Max’s Perspective
The trip from the hospital in Atlanta to BroMax farm was the longest, most nerve wracking trip of my life! When I was driving, I had both hands on the wheel at the ten and two position and stayed in the right lane going the speed limit, maybe even a little under. I kept an eye on the baby camera so I could see our two sweet babies sleeping faces. When I wasn’t driving, I took Brody’s place in the back between the two baby seats. They slept most pf the trip, but every breath, every gurgle, every noise freaked me the hell out. THEY WERE SO TINY!!! Olivia (Olli) was just five pounds five ounces, and Abigail (Abbi) was a whopping five pounds seven ounces. During one of my shifts in the backseat, I was holding Abbi’s tiny, tiny hand and looking at her ridiculously small fingernails just marveling at the two little miracles next to me. Brody was watching me in the baby camera, “Whatcha’ thinkin’ Daddy Max?” He asked.
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know. Just OH MY GOD, we are responsible for these two tiny creatures” I blurted out.
Brody laughed, “Yeah. Yeah, we are. And we’re gonna give ‘em the best damn lives any two babies ever had… their big brother too.” He was smiling at me as he spoke to the camera. “Can you believe our family, Maxwell?! Three damn kids!”
“It happened so fast; I’m still wrapping my head around it all. What do you think Teddy is gonna say?”
“He’ll be hella’ excited!” Brody replied. “So, the plan is we go home, get settled in, then go pick him up with the girls in the minivan. Right?”
“Yeah, Seth made me promise to wait until he got there before we do the big reveal” I said. Brody laughed, our friends and family were as excited as we were.
“Hail, Izzy is gonna freak out” Brody laughed. Our whole village was gonna love these ladies. We were still talking, and the girls were still sleeping when Brody pulled into our driveway. He stopped the Pacifica, turn around to look at the three of us and said, “This is it, ladies. “welcome home Olli and Abbi.”
“Yeah, welcome home, ladies. You’re gonna love it here” I added. Brody turned around and drove the van up to the house. We got out and each removed a baby seat from the base and we carried the two babies over the threshold (I had Abbi, Brody had Olli… I think). The house was spotless and smelled like home. “Who cleaned?” I asked.
Brody gave a little laugh, “probably BA. Let’s go see what they got done last night.” Our family had come over the night before to assemble the cribs, changing tables, and other stuff we need for the babies. We were grateful. We made our way to the nursery… cribs, changing tables with diapers and wipes stocked underneath, a diaper genie, the dresser a closet filled with tiny clothes. Yeah, we still needed to get more stuff, but we were ready for now. We carried the babies into our room to find the two bassinettes set up and ready to go, the baby monitor was sitting between them… this is where they would sleep for now. We set the carriers on the bed, and each of us took a baby out and put them in the bassinettes. Brody messed with the monitors and connected all the cameras to our phones (we had cameras in our room, and in their room), then we just stood there and stared at them some more, we couldn’t look away, we were in love. “Lookit those tiny thangs” Brody said with a laugh as he put an arm around me… I swear we stood there for an hour admiring them, then we laid on the bed and unexpectedly passed out. We hadn’t slept much since Saturday. Our phone alarms went off to let us know it was time to pick up Teddy.
I picked out some outfits for our identical girls, we had a couple of tiny dresses that coordinated so they were ready to meet their brother (I vowed to get more coordinating outfits… yeah, I was going to be THAT parent). We put them back in the carriers and went out to the car. We purposefully avoided Craig and Maverick because we wanted Teddy to meet his sisters first. We drove slowly to the school only to find Seth, Zach, Gina, Dylan, BA, and Daddy all parked and waiting for us. In a corner of the parking lot, I rolled down the passenger window once we parked next to them, and Brody asked from the Driver’s seat, “What are all y’all doin’ here?” They all got out and gathered around us trying to get a peek. Zach was holding Izzy, Seth had ALI, Gina had DJ, and Dylan had Maggie… our core village had come to meet its newest royalty.
“Sorry” Seth said. sheepishly “You know I can’t keep a secret.”
“Oh, who cares, we’re here! Now, let me at my grandbabies” BA said.
