Liam's POV
I groaned when a weight landed on my chest, waking me up from my well deserved sleep. "Dad! Dad! wake up! We're going to the zoo today!" I finally managed to pry my eyes open and discover our four year old son jumping on top of me, joined by Thomas, the 4 year old boy Niall and Harry had adopted last year. I squeezed my eyes shut for a split second, trying to prepare myself for another busy day, wondering why it had seemed a good idea to have Thomas for a sleep over when we hardly had any quiet nights as it was, let alone occasions to sleep in.
"Right, why don't you boys go back to your room and get your clothes out. I'll come and help you in a minute. Nick do you know where daddy is?"
"Downstairs with Abigail, he said we should come and wake you because he's busy." He stated proudly, grinning wide before he grabbed Thomas' hand and pulled him through the hallway.
I let out a yawn as I opened the gate on top of the flight of stairs and walked downstairs, the rising sun blinding me partially as it came through the window. Ugh, I was tired and needed sleep, but those kids never let you have any. I suppose we knew that when we started it, but still, it sucked sometimes. I checked the clock on the wall when I walked in and saw it was eight, a time that could be considered reasonable lately. Nick had the annoying habit of waking up at 6am and waking up everyone else in the house with him. My bad temper disappeared as soon as I saw my husband in the armchair next to the window. The sunrays illuminating his face while his hair casted a shadow over it. His hair was longer now, and I loved it like that, it gave me a reason to touch his face whenever a strand fell in front of his eyes.
"Morning." I croaked and he looked up from his conversation with our daughter and smiled when he saw me.
"Morning." he smiled and flicked his hair out of his eyes so I could kiss him. "Sorry about the boys, they'd been playing for a while but they started whining through the baby monitor so I told them to wake you up."
"It's fine. I'll need two weeks of sleep before I'm recovered from the sleep deprivation anyway." I answered as I sat down on the armrest next to him.
"What time did she eat tonight?" I thought about it before I answered.
"Four, I think, but she didn't want to go back to sleep afterwards."
"Hmmm, she's playing with her bottle more than really eating again. Think she might get a cold." he mused, putting the bottle back into her mouth and cooing to her.
"Wouldn't surprise me, Nick had it pretty bad last week. I'll go and check on the boys now. Shall I take them to the bakery with me?"
"That would be marvellous of you. Can I have another kiss though?" he asked, smiling slightly.
"You only need to ask once. Love you boo." I pressed another kiss on his lips and got up to help the 4 year old boys getting dressed. They'd probably want to do everything themselves, but getting their clothes on correctly was still quite a challenge.
"Love you too bambi." he called behind me and made me turn around to smile and blow another kiss before going upstairs.
Two hours later we had all had breakfast and all kids were dressed in warm jumpers, winter coats, hats, scarfs and gloves, ready to go out into the cold February weather. I helped Louis put his coat on with Abigail in the baby carrier pressed to his chest and kissed him once more before taking my own coat and scarf and taking the boys' hands to get to the bus. "Nick, you know that we're not taking the buggy right, so that means you'll have to walk all day."
"Yes dad! I'm a big boy now, I can walk" he replied in a voice that made it quite obvious he thought I was being ridiculous. I sighed, knowing very well that he'd be tired by the time we'd go home and I'll end up carrying him anyway.
"Right, come on then." It wasn't far to the bus, but with the two four year old boys being interested in everything there was to see and not walking very fast, it took us about fifteen minutes to get there. Luckily the bus arrived right after that, and another twenty minutes later we arrived at the zoo. Zayn and Helen were there already, Zayn talking to their two year old daughter that was sat on his hip while Helen held on to the buggy and rubbed her other hand mindlessly over her bump. They'd come back from their travelling with the news that Helen was three months pregnant, and decided to stay in London with Jenna after she was born, and now they were expecting their second in about four months. We said our hello's and chuckled as Zayn let Jenna down on the ground where she was immediately being fussed over by Thomas and Nick.
I waved at Niall and Harry when they came walking our way with Lily-Anne skipping happily a couple of meters in front of them.
"Happy birthday Lily-Anne!" we all chorused and smiled as she grinned proudly, swirling her wide skirt around before she went to say hello to the other kids.
Niall came over to kiss me and I quirked an eyebrow. "You look absolutely shattered. Didn't we agree on having Thomas for a sleep over so you and Harry could sleep a little longer."
"Try having five ten year olds for a birthday party and see how tired you are after that. The house was an absolute mess so we cleaned up until one, and our lovely daughter decided five am was a good time to wake up this morning."
"And she didn't want to watch tv?"
"Oh yes she did, but only with us. And the little lady fell asleep halfway through the movie but we couldn't sleep anymore. So yes, shattered is a perfect description of how I'm feeling."
I chuckled. "The things a father does for his kids." I winked and he joined me in my chuckles before he greeted the rest of our friends.
The day was filled with explanations of why elephants were grey, why adopting a monkey didn't mean they got to take one home and chasing around little boys and girls to make sure we didn't lose sight of any of them. We sat down in the cafeteria around 4pm, Abigail was on my lap, drinking her milk while Harry, Louis and Zayn had volunteered to go out to the playground with the other kids. I noticed Helen and Niall were watching them as well, and I felt incredibly proud of my husband and friends, of where we were and who we'd become.
When we went home at six, Nick was sleeping in my arms, as predicted, and the same went for Thomas who was resting in Harry's arm while Lily-Anne had pleaded NIall for a piggy back ride. No matter how tired we all were, we were also happy and loved each other endlessly, and nothing else mattered.