I woke up with a start. It had been the longest time since I had dreamed of the moment when Shem had asked me to be his wife. I looked over to see him asleep with Asher in his arms. He was lying on his back with his mouth open slightly. Asher slept with his head on Shem's chest while the rest of his tiny body was spread out, almost like a bird. I picked Asher up and he began to stir.
"Sh little one, it's alright." I whispered to him, "mama's got you."
I rocked him until he fell back to sleep and laid him in his cradle next to Naomi. Once I put him down I went to check on the other children. I walked into Elijah's room to see him sitting up, completely awake, in his cot. As soon as he saw me he lifted up his arms and I crossed over and picked him up.
"Someone's up early." I said to him, taping his nose playfully.
"Wet." He told me pointing to his cot.
I looked over to see his mattress was sopping wet and felt his bottom, which was wet as well. I sighed and carried him into the hearth and set him down. I came back to him a moment later with a basin and a pot of water. I lit the furnace and once a good size fire was ready, I put the pot over it and let the water heat up. I undressed Elijah and set him down on a clean cloth with a piece of bread. He began to nibble on the bread as I poured the now warm water into the washing basin. I took the bread from him and set him in the water. He immediately began to splash around in the water and giggled. I took a washcloth that had some oils on it and began to scrub him. He began to fuss a bit so I started to sing to him. He calmed down and started to splash again.
"You know you have a beautiful voice my love." I heard and turned to see Shem behind me.
"Pa!" Elijah exclaimed reaching for Shem.
"I'll hold you once mama's done washing you." He told him.
"He wet himself and the cot." I explained, "Can you wash his blankets and mattress?"
"Yes of course. What if he wants to sleep after his bath though?" Shem asked me.
"Then I will put him on our bed, but I do not think he will be tired for a while." I replied.
Shem left to go clean up the mess and I picked Elijah up out of the basin and wrapped a blanket around him. I gave him his bread back and began to dry him off. Once Elijah was nice and dry I went back to his room and changed him. He rolled off of my lap once I was done and began to walk around the room, talking to various objects. Shem came back into the room and scooped Elijah into his arms. I then left to go clean up the bath supplies.
Once that was all clean I started on breakfast for the girls, since I knew they would be awake soon. The sun had just come up and had cast an orange glow through the window in the kitchen. I was cutting up some apples and banana's when I felt Shem put his arms around me and kiss my neck.
"Good morning." He mumbled into my shoulder.
"Good morning." I replied, "Where is Elijah?"
"I sent him to wake his sisters." He told me.
I shook my head and began to put the fruit I had cut into five bowls. I began handing the bowls to Shem and he put them down on the table next to the cups I had already put down. I placed a jug of milk on the table and put bread next to each bowl. As soon as I was done, Shem entered carrying Elijah, followed by Evi and Adah. Everyone sat down and began to eat. After a few moments, the babies began to cry so I got up and walked into mine and Shem's room. Once I reached the cot I picked both babies up and brought them back to the table. I sat in my seat and began to feed them.
"Mama, papa, what we doing today?" Evi asked sleepily.
"I don't know." Shem told her, "What do you want to do?"
"See Naama and grandpa and Uncle Ham and Aunt Na'el and Uncle Japheth and baby Jonas." Adah exclaimed, spraying food everywhere.
"Finish chewing before you speak." I scolded her, wiping her face, "and I suppose the walk would be good for everyone. What do you think Shem?"
"I think that's a wonderful idea Adah." He said to her.
Once we all finished eating and the twins were feed, Shem and I changed the children and prepared to leave. I wrapped Naomi to my chest while Shem wrapped Asher to his and we headed off. The walk took about ten minutes and once we got there the girls ran into mother and father's hut. They emerged a few moments later followed by a bewildered mother and father.
"Shem, Ila, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?" mother asked, pulling us into a hug.
"Everything is fine mother, the girls just wanted to visit." Shem told her.
"Can you take us swimming grandpa?" Evi asked father.
"No I want to chase the ducks!" Adah cried.
"We can do both girls, but first we must eat." Father told them.
"We ate already." Evi told him.
"Yes but they haven't." Shem said to her, "We will sit and talk to them while they eat and then grandpa will take you to swim and chase ducks."
Mother had taken Naomi from my chest and was starting breakfast with her in her arms. I set down a blanket and Shem set Elijah and Asher down and went to go wake Ham with Adah while father took Evi to wake Japheth. I sat down and Elijah crawled into my lap and began to play with my hair.
"Can I help you mother or take Naomi?" I asked her.
"No I'm fine. I love holding her, it's like I'm holding a baby Shem again." She replied, "How are you?"
"Better. I'm still tired and my breasts are sore, but they are sleeping more through the night now." I told her.
Once mother was done everyone had come out and said their hellos. Shem took Naomi from mother so she could eat and sat down next to me. Asher had started fussing so I was rocking him while Elijah was patting his head.
"Gentle Elijah." Shem told him.
"Mama look at baby Jonas, he is almost as big as Asher." Adah said to me.
"He is." I told her looking down at my son.
