You Are Loved, Baby.

Brian decided that we'd all drive in his SUV instead of taking two cars. So we took both Blaik's car seat and Bronx's booster seat and put them both in the backseat of Brian's big car.

The ride to the mall took about 20-30 minutes to get there seeing as we lived farther away from downtown then we used to. But Brian made sure that the kids weren't bored on the way there by cranking the music and singing along loudly, causing both Bronx and Juliann to laugh at him. Brian only turned it down when Blaik began to get fussy.

When we got to the mall we all piled out of Brian's car. I grabbed Bronx's hand and Brian carried Blaik into the huge building. Juliann followed us quietly, just talking with Bronx when the five year old would shout something out.
"Where do you want to go first, Niss?" Brian asked once we were in the building. He had pulled his hood up over his head and put his big glasses on his face so that he wouldn't be recognized to easily.
"I don't know," I replied, "Where do you want to go?"
Brian bit his lip and grinned at Bronx who began to get anxious. "I think we should go to that baby store that's down that way," He pointed down the left hallway, "I think that I should stock up on stuff."
I smiled and nodded, "Okay, lets go."

Bronx didn't even whine when we went into the store because he was too excited to even worry about it. He tried to pull from my grasp but I wouldn't let him, knowing that he'd get into trouble if I let him run free.
The store was full of cribs, car seats, and any other things that a baby might need including clothing and even some little toys.
"Mommy!" Bronx whined, tugging on my hand, "I wanna go play over there!" He muttered, pointing at the little play ground that was set up in the far right corner of the room.
I sighed, "Fine," And released his hand, "Jules, go watch him." I told my brother with a grin, watching as he wandered after him dutifully.
I turned to Brian and rolled my eyes in the direction of the boys, causing him to chuckle and motioned for me to follow him over to where they had all the big items like cribs and car seats.
"Do you think I should get some of these things?" Brian asked, looking from a black and purple car seat to Blaik.
"Do you plan on driving Blaik around?" I questioned with a smile.
Brian nodded, "I mean, eventually he'll stay the night at my house and we'd have to drive to get him there."
I chuckled at how nervous and awkward Brian was. "Well," I continued, "In that case you should probably get a crib too."
Brian nodded, "Yeah, he'd need something to sleep on."

Brian and I were both silent for a moment before we started to laugh.
"When did things get so awkward?" Brian questioned.
I shrugged, "When you became a father."
"I don't know why I'm so nervous," He sighed, "I can go on stage in front of thousands of people but yet when it comes to buying things for my son I freeze up."
"It's because you have a whole 'nother life to care for now," I replied, rubbing his arm gently.
He grinned down at me and nodded his head happily, "Probably." He told me.

"So," I murmured, "Which ones do you want to get?" I questioned, motioning back to the things on the racks.
He chuckled, "Any thing purple,"
I laughed, "Okay. Well, that ones purple and black and it's right for his age."
Brian grinned and shuffled Blaik into my arms, "That one it is," He smiled, reaching up to pull it down.
I held Blaik in my arms and cooed to him, "Look baby, your Daddy is getting you a pretty new car-seat so that the two of you can spend some time together," I pointed to the car-seat that had a purple center and black stitching and outlining.
"Yeah, kiddo," Brian continued, "We're going to get a little white deathbat stitched in right here," Brian pointed to the center of the car-seat where the baby's head would be. I grinned as Brian carried the car-seat proudly.
"What next?" I questioned, pulling Brian's hood back up on his head so that it covered his hair. He nodded gratefully and wrapped his arm around my waist, leading me over to the crib section.

A young girl came walking over, her red hair was the color of fire and flew out behind her as she walked over to us. When she got close enough I could see that her name tag read, Jessica. She smiled as she walked over and asked, "Can I help you two with anything?"
She nonchalantly cooed at Blaik before looking up at me and then to Brian. She seemed to stop for a moment when she saw him but then she composed herself and folded her hands in front of her.
I looked up to Brian in response to her question, "No thanks." He said, "We're just getting a crib but I think I can handle picking one out," He joked, adjusting his sun glasses on his face.
"Well, make sure you get one that fits the baby's needs," She answered, walking over to the cribs that were set up in the store, "Getting a crib that isn't right for a child could cause pain in their necks and backs."
I nodded, "I know, I have two children," I said, not trying to be rude but knowing that she only stuck around because she knows who Brian is.
"Oh, okay. Well then excuse me," She murmured, adjusting her name tag and walking away, back to the check out counters.
Brian looked down at me with a smirk.
I shrugged, "We don't need anyone asking questions just yet," I told him, walking over towards a crib that was painted black.
"I have a feeling that you'll like this one," I said to him, watching as he rolled his eyes.
"It's nice. But is it the right kind of crib?" He asked, quoting the girl, Jessica.
"Yup! I told him, "It's perfect."

