Baby #46 and 47

It’s so nice to be back home. As much as I enjoyed seeing Connery again and meeting Ashby for the first time, I have missed my children dearly. It wasn’t the same having to tell them goodnight over the phone and not being able to tuck them into bed in person.

Things pretty much had remained the same in my absence. Suri and Heimdall had cleaned the place before my return so it was in even better condition then it had been before I left, but as always there was still a nuisance or two around the house that needed my attention. I came back to find that both the shower and the sink in the upstairs bathroom had broken. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to get to sleep until they were repaired, I got straight to work.

Heimdall had finished reading the Inventing book that I had given him and in my absence he had started collecting scrap metal. I thought this showed great initiative, and after he answered a few of my safety questions about the book to ensure that he read it, I agreed to allow him to use the inventing table.

The weekend of my return, I really wanted to spend some quality time with my children to make up for my absence so I planned a nice day at the park. I had packed a picnic basket and everything, but only a few short moments after arriving in the park, a mysterious husky stranger caught Odin’s eye.

“Mom, mom look…” he said tugging on the bottom of my shirt. “It’s Santa Claus, Mom.”

Santa Claus? It would be a bit odd for him to be here in Sunset Valley, but I didn’t want to discourage my son nor did I want to pass up the opportunity of having a child with Santa Claus – if this man were truly him. I told him I would head over and check to see if he was Santa Claus or not. “Mom make sure you tell him I want a car next Christmas!” Suri shouted at me in a joking manner as I headed over to the man.

“Excuse me, Sir,” I started as the man turned to look at me. “My name is Christy Quinn and I was just wondering if you were by chance the legendary Santa Claus? Or do you prefer being called Kris Kringle?”

His expression immediately turned sour. I had insulted him. “What? Just because I wear glasses, have a beard, and have gained a few extra pounds in recent years…that automatically makes ME Santa Claus?”

“Well, no but…my son just thought…and I told him I would ask.” It was difficult for me to get a word in edge wise as the man continued to rant on about how ridiculous it was that I had thought he was Santa. I apologized – not that he could have heard me over his own raving – and excused myself to go back to my children.

We finished our picnic before heading back home.

By the time we got home that night, Abriella was exhausted. After putting her in her crib for the night, I headed downstairs in order to work out for a little while on the treadmill. I was so happy and surprised when both Yasmina and Odin decided to join me for a quick workout before bed. They have never showed an interest in exercising before, so maybe this will spark a new hobby for them.

The following morning, I woke up to an even bigger surprise. I had just sent the kids off to school and was about to head out to my garden when I heard the doorbell ring. After living in Sunset Valley for so many years, I knew a lot of people and figured it was probably just one of my friends wanting to hang out for the day while our kids were at school.

But it wasn’t one of my friends…it was the same man from the previous day. The one from the park, and he looked like he was ready to start yelling at me again.

Thankfully he didn’t start yelling at me, and instead introduced himself. “My name is Lester Jester, and I apologize for the way that I acted yesterday in the park. I normally don’t act that way. It’s just that I’ve been unbelievably stressed and overworked at the Bistro. My boss hasn’t let me have a day off in several months, and I was just in a bad mood yesterday. I‘m sorry that I took it out on you.”

I completely understood and told him not to worry. He told me that he had heard through a few of his co-workers that I was doing a baby challenge. “If you are currently looking for the next father, I would love to participate as a way to make up for my behavior yesterday.”

Truth to be told, I hadn’t even had time to start looking for the next father for my challenge. Abriella was still very young and with my trip out of town, I still had a lot of work that needed to be done before she would be ready for school. On the other hand, Lester was offering to participate in my challenge now and he might not be able to if I waited a few more weeks/months.

After weighing all my options, I agreed. After all, I had experience raising more then more baby at a time. I could handle another one on top of Abriella.

Heimdall has really been working hard on his next invention. He won’t tell anyone in the family what it’s suppose to be, but he’s down there every night working hard to finish it before he graduates in a few months. I’m just thankful that he hasn’t gotten injured.

While I was away, Suri had gotten into the habit of helping with my garden. I was grateful for any help my children were willing to give me, and it was nice to be able to spend the alone time with her. Unfortunately, something went wrong and several of my plants ended up dying. I’m not even sure why they went barren suddenly.

I wasn’t going to let that get my mood down, however, because on that same day, I felt my little one kick for the very first time. As always a million questions went through my mind like “would it be a boy or a girl?” “was I carrying just one or was it multiples?”

The next few months went by in a blur…The kids went to school and I spent my time with Abriella getting her as prepared for the future as I could. Before I knew it, it was time for Yasmina and Odin to age into rebellious teenagers.

Yasmina…

Odin…

Odin developed an interest in sculpting. He has made a few different clay sculptures. The ones that he really liked we keep in various parts of the house to display to our visitors and the ones that he isn’t as fond of he sells and saves the money for his future.

Yasmina, on the other hand, has me a bit worried. She is constantly arguing with herself all over the house, and when I ask her about it, she acts like she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I was so worried that I even took her to the doctor, but they said as long as she didn’t become a danger to herself or those around her, there wasn’t anything to worry about. She just had an overly active imagination.

My pregnancy continued to progress normally. Lester called a few times every week to make sure that I was doing alright and that his children were growing normally. Yes, you read correctly. I went to the doctor because I was bigger then normal and found out that I would be having another set of twins. The doctor even wanted to tell me the gender of the twins, but I opted to not know. I wanted their to be a little mystery after all.

Abriella’s birthday took place a few days before my due date. I wanted to have a small family party to cut down on the stress, but Snow Miser wanted to throw his little girl a huge birthday bash. He put together the party guest list – including mostly my challenge mother friends as well as some of their kids around Abriella’s age.

Abriella grew up beautifully, and her father couldn’t have been more proud.

The party was great and all the guests went home happy, but even after everyone had gone home, Yasmina and Suri continued dancing the night away with their little sister.

The following morning, I went outside to tend my garden as I do every morning when suddenly I went into labor. Yasmina started to freak out. She was so unsure of what to do.

“Just help me upstairs!” I commanded as she gathered herself and rushed over to my side.

The labor was so intense. I hadn’t had such a difficult labor in so many years. With all the difficulty, I thought about heading to the hospital, but I knew it was to late in my labor for such a long taxi trip. I would end up having them in the back of the taxi.

I gutted out the pain and with one final push, I actually smiled with relief as the twins arrived.

Introducing Baby #46, Evelyn.

Evelyn has her father’s hair color, complexion, and eye color.

Introducing Baby #47, Rhys.

Like his twin sister, Rhys has his father’s hair color and eye color, but he has my darker complexion.

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Lester Jester was created by my husband back at the early stages of my challenge. I thought he looked like Santa (on vacation) so that’s where the story came from. Thanks to Lally for the name Evelyn, and Deanna for the name Rhys.