Katniss POV- (End of May)
"Peeta! Come here! Hurry!"
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Is everything okay?" He calls.
"Willow just rolled over!" I squeal excitedly and hear him running down the staircase as fast as he can.
"She just rolled over?" He asks with a grin, completely out of breath.
I nod my head and he excitedly picks me up by my waist and spins me around.
We've been working on her rolling over for a few weeks now and she finally did it on her own.
"Yes." I say, laughing and he sets me down and we look at Willow who's staring at us both with wide, wondering eyes.
She's holding her head up almost completely now, no wobbling.
"Willow! You did it!" Peeta says to her and she lets out a little giggle.
Man, I love her so much.
"This is so cool!" He says to me.
I hold back a laugh, "Imagine how excited we will be when she starts walking or talking." I smile.
Peeta stands up and embraces me, kissing my cheek sloppily.
"I just wish I could catch her doing some of this stuff. She always does something the first time with you." Peeta sighs.
She smiled the first time for me and did this too, and as much as I love seeing it for myself the very first time, I know how much Peeta wants to see it. But again, it's not that I can help it.
"You'll get to see her do something special soon, Sweetheart. I promise." I assure him.
"I sure hope so." He says, looking down at her.
She smiles extremely wide at him.
"But hey, you got to remember that you're the only one who can get a smile and laugh out of her every single time." I remind him.
He smiles a bit, "She laughs at you a lot."
"Mostly when you tickle me and I'm squealing or when I find a spider and scream for you to come kill it. That's when she thinks I'm hilarious." I laugh.
Peeta gives me the cutest laugh.
"So, I was looking online and found that putting cereal into milk in a bottle for breakfast and before bed is a good way to help her get full and stay full. Maybe she would sleep a little longer at night and it would give you a break." Peeta suggests.
She eats more than I can produce at one time and then gets upset when she's not 100% stuffed. We give her water afterwards because she needs that too but it's not helping her stay full so Peeta and I have been researching other options to help. I think she's having a growing spurt or something because she's crankier and not sleeping as well either.
I nod, "If she wasn't such a little pig. She literally wants to be completely stuffed before she even considers being satisfied."
"Sounds like someone else I know." Peeta teases me.
"Ha. Ha." I say.
He smirks, "Do you think we should give it a shot or not? I think we are all a little exhausted again after the last few days."
"I say let's try it. It won't hurt her any." I tell him.
"Should we try feeding her vegetables soon too?" He asks.
"Why not fruit?" I ask.
"No, remember they said when we decide to feed her baby food, it needed to be vegetables first because if we try fruit first, she won't want the vegetables later."
I shake my head, "Oh yeah. Well, I don't think we need to yet. At least not until she's a few months older. Unless this plan fails."
"Okay. I just want us to do whatever is best for her and for you."
"I know. Thank you. And thank you for staying up with us even though you don't have to."
"Do you want to come to the store with me or stay here?" Peeta asks.
"I don't care. If you want us to come, then we can." I say.
"Well, come on." Peeta says, leaning down and picking Willow up off her tummy.
"You want to go to the store with Momma and Daddy to get you some food for your belly?" He asks her and she excitedly bounces up and down in his arms.
I smile and get her car seat from the closet. Peeta slips her into the carrier and she begins to fuss.
"Oh, Willow. You do this every time and you always are so happy once you get in the car." I say truthfully.
Peeta gives me a smile, shaking his head and we go.
"See." I say as we start driving and Willow is cooing in the backseat, as happy as can be.
Peeta chuckles and takes my hand as as he drives us to the store. We go in and get what we need. Willow loves being here, she stares at all the lights and brightly colored foods.
When we get home, Willow is fast asleep so that gives Peeta and I some time to talk.
"So, I know the next few months are going be rough for us both. I know that but we have got to be here for Willow." Peeta says as we put groceries away.
It's a discussion that's been on the horizon at least since my birthday a few weeks ago.
"I was just about to say the same thing." I tell him truthfully.
"It's going to be strange to grieve now that we have Willow but we've got to do what we can for each other and not let it consume us for more than a day." He says.
"I'm not going to be myself that day but I think that having Willow to help me through this year will be better for us both. We can't afford to be selfish now that we have her to worry about too."
"I just don't want you to feel like you can't let it all out. If Willow and I need to leave to give you some space, I can arrange something."
"Stop." I mutter.
"I'm serious."
I shake my head, "What about on your day?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want Willow and I to leave so you can have a day to yourself to let it all out?"
He shakes his head, "I have spent the last year crying it out so I would like to be here with you both."
"Okay, then I don't want any alone time on my day either."
"Alright." Peeta says quietly.