“NO!” Brody commanded (I LOVED it when Brody commanded). “Teddy gets first crack. No one see’s the ladies until they meet their big brother.” We had a disappointed crew standing around, but no one challenged tiny but in charge husband. I got out of the van and was answering the barrage of questions when Teddy and Freddy spotted us and came running our way.
“DADDY, DADDY, YOU GUYS ARE HOME!!!” Teddy yelled jumping into my open arms and hugging me until the tears flowed… I was so emotional (all those pregnancy hormones I guess, LOL). Damn, I had missed our little guy.
Brody rolled down the passenger window and said, “Hey bud, we missed you.”
“I missed you too Daddy” Teddy said before jumping out of my arms and running to the other side of the van. Brody came out to greet him. I sat back down in the passenger seat to supervise the sleeping girls. I saw Zach pull out his phone and nodded appreciatively, this was the moment we’d been waiting for and I wanted to make sure someone recorded it.
“Hey, we brought you a surprise back” I said.
His eyes lit up, a smile replaced his entire face, “What is it, what is it??!!!” He asked excitedly.
Brody and I stood next to the minivan, and told Teddy to face the door. Then Brody hit the key fob, and the sliding door magically opened to reveal two sleeping beauties. “Meet you sister Abbi” Brody said.
“And you other sister Olli” I added. I was so happy Zach was recording this moment because the look on his face was indescribable. His smile was replaced by confusion, he did a double take, then his confusion was replaced by elation, then pure, freaking bliss.
“Two? Two sisters?” He shouted in a hushed whisper. “Two?” He repeated in disbelief.
“Two” Brody said. Two babies who need a big brother.” So, everyone had kept a distance up until that point, but when Izzy and Maggie heard the word “babies” they were squirming and twisting to get free and out of their daddies arms.
Teddy got in the Pacifica and sat in his seat, nestled between his new sisters. “Which one is Olli?” He asked, and Brody pointed to the one behind the passenger seat. Teddy kissed the forehead of the sleeping baby. “Hi Olli, I’m your big brother Teddy, I love you.” Then he turned and did the same to Abbi. My heart melted as the three new siblings had their moment.
And a moment was about all they got, “Now lemme see them babies” BA said pushing her way to the door. We ended up waking the two angels up, taking them out of the van, and passing them around to their new family. The school parking lot was not the setting that I dreamed of for debuting our perfect family, but the crowd was perfection. We put the babies back in their seats, buckled Teddy in between them and headed home with a caravan of family following us home.
“Well so much for a quiet night at home with just us” Brody said with a laugh.
When we got home our friends and family followed us in carrying food and gifts, our new additions were now wide awake and taking it all in with two of the most adorable WTF-looks on their faces. ‘Welcome to you new world ladies,’ I thought. Those two got passed around like a bong at a frat party! Everyone want to hold them. Eli and Riley joined us a little later, once they each got ahold of one of the girls, that was it. They weren’t putting them down. I could see the idea of having a baby coming to life for them, things got real when they met Olli and Abbi. As much as Brody and I wanted to snatch those girls back, we just let the two of them enjoy the moment. “We’re making you a little friend” Eli said to Abbi (or was it Olli… I was still trying to get it right).
“Yeah, you will all be best friends, and if it’s a boy you two will have to fight over him because he will be the most beautiful boy in the whole world. Every girl will want to marry my boy” Riley said quietly to Olli (or was it Abbi). The couple was mesmerized by our babies. OUR babies! Holy shit! OUR BABIES!
The reality was still setting in and a wave of excitement and panic flowed through me. I was sitting with Brody and looked him in the eyes, “Holy shit, we have three kids, and two tiny, tiny baby girls. How are we going to handle three kids with the candle factory, the farm, your job, you traveling…” I was ranting and panicking.
Brody’s eyes were locked to mine, he touched my cheek and said, “we just are. We got this.” He was so calming, I couldn’t help but hug him.
“So, I assume you’re taking time off work” Gina said.
“Ricky, Craig, Timmy, and Mason can run things and I can work from home and go in when they need me” I answered.
