A New Life

*Second update of the day. Make sure you read Four.*

-Brayden-
Being a new father is completely exhausting. Elise Rose Schenn just turned four months old, and definitely doesn’t understand the concept of sleeping through the night. Janine and I have made a deal that the Timonens passed on to us, though, that I think is fair to both of us. The nights before game days, I won’t get up to take care of her if she starts to cry. And obviously when I’m away, Janine has to take care of her all by herself. But when I’m home and I don’t have a game the next day, Ellie is all my responsibility. I definitely think I got the better end of the deal, so I’m willing to help out whenever I can.

Ellie is my entire world, and I’m so happy to have her in my life now. Charlie cried when we announced her name. Looking back on it, I think it could have partially been pregnancy hormones. But when we told her that we gave Elise the same middle name as Charlie, she lost it. Janine and I agreed that we want our daughter to grow up looking at Charlie as a role model. We want her to have even an ounce of the strength that Charlie has, and we want both her and Sean to be big parts of her life, even though we didn’t ask them to be her godparents.

Last night was actually a really good night for Ellie, since she only woke up twice. Even though I didn’t have to get up, it still made a huge difference not being woken up and I feel refreshed for our morning skate today. I start putting on my under gear for practice, surrounded by the normal morning chatter of the team. But I notice that Sean isn’t here yet. I’m composing a text to him when I hear him yell out that Charlie is coming into the locker room, and to cover up.

A couple minutes later, both he and Charlie enter the room holding hands. Charlie is holding a box in her hand, and I recognize it as a being from Build-A-Bear. They both have huge smiles on their faces, and Sean clears his throat getting the attention of everyone in the room, including the coaching staff.

“So as you all know, Charlie and I went to the baby doctor yesterday, for our monthly check up and to find out the gender. We went to Build-A-Bear right after.... So who wants to open the box for everyone?”

I look around at the room, thinking about who I think makes the most sense to open it. Obviously I would love the honor, but I know that I’m not the only one who deserves it.

“I think Kimmo should.” I say, my eyes landing on the older man.
“I was just thinking the same.” Hartsy speaks up.
“I was thinking you should do it.” Kimmo says, looking at me.
“Well thank you, but Hartsy agrees with me. You should get the honor. You are the stereotypical father of the team.” I laugh.

My teammates agree with me and Charlie walks the box over to Kimmo’s stall. I notice a couple guys trying to sneak peaks into the box, but I know Charlie well enough to know that she made sure no one will be able to see into it.

Charlie takes out her phone and waits to give him the go-ahead to open it, so that she can take a video. When she finally does, I realize my heart is racing a little bit. I’m excited to find out, and it’s not even my baby.

Kimmo opens the box and I see a huge smile cross his face. He reaches in and pulls out a little pink bear.

“It’s a girl!” He shouts, causing everyone to erupt in cheers. Rinaldo pulls Charlie into a side hug. “And another girl!” Kimmo says, halting all action in the room. We all look at him as he pulls out another pink bear from the box.

I turn to my best friend, who has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.

“Twins?” I ask, bewildered.
“Twins!” He shouts, raising his arms in the air a-la Rocky Balboa.

The entire locker room erupts again, and everyone starts passing both Charlie and Sean around from hug to hug. Simmonds scoops Charlie up into his arms, lifting her from the floor in a gigantic bear hug and Charlie’s laughter rings throughout the room.

“Simmer, you hurt any of my three favorite girls and I’ll kill you.” Sean jokes. He instantly puts Charlie down, but gives her a big kiss on her cheek instead.

“So turns out you were right.” Giroux says, clapping Sean on the shoulder.
“I was doubly right!” He laughs in response.
“Congrats, man.” I say, shaking his hand.
“Thanks. I somehow have a feeling we’re going to be spending a lot more time together when our girls are older.” He says.
I think about the idea. Three little girls all together.
“Oh, God. That’s going to be crazy!” I laugh.

-Charlie-
The big reveal to the team went over better than I expected, and the response on Twitter is immediately overwhelming. Between Sean’s fans and my fans, everyone is congratulating us on our big news.

