pissed. I thought I could break the ice by telling her how sexy her naked body is but, I guess now isn't the right time
She hops in the shower and washes her hair, thoroughly but fast so she can get Pollyanna cleaned as quickly as possible. When she walks to the door of the shower, I pass Polly to her and she takes her under the water.
<><><><><>
(Jen's P.O.V)
Everyone is now asleep apart from Brad and I. I keep checking on Pollyanna to make sure she's okay but I feel this is just a 24 hour sickness, as she's only been sick once more since our shower a few hours ago.
I haven't spoken to Brad since early this afternoon and I'm still mad at him for what he said. I can't stop feeling guilty that I didn't believe my child when she said she didn't feel very well. I honestly feel like the worlds worst mother at this moment, and Brad's comments didn't help either.
I'm sitting in the back yard with a glass of wine and Norman is laying his head on my lap. I think he can sense I'm feeling pretty shitty right now. I don't even know where Brad is, and quite frankly, I don't even care.
"You don't think I'm a bad mom do you Normy?"
"You are not a bad mom Jen" I look up to see Brad standing in the doorway
"Well clearly you think I am, after what you said to me"
"Listen, I didn't mean what I said earlier okay? I was sad seeing our child not feeling very well. I clearly wasn't thinking and I'm sorry. I'm really sorry babe"
"Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? I felt guilty enough as it was. What you said really stung and I don't think I deserved it. Do you know why I didn't believe her to begin with?"
"Why?"
"Because she has been doing this for weeks to get out of eating and I thought she was just pulling the same stunt again. Do you really think that if I had any incline that she wasn't well, that I would've acted like that? Of course I wouldn't Brad. She's my baby and I'll do anything to protect her and make her feel well"
"Can I sit down? Next to you?"
"Of course you can, plonk your ass right here" I tap the empty space beside me and he sits down, wrapping his arms around me
"Can you forgive me? Can you forgive me for being such an ass to you?"
"Of course I can Brad. You know I can't be mad at your face for too long"
"Come here gorgeous"
He pulls me in even closer and I rest my feet on the chair, with my knees up to my chin. He takes his hand and turns my face so I'm looking at him. I can sense him coming closer, so I close my eyes waiting for his lips to touch mine. Finally his lips graze across mine and I respond to his kiss. We end up kissing for a few minutes, before I pull away and bury my head into his chest, for a much needed hug.