"Daddy? Can we play football?", Nick asks while tugging Erling's shirt. My husband lifts our son up, kisses his cheek and answers: "Of course my little lion." "Yeahhh!", Nick shouts and as Erl puts him on the floor again runs to the garden door. The Norwegian turns to me, kisses me softly and then asks: "Is that okay for you? Can you do it alone for some minutes?" I nod, kiss him again and then say: "Of course. Have fun my love." My husband smirks at me and squeezes my hand one last time before leaving for the garden where our son is already waiting for him. I'm so proud of our little family. Erling and I came together when he came to Dortmund 8 years ago and two years ago we adopted Nick. He is four years old now and really deserves the nickname little lion. His hair is very curly and he asked us if he could let it grow. Now it's going down to his shoulder and it really looks like a lion's mane. While I continue cooking I watch my two boys play. It makes my heart melt whenever they do it. Our little lion is really good and Erl just loves playing with him. But they aren't the only people of my family. Of course there's me as well but since a wonderful day about seven weeks ago we've been a family of four. That was when we adopted our beautiful little daughter Leah. And as if she can read my mind she starts crying. I leave the kitchen and enter our bedroom where I take her out of the crib. "Shhhhh, princess. I'm here.", I say while holding her close to my chest and stroking over her back. She keeps crying and moves her little hands, clenching her fingers. That's a sign of hunger and so I return to the kitchen and prepare a bottle of milk for her. Erling looks through the window and sees her cry. He feathers a kiss on Nick's head and talks to him for a moment and then also enters the kitchen. I hand him our baby girl and she calms down a little. She's still crying but it's not as loud and hysterical anymore. A moment later her milk is ready and we move to our living room where we sit down on the sofa. I sit down between Erl's legs, he pulls me close and I start feeding our daughter. She looks so gorgeous while drinking. She's drawing avidly while staring at us with her blue, beautiful eyes. "She's so precious.", Erl whispers and I agree. "Our little miracle.", I say and then turn my head to my husband to connect our lips for a soft, little kiss. "Da- Oh, is she eating? Can I help?", our son exclaims as he enters the room. Erl nods and sticks his arm towards Nick. The little boy steps towards us and lets Erl lift him up. I pull our little lion on my lap and show him how to hold the bottle. His sister seems to be fascinated by his face and stares at him with big, shining eyes. Whilst holding the bottle with one of his hands Nick strokes over his sister's face with the other ont. Seeing how much he loves her makes me unbelievably happy. We're a real family. Dad, Daddy, son and daughter.
After some time our little girl is ione drinking and falls asleep. Nick also seems to be very tired and yawns. Since Leah woke up several times this night and I always was calming her down I'm damn tired as well. Erl seems to notice, strokes over my side and pulls Nick closer before quietly asking: "What do you think about some family nap?" I agree and we slowly stand up, trying to not wake our baby. Together we all go to our bedroom. We lie down on the bed, our children between Erl and me and enjoy the moment. Nick is falling asleep withing seconds and so Erl and I are lying there, watching our children sleep. My husband moves a little so that he can touch my hair. He softly runs his fingers through my hair and looks me in the eyes. "I can't believe how far we've come, Erl. I mean... We're both successful in our job and we have two wonderful miracles. We're a real family. That's so... Incredible. I love you Erling. And I really couldn't be happier right now.", I whisper while taking his hand. He smiles at me with loads of love in his eyes. "I love you too, Gio. And that I have you and that we have our little angels is the best thing in the world. I love you three more than anything else in the world.", he answers before pulling my hand to his lips to kiss it. Then he says: "And now try to sleep, darling. You need the sleep." I smile, pull the blanket a little tighter around my body and fall asleep a few minutes later, surrounded by the warmth and love of my family.