Wrapping Up(30)

This new sneakiness was going to drive me crazy, except this time, I was sure it was nothing that would hurt me.

After the tree fiasco, I decided that next year we needed to buy an artificial tree or get one that was precut. It didn't help that Bella had picked a tree that had a super thick trunk. Ty chopped at the tree with our dull ass axe until he looked like he was going to pass out. I don't know where he even got it from. It had a blade that looked like an inch thick butter knife and it looked to be over a hundred years old.

My arms felt like Jell-O by the time I climbed in that tub. I'd tried to show off and cut the tree down myself, except all along I knew I wasn't going to be able to actually do it. Bella sat there the whole time so excited about what we were doing that I couldn't even act frustrated about it. Just seeing that twinkle in her eye made it all worth it.

After feeding the boys I sat down on the couch, while Ty tucked in Bella. The next thing I knew, I was being carried to our bed. My husband was sweet like that. He never woke me up and made me walk, even when I was pregnant, he still carried my fat butt to bed. I was still semi awake when he climbed into bed next to me, so I nestled my body against his and fell fast asleep.

Ty and I had to get up with the boys twice overnight. I'd almost converted all the way over to formula. The boys both had teeth and they had a problem with biting me while I tried to feed them. One time last week, it drew real blood.

With Ty working on the farm, he never complained about getting up at night and helping me with the boys. In fact, some nights he would race in and calm them before I could even get out of bed. I never saw a man that loved being a father the way Ty did. I think if he could have been a stay at home parent he would have been.

Since my own father had died when I was so young, some of my favorite memories were of him. I hoped that one day my children would look back and appreciate what a great father they had.

When I woke up the next morning, Ty was carrying the bags from our car into our bedroom closet. Bella was still too young to think about snooping around, but we didn't want her to know what Santa was bringing her. After getting the puppy for her birthday, she had taken things up a notch and asked for a pony. We'd taken the horses to Kentucky, but the stalls and the corral were still intact, so Ty agreed she was old enough to have a small pony.

It just so happened that one of the neighbor farmers had an older pony that had been his daughters. She had moved away after college and nobody played with it anymore. Ty and I both agreed that we wanted her to start out on a pony that was used to being played with and ridden.

When he took me over to the guy’s house to take a look at it, I fell in love right away. The horses name was Scotch, for its obvious brown colored coat. His mane and tail were a blonde shade and it accented his darker body. He was ten years old and had been around little girls since he was just a colt.

I particularly liked how when we went to take a look at him, he walked right up to us and let us pet him. I stuck my hand down at his mouth and he never snipped at me. He didn't have shoes, but his hooves were nice and clean and had recently been treated. His weight looked perfect and I couldn't see a single rib on his body. When we walked away he started neighing at us, like he wanted us to come back.

Ty didn't even have to ask my decision when we left that fellows farm. He was already dialing him as we pulled off his property to tell him he would be by the next day with the money. The guy was thrilled that Scotch was going to be living so close. He said he wouldn't be surprised if his daughter showed up one day to visit her old pet.

Since we obviously couldn't fit a live pony in our closet, Conner was helping Ty hide Scotch out in one of the far pastures until Christmas morning. We did have her saddle and riding gear, which was a dead giveaway that she was getting the pony.

I jumped out of bed and walked over to help Ty hide the saddle. We kept blankets in the closet and hid the things underneath of them. As far as her riding boots, pants and helmet, well we hid them behind everyone else's presents. Ty and I walked out of the closet and he closed the door just as Bella came walking in the room. Her hair was standing in all directions and her eyes were half open. He walked over and picked her up, only to toss her down on our bed. Bella wasn't exactly in the mood to play with her daddy and she started whining. He plopped on the bed beside her and started tickling her. "You better give me a smile." He loved to taunt her.

"Stop it, Daddy!"

"I can't help it. I need a kiss and a smile from my princess right now or I will die!"

Ty stretched his body out on the bed and played dead. At first Bella laughed at him. She waited a few seconds and he still hadn't moved. She took her hands and pushed him. "Daddy, wake up!"