For Disclaimer, please see chapter one. I also don't Barbie or Barney (thank goodness).
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad that you're all happy with the birth of the two newest Camdens. Enjoy and review!
Sunrise
Chapter 13: Sleep Deprivation
This chapter starts in August, one month after the last chapter took place.
An incredibly sleep deprived Anna rubbed her eyes and moaned when, for the 3rd time that night, a baby's cries awoke her. She rolled over and looked at the clock. 4:23 AM. "Lovely." She whispered to herself. She glanced over at her husband, who was still sound asleep. He had never been woken by the crying, a typical man she said. She rolled groggily out of bed and stumbled down the hall. As she neared the door to her babies' room, a second cry began…obviously the other baby had been awoken. She sighed and walked into the room, first reaching into Connor's crib and holding him in her right arm, then getting Avery and holding her in her left arm. She lowered herself into her rocking chair and began to rock back and forth slowly, singing to the one month olds. The babies quickly fell back asleep. After a few more minutes, she slowly stood and lowered the twins back into their cribs. She looked at the clock in their room and saw, to her dismay, that it was already 5:15. Where did the time go? She walked back to she and David's room and collapsed into bed, exhausted. Within moments, her sleep deprivation took effect, and she nodded off into a light sleep.
When David awoke at 7:45, he looked over at his sleeping wife with a smile. Confused, he listened, but heard only silence. He hadn't even heard the babies cry all night! Maybe they were getting better at sleeping through the night, he reasoned. He got up and tip toed into his closet, quickly slipping on his robe and walking quietly out into the kitchen, where he started a pot of coffee. He stretched and picked up the paper. This was the good thing about being a columnist…most of the time he got to work from home. This came in especially handy with the new babies in the house. As he went to sit down at the table to read, a baby's cry caught his attention. He ran to the twins' room, not wanting the other baby or his wife to be woken. He scooped Connor up into his arms and carried him into the kitchen.
"Good morning!" He whispered to his son cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?" The baby stopped crying and started up at his father with wide blue eyes. David glanced at the clock. "Wow! You and your sister slept in this morning!" He said astonished. He sighed, realizing that meant that they must have been up a lot during the night. "Have you been giving your mother trouble? Well, cut it out." He instructed. The baby's face became purple as he started crying again. When David took a whiff of the air, he quickly understood why. "Whoa! For such a little guy, you sure can make one nasty smell!" He said. He walked over into their living room which had a small baby changing mat on the floor for when they weren't able to use the one in the babies' room. He held his breath as he quickly changed his son's dirty diaper. When he was finished, he threw the diaper in the diaper genie and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew! At least that stink is gone, huh Mr. Connor!" His jaw dropped as he turned and saw his wife standing in the end of the hall, holding their daughter. "Wh- When did she cry?" he asked, astonished.
"She's been crying for like five minutes. Looks like you were a little pre-occupied though." She said with a tired smile, motioning at Connor. David smiled back at her, then walked over, kissing her good morning. "I'm going to go give these two their breakfast it you don't mind. While I do, It looks like your coffee is ready. Would you pour me some? It's de-caf I hope, you know I can't have regular while I'm still breast feeding."
"Of course I remember." He told her. He handed Connor over to his wife. As soon as she entered the babies' room, he ran to the coffee maker, dumped his coffee, and put some new grounds…this time de-caf. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for this job…
Sarah shook her head disapprovingly as her five year old, Jared, walked over to her sporting his dinosaur underwear on his head. He had a gleeful smile on his face as he tried to pretend like nothing was odd about his choice of apparel. He walked past his mother and over to the kitchen table where he poured himself a bowl of cereal and began eating. Sarah raised one eye brow and walked over to him, hands on her hips.
"Jared Tyler, what exactly do you think you're wearing? It's not funny you know, it's 8:40! We have to leave for day camp in 5 minutes, Jared, and this is what you've been spending your time doing?" She looked around. "And where is your brother?" She asked, irritated.
