Chapter 1.7 < | > Chapter 1.9
Today was Sean's birthday. He added Athletic to Genius and Artistic. We once again celebrated with cake and registered our precious son for boarding school. Based on his traits and his desire to be a policeman, we sent him to Fort Starch Military School. They'll come pick him up in the morning.
It thunder stormed all day today... and after my lightning strike yesterday... none of us felt like braving the weather to be outside. Even Rachael elected to let her garden just grow weeds for the day rather than being outside in the thunder and lightning. I worked in the morning, then hurried home, not wanting to be outside for any longer than I could help it. Rach is feeling pretty stir-crazy today, so I promised her we could go visit the Whitehead's tomorrow just so she can get out of the house.
Sean left in the morning for school, and there was a brief window of sunshine afterwards for Rachael to take care of her garden. Unfortunately, that window was all we got.
Today, after work, we headed over to Roger and Fran's for a while. We played some indoor games to stay out of the rain, and generally had a good time. We've become pretty good friends with them, and are glad they're helping us with the island.
I got another promotion today! Now I only work three days a week, which is a blessing because we learned that Rachael is pregnant again. I'll be able to be around to help with the baby more than I have been able to in the past.
The rain continued unabated today, so Rachael stayed indoors and worked on her logic skill. I made sure there were several plates of spaghetti in the fridge (her favorite food!) so that she wouldn't have to cook. I like being able to cook for the family, even though I'm also the major source of income.
It was once again a Full Moon, so after dark we stayed inside and worked on our skills - me painting, her logic. We didn't stay up too long, though, on account of her getting tired way quicker than usual with her pregnancy.
Yesterday was such a ho-hum day I didn't even bother writing in my journal. I'm not going to write much today, either, because I've come down with a cold and I just want to stay curled up in bed. Rachael's doing fine, by the way, and is getting very close to mastering logic.
I had to work even though I was sick today, and all my coworkers razzed on me about looking so miserable. I blame the sickness on the rain that just doesn't seem to want to stop coming down.
Rachael mastered logic today, and sat down at our computer to write up plans for the new park/festival grounds. It'll be a place where all of the townspeople will be able to get together and have a good time. She still plans on picking the central plaza area that I proposed to her on, and is even incorporating the old weather stone that sits in the middle of it into the design. She emailed the plans to the foreman of the work crew we hired from the mainland to put it together, so hopefully that will be up sometime this next week.
After we'd gone to bed, we were awakened... by Rach going into labor! Finally, it's a girl! We named her Marie, and she's Brave and Artistic.
Rachael apparently caught my cold, which is just great. I finally get over it for the weekend, and she gets sick.... in more ways than one. We thought the morning nausea might be a sign, and it was confirmed by the evening - Rachael is pregnant yet again. We've decided this will be the last one - four kids are enough.. and we're hoping for another boy.
With Rachael being pregnant and me just getting over being sick... we didn't do much today. We did hear back from the work crew foreman, and the park will be put in later this week.
This evening, we celebrated Marie's birthday a little bit early, since she's just such a precocious kid. She's already pulling herself to a stand on furniture, and talking in baby language to her strange doll. (yep.. she got one, too!)
Marie learned to talk today.. she really is a quick study. We don't expect it to take much more time for her to be walking and potty trained, too.
I painted most of the day, and Rachael chased around the house after Marie - who is the most active of all of our children so far. I did manage to master painting, though, and painted something my agent calls "brilliant" .. but I'm not so sure. You be the judge...
... Perhaps I should have gotten more sleep last night?
Bright and early this morning (actually, before the sun and me going to work.. so the wee hours of the morning..) .. Rachael went into labor. I immediately was worried, because it seemed too early for it. She struggled with this labor more than all the ones before.. and before long we knew why. TWINS! One boy, one girl, we named them Riley (who was born first) and Renee. Renee is eccentric and a loner, whereas Riley is a Genius and Artistic. Two very different twins. Also: Renee is blond whereas Riley has brownish red hair like Rachael. We had to put in an emergency call for another crib, because we totally hadn't planned on a multiple birth. Marie slept with us for the rest of the night, and I called in to work, since there was no way I was in any shape to be flying jet planes after that night.
Rachael's chemistry kit arrived today, but she didn't have much time to work on it, other than a brief break in the afternoon when all the kids were asleep at once.
Today is the first day of Spring, too, and it was a gorgeous sunny day after the horrible rainy Fall we had. (Theres no Winter in this world.. it's more tropical.) Marie, just like I predicted, learned to walk and potty train very quickly today.. which was a relief to Rach and I - one less thing to worry about with the twins taking turns crying their heads off.
With us having FIVE .. count them.. FIVE.. kids now, we decided that a good chunk of our savings ought to go to having a proper house.. on a proper foundation. I found a crew on the mainland that could build what we were looking for overnight, and we packed up the cribs and my old tent and camped out on the site of the new park.
Chapter 1.7 < | > Chapter 1.9
