The family's baby

Chapter 53

*Fami's P.O.V*

I sit with Grace for a long time, rocking her slightly as she sleeps. I switch out her bottle for her paci once she is mostly asleep. It's a shame that she couldn't stay awake long enough to finish her bottle but I know that she needs to sleep so I wont complain about a nap. I try to tuck Bun Bun back into her changing bag but that nearly wakes her up so I let her keep it.

"I forgot how much you used to cling to that little rabbit when you were younger," I murmur as I try to adjust her position since she is starting to slip out of my arms. She wriggles a lot in her sleep, tossing and turning as if she can't find a comfortable position.

"I will drop you if you do not stop baby," I whisper against the top of Grace's head, knowing that she is fast asleep and won't hear a word I say. Perhaps that was a good thing because she would have most definitely thrown a fit over me calling her baby again. I just couldn't help it. I mean, she looked like one right now and sometimes acted like one. More than sometimes actually, she quite often acted like she was my little baby.

Finally having enough of her wriggling to try and get comfortable, I take her positioning into my own hands. I have to lean back so that she's resting her weight on me and slip one of my hands down to support her bottom as my other hand rests on her lower back. I can't help but coo when she nuzzles into me as I start patting her bottom rhythmically. We stay like that for as long as I think we can get away with it before my internal clock is telling me it's past time to head back.

"Your sister and father will start to look for us if we stay here any longer," I murmur to Grace, moving to stand up by positioning her to rest against my chest and her head on my shoulder. After I get to my feet, one of her hands moves to sloppily wrap around my neck and the other continues to clutch Bun Bun to her chest so I know I'm never getting that back.

I slide my hand up, carefully tugging the pacifier out from between her lips. She fusses, trying to get it back but I manage to slip it into her bag before she can truly try to get it back. She lets out little noises of complaints before the thumb of hand around my neck eventually slips into her mouth.

"What happened to my big girl being too big to suck on her thumb? Hmm?" I ask as I bounce Grace slightly while walking. She lets out small noises of complaints but seems quite content to stay in my arms so I walk all the way back to the cars without a second thought.

When I arrive back, I'm quite surprised to see that Elena is standing there with a pout on her lips. When I see some of the sunscreen that is stuck on her skin, I understand why she is pouting. Of course she is upset that Matias actually managed to get her to wear her sunscreen.

"Nothing to pout about, you know you need to wear sunscreen," I tell Elena who refuses to look at me. It's very clear that she is pouting over the fact that Matias had actually made her put sunscreen on. I can see the questioning look she gives Grace, Matias also giving Grace a curious look.

"Yes, she's in different clothes. I got her new ones and I just couldn't wait to see her in them. Isn't she absolutely adorable in her little tutu?" I ask as I shift Grace slightly, earning a small groan from her as she tries to get more comfortable in my new hold of her.

"Yes, very adorable," Matias says, making me turn my attention to him. I still wasn't very pleased with him, especially since it would now probably be a fight to get Grace to drink her water later. She'd probably say something like "but Daddy doesn't make me" or "It's too late for this much water".

I walk over to him, kissing him briefly before pulling away. "We have things to discuss, later, Matias," I murmur, narrowing my eyes slightly so that he can see just how serious I am.

He gulps, immediately turning his head to avoid making eye contact with me. I scoff at how ridiculous he is. Apparently making sure that she drank enough water and didn't get dehydrated always made me the mean one. On my way to the car, I'm lost pondering just how I'm going to deal with Grace's inevitable tantrum about doing what I ask without needing to punish her.

I eventually get to the car, remembering that I need to get her bug juice out of Matias' truck or else it will be hell when she asks for it. I open the rear door of the car, sitting her down into the booster seat. It still surprises me that she still fits into it so well and also kind of worries me. I really should just upgrade her into a newer seat already and stop waiting for her to outgrow it. I buckle her in, earning a small whine of protest from her. "I'm sorry baby, Mommy will be much quicker next time," I whisper before shutting the car door.

"Why'd you put Grace in Jazmin's booster seat?" Elena asks, making me pause as I'm startled out of my thoughts to glance through the window at Grace.

"I completely blanked, to be honest, and was operating on autopilot. I'm so used to carrying Jazmin and putting her in her booster seat that I forgot it was Grace. Well, I mean, I forgot she doesn't use the seat," I admit.

"Now that she's in there and comfortable, I would hate to wake her up. You know how hard it is to get her back to sleep and she seemed exhausted. Plus, at least this way she won't have her neck resting on the seatbelt and be sore when she wakes up," I say as I go around to the other side of the car and start it so that it stays cool in there for her.

Grace has surprisingly gotten rather comfortable in the booster seat, her head turned to be out of the sun. She hated having the sun on her face. She always griped that it made her too hot to be comfortable. Her thumb is already back in her mouth, something that annoys me, but I can't give her the paci right now so I have to just live with it. Surprisingly, I don't get a snarky comment out of Elena though. She normally loves to tease Grace about these types of things.

"I didn't know Grace still sucked her thumb," Elena comments, making me nod my head slightly.

"She's just picked up the habit again. Despite the fact that I've tried to stop her every time," I murmur to Elena who smiles slightly.

"When does Grace ever listen when you try to stop her?" Elena asks, making me bite back a small laugh. She had a point, Grace rarely ever listened to me. Especially when I tried to get her to not do something. The more I tried to get her to resist something, the more she would do it.

"Didn't you mention her stopping a long time ago and she pretended that she had no clue what you were talking about?" Elena questions, making me sigh softly.

"Yes. She would just hide under blankets or hide her face behind pillows when she was sucking her thumb. She got very good at hiding it, at least until I told her she was doing a good job with not sucking her thumb. She was so pleased with my words that she got a little sloppy when hiding it," I chuckle softly.

"Grace has never been good at hiding things," Elena says.

"Oh, she seemed pretty good at hiding the window that you three used to sneak out of," I say, making Elena snap her mouth shut, wisely deciding not to say anything.