Craig Berube pulls me aside right before I leave the locker room and gives me a big hug. He wishes me all the best, and thanks me for everything that I’ve done for Sean. I’m confused, since Sean is the one who has done so much for me. But he tells me that in the past year he’s noticed my husband become a completely different man, and a much better hockey player than ever before. He’s happier, more content, and more focused on building a strong future.

I smile as I sit down on the empty bleachers, happy that practice is closed to the public today. While I appreciate the love that Flyers fans have for me, I like having the opportunity to watch my husband practice without having too much attention on me. After all, they go to practices to watch the guys. Not talk to me.

“So twins?” Johanna asks, sitting next to me. A couple other women join us, all smiling at me. I laugh.
“Crazy, huh?” I respond. “We struggled for so long to conceive, thinking we weren’t ever going to be able to have a kid. And now all of a sudden we find out that in four months we’re going to be bringing two baby girls into the world.”
“Everything happens for a reason.” Janine says, cradling little Ellie.
“What a wonderful reason.” I smile.

We watch as the boys skate out onto the ice, each one of them fully focused on getting ready for the game tonight.

“So what did your doctor say about the twins?” Johanna asks. “Will you have to take some extra precautions?”
The other women look at us questioningly. We never shared the concern from my very first gynecologist appointment after coming home.

“She said we’re going to have to be really careful. Obviously we have to worry if I get too big, and it’s almost certain that I’ll end up on complete bed rest towards the end. Apparently we’re really lucky because twin boys get bigger than twin girls. So that’ll put less stress on my uterus. And since I’m not huge yet, there’s a chance they’ll both be on the smaller side. But she said we really have to watch out in case I suddenly explode. It’s common when you’re carrying twins to suddenly get a huge growth spurt. That could cause some issues too. Basically we just have to be really careful with everything. Knowing Sean, I won’t be doing a lot of work around the house for the rest of the pregnancy.” I laugh.

“Well if you ever want some practice, there’s a couple babies running around here that you’re more than welcome to take for the night.” TJ says, rocking Aiden as he sleeps.

“I think that would be a fantastic idea.” I admit. “It’ll give both me and Sean a little bit of practice so we know what we’re getting ourselves into.”

“Hey, you can take Aiden and Ellie both and TJ and Scott can go out with me and Brayden on a double date. Then you get experience with two babies at the same time!” Janine suggests.

I laugh. “Oh gosh, let’s go with one at first. Then we’ll progress to two.”

We continue to chat and begin gossiping about Zac Rinaldo’s latest “girlfriend” for the remainder of the practice. Towards the end, Janine has to go to the bathroom and I offer to take Ellie from her. She hands her over and I stare at the beautiful little girl in my arms. Coach calls the end of practice and the ladies and I make our way out to the lobby, gathering by the hallway to the entrance to the locker room. The boys pass by on their way to get changed.

“That’s a fantastic look on you.” Sean says, leaning down to kiss my cheek.
“Soon enough.” I respond with a smirk.
“Hey, are you trying to steal my baby?!” Brayden jokes, passing by.
“Oh yeah, I definitely want to steal your baby.” I respond, sarcasm dripping in my voice. “I definitely want to just take her with me and then in 5 months have 3 little girls in my house under a year old.”
“I’d rather not.” Sean says, fear on his face. “Two is going to be more than enough, thanks.” Brayden snorts.
“Dude, one is enough! But it’s totally worth it.”

Janine returns from the bathroom and takes Ellie out of my hands.
“You two stink.” She announces. “Go shower and then take the five of us out for lunch.”
“Five?” Brayden asks.
“Uh, yeah. Me and Ellie, Charlie, and babies one and two.”
“Oh right. Yeah.” He laughs.

Sean leans down and kisses me again before following him down the hallway, chirping the entire time about how Brayden shouldn’t plan on ever helping Ellie with her math homework.

“What dorks.” Janine chuckles.
“Somehow, we still love them.” I smile.