I'm sorry for the delay. My wife has unfortunately tested positive for Covid meaning I have all five of our children; thankfully my mother-in-law has been able to take a bit of time off to help me with pick ups and bringing the girls to dance. Never underestimate having two mommies getting three little ones ready for school while having two babies as well instead of one mommy doing it all my goodness. My wife is getting better. My father-in-law has stayed away from our house because he's been making sure my wife is okay, he's also a doctor; we've been able to FaceTime momma which has been great for the girls and hoping momma can come home soon. Thank you for your patience.
The next week flew by for the little family—nana and papa went back home three days after staying with them, playing with Rachel, cooking meals, and helping the women the best they could.
A tearful goodbye from Rachel happened the second Shelby told her nana and papa were leaving but after they promised to visit and FaceTime often, the baby was happy and she 'agreed' they could leave as if it were up to her.
In all honesty, the grandparents would have stayed if Rachel truly wanted them to because she could pull on their heart strings like no other—she could pull on all of their heart strings and the baby didn't even know it.
Shelby wasn't ready to take away Rachel's safety's yet, in binky, sleeping on top of her, (that was also for her as much as it was for the baby), their bath times, but she did want to set some boundaries in the sense of when nana and papa had to go, they had to go; just like with her aunties and eventually her uncles and cousins too.
Safety's and boundaries are different. Shelby obviously never wants to see her baby cry, but it's one thing to see her cry over nana and papa leaving and another to see her cry because she feels unsafe—something she never wants to her feel again. And if Shelby can help it, Rachel will never, ever feel unsafe again.
Most all of the unpacking was done, which made Shelby and Cassie very happy and extremely grateful considering Katherine and Thomas helped them a lot, not to mention Shelby's siblings did a ton of it before they even made it into the state.
While Rachel napped, they were able to hang up pictures, or at least show Thomas where they wanted them to be hung, organize cabinets, put their clothes away, organize their master bathroom, put together Rachel's bathroom even though it wouldn't be used yet, and so much more.
The only reason they gave Thomas and Katherine tasks was because they asked and Shelby knew her parents wouldn't take no for an answer. Thomas was the one to hang the pictures after Shelby and Cassie verified where they wanted them to go (besides in there bedroom because Rachel was sleeping in there) and Katherine would spend time cooking way too much food.
The next day, Shelby put Rachel down for her nap on the couch in the living room while Katherine kept an eye on her so Thomas could hang the pictures in their master bedroom and the hallways. They really got a lot done in a short amount of time—it worked out really well considering the grandparents were only allowed to help when Rachel went down for her first nap.
Shelby didn't want them to be overworked seeing as they have already done so much for her already, so she said they could help during one and only one of Rachel's naps seeing as her mother was making all of their meals, and her father was happily lifting and moving way more than he should when the women were more than capable.
Rachel was loving the new house, especially the finished basement and playroom; she didn't see the basement as a normal basement, or the way people typically refer to them, as those dark and dingy places where nobody want to go…because it wasn't at all.
Shelby didn't want any of the rooms in their home to remind Rachel of the room in that awful place she had to be in when he left her for hours at a time. All the rooms in their house were beautiful—they all had windows, were happy and bright, had color, artwork, love and safety.
The houses in their neighborhood weren't that close together however, they did have the basement soundproofed knowing the sound from Shelby's piano and the music Cassie would be playing, more so Cassie could sometimes be loud—not to mention, once Rachel was older and didn't mind loud noises, she would most likely blast music while bouncing around on the trampoline or dancing.
Either way, for the past week though, Rachel has spent most of her time bouncing on the trampoline, in her playroom which she loves, and starting to get used to the foam pit; Shelby thinks it might be the fact it now in their house that made the difference, but she truly no idea what changed her little ones mind.
After a short discussion with Cassie, Shelby called her siblings during a few of Rachel's naps because you're never going to get all four of them on the phone during one of them, and it was decided that once they were settled in a bit more they'd start introducing Rachel to her cousins.
