You Make It Easy

Restructure.

"Can you grab a bag of pretzels and peanut butter M&Ms?" I ask, getting Amalia's pack & play set up for tonight.

"Yeah, anything else?"

"No."

I take Amalia out of her car seat since she was content up until just now, "I can take her."

"She's fine."

He stood behind me as I held her upright. He kisses the back of my head, "I'll be back. I'll probably only be 20 minutes."

I nod, "Okay. We'll be here."

He shuts the door behind him. "We're going to get your jammies on and chill in bed. How does that sound?"

She squeals which makes me smile. "You're so happy."

Her smile is infectious even through my pounding headache, I can't help but smile with her. I get her changed and then change into something a bit more comfortable. I turn some of the lights off and put toys on the bed for her to play with. She brings me one of her stackable rings. "Thank you."

She claps and I can't help but notice how much she looks like Christian at this moment. She has his skin tone and her hair is thick and dark which could go back to either of us. I think she smiles just like him. Some of her front teeth are coming in and it is so cute.

She starts to stand with the help of my body. I hold her since she's on an unstable surface. "You're getting so big and strong."

She smiles at me, sitting down near my head and laying her head on me. She quietly babbles to herself, looking at me and the stuff in our room. I grabbed her bear since it was sitting next to me. I give it to her and she gives it back to me, "Oh, thank you so much."

When Christian comes back, she's very excited to see him even though he was only gone for less than 30 minutes. She crawls over to him. He tosses one of the plastic bags over to me. "Thank you."

He holds Amalia as I open the bag to find Advil and the snacks I requested. I pull out the big bag of peanut butter M&Ms, "I didn't need a huge bag."

"Who said you're eating the entire thing? What if I wanted some?"

I laugh, "Oh, I see how it is."

I open the small bottle of Advil as I get off the bed. I find my water bottle and take a long drink. "How was the drive?"

"Good. We didn't hit traffic until the city. She did great. Didn't cry and wasn't fussy. She was talking to me for the most part until she fell asleep right as we got into the city."

He laughs, "Seems to be a recurring theme."

"Right?"

He sits against the headboard, "Wished we would've won," he tells me.

I go back to the bed, moving closer to him, "I know."

"Wished I would've gotten a hit too."

"Two walks," I say.

"And a strikeout and groundout."

"It could've been two strikeouts," I counter.

I get him to smile, "It could've been."

He holds his free hand around my back, "If you want to go to bed early, I can take her somewhere."

"I don't want to be up at 3 am for no reason."

"Well, if you change your mind, it's up as an offer."

I got knocked on my ass after getting back from Chicago. I caught something from the traveling we've been doing. That headache I got on Opening Day turned into a brutal cold. It was nice because Christian was home for the week and he could help as much as he could while he was at home.