Amity's POV:
It feels like yesterday I was in the hospital giving birth to Lane, but just two days ago he turned one, yes he is a one-year-old (The same day as Sasha and Ryan's one year wedding anniversary). To celebrate his special day, we waited until the weekend so all of our family and friends could be together. Just like his Mommy and Daddy, Lane is obsessed with cars, one of his first words was broom broom, after Mommy and Daddy, so Chet and I have arranged a car theme party for him.
At this point I haven't returned to work yet and with Lane still being so little I really didn't like the idea of him going to daycare, but knowing that I will be going back soon, we have enrolled him in for one day a week so he can get used it while I'm home to collect him at any point if he gets upset or needs me, but so far he has been doing really well, he seems to really enjoy going and playing with the other babies and children. He has made so many little friends already, some of which I have invited to his birthday today.
"Everything is all set and ready to go." My mother calls happily as she makes her way into the kitchen.
"Thank you for all your help yet again." I smile as I finish helping Lane with his breakfast.
"Anything for my little man." She gushes as she makes her way over and kisses his head. "Look at him, he looks so much like you, those eyes and eyelashes, gosh he's going to be a heartbreaker for sure."
"If he's anything like Chet, I'm sure he will be." I laugh as I move his bowel and spoon away from him, not wanting him to make a mess on the clean floor.
"I'm so glad you and Chet are doing so well." She says as she sits down at the table with me. "I'll admit when you first told us you were pregnant, I was worried. You'd of only been officially together five months, and a baby is a big deal. But I really believe you two are made for each other and I'm so proud of you both."
"Thanks Mom." I give her a soft smile.
"We're all done sweetheart, the garage looks amazing." Chet announces with a grin as he makes his way into the kitchen
Because it's a car themed party, we thought, what better place than to have it in the garage and make use of the outdoor area. Like most functions, the boys spent the morning decorating the garage, hanging the decorations and setting the tables, while Mom did all the cooking with the help of Avery and I when she needed it.
"Alright little man, go and have some cuddles with Grandma before all your friends arrive." I talk to Lane with a smile as I stand to my feet and lift him out of his highchair, placing him down to his feet. Hurriedly he walks towards Mom, who picks him up with a smile.
"Look at you, you're so big now." She gushes, "You're walking, talking, where is my baby gone?" She questions as she tickles his belly, causing him to giggle.
Making my way toward Chet, I wrap my arms around him, snuggling into him. "Thank-you for setting everything up." I pull back from the hug and press a kiss to his lips. "You're the best, you know that?"
"Mmm," He hums, "I have this amazing woman in life who tells me all the time." He grins down at me.
***
Dressed in a casual blue cotton dress and some strappy sandals, I make my way downstairs, holding Lane's hand, helping him down each step. My long dark hair is out and curled, Chet's favorite look on me, and my makeup is light and natural, while Lane is looking cute in some black shorts and a causal T-shirt with the number one written in black.
"Aww look at him." Avery giggles as she makes her way towards us and picks Lane up once we reach the bottom of the stairs, "Look at you handsome man." She kisses all over his cheeks causing him to giggle.
The time is now 10 AM and everyone will be arriving at any second. With Lane safe with Avery, I make my way into the garage where Chet, Mom and Dad are already waiting for our guests and take a look around. Everything is set just how I envisioned it.
The back wall is lined in wood look plastic with red, white and blue balloons strung across the top of the plastic and the roof. In front of the plastic is a large white table with Mom's amazing home made array of food placed on top of stands in different shapes and sizes, she has everything from cupcakes, cookies, sandwiches, mini Pizzas, fruit, mini hot dogs, and so much more all in car theme.
To the side of the large table is a small square table, the same height as the large table, high enough that the babies can't access the food without help from an adult. This table holds Lane's birthday cake, also made by Mom, a three tier cake again in car theme. The bottom layer is a large square with a red trim and black and white checker squares all over it, the middle tier is a circle cake, this layer is done in blue fondant with white clouds and at the bottom is desert looking mountains and small cactus plants and rocks, and finally the top tier, a red mustang.
To one side of the garage is a large toy box filled with all of Lane's toys that all of the children attending can play with, and outside on the grass area are large black and checker style picnic blankets for everyone to sit on and eat and talk.
"Party's arrived!" Sasha announces excitedly as she makes her way into the garage.
"Hey!" I smile and wrap my arms around her, hugging her. "Where's Ryan?" I question as I look over her shoulder.
"He's bringing the presents." She shrugs before pulling back from the hug.
"Please don't tell you me you went overboard." I cross my arms over my chest.
"What you call over board and what I call over board are two very different things." She smirks.
Shaking my head, I watch as Ryan and Chet walk in, both of them with arms full of presents, all wrapped in the same paper, so I know that all of them are from Sasha and Ryan. "Sasha." I glare at her.
"What? I love my little man." She shrugs and turns on her heel, heading toward Avery and Ezra who are playing with Lane.
