If for some reason, you don't remember what a VHS tape, it was what was the mother to the DVD (disregarding Beta and Laser Disc), sometimes also referred to as Cassette Tapes or Video Home Cassettes. Yes. I am "old." I've babysat for kids that don't know what a VHS tape is, so I am compelled to reach out with this author's note. Our sisters watch a movie via means of VHS. I personally still enjoy watching movies via VHS, enjoying the nostalgic feeling of "coming to VHS [and DVD] in 1999," or whatever. But, I was born in 1993, so even though I was a kid of the 90's, I don't remember much of said 90's. I do remember frosted hair, and the other assorted strange haircuts.
Bess:
I waddled through the front door, my feet aching, my ankles throbbing, my throat burning with the new, beautiful symptom of acid reflux, and the twins kicking each other in my mountain of a belly.
No Jason. No Ben. No Anakin. No Padmé. No Luke. No Leia. No Dormé. No Yoda. No Windu. Just my family!
Mother came into the foyer holding what only could have been Kendra.
She was beautiful! Greyzel eyes (eyes that were not quite hazel, not quite grey), a shock of brunette hair, and detached ears. And I could feel the Force radiating strongly from her.
She could feel it from me to. Something in her overly observant eyes told me that much.
Chloe, being the eldest, rushed to have her newest sibling in her arms.
Kendra's eyes were large with shock, but she didn't cry. Just surprised at being taken from her mother at first.
Gretchen held Kendra next.
"Kendra, I will have much to teach you over the years."
Chloe scoffed. I said or reacted not.
Soon, Kendra was in my arms. She began to fuss. I propped her up to my shoulder and patted her back. Not violently, firmly yet lightly. She burped like a drunk.
She put her head down on my shoulder, and that was all she wrote. I had managed to put yet another child to sleep.
"You're a natural," Chloe smiled.
"Thanks," I smiled back.
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Mother and Father decided to go ahead and leave us to care for Kendra.
Ha ha.
Not twenty minutes after they departed, leaving us three teenagers with a two month old, a nasty smell penetrated our air space.
"Gretchen, that's nasty. Leave the room next time," Chloe hissed.
"Wasn't me!" she protested.
They looked to me.
"He that smelt it, dealt it," I replied, my hands up.
We all looked to Kendra, laying in her bassinet.
She was doing the poopy squirm.
"Oh, no," Gretchen moaned.
"I'm not changing that," I said.
"You're the mother, and you've done Luke and Leia's!" Chloe shouted.
"And I'll do my share! I have done. You do it first this time!" I shot back.
"Fine. You're a wimp. Okay…"
She picked up Kendra and carried her to where Mother had a changing station set up.
She grabbed a fresh diaper, wipes, and some talcum powder.
"Okay…" she mumbled as she unsnapped the bottom Kendra's adorable princess onesie.
The diaper looked like a normal full diaper. The tabs held it closed and whatnot. I was suddenly grateful that these were disposable, thinking back to the twins' cloth ones…cleaning those sparked little nightmares themselves.
Chloe gently pulled the left tab. Then the right. She took a deep breath then pulled the diaper open.
Eww. Vile. Disgusting.
Chloe gagged. I quickly pinched her nose and mine shut. Chloe gently used the wipes to clean Kendra's sensitive bottom. Kendra began to fuss at the sudden coldness the air and wipes provided. I felt bad for her, and I sent out what I hoped would be a soothing message for her through the Force.
She did indeed stop fussing.
Chloe finished up, rolled up that messy nightmare, and shoved it into what Mother called the Diaper Genie.
She put the sister in a new diaper, snapped up her onesie, then picked her up. Kendra was happy.
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And I sat on the loveseat next to Gretchen (who was holding Kendra), the twins in my womb began to squirm and kick again for what must have been the fifteenth time that day.
"Chloe, Gretchen, feel this!"
Chloe came from the fire place, and put a single hand on the moving bulge.
"That feels so weird!" she giggled.
Gretchen handed Chloe Kendra, then she put her hands in the same spot.
"So weird!"
"Weird, but I kind of like it…" I smiled.
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"I want to watch a movie," Gretchen said after Chloe put Kendra in her crib upstairs.
"Sure thing! How about Mrs. Miniver?" Chloe asked.
"No! That one is too sad!" Gretchen protested.
"What do you want to watch then?" Chloe queried.
"Pride and Prejudice. Still Greer Garson!"
"Who?" I asked.
"Greer Garson. I'll get the tape," Chloe offered.
"I'll make the popcorn!" Gretchen shouted.
"I'll sit here if that's okay!"
Kendra's lusty cry wafted from the upstairs.
That didn't last long, I thought as I rushed as quickly as I could up the stairs.
Her tears were not crocodile tears.
I picked her up and gently held her body to me. She kept crying, though not as loud.
"You're hungry."
She cried her response.
"Let's see if we can get you fixed up with a bottle."