Before that though, the siblings along with nana and papa were going to have another family dinner at the new house which would be great for Rachel because she has asked for 'Wexie' and 'Ady' multiple times since the women left the city—she has briefly and offhandedly mentioned 'Ape' and 'Demy' however, not in the sense of wanting to FaceTime them the way she did her aunts.
The baby would get there though; she had an easier time warming up with women which made a lot of sense, and she was okay with the uncles when they came over after about a half hour of them being there. She also love papa more than anything, and in her mind he's a boy, just like her uncles—it would just take a little time.
After the family dinner and the baby went to sleep that night, they were going to discuss which family would be best to start with—honestly, Shelby had no idea considering she's obviously never seen her daughter interact with anyone besides her parents, siblings, girlfriend, and her two best friends.
Addie's kids are closest in age, which doesn't really mean much seeing as Rachel truly looks, acts and speaks like a true baby—she may understand more than a baby in some ways, however in others, she really doesn't at all. There is a lot she doesn't understand, and a lot the other kids wouldn't pick up on due to the fact they are kids themselves.
Would it would be better to have Jeremy's kids be there first seeing as his kids have been there for the birth of all the other cousins and know how babies act, not to mention know the most of what Rachel has gone through? Obviously not all of it, but enough for them to understand more than the others. Maybe Rachel would be more inclined to see them as someone like Lexie because they are older and would play with her the way Lexie does?
Sure, Addie's kids would play with the baby but they would also like to play with the toys in the playroom, and more so the basement themselves seeing as everything was so fun. They'd definitely get lost in enjoying the trampoline and foam pit, not to mention forget about trying to watch their noise level. Either way, all the cousins were much older than Rachel and it would be a discussion to have with the family.
Jeremy has three children, 16 year old Grace and 14 year old twins Ella and Emma (all girls which may be best seeing as the baby opens up best with women/females). Jake has two children, Connor who is 13 years old and his little sister Callie who is 11 years old; and Addie has three children: Amanda who is 11 (five months younger than her cousin), Lily who is 9 years old, and Anthony, the littlest grandbaby until they knew about Rachel, who is 7 years old.
Jeremy, being the protector of his siblings and the one who typically 'made the decisions' when it came to the siblings all being on the phone together and asking about something, decided it would be best to wait until the following week to have the family dinner so Shelby, Rachel and Cassie could be completely settled in.
Shelby agreed and said if any of them wanted to separately come over in the meantime, to send a text or give her a call and that would be fine—Rachel would love it, she would love it too and so would Cassie. The blonde truly loves her family, they treat her like she's been a part of their family forever and that's a big thing for the blonde.
Throughout the next week, the Corcoran residence, or that's what they called it seeing as the hyphen (Corcoran-July) caused Cassie to feel guilty, and in return Shelby to roll her eyes, so they just went with Corcoran. Guilty because technically Shelby bought the house and although Cassie paid for some of the renovations, some extras, and some bills, it just didn't seem like enough.
Eye roll because Shelby felt like they've had the same discussion over and over again: Shelby would have bought this house with or without Cassie and done the renovations either way, so having help with the bills and help paying for some of the renovations was greatly appreciated. She tried to understand how Cassie felt, and comforted her when she did bring up those feelings—there wasn't anything she could truly do though.
So again: throughout the next week, the Corcoran residence had multiple visitors which made Rachel extremely happy. She got to see her nana and papa multiple times and each time, you'd think it had been weeks instead of days since she'd last seen them. She also saw Auntie Lexie and Addie, along with Uncle Jeremy which made her happy as well.
Jake had a meeting out of state and even though it was only an overnight trip, he doesn't like being away from his wife and kids so he didn't go over to visit knowing he was having family dinner with them this weekend which meant his wife would be with the kids and he'd be away from them for a few hours.
All Corcoran's were so family involved it made their spouses feel very loved and honored seeing as they were always put first unless something happened with their parents or siblings which they obviously understood.
Plus, their children weren't little babies anymore so it was easy for them to take care of the children without their significant other being there for a few hours, even the time they spent in the city when they went.
