I'm a wheel

Round 34: May 2039 (Autumn)

last update/next update

Maia Novak is 37, Ethan is 33, Willow is 4 and River is 2.
(Jace is 82, Magdalena is 75, James is 64, Madelyn is 59, Evan is 50, Miles is 36 and Matilda is 33)

Narrated by Ethan Novak

After several years as a detective, I finally made it to Lieutenant this year. It’s involved a lot of hard work on my part but it’s all paying off now.

It’s weird talking to the patrol officers and desk sergeants now. They seem so young to me but it doesn’t feel like so long ago that I was in their position.

With the extra pay comes extra work, so I’m under more stress than I was previously. In all my years with the police force, I’ve never spent so many hours at my desk.

Evan tells me it only gets worse the closer you get to the top, so I guess I better get used to it.

Even with the added workload, I’m still really excited about this promotion, so Maia and I made time to go out and celebrate with Matilda and Miles.

We’re often interrupted when we go out with Matilda, when she gets recognised by someone who’s seen one of her films. On this particular night, we weren’t. Matilda especially really appreciated that, being anonymous again for a while.

The rest of us, now that we’re all parents, just enjoyed the chance for some kid-free time and adult conversation.

Maia and I are lucky enough that our parents are willing to watch the kids for a night here and there.

Both our kids are good sleepers these days, so I guess it’s a fairly easy night for them but I still feel bad relying on them too much.

Plus, the kids are so young too and it goes by so fast, and we don’t want to miss everything because we're out all the time either.

But still, it’d be nice to have some time as a couple! We’ll have to try to work in some date nights a bit more often.

We were trying to go once a week for a while, which we were keeping up with in the summer but with Willow at pre-school, we have less time now.

Most of the time Maia and I aren’t at work, we’re with Willow and River.

Lately, we’ve been spending a lot of time helping Willow out with her letters.

She started pre-school this year and they’re starting to learn the alphabet and Willow is struggling a little.

Maia often had trouble at school too, so this might just be something Willow has to work really hard at.

We try to make it fun, so it doesn’t get too boring for her and I think it’s working. Willow is motivated to learn it all, so that helps.

She knows she needs to learn her letters before she can learn to read and she really wants to learn to read!

Given how much Maia hates being pregnant, I’m still a bit surprised she agreed so readily to another baby. It wasn’t the first time Maia’s surprised me but given how horrible she feels when she’s expecting, I really thought it would be a harder sell.

But I guess the desire for that third child won out over that, because we’ve been trying to conceive since October last year.

We were probably a bit too optimistic going into it. Maia got pregnant with Willow and River so quickly that we were expecting that it wouldn’t take us more than a few months this time either.

In the end, it’s taken us until now for Maia to finally get pregnant. Considering Maia’s age, that’s actually quite good but we were extraordinarily lucky before so it was hard not to worry when things weren’t happening.

It’s still early days but Maia and I are already so elated with our news. We want to tell everybody but we’re holding back!

I think I'll be a little sad when I know we won't have any more toddlers or babies in the house, so it's nice to know we'll be putting that off just a little bit longer.

We’re keeping it quiet from Willow until things are more sure. If the worst happens, it’s not really something we want to try to explain to her.

She’s wonderful with River though, so when we do tell her, I think she’ll be happy about it.

We’ve only told our parents so far. Jace and Magdalena were thrilled, as we were expecting.

They weren’t sure Maia would have kids, so they’ve been beside themselves that we’ve had two in such a short span of time and now a third.

I hope they’re not expecting another after this one though. Maia and I have already agreed that we are most definitely done at three. We each grew up in families of three kids and it just feels right to us.

When we told my parents, I steeled myself for Dad to start nagging us about buying a new house before the baby comes. He thinks our place is much too small for three kids.

Surprisingly though, he didn’t say anything at all about the house. He just congratulated us and told us how he couldn’t wait to meet the baby.

I would wonder if Mum talked to him beforehand, but she didn’t know what we were going to tell them either, so maybe he’s just decided to let us be. We’re happy here.

It’s really not that small a house. The upstairs hallway is basically a room in itself and is definitely big enough for a crib. It’s very drab at the moment but it has potential.

I guess I have some work ahead of me. Maia won’t be up to doing much for the next nine months, so I’m going to be on my own with this project. I want to at least have the basics done before the baby gets here.

We know from experience that nine months can go by fast and soon enough, there’ll be a baby who needs a room to sleep in.

Notes:

• Title is from I'm A Wheel by Wilco.
• I spent way too long deciding whether Ethan would wear a uniform as a lieutenant. Deb doesn't wear one on Dexter but in the end, I decided I just liked uniforms. :P
• I figure Ethan and Maia for the laid-back, optimist types, even considering Maia is of "advanced maternal age" (isn't that an awful term?) But we're going to see another baby from these two now and I'm very happy about that! Baby #4 will arrive in February, at the same time as Leslie and Dominic's baby.
• I totally have a baby boom going on at the moment! I have four babies due - Leslie and Maia's, plus Chloe's and Sarah's. I cannot even tell you how thrilling this is for me.