"Nothin'." Mitch glanced at me from across the room.
"This is gonna be a longgggg day."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh my god I'm so tired...." I rolled my eyes at Mitch, who had no idea what it felt like to be tired. Jerome had been the easiest to handle of the boys by far, only crying once and being so, so easy to settle down to bed that it was basically a slap in the face to me.
Rob was still upstairs trying to get Preston into bed, at 10 o'clock at night, because he had decided that a game of tag around the house while I was trying to get Lachlan to sleep was a good idea. He was a ball of mischief, who didn't want to settle down. Ever.
Lachlan was still in my arms, whining miserably. As soon as I tried to put him down to bed, in my bed, he started wailing and crying and didn't want to sleep. I left him alone for half an hour, hoping to God that he would calm down but it didn't work so I just got him up again.
I hoped he would get to sleep if I was with him, so I just went downstairs and sat on the sofa with Lachlan curled into my chest, still whining. He sounded absolutely heartbroken but I didn't know what was wrong, so I was counting on human contact to comfort him.
"Oh woah was you. You try looking after a whiny baby or an energetic toddler, you got the easy one. Jerome was no trouble at all!" He shrugged.
"True, but I've never looked after kids before... I had no idea how much care they need when they're this young." I gave him a look, basically saying 'really?'
"If you're saying stuff like this you really need sleep..." He nodded, grinning.
"I'll see you in the morning... tell Rob not to wake me up." I inclined my head, running my hand up and down Lachlan's back. He was mostly asleep, still whinging almost silently, but had settled down quite a bit and seemed almost content to use me as a hot water bottle.
Mitch disappeared up the stairs, leaving my alone with Lachlan.
I started to nod off, my chin dropping onto my chest but just before I fell asleep, Rob pattered down the stairs and flopped onto the couch.
"Ughhhhh I finally got him to sleep." The bouncing of the couch startled Lachlan, who started to cry. It was an ugly, high-pitched wailing cry, a frightened cry.
"Rob! Damn, I just about got him asleep!" I groaned, standing up and bouncing him. I found it was the best way to calm him down when he was upset and didn't want to let go of me.
"Oh- sorry Vikk, I forgot you brought him downstairs." I sighed.
"It's fine I guess... just don't do it again." I continued to bounce Lachlan, knowing it would be a while before I got to sleep.
"Sorry Vikk. I- I'm just gonna go to bed I think. I need some time to... think things over." I nodded. Everyone needed to think things over for a while, I had been doing that while trying to get Lachlan to sleep.
I was worried. Was this permanent? Would we be stuck with three little children forever? I knew we wouldn't be able to cope with them young forever, raising them, schooling them, not to mention the legal side of things. How would we explain to the courts that we now have three children, and three others are missing? We couldn't.
He vanished up the stairs, leaving me alone in the silence of the living room. Lachlan had settled down again and from my position I could see his eyes slipping closed, his hands coming loose on my t-shirt and, finally, his head dropped.
"Oh thank god." Now that he was asleep, I could take him up to bed and hope that he slept for at least a few hours before waking me up. He had eaten just half an hour before, so I hoped he would sleep for a while at least but because I didn't know his sleeping patterns I didn't know how long he would sleep.
I knew that by 6 months most babies would sleep through the night, but they could not sleep through up until 13 or 14 months old so I was unsure. I was hoping he would sleep through.
I dragged myself up the stairs and down the hall to my bedroom, lying Lachlan down on the bed. I grabbed a pillow and lay him on top of it, making sure he was lying on his back before laying the covers over him and crawling into the bed beside him.
I was exhausted. I didn't know how much longer I would last looking after him, especially if we had to do YouTube on the side as well. I had gone the day without uploading and I knew I would regret it later, but I had more pressing problems on my hands.
I just lay on my stomach and thought for an hour before finally falling asleep to the sound of Lachlan's tiny breaths. I was finally relaxed, for the first time that day.
And when I woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning, there wasn't a tiny baby next to me anymore. My Lachlan was back, in his full beautiful 6 foot 2 form, fast asleep with his hand curled into a fist by his face. I smiled to myself, nuzzling my nose onto his forehead and wrapping my arm around his shoulder.
We could discuss it tomorrow, but I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. The important thing was that my boy was back and I wasn't letting him go anywhere again.
The Pack- Why Are There Children? Part 2
Start from the beginning
