Page 35 of Rowdy & Kat

ROWDY

Kat, Maria, and I handled the first night feeding well. I was a badass diaper changer, having gotten plenty of practice when my niece, Dillon, was a baby. While Kat and I cleaned up the boys, Maria prepared the bottles. Soon, we sat in the living room, with only the kitchen light on, and someone named Dido playing on Maria’s phone.

Once the boys were changed, fed, burped, and cuddled, we got them back to bed. The entire process felt easy. We did the same routine hours later, just after dawn. This time, I oversaw the bottles. I wanted to know how to do every little thing for my boys.

The only time I felt nervous was during bathtime before my parents arrived for a visit. By then, I’d learned how Cavan was a whimperer. He had a whiny, stop-and-start cry.

Colson, on the other hand, was a siren. Once he got going, he took a while to quiet down. So, when Cavan raised holy hell while Kat wiped him down, I grew concerned about taking charge of Colson’s bathtime.

Not a fan of nudity, my boy began angrily grunting and loudly whining. Kat was in the bedroom, dressing Cavan. Maria stood nearby in the kitchen, watching me rest Colson into the empty bathtub on the counter. Though I could feel her wanting to take over, I remained in control.

Colson rewarded my calm by settling down and enjoying his first cloth bath. He liked the warm, wet fabric, only fussing when I wiped his little head. His blue eyes watched me intently as I hummed “Mack the Knife.” That was the moment I fell in love with Colson.

Cavan stole my heart when he couldn’t work out a burp. He moved from his mama’s arms to his auntie’s, only to finally end up with me. When I worked out that big burp, he lost his grumpiness and looked at me in that curious way infants did.

I hadn’t gotten a chance to build these feelings during Kat’s pregnancy. Now, I saw the beauty of fatherhood. My little guys already had personalities. One day, they would reach for me for comfort. The realization left me in an emotional mood. By the time my parents returned to Little Rock for a visit, I was downright cuddly.

“Thank you for giving me life,” I said, hugging them against me as soon as they entered the townhouse’s foyer. “Thank you for raising me to be a strong man with superior genetics.”

“You’re welcome,” Pax said and patted my back. “Your mom helped, too.”

Bebe shot him a dirty look. “He was talking to both of us.”

“I know, baby,” Pax said and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re too cranky to see I’m fooling with you.”

“I am cranky,” Bebe said and squirmed away from Pax and me. “I want to see my grandsons.”

“Why are you cranky?” I asked.

As she wandered past the family room and toward the hallway, Bebe replied, “I told you.”

“Oh, you missed me,” I said and nodded at Pax. “My mommy isn’t happy when I’m not in the same zip code.”

“Yeah, there’s that,” Pax said, humoring me. “But she also feels like she’s missing out on the boys’ childhood.”

“It’s been four days.”

“I can count,” Pax muttered. “Your mom hasn’t had any tiny grandkids in a while. She’s upset that she can’t visit the boys every day.”

“I’m sorry,” Kat said, appearing from the bathroom. “We’re planning to visit Little Memphis soon.”

“Not soon enough,” Pax grumbled, trying to intimidate her. “Pack up and return with us tomorrow.”

“I wish I could, but I’m not supposed to travel for the first few weeks after my C-section,” Kat replied calmly. “I’m not even supposed to do grocery shopping.”

Pax narrowed his gaze, doing his best to scare her, but Kat only smiled.

“Rowdy has your beautiful blue eyes.”

“Damn straight he does,” Pax said and strutted down the hallway. “Where am I going?”

“In here,” Bebe said from Kat’s room.

I followed Pax and Kat to where my mom stared lovestruck at the babies in their crib.

“How come they’re sharing?” Pax asked Kat. “Are you financially struggling?”

“Maria and I nearly went insane putting this one together. We decided to give ourselves a break before we faced the second one.”