We drove up all around the beaches of Newcastle, and then Tom eventually parked the car at Nobbys Beach. We held each other’s hand and walked along the boardwalk. We didn’t really talk, just enjoyed the view.
When we walked back at the car, Tom suggested we go back to Baby Co and layby some things for Matilda. It didn’t take us long to drive there but when we arrived Tom walked straight over to the clothes. He did say he was going to be excited about clothes shopping but I didn’t think he was serious.
He held up a pink frilly dress.
"What about this one?"
"Maybe when she is a bit older," I laughed. "We need new born clothes."
"But it’s so cute," He winged.
"We will come back for more clothes when she is older because Mati is going to grow out of these ones quickly," I said looking at the onezies, shirts and pants I had already picked out.
Tom ended up getting a basket to put all the clothes in because he found so many, he couldn’t choose from so we had to get them all.
We looked at prams next. It was so difficult to find the right one and they were all so expensive. But we eventually agreed on one that was black, wasn’t too big and it had a woolen inside and it only cost $310 so, we thought that was a pretty good deal. Lucky I have over $10,000 saved up.
We eventually made our way over to the cots. They were also quite expensive but they were all so similar. It didn’t take us to long to find the right one. Now that Noah has moved out, Matilda gets his room which is directly across from mine but we have to buy a bassinet that goes in my room until she is old enough for the cot.
I am pretty sure Tom will be staying every night and he will probably move in and he can share my room.
The bassinet was more expensive than the cot but we found the cutest one. It was white and frilly. Tom got a kick out of that. I don’t know what was with him and frilly things but almost everything he picked was like it.
After an hour and a half of shopping for baby stuff, we came up with a cot, pram, bassinet, hundreds of clothes and the essentials such as bottles, dummies, toys, etc. We avoided buying nappies until it was closer to my due date, 24th of March.
We decided to buy all the clothes and toys today but layby all the big stuff until we set up Noah’s old room. The grand total of the clothes and toys was $359.60. Tom was pretty pleased with himself seen as though it looks like he bought thousands of clothes.
I am kind of scared to think of how much money he is going to spend on clothes when she is older. The cot, pram and bassinet cost $1123.40 and that went straight onto layby.
I took the seven bags on clothes to the car and packed it in. I turned to Tom.
"Did you see the look on the girl’s face that served us?"
"Yeah, it looked a bit funny."
"She thought you were nuts." I laughed. "We bought so many clothes."
"Well babies spew a lot and they need clothes changes often and now she has many clothes to wear." I just rolled my eyes. As much as I thought he was crazy, I loved him to bits and I was happy that he was so excited, it made me happy.
We eventually made it home just before dark and Mum was waiting in the lounge room for us. I walked in holding one bag and plopped it just inside the door.
"Mum, a little help please," I yelled.
She ran straight out and looked at me.
"What do you need help with?" She asked.
I looked down at the bag on the ground.
"But it’s on the ground," She wondered.
"Yeah, there is another 6 bags in the boot."
She stared at me with wide eyes.
"Tom went a bit crazy," I said answering her curious eyes.
"I can see that," She said walking out the door. "You stay here; you are not to carry anything else!"
2 minutes later, Mum and Tom walked in holding 3 bags each.
"You weren’t exaggerating, were you Bronte?" Mum huffed as she put down the bags.
"How much money did you spend?" She continued.
"Almost $400," I replied, sitting down on the lounge.
Mum brought over the 7 bags and opened them. We sat there for half an hour going through them. She commented on her favorites and set them aside. Once she had gone through all of them, she looked at me and Tom.
"I am very proud of you both."
"Why?" I asked.
"You have embraced this experience so much. I know you might only be 16 years old but you are so responsible for such a young age. You didn’t ask me for money, you used your own money and went and bought your daughter lots of clothes," Mum explained.
"We didn’t just buy clothes. We put a pram, cot and bassinet all on layby," Tom announced.
It looked like she started to tear up.
"I am so proud of you," Mum said again gesturing for both of us to give her a hug.
"Thanks Mum," I returned the hug and also gave her a kiss of the cheek.
We embraced the hug for a while and then eventually let go.
"We are going to get the others out of layby once we have Noah’s old room repainted and appropriate for a newborn," I suggested.
"Well, why don’t you ring up Aunty Lindsay and see if she can come over on the weekend to help you paint it?" She wondered.
"But she doesn’t even know I’m pregnant so that is going to be a bit awkward."
"It’s about time you told her!"
My Aunty Lindsay was a professional artist back in the day but she is always drawing and painting these days so maybe she will help me out.
Before I rang her I discussed with Tom what we should get painted on the walls. We came up with ideas such as animals and fairies but what if she doesn’t turn out to like animals or fairies. So we eventually decided to ask about just getting pink pastel colours on all the walls and then ‘Matilda Elise’ written in purple on the main wall and when she is born we can put framed photos on the other walls.
I picked up the phone and dialed her number.
"Hello," She answered.
"Aunty Lindsay its Bronte! How are you?" I asked. I thought I should start off lightly seen as though I haven’t spoken to her in a while.
"I’m great, how are you?" She questioned happily.
"I’m wonderful," I replied. "I wanted to ask you a massive favour?"
"Yeah, sure." She seemed curious.
"Well, this is probably going to come as a shock but I’m pregnant!" I paused. "And was wondering if you could paint the babies room for me?" I bit down on my lip so hard it almost drew blood.
"Um, wow!" She replied.
"Sorry, I didn’t tell you earlier. I have been still trying to process it myself."
"No, that’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting it, Haha. But of course I can paint the room. Boy or girl?" She asked.
"Girl!"
"Oh, how exciting. Anything in particular you wanted done?"
"Yeah, well my boyfriend, Tom and I have been discussing and we were wondering if you could just paint the room in pink pastel colours and then in purple write ‘Matilda Elise’ on the main wall. Does that sound alright?" I explained.
"That sounds great. Matilda Elise is a beautiful name, good choice! When did you want me to do this?"
"Is the weekend okay or is it too short of notice?"
"Nope, that’s perfect. I’ll be over on Saturday about 10am. Cool?" She seemed as excited as me.
"Thank you so much." I pleaded.
"Oh and is it Tom, Tom! As in Tom Oliver? The guy that has been your best friend for like ever?" Aunty Lindsay wondered.
I laughed. "Yes it is."
"You didn’t tell me you two were going out! Is he the father?"
"Yeah, he is. It is an extremely long story but I will tell you on Saturday!"
"Okay, got to go but see you on Saturday. Bye!"
"Bye." I replied hanging up the phone.
I turned to Tom and gave him a big grin.
"It’s a done deal," I screamed so excited.