“I’m gonna keep workin’ and then take my paternity leave in a few weeks when Maxwell goes back.” Brody added. We had talked a lot about it in the car on the way home, but in all reality, we didn’t really have much time to plan.
“We still have to figure out a plan for daycare after that” I chimed in.
“Well Maggie and Izzy will be starting 3K in the Fall so maybe Mrs. Mavis will take them on” Gina suggested. “She’s awesome. I can ask her tomorrow when I drop the kids off.”
I felt a little relief, just knowing there was a starting point and that Mrs. Mavis might be an option. I mean seriously, I had no idea where to start looking for childcare for two tiny babies, “Would you? That would be awesome.” We talked through a lot of other details too, Gina was a freaking pro. After we talked for a while, she walked me and Brody up to the nursery and started moving things around so that the diapers and wipes were at the ready, and I had better access to the changing tables. She reorganized the dresser drawers and arranged outfits by time of day, etc.… she helped us make a list of stuff we still needed, she knew what the hell she was doing. We. Did. Not.
When we got back downstairs, we took about 234907213479021340712340734 pictures of the eight kids, our eight kids. They were growing up more like siblings than cousins and friends. My favorite pictures were the one with Freddy and Teddy sitting on the couch, each holding one of the babies, and Maggie and Izzy sitting on the floor with DJ and Ali between their legs. All eight kids together for the first time. The smiles on those kids were indescribable. The love in that house was over-frigging-whelming.
As awesome as it was that everyone came over to meet and welcome our girls, I was glad when they all left and it was just the five of us. Our perfect family. We tucked Teddy in about 8 o’clock, and kissed him goodnight. He was so excited and exhausted from everything that had happened that day that he instantly fell asleep. I can’t say the same for the twins.
We had them sleeping in bassinettes in the master bedroom so we could keep an eye on them… okay, so here’s some shit we didn’t expect: 1.) they were identical twins so we kept confusing who was who. 2.) they don’t necessarily get hungry and want to eat at the same time. 3.) They don’t necessarily have the same sleep schedule. Oh, my freaking lord, baby Jesus, and the holy ghost They’d been in out care less than a day and we were already frazzled. Brody and I were taking shifts sitting in the overstuffed chair between the bassinettes keeping watch while the other slept. It was about midnight, I was doing my shifts and reading everything I could find on the internet about identical twins. I had joined so many damn parent of twin groups, gay parenting groups, adoptive parent groups, blah blah blah… I needed help. Then it came to me from the most unlikely source. Teddy snuck into the room and crawled up on my lap.
“Hey bud why aren’t you asleep?” I asked.
“Too excited. I can’t sleep” He said yawning, rubbing his eyes, but refusing to give in.
Just then a baby started to cry, I moved Teddy off my lap as I stood, then set him back down on the chair. Next, I lifted the baby up and held her and bounced her until she stopped crying, “there, there Abbi, it’s okay sweetie” I whispered.
Teddy laughed quietly, “That’s not Abbi, it’s Olli” he whispered.
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. Olli has a dot on her foot, see?” He pointed as he whispered. I’ll be damned, he was right. I hadn’t noticed it before.
“Are you sure you have the right one?” I asked trusting my six year old more than myself.
“Yeah, and Abbi has a red spot on the back of her neck” She was asleep on her back but I had to look. I held Olli (supposedly) with one hand and lifted the head of Abbi (apparently) with my free hand… there it was on the right side near the back, a red birthmark.
How did you know that?” I asked.
“Easy. I just looked when I got in the car with ‘em” Teddy said with a sweet smile… I knew at that moment that Brody and I wouldn’t survive twin girls without him. After I got the baby asleep again and back in her bassinette, I sat in the big chair with Theo on my lap and we talked quietly. “I love them both” he said sincerely, “but they don’t do nothin’.”
“Nope” I agreed, “Babies sleep, eat, and poop, that’s about all” He giggled so loud when I said “poop,” that the ladies stirred and he almost woke Brody. Then he asked me about the girls momma and why they couldn’t stay with her. I decided to be honest with him, I tried to tell it as a story he could understand. “She was very, very young and not ready to be a momma, so she set out to find a special family who could give Abbi and Olli a good home and a good life.” I said.