I sigh, "I'm not trying to be rude, Peeta but I know that Willow needs at least one of us here on those days." I tell him truthfully.
I decided months ago that when this day came, that I would grieve differently than I have in the past. Still be there for Willow even if I'm hurting. It'll be a good distraction.
I am just afraid for Peeta to grieve as he just got back to normal and I don't want to lose him again. The first anniversary of death is always the worst.
"Katniss, I-" He stops himself.
"What?" I ask softly.
"I don't know. Can we just talk about it when it comes?" He asks softly.
I nod my head and Peeta pulls me into a side hug.
"I love you." He whispers and kisses the top of my head, rubbing my arm.
"I love you too, Peeta." I say and he pecks my lips.
We sit on the couch, I lay my head on his shoulder and I drift off. I feel him carefully maneuvering me off him and then carrying me upstairs. I act like I am still sound asleep until I hear him leaving the room.
"Peeta, where are you going?" I ask him sleepily.
He turns around, "I was just going to go get Willow. I'm coming back up in a minute." He says quietly.
I sleepily nod my head and nod off again.
Peeta POV-
"Come here, sleepy girl. Let's go take a nap with Momma." I whisper softly, picking Willow up into my arms.
I tiredly walk up the stairs and Katniss lays in the middle of the bed with her head half way on my pillow and half way on hers. I smile and crawl into bed next to her, Willow sleeps soundly on my chest and Katniss wakes up long enough to put her head in the crook of my neck and after this I can't even attempt to fall asleep.
I don't want to sleep in a moment like this. Feeling so much love radiated through out the room. My daughter and my wife, my two best friends.
I close my eyes, so thankful for my girls. For their laughter and their smiles.
They saved me from myself.
From my family, I guess.
Katniss saved me from my mom when we were 16 and on and then she and Willow helped saved me from dying or killing myself because of their deaths. Because of the guilt and the longing I felt for people I'm not even sure ever truly loved me like I did them.
I still can't get over the fact that I am someone's dad and I have a child.
It's the most amazing feeling in the world, along with the fact that Katniss is my wife.
I still can't believe this all.
I have a family and I know I've been thinking about this all months upon months before Willow was here but it's still so surreal.
It's all I ever wanted, forget the stupid bakery.
I feel stirring and see that Willow is wide awake, looking right at me.
"Hey, baby girl." I whisper softly, smiling wide when I see her.
She smiles sleepily at me and lays her head back down and wriggles her legs up under herself. I press a kiss to the top of her head and then she lifts her head back up and then rubs her eyes.
I guess she doesn't know what she wants to do.
I hold back laughter and just watch her.
"Do you want to go downstairs and play? Or in your room?" I ask her softly.
She blinks at me and yawns.
"Let's go, Mommy needs some sleep I think." I carefully get out of bed and Willow and I go downstairs.
I lay her on the ground and give her a few of her toys and she grabs them and chews on them.
I sit in front of her and talk to her. She listens to me and will turn her head towards me when she's not so into chewing on her fingers.
"Do you fingers taste good or are you just getting hungry?" I ask her.
She's been putting everything into her mouth lately and drooling a lot so I think she's starting to teeth some on top of all of this other stuff going on.
Hopefully she won't be miserable like Carter was when she was cutting her teeth, it broke my heart to see Carter in so much pain. I can't imagine how I will feel when it's Willow.
"We can't eat cereal until Momma comes down here again, she will want to see you." I tell her and she just stares at me as if to ask 'Seriously?'
"You look just like your mom when you do that." I laugh and lean down, kissing her cheek. She lets out a raspy giggle and I do it again, getting a full on giggle out of her and before I know it she's laughing hysterically.
I hear Katniss coming down the stairs but I just keep on like I have not a clue in the world she's watching us.
"This right here is one of the reasons why I wanted us to have children." She says after a few minutes of watching.
I stop, turning around and facing her.
"Huh?" I ask, acting clueless.
"I always knew you would be the best father to our children." Katniss says softly and plops down on the floor next to me.
I just look at her.
"Thank you." I say quietly.
She grabs my face, "I'm serious, Peeta."
I feel a smile creeping on my face and I let out a breathy laugh, "I am too, thank you."
"She's never going to understand how lucky she is to have you." Katniss says softly, letting go of my face.
"That's okay." I say truthfully.
I'm honestly not all that special, I just want to try to be there for her as much as I can. Plus, it's all I've ever wanted to be is what I am now and I couldn't imagine doing anything rather than what I am doing.
Being a husband and a father.
"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be sappy but you tell me things like that all the time and I don't tell you enough." She says.
I smile somewhat sadly at her and pull her to me.
