1.8 - Babies in beds

It took her some courage but eventually Kerry told her friend about her unexpected pregnancy and its complicated circumstances. Though she left the blackmailing part out and simply explained that her boss agreed to help her with job search when the time comes and finances until then.  

The more complicated task is to explain her pregnancy to her 2-year-old daughter. Kerry isn't sure how much Ruby can really understand of it; but she will try.

"You're going to be a big sister, Ruby. Mommy is having a baby!"

"A baby?"

"Yes, the baby is right here in my tummy", she explains as she touches her baby bump. "The baby grows in my tummy and in spring it comes out and you will be the big sister."

"In tummy?", Ruby asks in disbelief and lays her little hands on it. "Why?"
"Because the baby is not big enough yet and needs a warm and safe place to grow, like mom's tummy. Can you hear something? Can you feel the baby kicking?"

Ruby places her head on the bump and listens. After two or three seconds of intense concentration she suddenly yells: "Come out, baby!", making Kerry laugh heartily.
"Not yet, Ruby, give the baby some time to grow!"

Kerry answers some more big sister questions until Ruby gets bored of the topic and starts dozing away. And a tired toddler is a great opportunity to introduce them to a new bed!

So she gets up and carries Ruby into the other room. 

"Come, let's sleep in your new bed if you're tired. This is your new bed. Do you want to sleep here?"

"No."

"But you just told me that you wanna be a big sister, so you need to sleep in a bed for big girls."

"No!"
"Aren't you a big girl now?"
"NO!"

But it all doesn't help, Kerry is not open for discussion and simply kisses her goodnight. Luckily Ruby quickly gives up when sleepiness overcomes her and just falls into her new bed. 

And with Ruby in her "big girl's bed", the old crib is free for the newcomer.

***

A few weeks later a healthy daughter is born. Both the pregnancy and labor itself were less stressful than the first time, though she'd still rather not repeat the whole process again in this life.

Her name is Jade. Ruby got her name from the color of her hair and lips, so it only seemed natural to continue the theme and name Jade after the color of her eyes, which she undoubtedly got from her father. Pfff. Probably the only good thing about him.

Besides, everybody loves matching sibling names.

There's just not enough space in this apartment, so the girls will have to share a room. It works fine until Jade begins to cry (she doesn't sleep through the night yet), and wakes up Ruby as well, who is not at all happy about the disturbance.

They will get used to it. After all, Kerry has to share her bed too. 

"Be quiet pwease!", Ruby yells in Jade's direction, mimicking a sentence she heard so often from her mother. 

She's not so sure about this baby yet. Being a big sister is mostly cool but it also means less playtime with mom and night-time shrieking. Crying baby dolls have a button to turn their sound off when you want to sleep, why does this not work for real babies too?

***

With a lazy mostly-indoors cat and two children in diapers a good part of her daily routine revolves around cleaning up her family's poop. Kerry has heard of parents who don't want their little ones to grow up, but to be honest she can't wait until her kids can finally use the toilet and dress themselves. Less crying and more sleeping through the night would be great too.

And since she is too low on money to frequently hire babysitters, it doesn't happen very often these days that she can go out by herself without dragging the kids along. But today is finally one of those rare days: Ramona has announced that she and her long-term boyfriend Harry Marks are engaged now and plan to marry within the next year.

He's some kind of artist which is supposed to explain his whacky style. He's a good guy though, so Kerry wishes the soon-to-be "Sterling-Marks" family all the best.

Derik, Ramona's son from another relationship who is about two years older than Ruby, is also at home.
"Hey Derik, has your mom glued your little head to your hair?"
"Eh, he doesn't want to take it off", Ramona explains. "Thought I might as well allow him to wear it inside if he loves it so much, it's not like he's going to overheat this time of the year."

"So many toys and a nice TV, I'm starting to understand why you are Ruby's favourite babysitter!", Kerry jokes.
"Well, if you're going to buy more toys for your kids, whatever you do don't buy them a drum. It'll be make you crazy. And I thought the xylophone was bad enough!"

Luckily Derik's attention span is that of a typical preschooler, so he soon forgets about his drum and plays in his toy box, giving the adults a chance to hear each other and the TV.
"Your home just makes it even more obvious to me how small my flat is", Kerry sighs. "I can't afford anything else right now but when the kids grow older I'd at least want to have enough room for a dining table. You know, having proper family meals instead of eating on the couch or standing against the kitchen sink."

Meanwhile Richie, who normally prefers stretching on "his" bed over setting paw in front of the door, has finally discovered the joys of hunting in his old days. Maybe the combined noise of a newborn and a 2-year-old were too much for him and he needed some alone time outside, or maybe the lizard he caught was meant as a gift for the new human.

Whatever the reason, Ruby can now observe an iguana in what she must think is its natural habitat: the kitchen. Thanks, Richie.

Just wait until Kerry sees it.