"Jojo!"
"Yes mom?" she asked, running into the living room.
"Mariposita, what do you want for dinner tonight?" I asked as I burped Ian.
"Are you cooking or Nana?"
"Nana went home sweetie, I'm cooking."
"Ooh! Can you make the yellow rice with the ... ga ... gadules?" she asked, scrunching her nose.
"Gandules? The pigeon peas?" I smiled.
"I was close." she huffed.
"So close baby girl, you're learning a lot with Mel."
"My favorite student." my sister smiled as she walked into the living room with Aiden.
"Where's daddy?" Jojo asked.
"He's in the gym. Okay, so arroz con gandules and what?" I asked them.
"Uh ... pollo ... empanada." Le said from the door, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Pollo empanado, breaded chicken, very well. Look at the two of you practicing your Spanish. Fried or baked?" I asked.
"Fried!" Jojo and Mel quickly stated.
"Air fryer." my husband said, walking over to kiss me.
"That works too." I agreed.
Nights like this make me happy, my family is all here and I can't ask for more. After dinner, we all sat down to watch a movie. We were pleasantly interrupted by one set of godparents. Making their entrance quite noisy.
"Hey uce!" Jon said.
"I'm so sorry, girl." Trin sighed.
"It's okay, I knew there was a reason I didn't put the food away just yet." I smiled.
"You're the best." Jon smiled as he walked into the kitchen.
"Trin, why are y'all here?" Joe asked.
"This fool wanted some of Ari's food." she said.
"Where are my boys?" Jon asked as he walked over with a full plate.
"In their cribs ... and they're still awake." I said as we heard the babies over the monitor.
"I'll be back." he smiled, dropping the plate on the kitchen counter.
"He wanted a baby fix?" I asked, smiling.
"Yeah, that and your food." his wife said, laughing.
"He'll die in my kitchen." I sighed.
"He will." Le and Trin said.
"My man." I smiled.
"So when are you coming back, momma?" Trin asked.
"Open and sore topic." I said, nodding at my husband.
"Big Dog, what's on your mind?" Trin asked.
"Not something I wanna talk about right now, Trin." he replied, shooting me a look.
"She asked and I answered."
"You uce! I can handle diaper changes but both these boys done blew it up." Jon's voice rang out over the monitors.
"Weak ass, let me go ..."
"Don't worry lalelei, I got it." Le said.
"Okay, Jojo, sweetie, one more episode and it's bedtime."
"Okay mom." she yawned.
I grabbed a monitor and headed out back with Trin.
"Girls, what's going on?" she asked me.
"He doesn't want me to go back." I sighed.
"Why the hell not? Since when?"
"He wants me to stay home with the kids, for at least a year or two."
"That's not good."
"I love my babies, all three of them, but, I'm gonna go back to work." I told her.
"Of course you are. You've still got a lot in the tank." she said.
"He wants me to wait a few years but I don't want to. Look at Brie, Maryse, Michelle ... they didn't stay home just because they had a baby ... granted, I had two, but still. I'm not ready to stop."
"Sis, this is definitely something that you have to talk about with him. How would you work it out with the kids?"
"Obviously Jojo would stay with her grandparents during the school year, just like she did before. I would like to have the twins with me but I haven't figured out the logistics of how to make that work just yet. Trin, I'm not ready for that long of a break but I don't want to be far from the kids either. Any of them. I wish we could take Jojo on the road with us, but she loves her school and her friends." I sighed.
"When are you gonna start working out?"
"I have a call with Colby and Josh tomorrow to make my own Deadboys routine."
"Okay, that's a good start." she agreed.
"I just gotta figure out what I'm going to do with the twins. I don't want to leave them with just anyone and Le won't either. There's too much for me to do to just stop now."
"You're gonna figure this out."
"He already has this in his head and I don't know how to change his mind. I have to try my best because I'm not ready for that long of a break just yet." I sighed.
