As We Go On

Chapter 6: Oh Golly Miss Molly

"Does it ever quiet down here?" Molly asked, pushing Haden up higher on her lap.

We were sitting in chairs watching the kids swim, they were all screaming and laughing, the big kids jumping from the diving boards and going down the water slide, the little ones splashing in the baby pool. It was Winter Break for the kids, three full weeks of no school, and Molly decided to come and stay with us for the duration of it. It was only the second day and she already looked a bit scared, but as she had only known us for two weeks it was understandable.

"Well, at naptime and bedtime it's semi quiet, but usually there's at least one kid awake, I haven't gotten a full eight hours of sleep in eight years, at least. But my kids are worth it, and I'd love them just the same if all twelve of them kept me awake for twenty four hours at a time. Spencer sleeps like a rock, but when one of his kids wakes up crying, he's up and has them in his arms in a matter of seconds, especially if its Haden or Wyatt, as they both refuse to sleep anywhere but our room. That's going to change soon though, Haden is two years old, it's time for him to graduate to a big boy bed, he's nearly potty trained, a big boy like that doesn't sleep in a crib right?" I said, looking at Haden.

"I not want a big boy bed Mommy!" Haden said, his dark eyebrows furrowing.

"Well you want to be a big boy and grow up big and strong like daddy and your brothers right?" I asked.

"Yesh." Haden said, smiling.

"Then you have to sleep in the big boy bed that Daddy is giong to set up in you and Liam's room, you're both sleeping in big boy beds so it won't be so hard right?" I said.

"I gwuess not. I sorry Mommy. I be good." Haden said.

"It's okay bud, why don't you go swim with your brothers in the little pool?" I said.

He slid off of Molly's lap and walked over to the baby pool, slipping in silently and joining into the fun without pause. "I didn't get a chance to ever put Devon in a big boy bed when I was planning to because of the divorce and then moving to our Moms, she only had the Blaine and Trents old cribs up in the attic so Devon and Cameron just both slept in cribs."

"Blaine and Trent slept in their cribs until they were four, we finally decided to switch them when Dylan was three and we needed the cribs for the Lyli and Lynn, they had been sleeping in their bassinets forever. The switch was horrible, for almost a month we ended up with all three of them in our bed, then they finally got used to it and it hasn't been a problem since. We started switching the kids earlier and that resolved a lot of the problems we had. Dylan and her pacifier though, it took us forever to get her weened of it, she was almost in kindergarten before I figured out a fool proof way. We cut all the nipples off and then gave her one, it took a few days of her just holding on to it but eventually she gave it to me to throw away. And then there was Lynn and her baby blanket, she practically tore that thing to shreds before she finally let me replace it, and now her new one is due for a good washing and I'll have to wait until she's in a dead sleep to do it, which will be like two or three in the morning when I'm feeding the twins. We've had our fair share of weening in this family." I said.

"Devon is the same way with his binki, I've been trying for like four months and he just won't let go of the thing. Even now he's got it in his mouth, look." Molly said, pointing to her son, who was laughing through a green binki and splashing Haden.

"I see, well if it gets bad enough you can do what I did, nothing else worked for us." I said.

My phone suddenly buzzed, I picked it up, unlocked it and looked at the text message from Lexa. I stood up and cupped my hands around my mouth, "Time to get out! Now! We have to go get into baths and out of here. Lexa's having the baby so we need to get Alaran and Aiden. Now!" I yelled.