Somebody to Love

February 9th

Arielle and Arabella sneak their way into Tom's bedroom. The sun had just began to shine at the incredibly early time of 5:30am.

The girls giggle to each other as they open the door and climb into their mother and father's bed.

"Three... two... one."

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Daddy, happy birthday to you." the girls sing at a very loud pitch.

"Oh, thank you." Tom groans while waking up. "What time is it?"

"I don't know." Arielle shrugs. "It’s sunny outside though.”

Tom looks over at the purple and orange sky through his curtains. “The sun is rising, dears, it’s not time to get up just yet.”

“But it’s your birthday!” Bella says,

“I know, darling, but Daddy won’t be getting much sleep when the baby comes so he’s trying to rack up time now. It’s still really early and you little munchkins should go back to sleep.”

“I’m not tired anymore,” Arielle says and lays across Tom, kicking her feet in the air.

“Me either.”

“How about you girls come to wake me in an hour, alright?”

“An hour? Daddy, that’s so long away.”

Alright, then. 60 minutes. You girls can come to wake me up in 60 minutes.”

“Okay!” they say and walk back to their bedroom.

Tom shakes his head and turns over to fall back asleep. Sleep was never the easiest when the girls came around. When Bella was born, Tom got up during the night to feed or comfort her when she’d wake up. When Bella was almost 3, Arielle was born. He took care of Arielle and Arabella, but she never slept. Still to this day, Arielle doesn’t sleep. She gets up at outlandish times during the night and stays wide awake for a bit. When Arielle’s up, Tom’s up too.

Around 6:30, the girls sneak into their father’s room again to wake him up. Arabella was always conscious of other people sleeping and would wake them up gently. Arielle did it differently
though. She’d sit on Tom’s stomach, poke his face, and whisper, “Daddy,” until he woke up. SHe was still too young to understand.

“Daddy,” Arielle says as she climbs onto her father’s stomach and starts to poke his face. “Daddy, get up. Come on, I’m bored.”

Tom yawns as he opens his eyes. “Well I can see that. Mummy is asleep so shhh.”

Arielle gets back onto the floor and Tom gets out of bed. He slides on his slippers and sweater before taking both girls’ hands and leading them downstairs. “Are you hungry?” Tom asks and opens the refrigerator. “What do you girls want?”

Arielle and Bella look at each other and bounce on their feet. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? You usually wake me up to make you breakfast. You’re not hungry?’

“Well yes.” Bella says. “But we can’t eat yet.”

“Why not?’