Ready As Ever

As I enjoy the gorgeous summer day in Kelowna, British Columbia, I continuously glance towards the beach. My family and I trekked out to Lake Okanagan to enjoy the first 80 degree day since Carey and the Canadians were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a sweep by the New York Rangers.
Carey and I have been married for three years now and we have an adorable, two year old little boy who looks just like his daddy. The two are the reason I keep glancing back towards the beach from the pavilion just off the sand. Carey has Camden swimming in the shallow end of the water in his floaties. Carey seems to be frightened half to death while making sure Cam is okay, but Cam seems to be having the best of times, even if the waves come up to knock him over. Some kids would cry, but not our little Cam.
After watching Cam get knocked over once more, my attention was diverted to my mother who had begun to talk in my right ear. She and my father had come in from Montreal for Cam’s second birthday party, which is why we are enjoying the day at the Lake.
“Angela, your cousin Lane is here. She wants to see Cam because this is the first time they’ve been in British Columbia at the same time you have since little Cam was born. Where is the birthday boy and his father?” my mother loves Cam but doesn’t particularly care for Carey. She thinks that his job takes away too much from our family and would be a big problem in the coming years as I would have to raise Cam mostly alone. But in his first two years, it hasn’t been that way.
In fact, if Carey isn’t able to physically be there, he’s always calling or making sure I have help from one of his teammate’s wives or serious girlfriends. It’s like having a huge family that is always there for us, no matter what and I am so glad that I have them on top of Carey in my life.
“Carey took Cam down to the water. They will probably be down there for a while. But if Lane wants to take her kids down there, they will find my boys with no problem. I better go say hello to everyone since the boys are down there.”
The day went on with no real hiccups except when Cam became too tired. He, of course, got cranky and wanted to go home so we all ended up back at our house to continue the celebration.

Later that night, when it was just Carey and I getting ready for bed in the bedroom, I was nervous. I had been keeping a big secret from Carey all week and was surprised it hadn’t slipped yet. I am usually horrible with secrets and everyone knows when I have one. Except this week and today. My mom couldn’t even tell that I was keeping this humongous secret.
I did my nightly routine before going into the walk-in closet to gather the materials I needed. I knew that Cam was going to wake up any time now for a quick twenty minutes before falling asleep again because he has been doing it all week, so I hoped the trend continued. As I walked out of the closet, I could hear my baby boy whine in his room. I go to his room with my materials in hand to set everything up.

I change his shirt and pick him up to take him into our bedroom with his favorite book. It has been the routine this week, for him to come in our room to hear a story and then fall asleep for Carey to put him back in his own big boy bed. So, I put my tired boy in the middle of the bed and crawled in next to him in my favorite t-shirt of Carey’s and some comfy sleep shorts. Carey joined us from the bathroom a couple of seconds later and picked up the book to read to our son. I always let him read to him because I could read to Cam any time of year and Carey was quite limited.
As predicted, our son was out like a light less than twenty minutes later. Carey placed the book on his nightstand and stood to pick up our son. I leaned over and kissed Cam’s head before straightening the little shirt over him. Carey was about to pick him up when he registered what the shirt said.
“I got my birthday wish. I’m going to be a…” Carey read it out loud. The back was the answer and so I gently picked up my son and held him as close to his bottom as possible so my husband could read the shirt. “Big brother.” Carey’s voice gave out and his eyes started to well up with tears. It was the most precious thing ever. I carefully put our son down where he was originally and looked up to the handsome man I married three years ago.
“What do you think, Daddy?” he looked purely overjoyed at even the thought of another baby and it got me more excited than I was all week without him knowing.
“We are having another baby? When did you find out? How far along are you? I don’t want to miss another moment of this summer with you and this pregnancy.” Thankfully, it’s only the end of May – American Memorial Day Weekend – which we celebrate because that is where I’m originally from.
“I only found out on Monday but I really wanted to do something special since Cam wasn’t a surprise and we knew exactly when he was coming. I think I’m around 9 weeks or so, the doctor wasn’t exactly sure either. We will know by the next ultrasound. But I have a picture for you in my purse downstairs, but I am so glad that you are excited. We haven’t really talked about having another in a long time, so I was a little nervous. But I love you and how great of a dad you are. We are ready for anything.”
“Yes, my darling, we really are. I love you and I cannot wait.” He smiled before leaning over our sleeping son to kiss me. It was romantic and all I could ever want.