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Chris yawned as he shuffled down the hall to the nursery, stretching his stiff joints as he moved. It was an early morning in December, around five-thirty, as the sun slowly rose in the sky to start another cold day. He’d planned on sleeping in until nine, if given the chance with a three-year-old and eleven month old twins. The night before consisted of wrapping presents and trying to stay warm under a mountain of blankets.
But the cooing of one of the twins woke him up, which meant that a diaper change or a feeding was in store. Not wanting to wait for the shrill and impatient cries to wake his exhausted wife, Chris braved the nippy draft and took the short trip to collect the baby.
“Who’s awake in here?” he whispered, pushing the door open.
The night-light dimmed significantly throughout the night, sending off enough light to make out the two cribs and the table between them. He could hear the gurgling and grunting coming from the crib on the left and smiled, as he made his way over to it.
“Olivia Jane,” he peered down at the girl. “What are you doing up this early?”
She blew spit bubbles at him, shaking her stuffed pig at him; as Chris pushed the safety bar down to collect her.
“Are we awake for a diaper change?” he whispered, patting her bottom. “I guess not. Must be hungry, huh?”
“Ba!”
He shushed her, making his way out of the nursery and towards the staircase. Taking the short trip into the kitchen, Chris perched the infant against his hip as he pulled the bottle out of the dish rack.
“I have to put you in the high chair,” he said to Olivia, as she drooled on her fingers. “That way I can make your bottle with both hands.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, so eerily similar to his own, and blinked. While Charlotte was a combination of both him and Melanie, minus the dark hair, while Sophia was a splitting image of Melanie. But Olivia was all Chris; from the right shade of blonde hair, the facial expressions, to the way she slept. Melanie would joke and say that if Chris had been born a girl, he’d look exactly like Olivia.
“She’s all you, Chris. From her looks to her personality, Olivia is your clone.”
Setting her into the high chair, Chris quickly put together the formula and heated up the bottle in the microwave, before testing the temperature on his wrist.
“Okay, Liv,” he said, making his way over to her. “One nice bottle for you and then we’ll lay out on the couch til Mommy wakes up.”
Pulling her out of the high chair, Chis grabbed a dishtowel out of the basket and a pacifier from the sterilizer and carried her out into the living room. Cradling Olivia in his arms as if she were a newborn, he nudge the nipple of the bottle between her lips and watched as she began to suck down the formula.
“My, my,” he chuckled, as her hands came up- one on the bottle and the other on his wrist. “You act like I don’t feed you enough, little one.”
Olivia continued to eat, her eyelids drooping slightly as each drop filled her belly. Chris held her close to his chest, watching through tired eyes as she ate. It was moments like this, along with others, that relaxed him. The feel of the solid, tiny body in his arms and the soft sounds that the girls made, relaxed him. Those few moments of peace, in which it was just him and one of the girls, bonding together. It took him the first six months of Charlotte’s life to realize how special those moments were, as Melanie either slept in or went off to a doctor’s appointment or to work. Now, with two infants and a rambunctious three year old, any spare moment with one of the kids was like Christmas all year round.
Once the bottle was half empty, Olivia released the nipple and smacked her lips at him. “All done?” he asked, moving to place the bottle on the table next to the sofa. “Almost a whole bottle, Liv.”
He wiped her mouth with the dish towel, tossing it onto the coffee table once he was done. Sitting her up, Chris fixed the front of her pajamas that bunched up during her feeding and sighed.
“How come you’re so patient when I feed you?” he asked her, stroking the back of her head gently. “Sophie always fusses when it’s her turn for her bottle, yet you’re cool as a cucumber.”
Olivia squirmed against him, grabbing hold of his hand with a gummy smile.
“Ba!”
“I gave you a bottle,” he nodded, as she peered around the room. “What do you see, Livvie?”
She pointed to the tree, dark of its white lights for the time being. Then, she turned to look back up at him, her face scrunched up in confusion.
“The tree lights go off at night,” he said, as she babbled. “That way the lights last longer before Santa comes next week.”
Olivia didn’t know much of what he was saying, as she stared at him with her wide eyes.
“Da!” she squealed, breaking out into a peal of giggles. “Da!”
He chuckled, “Wanna lay down with me for a while?” he asked, bringing her close for a kiss. “It’ll be a while before Mommy wakes up and then your sisters wont be up until later after that.”
Olivia pulled at the front of his shirt, her fingers wet with drool, as she beamed at him. Moving to lay out across the sofa, Chris settled her down against his chest, pulling the quilt off the back of the sofa to cover them both.
“Here we go,” he whispered, laying the blanket over them both. “Nice and warm! You like that, Liv? A little cuddle time with your old man before the others come down?”
She cooed at him, her little feet kicking against his rib cage as she lay against him. “Just you wait,” he kissed the top of her head. “Later I’ll make you a bowl of oatmeal and we’ll play with your toys. Maybe watch a movie or take a nap, that way Mommy can do whatever it was that she wanted to do today.”
He could feel the change in her breathing, as her breaths came a slower rate as she started to doze off. “Hmmm, or maybe we could just sleep all day,” Chris mumbled, closing his own eyes as well. “Tomorrow you should wake up a little later than five-thirty, Liv. You should enjoy sleeping in now before it’s too late to do so.”
The heater groaned as it came to life in the living room, as the sky grew lighter and lighter as the minutes passed. Within seconds, as Olivia began to snore lightly, Chris was out cold under the weight of sixteen pounds that felt like dead weight against his chest. But the warmth that radiated from that tiny body and the feeling of her chest rising and falling against his lulled him through a peaceful slumber.