You and Only You

After running around for days upon days we finally had everything ready for Noah’s birthday and it was a good thing because the day had finally come. My baby was turning one year old today. It was ridiculous how fast the first year of his life went by but I couldn’t wait to celebrate it. And I was definitely looking forward to all the years that would still come.

Unfortunately there weren’t any other young kids who were around to come to the party because none of our friends had children. But I knew that Noah would still have fun with all of the guys because they all majorly spoiled him. And Noah didn’t really understand that it was his birthday anyways so it was more than okay by him because he was surrounded by people that loved him.

Mine and Kennedy’s parents came over along with the guys from The Maine and all of our closest friends. We all kind of just hung out and talked and ate and everyone of course said hi to Noah and showered him with hugs and kisses.

My mom had made him a huge cake with guitars on it and he had the most confused expression on his face as everyone started singing Happy Birthday to him while Kennedy carried the cake over and set it in front of his highchair on the table. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life. After we were done singing everyone clapped and Noah seemed to snap out of it and started clapping with everyone else.

“Yay!” I said and walked over to kiss him on the top of the head. “Are you ready for your cake?” I took his shirt off so he couldn’t make a huge mess of it and he started clapping again when Kennedy cut the cake and put a huge piece in front of him.

Everyone stood back watched to see what he would do. He looked at the cake and then looked at me as if he was asking what he was supposed to do with it. “Eat it!” Someone yelled and he looked back down at the cake. He poked it hesitantly with a finger and brought the finger to his mouth. He was smiling and putting his finger back down but Kennedy decided that he was taking too long. He walked over next to Noah and took a chunk out of the cake and smeared it on Noah’s face. Everyone started laughing and Noah just sat there completely stunned.

Then his face contorted like he was about to start crying and I slapped Kennedy. “Now you’re gonna make him cry you big meanie!” Kennedy walked over towards Noah again and this time he took some of the cake in his hand and, kneeling down to be level with Noah, held it up so he could eat it.

“Here you go buddy.” Noah looked at him and then leaned forward to take a bite of the cake. “Mmmm! That’s good huh?” Kennedy asked and Noah started smiling and it seemed to be all better.

He got the hang of eating his cake and everyone grabbed a piece while watching him try to feed himself cake and making a huge mess in the process.

After he was done with his cake and all cleaned up, it was time for him to open presents. And of course everyone brought presents, loads of presents. More presents than Christmas even. I was glad that we were in a house and that Noah had his own room because I know that there wouldn’t be enough room for all of this stuff if we still lived in our small apartment that we shared before Noah was born.

I sat next to him on the floor as he started opening presents and it seemed like he had the hang of it since practicing so much at Christmas. I still had to help him rip all the paper off but he was definitely doing his fair part. This time he wasn’t as fascinated by the wrapping paper but he was certainly still enjoying it. He was trying to throw it at people and then giggling, even though it didn’t travel very far.

“Gare Gare,” he said and threw a piece towards Garrett.

“Holy crap he said my name!” Garrett shouted and his smile was probably wider than even Noah’s, and that was saying something. Everyone laughed at how excited Garrett was and I was honestly excited too. He had been talking more recently, but they hadn’t really been actual words. There was “no” and kind of an “uh” for yes but other than that it was all incoherent babbling. Now apparently he was saying people’s names other than Mama or Dada and I knew it wouldn’t be long till he was talking a lot more.

He was making his way through his pile of presents and he was down to the last couple. He had already gotten tons of toys and clothes and some books and other random things to add to his impressive collection of gifts from Christmas.

Finally it was time for him to open his last present and it was a pretty big box.

“What’s inside Noah?” I asked him and he started beating on the box excitedly. “Let’s open it!”

I ripped a corner and let him take over. He laughed as it made a loud ripping sound and started hitting the box harder. I sure hoped whatever was in there wasn’t breakable. We finished taking the wrapping paper off together and I opened the box. Inside of the box there was a guitar case and I was surely hoping that there was something else inside of it and that it wasn’t what I thought it was. I opened the case and my eyes grew wide.

“What the hell guys!? Who bought him a guitar? He’s one! How is he supposed to play a guitar?”

“Come on Skylar, he’s gonna be just like his daddy!” Jared said and he was smiling and laughing and I could tell that he was the one who had bought it. “And it’s just like a beginner’s guitar, it wasn’t expensive at all.”

Noah was staring at the guitar curiously and then he looked around and his eyes landed on Kennedy. He pointed at the guitar and said “Dada!” while still looking over at Kennedy. And I swear I had never seen Kennedy smile that big in my entire life. I could tell how happy and excited he was and it made me insanely happy.

Everyone laughed and said how amazing it was that he knew there was a connection between Kennedy and the guitar. But how could he not know? Kennedy was always playing guitar around the house and singing to Noah.