He grinned, "This baby stuff is easier than I thought,"
I laughed, "How do you feel about changing diapers?" I watched as the color drained from Brian's face. But he acted brave, "I guess I'll have to learn sometime." He groaned.
"Yeah, Bri. It's inevitable. Do you want to check out so that we can go change his diaper?" I asked him, looking over at the play ground where Juliann stood, watching as his nephew raced around with a couple other kids.
"I guess so," Brian pouted, grabbing a tag from the crib so that someone could get us the one we wanted.
"I'll check out and you'll get the kids?" Brian said, making it sound like more of a question.
I smiled at the fact that it seemed as if we were working together and I nodded my head to Brian and pulled out of his grasp. It seemed that is old habit of wrapping his arms around my waist was reoccurring but I couldn't say that it bothered me at all.
I lift Blaik higher in my arms and adjusting his sweatshirt, watching as he became fussy because of the fact that his diaper was dirty.
I cooed at him, trying to calm him down so that I could at least get the boys, let Brian pay and then get him to the bathroom.
"Juliann," I called when I got close, smiling back at the parents in the store, "We're leaving." I told him, watching as a look of relief came on his face and he hurried forward to grab the back of Bronx's shirt and pull him away from the little boy that he was terrorizing. As Junior pulled him away Bronx stuck his tongue out at the dark-haired boy who just glared at my child.
I reached out and smacked the back of Bronx's head, soft enough not to hurt him but hard enough to catch his attention so that he'd stop, "Be nice, Bronx." I demanded, grabbing onto his hand so that Juliann would let go of the back of his shirt.

Bronx and Juliann waited outside of the woman's bathroom. A place that I had a hard time getting Brian to go in to.
"Just come on, Brian!" I moaned while standing outside of the bathroom.
"No!" He replied, "No way!"
I had whined, tugging on his arm, "Come on! No one will care, you need to change the baby's diaper!"
He looked me straight in the eye and I put a pout on my face. I could see Brian caving in and I grinned and grabbed onto his wrist. Blaik was fussing in my arms, making little noises that let everyone know how unhappy he was.
I pulled Brian into the woman's bathroom and yanked the sun-glasses from his face. He rolled his brown eyes and glanced at the women in the bathroom who were eyeing him.
"They don't care," I whispered in his ear as I pulled down the changing table. His arms went around my waist and his lips went to my ear as I laid Blaik's blanket down on the table and him on top of that.
"Bri,"I laughed, "Stop goofing around. You'll have to change his diaper someday." I shoved him off of me playfully but then pulled him back and told him to unclip the baby's one-sy.
"Fine," he muttered and began to unbutton the under clothes. I had already pulled his little sweatpants off, "Now what?" Brian asked pointedly, although he already knew the answer but just didn't want to do it.
"Now we take his diaper off," I laughed, ignoring the looks of the women who entered and exited the bathroom.

Brian was quick with changing Blaik's diaper and when he was done he redressed the baby and high-tailed it out of the bathroom as quick as he could.
I laughed and gathered Blaik's blanket and stuffed it into his diaper bag. I dropped the poopy diaper into the garbage can and followed the duo out of the door.
"Well," I told Brian as I walked over to where he stood next to the boys, "Now you can change his diapers in the men's bathroom."
Brian glared at me before he put his glasses back on his face and made sure that his hood was still up.

"Bronx?" He called to the five year old who was spinning in circles for no reason at all.
The kid stopped moving and looked to Brian while trying not to fall over, "What?" He called back with a huge smile on his face.
"What do you say, we go to that toy store?" Brian asked him but bursted out laughing as Bronx shouted "Yeah!" And tried to run over to us. But being dizzy Bronx fell onto his stomach with a screech. My brother hurried over and pulled Bronx from the floor, deciding to carry him so that he couldn't fall again.

"Okay," Juliann stated while putting Bronx on his back, "Now we can go."