The first week was spent inside the home seeing as they had a lot of unpacking to do, but nobody minded especially Rachel because she was loving her playroom and her trampoline. The baby was very grateful, was very good with her manners that Shelby has taught her, and always shared her toys with anyone that was playing with her.
The second week provided them the freedom of finding little outings that were surprisingly quiet, not just because they were in Akron unlike the city, they just…were. The baby was excited to be out however, she kept babbling about her toys and trampoline causing Shelby, Cassie, and Lexie who happened to be with them at the time to laugh.
Lexie couldn't blame her though seeing as when she showed up before they left the house that day, Rachel was asleep and she herself had bounced on the trampoline.
This little interaction happened when they were at a little café where Rachel was able to have a special treat, a heart shaped cookie and even then, she cared more about everything at home—although she did enjoy her tootie.
When they went out with Addie for lunch at another little café a few days later, Rachel had worn herself out earlier in the day and only cared about 'mommy milp' instead of the mac n cheese placed in front of her, leaving Shelby to cover herself up and nurse the baby to sleep. Addie, being a mother of three didn't mind in the least, and obviously Cassie didn't mind herself either so the they continued eating.
The third time they went out was with the grandparents and very intentional—meaning, they brought both of them for a reason seeing as they were going grocery shopping which meant there would be a lot of people there.
They went at a specific time of the day where there wouldn't be many people, and with Cassie, Katherine and Thomas being there to essentially being a wall if need be to block Shelby and Rachel, hopefully it would be fine: and fine it was.
It actually turned out being a fun trip for the baby because she was introduced to a world of food she didn't know existed—the popsicle isle was her favorite, which wasn't surprising in the least. Thankfully she was wrapped up in a blanket and because she's so small, Shelby had her in a baby wrap against her chest which was great seeing as they spent about 15 minutes looking at all the popsicles.
They also spent a long time looking at all the fruits that Rachel loves so much, her favorites of course: strawberries, bananas, grapes, blueberries, pineapple, and then they looked at the others, even picking out some of them. Shelby also got some frozen fruit to make some smoothies for her little one knowing she'd most likely love them and they were healthy and yummy.
After getting everything they needed for dinner on Saturday along with groceries for the week, stocking up on snacks and practically buying out the isle of Baby Puffs in all flavors seeing as they are still Rachel's number one go to, they paid for their groceries and left.
All and all, the outings and visits that week went really well and things were looking up in the new house. Rachel didn't seem to realize there was no longer zero noise at night from the city streets, she just knew she heard mommy's heartbeat.
She knew things looked different, but it was so much fun here, plus mommy and Tassie were here too—not to mention, nana and papa were, along with her aunts and uncles. Shelby also made sure to keep most everything the same; sure they weren't in the city but she could keep a lot of things the same like the baby's schedule, and how things were done, at least until she was completely comfortable.
It was now Saturday and they had been in Akron for two weeks and one day. Tonight her siblings and her parents were coming over for dinner, however her parents were coming over much, much earlier to help cook even though both she and Cassie know how to cook, and her siblings were coming over much earlier to play with Rachel.
"Isn't it the whole point of a dinner party for the guests to come over for dinner?" Shelby asked, looking at Cassie who was also sitting in one of Rachel's little table chairs as the baby went over to her play kitchen sink to fill her tea pot up with more pretend water like mommy showed her how to do.
Gosh she's so smart; I'm so damn proud of my little baby, she's already progressed so much, Shelby thought to herself before looking back at her girlfriend waiting for her response.
"Babe, your mom loves being in the kitchen and your siblings just want to spend time with this little princess—can you blame them?" Cassie responded as Rachel came pitter pattering back over to them with a huge smile on her face.
Shelby smiled and ran her fingers through her daughters hair; she truly couldn't blame her family for wanting to spend time with her baby girl—she was way too cute for her own good. Her beautiful big brown doe eyes, those long, long lashes, her silky brown long thin locks, her tiny little hands and itty bitty fingers that wrap around one of my fingers just to hold her steady sometimes: nope, can't blame them at all.
Shelby looked up at Cassie and realized she hadn't verbalized anything to her out loud however, knew her girlfriend understood what she was thinking without saying it and smiled, then looked back at her daughter.