"I love you." I kiss her neck.
She pulls back and smiles, "I love you too."
"Sorry we probably woke you up." I apologize.
She smiles and looks down at Willow who's back to chewing on her toys.
"You didn't wake me up but I did love hearing you both so happy when I got up." Katniss smiles sweetly at me.
"What woke you up?" I ask her softly, pushing some hair out of her eyes.
She sighs, "What we were talking about earlier. I think it triggered a nightmare."
I frown, "I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean for that to happen and the only reason I came down here was because Willow was awake and I knew you needed some sleep."
"It's alright, Peeta." She shakes her head.
"Are you sure?" I ask, feeling bad that she had a nightmare and I wasn't in there to calm her down.
She nods, "It was my dad."
"What happened?" I ask softly.
"I don't remember it much." She sighs, "But I remember it enough to know it was my dad."
"Oh." I mumble.
"It's okay though, I'm fine now." Katniss says nonchalantly.
"Okay." I say softly.
I rock us back and forth and we just sit there in silence, watching Willow doing her thing.
She's just so carefree, unless it comes to food.
"I think that you pooped, my sweet little baby." Katniss says to Willow.
I smell the scent too and scoff, "Yeah, she's definitely done something."
"Gosh." Katniss laughs, wafting the air in front of her. She leans forward and scoops her up, then stands up.
"Let's go change your butt, stinky." Katniss says to Willow who just ignores her.
I stand up too.
"Let me do it." I say, she changes her diaper nearly every time.
"That's okay." Katniss says.
"I can do it if you want me to." I say.
She snorts, "Fine. I'm not gonna argue with you about who's changing our baby's poopy diaper." Katniss giggles and hands me her.
"Good. Now sit on the couch and we shall be back momentarily." I say walking up the stairs.
I quickly change the fowl smelling diaper and grab a bib from the dresser.
"You're gonna try something new to eat and then it's bath time for you." I tell Willow.
"Katniss, do you want to make her food and we can try it?" I ask. walking down the stairs.
"Yeah, should we put it in her bottle or try a spoon?"
"Heck, try it with a spoon and see what happens." I suggest.
At first, I think the texture feels weird and most of it just slides right out of her little mouth but she chomps on the little bits and makes some faces.
"What'd you think?" I ask her, wiping some off her mouth.
Katniss gives her a little more, most of it actually going down this time.
"She's not making a face this time." Katniss laughs.
I look down as Katniss feeds her some more.
"Yummy." She says, trying to show some enthusiasm so maybe, Willow will eat this stuff again.
It doesn't look or sound appealing but it's healthy and it should help her sleep better at night. I think she's gonna be like Katniss when she doesn't have enough sleep; extremely irritable.
"Is that good, baby girl?" Katniss asks with a little laugh.
I look down, trying to see what she's doing but miss it.
"Her eyes got all big like she was excited." She laughs.
I smile and kiss the top of her head.
"After this you can feed her and then give her a bath, maybe it'll relax her and she'll go to sleep and then we can too." I say.
"That sounds great, hopefully it'll go something like that." Katniss sighs.
Willow finishes the tiny bowl of cereal and Katniss starts feeding her while I get her bath ready.
When she finishes, Katniss and Willow come into the bathroom and Katniss strips her down and lays her in the warm water. Willow seems to not mind at all, she does really well with baths so it's a plus.
We wash her all up and get her dressed and as I had hoped, she falls asleep. Katniss and I go upstairs, after each taking showers ourselves and she puts Willow in her side bed next to her. I flip off the light and crawl in between the cold sheets, finding her warm body next to me.
"9 o'clock." Katniss laughs as she snuggles up to me. I chuckle and pull her closer to me.
"We are either parents or old people." I chuckle.
"Both." Katniss says.
I smile to myself, "We aren't old."
"We're getting there. We are both 21 and you'll be 22 soon."
"Which is like 4 months away and you just turned 21 a few weeks ago." I laugh.
"But still. Before you know it we will be old, like really old."
"Like 40?" I chuckle.
"Yes." Katniss giggles.
I smile, "Go to sleep, weirdo."
"Fine." She says leaning toward and pressing a soft kiss to my lips.
"I love you." She says.
"I love you too. Goodnight, Katniss." I say.
She lets out a yawn and lays her head on my chest, "Goodnight."
"Wake me up if you need me." I tell her.
I don't want her having nightmares and then not waking me up or whatever. Most of the time I know when she's having one because she does in fact wake me up, but she understands what I mean.
"I'll be okay, hopefully." She sighs.
"I hope so too." I say and then we both fall into a deep, well-needed slumber, with no screaming Katniss and no screaming baby.