Raging Love(84)

She sat down next to me after giving me a big kiss, and started writing who my gifts were from.

“I can’t believe you’re here.”

She reached for my hand. “Van, Ty and I would never miss this. We love you, Cuz.”

“I love you too, so much. I hope you both know that.”

She looked over at Ty and he gave her a big smile. “We do. So, did you pick out any names yet?”

“Aside from SpongeBob Square pants and Ninja Joe?” Like that was ever going to happen.

We both started laughing. “Have you and Colt picked out any names?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Of course it is,” she teased.

After opening the room full of presents, Colt and I had enough diapers to probably supply Ty and Miranda’s baby as well as ours for the first two years. I have four sets of crib sheets, over twenty bottles, seven soft blankets, and a wardrobe of clothes sized from birth to two years. We got all kinds of seats and gadgets as well as a couple baskets of baby necessities. Ty and Miranda got me the breast pump that she swore by. Of course he had to add something smart in the card about watching me try it out. I just laughed. At this point in our lives I knew that Ty joked about everything. I’d learned to appreciate him for his sense of humor and his love for his family, because at the end of the day that was all that mattered.

After the hour of present opening, the party headed into the kitchen. It was the biggest spread I had ever seen. There were so many cool foods shaped like baby things, some being butts and rattles. Ty came over and showed me a plate with two cupcakes that he had purposely put two favors on top to look like nipples. “Van, look at what I’m eating for dinner.”

“You would think with a daughter and a baby on the way, you could at least act right in public,” I teased.

He smacked my ass and shoved one of the fake boobs into his mouth. “Never!” With a mouth full of cake he bent down and gave his daughter the other cupcake. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Bella took her cupcake and licked it. When she didn’t like the icing, she gave it to Ty, who ate the spot she had licked. She thought it was funny as I started to gag. “Aunt Van thinks Daddy is gross.”

“My Daddy is the funniest person in the whole world.” Bella leaned over and kissed Ty.

“I think you might be right kiddo.”

Ty walked over toward the guys while Bella pulled me toward the large cake on the dining room table. “Look Aunt Van.”

Wow!

The cake was a giant copy of our last 3-D sonogram photo. It was quite a difference seeing it so much larger than the smaller picture I was used to looking at. “It’s so cool.” Noah came up behind me and stood with Bella, looking at the cake.

“It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?”

“Is that how big the baby is now?” Bella asked.

I started giggling. “No. The baby will be small and we can hold it in our arms when it gets here.”

“Well, I hope my mom’s baby won’t be that big. Then it would be an ogre like Shrek.” Leave it to my kid to assume ogres were real. Really? Ogres?

Since the kids had found the dessert table, their attention went from the size of the baby, to how many desserts they could both eat before they threw up. I watched them for a couple moments before my mother caught my attention. She and Colt were sitting up at the breakfast bar, already involved in a conversation. I made my way through the crowd of family and friends and sat down next to them. “Were you really surprised, Sweetie?”

“I had no idea. Colt did good keeping this secret from me.” I moved forward so I could get a good look at my sneaky husband’s face.

“Colt was telling me that they want to induce you if you haven’t gone into labor in the next two weeks. When you both find out a date you need to let me know. It’s going to be hard for me to get a flight in little notice. If you make it to the induction date it will give me ample time to plan. You know your father and I don’t want to miss it.”

“I know. I was just kind of hoping I would deliver before that. This baby is just too stuffed in my body. I think it’s time it blessed us with its presence.”

“Oh Sweetie, it will be here when it’s ready. You can’t rush perfection. I’m sure you can make it a couple more weeks.” My mother seemed confident. I didn’t!

Aunt Karen got everyone’s attention to play some yarn game. Apparently, you were supposed to take the string and guess how big my belly was. The closest person to guess how gigantic I was around, won the prize. I watched as the room full of men and women started taking spools of yarn and cutting out large strands, measuring them up to their own bellies.