“Us?” he asked.
“Yup. Us” I said. “So many families wanted Abbi and Olli to be part of their family, everybody wanted to love them, but she picked us. You know why?” I asked. He shook his head. “Remember the book and video you helped Daddy make so that people could know more about our family?” He nodded. “Well, she read that book cover to cover and watched your video. She liked what you said about wanting more people to love, and thought ‘hey that guy would be a good big brother for my babies’ and she picked us out of all those families.”
“Cuz of me?” He asked with wide eyes and a proud smile.
“Yup” I said. “Cuz of you! Now they’re part of our family.”
That night proved to be one of the longest on record. Eventually Brody got up, and took over twin duty in the big chair while Theo and I fell asleep in our bed. In the morning, Brody fed Olli, then I fed Abbi a little later, then they slept in their carriers on the kitchen table while the rest of us ate breakfast. The Westin-Hall gang came a little earlier than usual to pick up Teddy. Izzy insisted on seeing “Da babies” before school. Seth brought us a hotdog, macaroni casserole to put in the oven at dinner. It looked disgusting as hell, but based on the way Theo jumped for joy, it was clearly one of his favorites; Seth knew my kid well. I liked that. Anyway, they stayed for a while, then were all off to school and Brody and I were home alone with our girls. They fell asleep after breakfast so we took the opportunity to take a shower.
We got into together and soaped up each other’s naked bodies. With soapy hands I stroked Brody’s soft member, and finger his tight, tight hole. We kissed a little bit, stroked a little bit, probed a little bit… but that was the end of it. Our exhaustion and the long day ahead won out over sexual desire. such would be our life for a while, I guess. By the time we showered and got dressed, the little ladies were awake and ready to be changed. We took care of them and got them “camera ready.” Brody had a Zoom call with the agency management team and he wanted to introduce the girls. I helped Brody carry the ladies up to his office and set the camera up for his Zoom call, we had it pointed right at the girls when he dialed in. He was the last to show.
“OH MY GOD!” I heard Kevin’s distinctive voice cry out “THEY ARE SO CUTE!” Then I heard several other voices, both male and female, cooing over our girls.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I present Miss Olivia Harrington-James on your left, and her partner in crime Miss Abigail Harrington-James on your right, also known as Olli and Abbi, these are the two ladies to blame for my lack of sleep and focus over the next couple of years” Brody said from off screen. The team congratulated us and welcomed the two girls. They had a lot of questions, and got exactly zero work done on their management call that morning.
The next day we bundled them up and headed to BroMax Candle Factory to introduce them to the team, of course all the guys went crazy. I had been away for several days, so I took the opportunity to catch up on everything while Brody showed off our girls. Ricky, Timmy, and Mason had all stepped up. Things were under control, I felt confident that I’d be able to work from home a good 80% of the time for a while.
The rest of the week we just hung out at home getting to know Abbi and Olli and falling deeper in love with them every minute. Theo was an amazing big brother and a huge help! He helped me and Brody feed the girls, bathe the girls, and even stood there holding his nose yelling “gross” every time we changed a diaper… after a couple of days he had us doing it too. The week was long, tiring, and exhausting but it went by fast and soon it was Friday night.
It wasn’t our week to host Pizza Night, but we did because we wanted to see everyone and still be near the bassinettes and all the baby supplies… I wasn’t quite ready to take them out for the night. The house was full of people and the girls were getting passed around again. I was talking to Seth when his phone rang, “It’s Ricky” He said with a look of curiosity.
“Hey Ricky, what’s up?” Seth asked. “Why?” he paused and listened for the answer, “Okay, okay, stall them. I’m on my way.”
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There are a couple of deputies there, they have Che’ in cuff’s and are getting ready to tow his car claiming he was involved in a hit in run in Ohio.”
“I’m going with you” I said. We gave Zach and Brody a quick explanation as we ran out the door and headed to Harrington House. We promised to call with update. The chaos never seemed to stop.
To be continued…
