“Jim, do you have Cece’s diaper bag ready?”

Pam came downstairs while pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She walked into the living room where she assumed Jim was waiting for her. She paused as she came around the corner. Cece was laying on her back on her play mat. She was giggling while she kicked her feet against a toy piano that had lights in the keys whenever they were kicked. Jim had set the toy so each time a key was pushed a simple melody would play rather than a single note of music. Eeyore had hopped over to investigate. His nose was twitching as he stood on his hind legs to get a better look at the source of the noise. Cece looked over and waved her arms happily at the rabbit. She let out an excited squeal of amusement when Eeyore dropped down on all fours and sniffed at her face. Cece waved an arm at Eeyore, but before she could touch him, the rabbit hopped off to start chewing on a straw toy near his cage.

Jim was sitting on the couch with his computer in his lap keeping an eye on the proceedings. Pam saw Cece’s diaper bag ready to go on the cushion next to him. He turned to look at her when he heard her enter the room. A wide smile appeared on his face.

“Sure do. I’m just going to post this latest journal entry and we can get going.”

“What do you have in store for us today?” Pam asked as she walked towards the couch.

“See for yourself.” Jim turned the computer to her as she sat down.

Journals of a Stay-at-home-Dad. Day 7. Working Wife is not working today. So that meant we got to sleep in, relax, and be lazy...in the dream I had at least. No, we have new tasks to complete today. An interesting side expedition called running errands. Small Human will be venturing forth with us. She's not sure how she feels about this new development. Small Rabbit is just glad I put more food in his bowl. Wish us luck, not sure what this new path will bring. If I don't come back to the domicile since I didn't have time to check my game traps know that I went out with my boots on.

“’Went out with my boots on?’” Pam looked up. “What does that even mean?”

Jim shrugged. “I think it means you died doing what you love or something like that. I got the line from the movie we watched last night.”

Pam looked over to the DVD player where the case for Secondhand Lions was still sitting out. “It is a fun movie, I’ll give you that one.”

“Yup.” Jim published his latest note and set the computer aside. “I’ll get the bunny and the bag if you can get the baby.”

“No problem.” Pam got up off the couch and took the few steps to pick up Cece from her playmat. “Hey there pretty lady. Ready to go with Mommy and Daddy to the store?”

Cece replied by smiling and waving her arms.

Jim chuckled as he stood up on his good leg. “Eeyore! Cage!”

Eeyore perked up when he heard his name called. He ran quickly towards his cage and hopped in. Immediately he put his front paws up on the horizontal bars near his water bottle and started sniffing the air. Jim leaned over to close the cage then pulled a bunny treat out of the bag and poked it through the cage. Eeyore snatched it away at once and started munching on the treat.

“Good bunny,” Jim said fondly. He turned around and grabbed the diaper bag off the couch before following Pam and Cece out to the car.

Pam drove while Jim pulled up some music on the iPod. He set the player down then reached over to take Pam’s hand.

“Hey Pam?”

She glanced over at her husband. “Yes Jim?”

“I’m glad you took the day off today. It’s nice to be with you.”

Pam beamed at his loving tone. “I’m glad to be with you too.” She raised his hand up to her lips for a quick kiss before letting go so she could signal a turn.

Their first stop was to the post office to get some bills in the mail. They spent the rest of the morning making trips to the art supply store for fresh paint, Babies R Us for more changing table supplies, and Home Depot for a few bags of mulch. Pam steadfastly refused to allow Jim to carry the bags of mulch to the car, insisting she was well able to haul the 50-pound bags herself.

“Doing alright?” he smirked as she got back into the car.

“Just fine,” she said brightly, even though she was also stretching out her arms. “Lunch?”

“Sounds lovely,” Jim said back as Pam started to drive out of the parking lot. “McDonalds or Applebees?”

“Applebees,” Pam replied. “I want to be able to sit for a while. I might also need to feed Cece soon.”

“We can ask for a booth in the back.”

It didn’t take long to make the trip to the restaurant. They were shown to a back booth as requested. Jim pulled Cece out of her car seat and slung the diaper bag over his shoulder.

“My turn to change her. Could you order me a Coke when the server gets here?”

“Sure,” Pam said as she pulled her menu towards her.

By the time Jim was back Pam had put in their drink orders. “How’s she doing?” Pam asked.

“Getting kinda fussy,” Jim handed Cece off to Pam and lowered himself into the booth. He dug out Pam’s feeding cover from the diaper bag and handed it over. “Here, in case you need it.”

“Thanks,” Pam gratefully accepted the cloth.

While Pam arranged herself and Cece the waitress came by with their drinks.

“Here you go, two Cokes. Awww,” she cooed when she saw Cece. “How old is she?”

“Just over four months, Pam replied as she draped her cloth over her and pulled Cece underneath. “You don’t mind if I feed her like this do you?”

The waitress waved off her concerns. “Oh, not at all. Take as much time as you need. I’ll talk to the hostess and see if she can keep the other tables around here open until you’re done. I remember back when I was breast feeding my kids, I sometimes felt like I was in a zoo with all the stares I got. If you need anything at all, extra napkins, a towel, things like that just let me know.”

“Thank you so much. That’s really nice of you.”

“No problem. Do you still need a few minutes to look over the menu or do you know what you’re going to have?”

Jim looked up at Pam. “The usual?”

“Sounds good,” Pam wasn’t looking at Jim since she was busy getting Cece in a better position.

“We’ll get the 2 for $20 combo. Mozzarella sticks for the appetizer. Broccoli chicken alfredo for her and I’ll go with the Cajun salmon.”

“Not a problem,” the waitress said as she wrote down their order. “I’ll go get that in for you.”

The rest of their lunch passed peacefully Cece fell into a milk coma when she was done eating, so Jim put her back in her car seat, covered her with a blanket, and pulled the shade over her to block the light coming in from the window. He’d set the car seat on the bench next to him so he could always see her as she slept.

Cece stayed asleep on the drive home. Jim carefully carried the car seat into the house and set it down on the table. He unbuckled the straps and picked up his daughter to bring her to her room so she could continue her nap. Gently, he set her down in her crib. He brushed his hand over her hair. Cece stirred a little but remained asleep.

“Have a good nap Kiddo,” Jim whispered.

He left Cece sleeping and walked down to the living room. Pam had let Eeyore out of his cage and was rolling a wicker ball around the floor. Eeyore would hop after the ball and grasp it in his teeth. With a flip of his head, the bunny sent the ball flying away. Pam reached out to catch the ball and rolled it back towards Eeyore to start the game again.

“She’s still asleep,” Jim said as he leaned down to kiss the top of Pam’s head.

“That’s good,” she said while continuing to play with the rabbit.

Jim smiled and let a feeling of warmth flood through him as he sat down on the couch.