I'm so glad we picked Sasha and Ryan to be God parents to Lane. The love they have for him is beyond words. I know for a fact if anything ever happened to Chet and I, they would take the best care of him. I can't wait for them to have babies of their own for Lane to grow up with.
Brigette, Austin, and P are the next ones through the door, along with Frankie and his baby son Zayd. Zayd is two weeks older than Lane, but when he was just five months old Frankie's girlfriend and Zayd's Mother up and left them with nothing more than a note to say she couldn't handle it anymore, and they wouldn't see her again.
It's been really hard on Frankie having a baby all on his own, but he's doing the best job he can. Chet, Austin and I have been helping him as best we can, but never the less we are going to lose one of our best mechanic's and our best friend because he's moving to East Cliff next week to start a new job with shorter hours and double the pay. I offered to pay him more, but he said it was best if they leave anyway, all he has here is memories of his ex girlfriend and everything he did to try and keep her happy and their family together.
"Aunty Ammy!" Paisley calls happily and reaches her arms out to me.
"Hey honey, how are you?" I question as I pick her up, giving her a big hug.
"I'm good, I got baby Lane the best present ever!" she yells excitedly.
"You did?"
"Yep." She nods, then spots Lane.
"Lane." She yells and wriggles in my arms, I place her down and she runs off to Lane and Avery.
"How are you two going?" I ask Austin and Brigette with a smile.
"Good." They both say in unison, then look at each other and laugh
"What?" I raise a brow
"Austin asked me to marry him last night." Brigette smiles as she holds her hand up, showing me her engagement ring.
"Oh my god you guys, this is the best news." I gasp as I take her hand admiring her tear drop cut engagement ring. "Congratulations."
"Thank-you" she smiles.
"I'm so proud of you Austin, finally, finally you're marrying her." I giggle softly
"Like you can talk, my brother has been waiting how long to marry you now? A year?" Brigette fires back with a cheeky grin.
"Hi Amity." One of the mothers from daycare calls with a smile as she makes her way over.
"Excuse me a moment." I tell Austin and Brigette and make my way toward her.
The garage is quickly filled with people and after saying their hello's and placing presents down on the table for Lane; they break off into their little groups. For the most part the Daycare Moms are all together on the grass with their babies playing together and our family and friends stick to who they know as well. I'll be honest, some of the daycare Moms aren't my cup of tea, but this isn't about me, it's about Lane and I want him to look back at his photos one day and see all his little baby friends.
"He's spoiled," Chet speaks as he wraps his arms around me from behind.
"He sure is." I agree as I turn in his arms, looking up at him with a soft smile. "Thank-you again so much for setting everything up in here, it looks amazing" I reach up pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
"It was no trouble, I have to take care of my girl, especially when you're not feeling the best."
***
The afternoon came quickly and before we know it; it was almost 2 PM. Needing everyone out by 4 PM, we decided to cut the cake and allow Lane to open his presents (with our help) until he loses interest.
After gathering everyone together, I stood in front of the cake with Lane in my arms, Chet lit the candles and together everyone started singing happy birthday. Lane looked around the room at everyone as if they were insane for the most part, with no idea what was happening at all.
With the cake over and done with, I made my way to the present table and took a few from the table, sitting them down in front of Lane to open. Chet sat on the ground with him, and Mom close by, taking notes of who got him what so we can remember to personally thank them later. Lane wasn't too interested in his things, he just played with each toy until a new one was opened and then moved on.
While he did get mostly toys, Mom, Dad, Avery and Ezra got him some cute little outfits, and a few of the Moms from daycare got him essentials as well, I was thankful it wasn't just all toys, after all, you can only have so many.
After making our way through the gifts, we finally arrived to Sasha's million and one wrapped gifts, I could kill her for spending so much money on him, but I know she loves him and if I'm honest, I'll be the same way with her children so I can't hold it against her.
After unwrapping her gifts, I was left with clothes, shoes, toys, books, cute things for his room, just about everything you can possibly think of.
"Sash you shouldn't have." I reach over and hug her.
"Oh, We're not done." Ryan grins as he stands and exits the garage.
"Are you kidding?" I laugh with a shake of my head. "What else is there?"
Suddenly a baby sized red convertible mustang drives itself into the garage with 'Lane' number plates on it.
"Oh my God." I smile as I stand to my feet, picking up Lane and turning him toward the car. "Look Bubba, it's a car like Daddy's with your name on it." I tell him.
"What the?" Chet laughs happily as he stands. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen."
Ryan makes his way into the garage, driving the car with his remote control. "Cool, huh?" He grins
"Hell yeah, why didn't I think of it." Chet grins as he takes Lane from me and places him down in the car. "Look how cool buddy, you got your own car, we can park it next to Daddy's." He tells him.
"As soon as we saw it in the shop Ryan had to have it, if he had it his way he would have bought two and put one away for our future children." Sasha giggles with a roll of her eyes. "Boys huh, they never grow up."
"They don't." I agree as I watch Ryan and Chet playing with Lane in his car. "But I think we got two of the best."
"Yeah, I think so too." Sasha agrees with a smile.
This chapter was edited and re-published on 22.9.20