Who We'll Be

"I found the perfect costumes for you and Alexis!" Reed exclaimed when he walked in the door a couple days ago after work. "It's probably the coolest idea ever!"

Reed loves Halloween. And I mean really loves it! It's almost the same as Christmas for him. At the end of last month, I came home to find bags of decorations all over the house and Reed up to his elbows in fake cobwebs. Inside and out, my house looks like a freakin' haunted house. He has even cleaned out the garage and with the help of Devon and Sean, he's set up a 'scary' place to hang out for the Halloween party he's been preparing for. Reed is in his glory and Alexis has finally stopped being scared of the life sized mummy in the living room.

"What did you find?" I was in the kitchen going through all my baking supplies to see if I had enough to make the list of treats that Reed found online and requested for the Halloween party that I mentioned already, the one he decided to throw for all of the kids at the day care on Halloween. He doesn't want to take Alexis out trick or treating, he says she's too young and she'd be tired and cranky if we do that. Apparently many of the other parents who bring their kids to the day care agreed with Reed, most of them jumped at the chance to bring their kids out to our house for the party.

When I told Nadine about the party, she volunteered to come over this weekend to help me with all the baking and as well as Tuesday to help with the last minute prep. My mom and Reed's mom have volunteered to come over for the party to help out and Janie said she would be there with bells on - Devon said 'literally' - I'm not sure what he meant by that and I'm not sure I want to know.

"Give me a minute," he threw over his shoulder as he scooped Alexis off the floor where she was banging on pots and pans she pulled from the cupboard.

"What are you up too?" I asked as I followed him down the hallway to Alexis' room.

"Stay in the kitchen!" He disappeared into her room and closed the door.

"Ok," I said slowly as I returned to the kitchen to add to my shopping list. I just finished my list when I heard Reed behind me. I turned around to see what he found. "That is so cute!" I rushed towards them, trying to get a better look at Alexis' costume. "What did daddy buy you?"

Reed put Alexis down on the floor as I knelt down in front of her. "Ohhhh," I cooed. "You look so adorable in your little sheep costume!" Alexis tugged at the satin piece that went down over her hands and gave me a look that spoke volumes, she wasn't so sure she liked the soft white chenille fur jumpsuit with black legs and cuffs with a matching character headpiece with its little ears and pink satin bows.

"You are going to be the cutest little girl at the party!" I told her while I gave her a big hug. "And you," I stood up with Alexis clinging to me and reached for Reed. "You are everything a woman could ever hope to find in a man! I love you and I love that you are such an amazing daddy."

Reed chuckled as his arms wrapped around Alexis and me. "I love you too," he kissed both of us. "Now," he smiled down at me. "It's your turn, go slip into your costume for me. It's in Alexis' room hanging over the rocking chair."

Excitedly, I turned to go down at the hall, wondering what he could've possible got for me. I stopped short, a sense of dread washed over me. "You didn't get me a sheep suit too, did you?"

"No!" He laughed out loud. "Oh God that would've been hilarious to see though, you in a sheep suit. Baa!"

"Baa!"

"Baa?" Alexis piped up and looked offended when we laughed.

I heard Reed asked Alexis if she wanted down as I neared her room. "Where are you going Lexi?" He called out and then said my name. I turned at her room door to see her coming towards me saying, 'baa, baa, baa, baa, baa'.

Once she was in her room with me, Alexis ran over to her toy box and started pulling everything out. "Reed honey, you might want to come take that costume off her before..." my voice trailed away as I spotted a white top and skirt with blue ribbon and little blue bows on it but it was the white staff with blue bow that made me laugh.

"Don't go laughing Bo Peep, just put that costume on." As he bent to scoop Alexis up, he said, "Come here little lost sheep."

While Reed played with Alexis, I stripped my sweats off and slipped into the knee lenght layered skirt; each of the four layers had blue ribbon weaved through the bottom edge. "Don't forget the stockings and shoes," he pointed to the bag that was hiding under the skirt.

Sitting down, I pulled out the white stockings and black flat, rounded toe shoes, with a little strap that he bought. Once both of those were on, I stood again to put on the boned bustier top. The top was trimmed with lace at both the waist and the chest and blue ribbon crisscrossed up the front, tied in a bow at the top. And then to top it off there was a white bonnet with blue ribbon weaved through it, which tied in the black to hold it on my head, and the staff.

"Well?" I stood in front of Reed and Alexis, waiting for his reaction.

"Perfect," he stood up and reached for me. "I think you should wear that around the house for a while," he whispered against my neck. "You look hot."

"Reed!" I giggled but didn't move away from him. "Thank you."

"No problem," he grinned and then told me that it took him a while to find this costume with the knee lenght skirt. "Everywhere I checked, on line and in the stores around here, it came with the high thigh skirt, which wasn't a problem for me but I didn't want all Alexis' friends to see where she came from!"

"Reed!" I slapped his shoulder. "That's not funny!"

"No?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I thought it was." He kissed the tip of my nose, his hands sliding down my back to cup my bum. "You like my costume choices?"

"Yes," I kissed him. "It's cute, Bo Peep and little sheep. But," I frowned. "What about you? What are you dressing up as?"

"Why a Shepard of course!" He chuckled. "I saw a little teddy bear costume and I thought about the two of us being bears as well, but damn I tried on the adult bear suit, it didn't work for me, too hot and bulky, we wouldn't be able to move around like we need to at the party. Then I thought Mary and little lamb for you and Alexis but then what would I be? The little lamb suit was so cute though, Alexis would've rocked it!"

"I guess there's always next year for Alexis to be a little lamb."

"Yes, there is but maybe next year it'll be Mary and her little lambs?"

The comment came out of no where, it surprised me. "What?" I stared up at him.

He shrugged, "I was just thinking out loud, that's all."

"Oh." That's right, that's all I could say. Reed moved away mumbling something about changing Alexis and then getting something for supper.

After supper, while I was out picking up the stuff I needed for the party still, Reed's comment was running around inside my head. He had joked about having another baby before, he even jokingly told Janie we were trying but it was the first time he ever mentioned it seriously.

Does that mean that all the other times, he wasn't joking? He would like to start trying for another baby?

A couple months ago, the idea of another baby with him right now would have scared me a little because I wasn't sure about us but now? I would love to share that experience with him. I think he would be supportive and caring, maybe a little too much at times, but he would be there to experience everything. He wouldn't miss any of the firsts with our second child, which would mean the world to both of us.

But how would Alexis react to having another baby around? Would she be jealous? Or will she be fine?

I guess if Reed's grandmother has her way, there won't be another baby for us until he slips a wedding band on my finger. Not that I'm going to stop him from making love to me over a ring.

We'll see what happens. We already did the baby before marriage thing once and it's not like we don't love our little girl any less because of it. Another baby before marriage wouldn't upset me.

But marriage before another baby wouldn't ruin my dreams either!