"It's not your time, honey."
"I've still got time anyway, it's not like this is gonna happen tomorrow."
"That's true, you've gotta re-condition your body." she said.
"And I'm gonna start tomorrow. Colby and Josh will set me up right."
"Girl, I can't keep up with Deadboys' workouts." Trin complained.
"I love them, I gotta start slow though, and then gradually get back into the swing of things." I smiled.
"Remember you said that when you're trying to overdo it and get frustrated that you can't keep up."
"Trin, fuck you."
"Love you, too." she laughed.
"Ugh, I'm gonna miss you all when you go back on the road." I sighed.
We sat down and just stood there in silence for a couple of seconds.
"When does Joe go back?" Trin asked.
"Too soon." my husband suddenly said.
"What he said." I replied when he sat down next to me.
"Not for as long as before." he added.
"I love you but we both know that you're a Vince favorite so you'll be gone for a while to make up for all of the time that you've been home." I smiled, patting his thigh.
"I'll be home more than once a month." he insisted.
"We'll make sure of it, Ari." Jon said, sitting next to his wife.
"The boys would love that for sure. I know Jojo and I would." I replied, laying my head on Le's shoulder.
"I'll do everything I can." he sighed.
"I know."
We spent about 2 hours with Trin and Jon after sending Jojo to sleep and Mel went out with some friends. They left after the twins woke up and they helped put them back down. After the twins got milk drunk, we showered and fell out. The next day, I woke up before Le and oddly enough, anyone else. Taking advantage of that, I went to the kitchen to make breakfast for Le, Jojo, and Mel.
"Mommy, it smells really yummy." Jojo said as she walked into the kitchen with Mel about 30 minutes later.
"Someone's in a mood." Mel smiled.
"Mami and Patricia are gone so I've gotta start handling all of this myself. You're going back to school soon and then I'll really be alone. It's time for me to start figuring out my own routine." I told her.
"Hey, now that you mention it, I want to talk to you about my schedule." Mel said, helping Jojo into a seat at the island and sitting down herself.
"Okay, what about ..."
"Something in here smells delicious." Le said, walking into the kitchen with his hair loose, no shirt on, and in his pajama pants.
"Close your mouth, Mel. You'll give him a big head." I told my sister, laughing at her reaction.
She sat up straight and looked straight at the wall, her whole face beet red. Le just chuckled and walked over to kiss me.
"Thanks, Mel." he said.
"Yeah, uh ... yeah." she muttered.
"Mel, what did you ..."
"We can talk about it later." she interrupted.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I still gotta work it out in my head."
"Okay, well I'm ..."
My response was cut short by the twins, one started crying and the other was quick to follow. Le and Mel went to the nursery while I finished cooking.
"Jojo, how do you want your pancakes, mariposita?" I asked.
"Chocolate chips!"
"Alright, you want toast, eggs, and bacon?"
"Toast and bacon." she smiled.
"Alright sweetie, breakfast time."
The twins were quiet as Mel and Le brought them out after changing their diapers. We were able to eat almost everything before they started to fuss. Mel was quick to jump up but I told her to finish eating, I went to the living room to feed the twins.
"Tienes hambre amorcito, that's it." I muttered as Ian latched on.
I was able to latch them both on at the same time and thank God that I'm able to produce enough milk to actually do this. It makes me proud to know that I can do this alone. My day passed pretty quickly, my call with Colby was great and there were only two baby interruptions, I'm planning on starting my workout program tomorrow. I'm six weeks postpartum and feeling very good! My babies are home and healthy, Jojo is in a good space with the new babies, she's an amazing big sister. The best part is that my doctor said I can have sex again! Yes doctor! With that in mind, after dinner, I cleaned the kitchen quickly and did my best to get all three kids to bed early.
"Hey, meet you in the shower?" I asked my husband in the nursery.
"Absolutely." he smiled, kissing me over Aiden's head as he swayed softly with him.