Amelia's room had turned out beautifully. Leon and I had wanted to keep a certain colour theme in both children's rooms, and had picked turquoise for hers. Soft accents of that and white decorated her room, which we had even followed in her teddy bear. She loved cuddling up to him, and wouldn't fall asleep unless he was right there next to her.
It was too early to tell, but we thought that she liked the colour theme. Sometimes we'd go into her room in the morning, and she'd be lying in her crib simply looking around and cooing to herself. We could follow her eyes as they moved over the patterns, almost as if she was appreciating them. She was too young for anything like this, of course, but we couldn't help but wonder. Maybe she'd have a high IQ, like me?
Just like every other baby she'd wake up in the middle of the night, screaming and crying from the top of her lungs. At first we had thought that she was simply hungry, or needed a nappy change, but neither of these option had been true. She simply wanted a hug and a cuddle.
We didn't think that she was scared of the dark, but we couldn't be sure since we couldn't ask her. However, she always went back to sleep once she had received some hugs, so we eventually decided that she just got lonely quickly.
The first year with her went by in a flash. She grew up so quickly and right in front of my eyes, that I was a little reluctant at first to buy her a birthday cake. The renovations had taken a proud chunk of money from our savings, on top of which we were tired from work and having two young children, so that we decided on only having a small party for her. Just Leon, Rhys and me. She was too young to remember her first birthday anyway, or at least we hoped so.
She grew up to be beautiful. Amelia had Leon's eyes and, well...
...we didn't really know where she had gotten her hair colour from. Leon was sure that no one on his side of the family had anything but red hair, with the occasional occurrence of strawberry blonde. I, however, had never met my grandparents. I remembered that Mum had had brown hair, but Amelia's was much darker than Mum's had been. Unless I remembered it wrong? No, I was confident that Mum's hair had been much lighter than Amelia's was.
Leon knew that I would never have cheated on him. Considering how long it had taken us to take that step, the idea of me sleeping with someone else was just too far fetched for him. I was grateful that he trusted me and never even suggested it, but her hair colour confused us nevertheless. In the end we settled on the idea that my grandparents or great-grandparents must have had the same dark colouring, and let it rest at that.
Shortly after their birthdays, we had received an odd package in the mail. Rhys's had arrived first. Perfectly timed for his birthday, we found a doll in our mail box. It was an odd looking little thing, mostly different shades of green with a weird ball-like thing on its head. It was soft, however, and it was accompanied by a small piece of paper. We didn't find a name on it, a return address or any other kind of hint as to who had sent it, but Rhys's name had been written on it.
I had wondered whether my brother had sent this doll. We still hadn't heard anything from him personally, just news on TV every now and again. I had told Leon about my suspicions, and he had agreed that it was possibly his way of apologizing for having missed my wedding, his birthday and so many other moments of his life.
We had given him the doll, just to see how he would react to it. It wasn't exactly cute, or your normal child's toy, so we were unsure what he would think of it. But he loved it. From the moment we first presented it to him, he had wrapped his heart around that doll. He was always cuddling it, and humming to it. Once Leon had taught him how to talk he was even singing to it.
Then Amelia's birthday came, and again we found a doll in the mail. The "letter" was the same, not giving anything away about the sender's identity and only stating her name. Just like her brother had done, she took to it immediately. The colours were different, but the overall design was the same.
Ever since her birthday, Amelia was crying for attention more than she had done before. We'd only leave her alone for one minute and she'd be crying until we'd pick her up. The only thing that could stop her from crying was when she cuddled that doll. We eventually had to accept that the best solution was to never take it away from her. Once we had decided on that she hardly cried at all. And when she did, one look at her doll was enough to comfort her. We were happy that she was happy, and left her to it.
The years flew by weirdly fast. Before I knew it, my baby boy was having another birthday, and I was greeting his guests - who were mainly my colleagues from work. Sadly, when I was looking back over the last few years, I didn't seem to remember much apart from work. As if nothing much had happened, but I knew that it had. Our children were growing up, for one. Leon had done most of the teaching with Rhys and Amelia, because I had been working or preparing myself for important football matches. Since my car pool didn't arrive until 2pm, I had stayed home in the mornings and Leon had come home just before I had to leave, taking care of our kids in the afternoon. I had gotten them dressed and fed, some of which Leon had done as well, and then I had simply watched them play.
Even now on Rhys's fifth birthday we had invited my colleagues plus some friends. I didn't like that I seemed to be missing so much of their young lives, but I was close to reaching my lifelong dream. Soon I'd be there, and then I'd be able to retire early maybe. I'd see those parts of their lives my own mother had missed out on. It wasn't much, but it was a small comfort if nothing else.
Soon it was time to blow out his candles. Rhys was getting rather adventurous, so I had to be careful when he threw himself at the fire, holding him back so he wouldn't get hurt.
He was laughing and smiling, and even sang most of Happy Birthday with us. We cut him a big piece of cake, which he loved. He had grown up to be a very handsome young man! He looked more and more like his father, but I was definitely apparent in his features, too.
We had thought that maybe now he was older he'd forget about his doll, but he didn't. If anything he grew even more attached to it. Wherever he went, the doll was coming, too. We were sure that we were only imagining it, but the doll seemed bigger. Almost as if it had grown with him, but that was impossible.
To make things more weird, he was still talking and singing to it. Sometimes we even saw him whisper to it, then he'd be quiet as if he was listening, and then he'd giggle and laugh as if the doll had told him a joke. He was still young, we knew that, but didn't kids usually grow out of their imaginary friends around this age?
Amelia was just as close to her doll, but she always made room for cuddles. She was growing up quickly, which made me dread the day she'd be starting school like Rhys was in a couple of weeks time.
I tried my best to make time for her as much as work allowed. When I wasn't in the stadium, I was often on the phone to my boss and co workers, hoping that improved relationships would bring me closer to that last promotion. I didn't have time to teach her how to walk or talk, but I managed to make time for her and Rhys, too, which was enough for me.
Thankfully, Leon's hours were a lot more flexible. I knew he hated staying home and missing work, but he didn't seem to mind turning down contracts if it meant spending time with his kids. He had already taught Rhys how to use his potty and how to walk, and now he didn't mind teaching Amelia all over again.
It also helped me feel okay with not being there as much as he was. They didn't learn any of their important skills from me, true, but they learned them from their father, which was fine with me. And they did get to spend time with me, just not as much as I would have liked.
I was so close to earning my promotion, I knew it. Not long ago I had heard my boss talking to someone, saying how a win in our next match would guarantee me superstar status. In other words, a promotion. Only a day after I had overheard their conversation, she had approached me with a book and had asked me to read it. It was mostly theory and psychology for athletes, but I knew that doing her this favour couldn't hurt.
Not much longer, and the dream I'd had ever since childhood would be fulfilled.
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And this is it for Ebony's generation! I'll put up the heir vote tomorrow ^^
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Pics of the renovated house + one extra!
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| The stairs are kinda in the middle of the living room... The red room is Ebony and Leon's bedroom, yellow is Rhys's bedroom and turquoise is Amy's room, plus there's one bathroom next to the master bedroom. |
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| View from outside, including Rhys's first school bus. |
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| And Leon and Rhys rocking it at the karaoke machine! :D |
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Wishes fulfilled
Buy a doll house
Chat with Leon
Throw birthday party for Rhys
See Rhys age up well
Buy a costume chest
Buy a toy oven
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