"This tea is so good baby girl and so are these cookies." She picked up the fake cookie on her plate and pretended to nibble on it causing Rachel to giggle.
Cassie then looked down at her plate and saw Rachel had given her a fake apple, "Are you putting me on a diet princess?" she laughed, and poked the babies little belly before scooping her up and kissing her temple.
Rachel squealed. Cassie never peppered her face with kisses the way mommy did, that was reserved for mommy and mommy only, but Cassie did kiss her temple and blow raspberries on her belly which she always loved; she also tickled her like mommy did too.
Rachel didn't know what a diet was though; and honestly never ever would seeing as Arizona had told Shelby way too many times that she would forever be an extremely small little girl, and that would carry into adulthood; her body would always have a small frame and seeing how Shelby herself was also small it would also make sense, however, Rachel would be smaller than most.
Shelby laughed at what Cassie said, she knew her girlfriend didn't need a diet but it was funny seeing as Rachel gave she and herself a cookie and Cassie an apple—even if it was just pretend.
"Okay, enough of the tickle party—it's time to get ready for family dinner!" Shelby announced as she stood up and stretched her body from sitting in the little chair for so long.
After a few seconds Shelby reached out for Rachel scooping her out of Cassie's arms and almost stumbled back as Rachel placed an unexpected slobber kiss on her lips, not expecting it in the least. Cassie stifled her laugh at the priceless look on her girlfriends face and the cutest little baby she has ever known.
"Oh thank you baby, I love you too. Should we use pink bubbles, blue, or purple for bath time?" Shelby asked, already knowing the answer. Truly, she had the other bubbles for when she and Cassie took baths together seeing as Rachel only liked…
"INT MOMMY!" Rachel exclaimed.
"I never would have guessed," Shelby winked at Cassie and they shared a smile before turning to go up the stairs; Cassie followed them and off they went to get ready.
An hour later, baths and a shower were finished, two women were dressed while Rachel was happy in just her diaper watching mommy put on her makeup and wanting to put 'ipip' on too. Shelby had purchased some lip balm that was pink in color, organic, and baby safe that she could put on with mommy's help—it was actually made for baby's/toddlers.
It wasn't often, however the first time Rachel asked to put on Shelby's lipstick, unfortunately the mother had to tell her little one it was only for grownups which didn't go over very well. Luckily it was close to naptime so she was able to nurse her and she fell asleep, quickly forgetting about the lipstick and Shelby was able to surprise Rachel with the lip balm which Cassie ran out to get during her nap.
Now the baby has her own special lipstick to wear when she puts on a special dress which she has when they've had family dinners, or on a few other occasions—the last day they spent with April and Holly before they left the city, the time nana and papa came back from Christmas, Christmas itself after the morning in their special pjs, New Years Eve, her birthday, and today.
"Okay baby, ready?" Shelby asked before putting on her 'lipstick'. The baby didn't have to know it wasn't real lipstick.
Rachel enthusiastically nodded her head while sitting on one of the sides of her mommy's vanity—she couldn't see Cassie but knew she was on the other side because her Tassie's sink was on the other side of the bathroom. In the baby's little mind, she was probably putting on her own ipip too so they'd all be matching which made her happy.
"Oh, so pretty!" Shelby smiled. "Wow, you're the most beautiful little baby mommy has ever seen! How about we go put on your dress, what do you think?"
"Me tow Tassie mommy," Rachel pointed to her lips, looking in her mommy's mirror so she could see and then finding her mommy's eyes.
Shelby lifted her up and brought her over to Cassie who had turned around and smiled at the little one, "Look at you sweet girl; you're so pretty, just like your mommy," Cassie said, causing Rachel to giggle.
After that, Rachel agreed to putting her dress on; it was a beautiful dress, obviously pink: a mesh layered hem top with long sleeves, floral patterns then cinched at the waist with a tutu bottom. Shelby couldn't help but smile seeing how cute Rachel looked in her dress; she looked cute in everything she wore but this dress I mean, come on.
