In all honesty, Tatum didn't think that she had ever actually held a baby, especially not a newborn. She hadn't been old enough when Sera was born to be of any help, and they definitely didn't have the largest extended family in the world to choose from. People having babies didn't happen all of that often to people that she knew. She had never even been at that end of the hospital, with delivery rooms and nurseries and even more quiet time, before Izzy was born. It seemed somehow even more bright white and sterile than even the normal hospital. She sort of wished that they were still at the hospital, because at least people at the hospital knew what they were doing.

Volunteering to take Izzy for the night so that Hunter and Michi could go out to the dance together was fine in theory. She had Mack to help, and she was thankfully better at this than Tatum felt, but she still couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong. He was normally such a chilled out baby, that had been part of why she had been so quick to volunteer, but not tonight. He had been alright at first, even after his mothers left, but it had been almost an hour now that he had been crying on full blast, and Tatum still couldn't figure what his problem was. It was frustrating to say the least. "What if h-he's dying? Oh god, Hunter w-will kill m-me if something h-h-happens!" Tatum managed ask Mack, speaking up to get it out over the braying cries of the newborn in her arms. That alone, just holding him, was sort of scary. He was so tiny and fragile looking. But then adding all of the screaming onto that, and he became a nightmare. What had happened to the quiet baby that had barely cried since coming home?

"I-I'm not very good at this.. auntie t-thing," she murmured, trying to gentle sway back and forth with the baby in her arms, hoping the gentle motions would shut him up but to no avail. She wasn't sure what else to do. He wasn't hungry, she already made Mack change him because that was one thing she couldn't do, and he didn't seem sleepy. Rubbing his back hadn't helped, she had checked his temperature, and he didn't seem to have gas or anything. She wasn't sure what to check next. It was a lot of pressure, responsibility for someone else's kid. Crying baby or not, it was still somehow better than a dance.

"M-Maybe you can make h-him stop. Talk to h-him like, your hillbilly Texas talk," she suggested, smiled wearily. Maybe if she could sound enough like Hunter, it could work. It was a better idea than nothing. "Don't like, t-toss him around and shit or whatever like she does though," Tatum quickly added. Barely a month old, and Hunter already had him rough housing.

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Strangely, taking care of babies and children had been something that Kia had made sure Mackenzie could do at a young age. She had always taken Mack along with her when she babysat for people, seeing as Kate was a bit of an unfit mother. Once the tall blonde had reached a certain age, she began helping Kia out, especially when there were newborn’s involved. She had never told anyone, save for Hunter of course, but she actually volunteered to go help her sister out now. There was just something about babies that Macknzie loved, and she couldn’t help but be a bit overjoyed that they now had one in the house. Seeing her best friend grow up and become a dad had been one of the proudest moments of Mackenzie’s life.

Mack had been smitten with her nephew the second she had been allowed to hold him, and she couldn’t help but get a goofy grin on her face whenever she was around him. Tatum, however, was a different story. She had been trying to get Tatum to get over her fear of small children, but it had been slow going. That was why when they decided to stay in with Izzy to let Michi and Hunter have a little alone time, she had decided it was time to get her girlfriend over it. The tall blonde had left Tatum in the living room with Iz while she had gone to cook them something to eat, and by the sounds of it, it wasn’t going well.

“He’s not dying T, calm down,” she called from the kitchen, chuckling quietly to herself. That was her girl, always jumping to the worst conclusions. She turned the heat down on the spaghetti she was boiling and covered the alfredo sauce so it wouldn’t burn. Wiping her hands on a kitchen towel, she entered the living room to save the redheaded girl.

“Baby, just take a deep breath, okay?” She said, taking the screaming child from Tatum. She rested Izzy on her hip like a pro and stuck her tongue out at the other girl. “I ain’t gonna talk in my hillbilly accent! No sir! Jus’ cause I ain’t from fancy pansy Maine don’t mean I’m a hillbilly!” She looked down at Izzy and made a silly face at him, “No, it don’t! Do it, Iz?”

Izzy quieted down, still letting out a few hiccups as he looked up at Mackenzie. The blonde cooed at him and jostled him up and down a bit on her hip, smiling goofily the whole time. She soon had Izzy laughing and making happy noises in no time as he clutched at her long blonde hair. Mack looked down at the small boy and gave him a sweet smile. “Now, I’m gonna give you back to your Auntie Tatum, kay? Be a good boy for Uncle Mack and be nice to her.”

A small dribble of drool was all she got in response, and she placed the child back in Tatum’s lap before sitting down on the couch next to her. “I’m gonna let the hillbilly comment slide for now T,” she leaned over to kiss the clearly stressed girl on the cheek. “You gotta just calm down around him though. He ain’t gonna get hurt if you’re just sittin’ on the couch. They can sense your mood you know, they’re like…You can’t let them sense your fear, or they’ll get freaked out too.” She stood up to go finish dinner, and gave Tatum another kiss on the forehead. “You’re doing fine babe, you two are cute together. Now just stay calm and smile a little and you should be fine while I finish cooking dinner.”

She ruffled the peach fuzz on the top of Izzy's head and went back into the kitchen to drain the spaghetti. She pulled the chicken out from the boiling water and began to dice it. "How's it going in there T?" she called, adding a few more seasoning spices to the sauce.

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