"Sleeping." Jared informed her between cereal bites. Sarah's eyes widened.
"What do you mean sleeping?" She asked.
"I mean, sleeping! He slept through his alarm." Sarah grabbed the underwear off her younger son's hair and stormed into Trevor's room, where she threw the curtains opening, waking the 8-year-old rudely.
"Trevor! Get up! We have to leave for day camp in five minutes, and I have to go to work! Get dressed." She ordered, tossing a pair of jeans and a shirt out of his closet. Every morning, the kids went to a day camp at their school while she went to work. It wasn't the most fun way to spend their last month of summer break, but it was necessary with two working parents. Trevor moaned groggily and rolled out of bed, putting on the clothes his mother had given him. "I'll put a breakfast bar in a bag for you and your brother." She said. Trevor nodded and Sarah hurried back into the kitchen where she tossed two breakfast bars into two bags. Trevor came down the hall, looking like he was ready to go. Jared drank the rest of the milk from his cereal and tossed the bowl in the sink. With that, they were off.
After Sarah dropped the kids off at their camp, she drove over to the doctor's office she worked at. She walked inside and into her small office. Lifting the top of her laptop, she clicked on her schedule. Her first appointment was in 20 minutes. As she was about to shut the computer again, a small message popped up on her screen. 'You have 1 new e-mail message(s)' it read it bright blue letters. She clicked 'read' and the message came up. She smiled as she saw that it was from Matt.
Hey Honey,
I didn't get to tell you goodbye this morning before I left for work. You looked to peaceful to wake you up. I hope that your morning went well. I love you. –Matt
Sarah smiled and replied, telling her husband that the morning went somewhat well, and that she loved him too. They e-mailed back and forth for a few minutes, then Sarah noticed that it was already time for her first appointment. She told her husband goodbye, shut her laptop, and started out the door.
Riley giggled joyfully and she took her spoon and shot some peas across the room at her sister. Meg screamed and took cover. When the rain of food had ended, she sat back up and yelled for her mother. Lucy came into the room and, seeing the little green spots all over the table and floor, shook her head.
"Mommy! Riley threw peas at me!" She cried angrily. Lucy looked at Riley with her hands on her hips, which set the baby into another giggling fit. She rolled her eyes.
"Riley," Lucy scolded, "No throwing your food. You need to eat it like a big girl. You're almost two, for crying out loud!" Riley's bottom lip quivered as she tried not to cry. Lucy laughed and ran her fingers through her daughter's wavy blonde hair. "It's OK honey, don't cry. You just need to behave like a big girl at the table. How about this: after you finish your lunch, we can plan your birthday party!" Riley squealed and clapped her hands. Lucy laughed and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Oh Riles, mommy can't believe that you're already going to be two next week!" She said quietly. "Where did the time go?" When the youngest Kinkirk finished eating, she and her mother sat down on the sofa and began to decide what to do for her second birthday party. "What theme should it be?" Lucy asked. Riley put her finger on her chin and began to think. After she had been silent for a minute, Lucy decided to make some suggestions. "Barbie?" She asked. Riley shook her head. "Hmm…Barney?" Riley shook her head again. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
"Puppies!" She cried triumphantly. Lucy laughed and nodded.
"Puppies it is." She said, writing it down on her piece of paper. "Who should we invite?" She asked. "Let's see here: Charlie, Jared, Trevor…and of course your new baby cousins, Avery and Connor…" She kept thinking.
"Mia, Emmy, Meg!" Riley said with enthusiasm. Lucy laughed and patted her daughter on the arm.
"Of course your sisters are invited, silly!" Riley giggled. "Is that it? That's 5 people, and 8 counting your sisters. And of course 9 counting our birthday princess!" Riley smiled.
"Princess." She repeated and Lucy nodded.
"That's right. Riley is mommy's little princess," Lucy told her and kissed her daughter on the head. "Who mommy loves very, very much."
A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review!