Tears were welling in her eyes and Shelby didn't know why; thankfully Cassie chose that moment to walk into the bedroom, "My oh my, is there a princess standing on the bed?"
Rachel was holding one of Shelby's fingers on each hand while standing on the bed, her little piggy toes now wiggling around as she squealed, abruptly ending the tears that would have started to come for Shelby replacing them with a smile.
The baby's hair was in half up half down with a matching pink bow that had yet to be put into her hair because Shelby didn't want it to get pulled when she put her dress on; once Rachel stopped squirming around in excitement, Shelby watched as Cassie carefully clipped in the bow and placed a kiss to the baby's temple.
"Pimciss me Tassie me, me!" Rachel had let go of Shelby's fingers and spun herself around, the tutu part of her dress twirling around in the air before the baby landed in the middle of the bed with a little oomph, a smile, and a giggle.
Shelby and Cassie laughed then Shelby reached onto the bed and scooped up her little princess, "Alright little one, let's go downstairs—nana and papa will be here any minute."
Any minute turned into the second they reached the top of the stairs. The excitement level was through the roof when the grandparents entered the home and they planned to come hours before their children not just to make dinner but because they wanted to spend time with their grandbaby.
Knowing their children's favorite meal was lasagna, something they didn't tell Shelby they were making and wouldn't take long gave them plenty of time to play with Rachel, and they loved absolutely every minute of it.
They loved all of their grandchildren equally however, missing out on almost three years with Rachel, everyone was trying to make up for lost time: especially Shelby. After Shelby though, were Katherine and Thomas who were the most involved in all their grandchildren's lives besides their children's spouses obviously.
Luckily when the doorbell rang Rachel was in the playroom with mommy and Cassie as nana and papa were now making dinner—she still wasn't completely used to the noise and they could see her little body tense; she didn't cry or need to be held anymore but her body did react which broke Shelby's heart. Progress though: progress.
Cassie got up to answer the door however, Thomas beat her to it. So much so that Shelby almost bumped into Cassie if she wasn't watching where she was going. "What are you doing?"
"Your dad is getting it," Cassie responded. "He's faster than I am. I blame those little chairs," she pointed back to the playroom and the small table they were sitting at having, yet again, another tea party. Shelby laughed and nudged Cassie while rolling her eyes.
She had Rachel in her arms knowing the baby would be fine with Addie and Lexie however, wouldn't warm up to Jake and Jeremy right away. Even though she mentioned them a few times, saw Jeremy last week and was okay after about a half hour, she still tensed up seeing them, hiding away at first.
Just like she thought, Rachel hid herself in Shelby's neck and her little body tensed when she saw her uncles. It broke everyone's hearts but they knew it would get better with time.
Rachel honestly surprised them all because the half hour it normally took her to warm up was cut in half, and 15 minutes later, she was running around playing with not just mommy but her aunts as well seeing as everyone was in the playroom.
Everyone besides the grandparents who were checking on dinner and getting their children some drinks knowing it was easier for them to do it rather than have Cassie get up and leave seeing as Rachel was used to seeing both mommy and Cassie.
Before dinner, Rachel even handed Jeremy and Jake some of her toy food just like the toy food her aunts, mommy, and Cassie had. Jeremy and Jake hid their shock well though and went along with it, pretending to eat it right away causing Rachel to look up at them and giggle right away—that was a noise they all loved to hear more than anything.
Katherine peeked into the playroom and took some pictures, Rachel was standing in front of them giggling, while her daughters (Cassie included in that statement as that's how she truly saw her after all she's been through with her own parents) sat at the little table watching them interact.
Then she took some pictures of the whole scene in general before unfortunately having to interrupt it seeing as dinner was ready. It was honestly such a beautiful scene and couldn't wait to send the pictures to everyone, especially her sons and Shelby.
It made her extremely happy to see how Rachel was interacting with her children—it was good for Rachel to see how people could be nice, caring, kind and loving: not mean. And the Corcoran's were a lot of things, but mean wasn't one of them; unless it was necessary however, they were never mean towards each other.
"Hey everyone," Katherine said gently, as to not scare the baby. "Dinner is ready."
