You wake up disoriented and dazed by dappled morning light entering our bedroom. You stretch and look over to see that I'm not beside you, nor are our newborn twins in the room with us.
How long have you three been gone? You wonder as you begin to right yourself and get out of bed. Making your way out of our room and to the kitchen, sizzles fill your ears and spices awaken your nose. You enter the kitchen to see me cooking pancakes, fully absorbed in keeping our twins entertained while they sit propped and watching my best attempt at being a TV personality chef.
"The advantage of blooming our spices in the ghee before grinding them to add to the pancakes is—hey you two, look's like the most beautiful lady in the world is here! Say 'good morning mommy!'"
The twins squeal with delight as you walk into the kitchen and meet my embrace. "Have you watched them all night, babe?"
"I thought you deserved to sleep in on Mother's Day. Besides, you pumped enough for them to be happily fed all night."
"Is it actually Mother's Day?"
"You know it, my love. And your first one as a mother! We have such a great day planned. for. you." I end the sentence with a kiss over each word.
"So what all are we going to eat today?"
"These two are looking forward to more milk as you can imagine; they can't get enough." I laugh. "But for us, breakfast is gingersnap pancakes with bacon and eggs; lunch is honey harissa chicken with couscous and salad, and dinner will be hangar steak tacos with chimichurri made with extra cilantro just how you like. I've got ingredients for a few different desserts so I planned to ask you what sounded best later today and fix whatever you wanted."
"Aww babe, that's so much to do," you say as you lean closer into me. "Please say you didn't get any other gifts for me; having the four of us together to celebrate today is all I asked for."
"I did exactly as you said; I didn't get you any other gifts."
"However," I say with a wry grin, "you didn't forbid me from making you any other gifts for Mother's Day, so here you are, my love."
You look down to my hand to see a small leather-bound notebook, simply addressed to yourself.
"Do you want me to keep a journal?"
You open it to the first page to see my handwriting on the page. It's a lengthy explanation of what this journal is: a record of your pregnancy with the twins from my perspective so that you could remember all the little (and large) moments together and read how I felt each step of the way.
"Babe, I—" you trail off.
"Check it on out," I say. "There's quite a bit I put in there so you could see just how in love I was with our journey to parenthood. I'll finish cooking while you get started reading."
You skim through page after page of my reflections on your pregnancy—notes on your eating and sleeping habits, remarks on how hot I found every change to your body, and without fail each entry was overflowing with confessions of my love to you, to your incredible work growing our babies, and to the incredible mother you were already becoming. You realize there are tears on your cheeks when I bring our food to the table where you're sitting.
"Sorry for crying dear, I just didn't know you did all this for me."
"Darling, you are everything to me and these babies of ours. All three of us love you forever." We lean together for a kiss that pauses the sunrise.
"Anything in particular stand out?" I ask.
"You're just as horny for my body in this journal as you were in bed with me, for one. I'd forgotten how much I loved sleeping together after how tiring the twins have been these first few weeks."
"I've got good news then, darling."
"Once you're fully recovered and we're able to thrive with the twins in our schedule, I think I'm open to more kids like you mentioned, maybe next year so we have time to adjust."
"Very much so, yes. I think we can make it work once everything is more stable."
You lean into me for another sun-stopping kiss. "And what if next year we find out it's twins again?"
I laugh. "That would be something, wouldn't it!? We might have to move with caution after that point, then. At that point I'd be worried that we end up with three sets of twins, and I know that's more than either of us initially wanted. But, today's your day, my love. Let's enjoy today with our little ones, and if future years bring more pregnancies and children, we'll have even more to celebrate then."
"I love you more. Happy Mother's Day, darling."