“Ok, yeah that’s completely adorable and my baby is way smart, but still, he can’t play a guitar when he’s only one,” I pointed out. It wasn’t that I didn’t love it and I’m sure that Noah would love it, but it kind of seemed wasted at this point. It definitely could have waited a couple years.

Noah crawled forward and leaned over the guitar while I was talking. He reached one hand out and touched the strings hesitantly at first, before basically full out strumming. He laughed and clapped his hands at the noise he had produced and then did it again.

“Well then, I stand corrected. He’s gonna be a guitar prodigy and he’s probably gonna be better than all of you. Aren’t you Noah?” I asked, tickling his side a little bit and he giggled and tried to escape from the tickle torture. Then I left him to play with his guitar, which was by far his favorite present of the day. “Thank you Jared. I expect you to help teach him too. Don’t tell Kennedy but you’re way better at guitar than he is,” I joked and Kennedy yelled in protest.

“That’s just harsh Skylar. We all know I’m better but you don’t have to rub it in Ken’s face,” Jared said with a laugh.

“Why is everyone ganging up on me?” Kennedy protested. “At least my son loves me.” He moved over right next to Noah and scooped him up in his arms. “Right little man?” he asked while snuggling up close to him. Noah reached a hand out to rub Kennedy’s beard and giggled at the feeling. Then he moved his hand to one of Kennedy’s cheeks and kissed the other. Everyone awed as Dirk snapped a photo, as he had been doing all night. These would definitely be great memories to look back on and some of them would definitely be going on Tumblr and Twitter.

Everyone stuck around for a little bit longer, visiting with Noah. Soon people started leaving as it started getting later. Of course the guys in The Maine were the last ones to go. Kennedy talked with the guys for a few minutes about something band related while I sat and talked with AJ and Tessa.

“When are you and Jared having kids? Noah needs a best friend,” I joked to Tessa. She and Jared had been together for quite awhile.

“Although Noah is completely adorable, I don’t think we’ll be having a little one anytime soon. Just not really my cup of tea. At least not right now.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I laughed. “We didn’t exactly plan on our little bundle of joy but he’s definitely the best surprise I’ve ever gotten.”

And that amazing little surprise chose that moment to crawl away from all of the guys and over towards us. He got to the couch and grabbed my leg to pull himself up to stand.

“Up Mama,” he said and reached his arms out to me. The other girls awed while I lifted up my son and held him in my arms. He immediately laid his head down on my chest and sighed audibly.

“Is my little Noah all tired out?” I asked softly as I rubbed his back. He took a strand of my hair and twirled it around in his fingers as he cuddled closer to me.

“Well, it looks like it’s someone’s bedtime. I’ll go tell the guys it’s time to go,” AJ said before getting up to go talk to them. Tessa followed and soon all of the guys were coming over and saying their goodbyes to me and Noah before heading out the door.

Kennedy took a seat next to me on the couch and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Noah situated himself so he was right in the middle of us, cuddled up to us both.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep and Kennedy lifted him up carefully to take him to his crib. I started straightening some things up until Kennedy came back out into the living room and grabbed my hand.

“Leave it. We’ll do it tomorrow,” he said, pulling me back towards the bedroom.

We both got ready for bed and lay down next to each other. We started talking about how the day had gone and how neither of us could believe he was already a year old.

Then we ended up talking about the wedding and how close it was getting already.

“I can’t wait to be married to you Skylar,” Kennedy said, kissing me softly on the shoulder. “It’s going to be the best day of my life. Well, at least since Noah’s been born. Because that was probably the best day. The only thing that could maybe top that would be another baby being born, and maybe not even then because Noah is a pretty amazing kid.”

“He’s the best kid ever,” I agreed.

“Could you imagine having another kid though?” he asked. “I think we got really lucky with Noah and I don’t know if we would be that lucky again.”

Truthfully, I could imagine having another kid. And I had been thinking about it. Ever since my accident and realizing how sad it had made me to lose that baby, I kind of hadn’t stopped thinking about having another one. I just didn’t know if it was too soon and I didn’t know what Kennedy wanted.

“What if we do have another one though?” I asked softly. “A little brother or sister for Noah to play with?” I looked over towards him and stared straight in his eyes, trying to judge his reaction.

“Really?” he asked and I couldn’t quite tell what he was feeling. “Skylar, I would love to have another kid with you. Hell, I’d have a hundred babies with you.”

“Let’s not go that far,” I laughed. “But I definitely want more kids.” I paused before I voiced the one thing I knew was on both of our minds and couldn’t be avoided. “But what about touring and everything? Do you think it would be too hard with more kids?”

“I know it will be hard, but I know we’ve made it through with Noah and I know we can make it through anything together because I love Noah and I love you so god damn much.”

“I love you too,” I said softly and couldn’t help but to smile even as he closed the gap between us and kissed me on the lips.

And that night we both went to bed with thoughts of babies in our brains.