Rachel pitter pattered over to her and Katherine squatted down opening her arms getting ready for her hug, "NANA!"
"Hi sweet pea," Katherine pressed a kiss to her temple and lifted her up as the adults put away their toy food, happy to be able to actually eat real food now. Not to say they didn't love their time with the baby, they were just starving for their mothers cooking.
Rachel turned around looking for mommy and reached out towards her; this happened the last family dinner they had so Katherine didn't take offense to it, handing the baby over to her before everyone walked into the kitchen.
"It's okay baby mommy's right here. Let's go eat," Shelby reassured her daughter, peppering kisses to her face, being the last to leave the playroom.
The family had an amazing dinner with a lot of laughs, many babbles and giggles from an overly happy baby, and so many smiles that their faces almost hurt. The adults, not including Shelby and Cassie who already could, were able to make out more of what Rachel said which was great because it meant they were able to interact with her more and more.
Jeremy and Jake sat the furthest away from the baby and said the least directly to her, however when they did interact with her, Rachel not only looked them in the eye, she responded right back to them which made the uncles so damn happy they couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces if someone tried.
It was such a great night for all, especially when nana's famous dessert was brought out. It was a dessert that started to become a tradition in their family while Katherine and Thomas were dating and was all of Corcoran children's favorites to this day.
A lot of the grandchildren loved it, however, because it was made with mostly fruit it didn't go over as well as ice cream or cookies did and it wasn't any of their favorite.
Rachel however, had other thoughts.
A fruit trifle filled with all of the baby's favorites: her eyes lit up brighter than any of the city lights.
Rachel was definitely her mother through and through, it was clear as day—this was going to be Rachel's favorite dessert just like mommy, and all the Corcoran children. No cookie, cake, ice cream flavor, or any other popsicle will ever be as good as this special treat: Shelby could already see it in her daughters eyes.
The adults all stifled a laugh and Lexie's eyes matched Rachel's which caused the adults to actually have to cover their mouths, it was just too much. It's one thing for the baby to think nana's dessert was the best thing in the whole world, but Lexie has seen this dessert her whole life and she was practically drooling.
Katherine quickly plated some for Rachel first knowing her children could wait, and handed it to Shelby watching as the baby clapped her little hands together repeating over and over, 'amp oo nana' until it was placed in front of her and it turned to 'amp oo mommy'.
Shelby was very proud of her little one; along with colors, shapes, sign language, and some learning activities, she was also teaching her manners. Although words didn't come out of her little ones mouth the way she wanted them to, the baby definitely tried her best and was doing her very best.
Soon enough, everyone had dessert in front of them and Rachel was wearing more of the whipped cream than she had gotten into her mouth. The fruit on the other hand was another story—she loved her fruit more than ever so she made sure not to miss one single piece.
Her hands were covered in whipped cream, along with her face, mouth, chin, there was even some in her hair and her dress was absolutely covered…
Shelby looked over and smiled, well it's a good thing whipped cream is easy to wash out of clothes. Also, where is my phone because this is just way too cute? She picked her head up and saw her dad taking a picture and was thankful that someone in her family had her phone out because she had no idea where her phone was.
That thought made her smile—she used to always have to know where that damn thing was because of interviews, photoshoots, news articles, meetings, the off chance she had time to be with her friends, and then the show itself of course.
Now she's a full time mom and when she has her phone she's taking constant pictures or is on the phone with her family or friends.
Oh how life has changed, and she couldn't be happier.
She looked back to her messy little baby girl who wore a lopsided grin and smiled as big brown doe eyes locked on her green. "I love you my little whipped cream covered baby girl."
"Ov oo mommy."
Shelby leaned in closer to her knowing she was about to get covered in whipped cream herself but didn't care one single bit. The slobber kiss was instead one of whipped cream and captured by not only her dads phone but Jeremy's and Lexie's as well and she couldn't wait to see it.
This was her new beautiful, a bit sticky in the best way, life.
I promise cousins are coming in the next chapter I wanted to them to have this time together in the house and for Rachel to see her aunts and uncles again before meeting them.