I was worried about Asher, and I know Shem was too. He was very small and he seemed to have a little trouble breathing at times. He also ate very little. But these things didn't really seem to be much of a problem. He laughed and kicked his legs. He moved his arms around everywhere and was able to rollover from his stomach to his back, like our other children did around five months. Naomi was fine however. She was about the same size as the others were at her and Asher's age and ate at least four times a day. She was a little trouble maker and had recently begun to try sitting up on her own. The girls loved dressing her up and would pretend she was their baby while Elijah would just stare at her. Elijah was very stubborn around the babies but would occasionally try to calm Asher when he cried, which was very often. Asher's constant wails worried Shem and I at first, but mother told us Ham was the same way and gave me some herbs to put on my nipples before feeding him that would help. The herbs helped a lot and now he cried less but it was still a lot.
Once everyone finished eating, Japheth and father took the girls to swim while Shem and Ham went off into the woods to do something. Na'el joined me with Jonas on the blanket and mother sat with Elijah nearby, watching him pick flowers.
"How do you like having a child?" I asked Na'el who had put a sleeping Jonas next to Ashe and picked up Naomi.
"I love it, but I do wish I had a daughter." She confided in me.
"As much as I love my daughters, I do enjoy having sons. They are less dramatic." I told her, tickling Asher's belly, "besides you can have more."
"Yes I know and we will I'm just not ready yet." She said stroking Naomi's beautiful black hair.
"I find it strange that my first twins have light hair and my second pair have such dark." I said.
"Well Ham, Naameh, and Japheth all have hair as black as coal so that explains the dark hair, but where did the blonde come from?" she asked me.
"My birth mother had blonde hair and dark brown eyes like mine. My birth father had hair like mine and lighter brown eyes. Naomi has her eyes and Elijah has his hair." I told her.
"Jonas looks like my eldest sister did." Na'el said, "She and I were the only ones to have black hair and brown eyes."
"Did you see them die?" I asked her.
"No only my father. Did you see your family die?" She asked in return.
"Most of them. My father and uncles had run back to our tents to grab weapons so I never found out what happened to them. One of the men had come to grab me and my mother threw herself in front of me, when she did that he grabbed her and ran a spear through her. My aunt had tried to pull me away but another man came and slit her throat. The man who killed my mother pushed me down and ran a knife across my lower stomach. He then left and I lied there for I don't even know how long bleeding, then Shem found me and Naameh healed me." I told Na'el, tears pouring from my eyes.
Mother had come over at some point in my story had was rubbing my back.
"And I am so glad he did." She said to me, kissing my temple.
After a couple hours everyone had come back to the dining pit for lunch. The girls ran over to me and began telling me about their day. Na'el had taken Jonas into her hut to feed him and Shem had come over and taken her spot on the blanket. I was feeding Naomi and Shem was lying on his back while Elijah climbed all over him. Mother was coming around handing everybody lunch.
"Here Ila." She said handing me a plate.
"Thanks mother but I will eat when she is done nursing." I told her.
"Are you sure?" she asked me.
"Yes mother I am sure." I said, "Evi please don't feed Asher your food he can't eat it yet."
"But mama he is reaching for it." She whined.
"He just wants to be held." Mother told her picking Asher up.
Once Naomi was done I handed her to Shem, who had finished eating, and took the plate mother had left out for me. It was delicious and one we were done, Shem and I put the children in mother and father's hut for a nap. We put the girls and Elijah on the mattress and mother had brought in a cradle for the babies. Once they were all asleep, Shem and I went back to the fire pit.
"How do you like your new home?" father asked us.
"It's lovely." I replied.
"It turned out well. It is nice to have more space." Shem said.
"Will you have enough space for another child?" mother asked.
Shem and I looked at each other, we hadn't thought of that. Not that we were done having children, we just wanted to wait a little while. The house had plenty of room and Shem would easily be able to add onto it if we needed to add on.
"Most likely," Shem told her, "but it will be a little while before we have another."
"Once Naomi and Asher are older and don't need to be nursed anymore." I added in.
"We plan on having another child soon." Ham announced, putting an arm around Na'el's shoulder.
"Once Jonas is a year." She said.
"That is wonderful!" mother told them.
"Repopulating should be easier now." Father said, "It doesn't all depend on you now Ila."
"Yes I am glad. As much as I love being a mother, I do not think I will be able to give birth many more times. Maybe just two or three more times, then we will be done." I replied.
"It is your choice Ila." Shem told me, kissing my temple.
We all sat and talked for a couple hours and once the children woke up, Shem and I took them home. When we got home I started putting together a bath for the girls while Shem watched them build towers with Elijah out of sticks and stones behind our home.
"Girls." I called out for them, "Come in the water is ready."
They came running in. I undressed them both and helped them into the basin. They were pretty good at washing themselves, but I always stayed next to the basin to watch them and make sure they didn't miss anywhere.
"Did you enjoy today?" I asked them while braiding Evi's hair.
"Yes mama!" Adah exclaimed, patting her already braided hair.
"I miss grandpa and Naama." Evi said sighing.
For four, the girls were very grown up for their age. Their speech was very good and they could wash and eat without any help. Evi was very funny and very fast like Shem. She was always interested in what he was up to and followed him around asking him what he was doing. Adah was fast too but she was very quiet and tended to be scared of most things. She spent most of her time helping me with the babies and playing with Elijah. Adah would make a good mother one day, I could feel it.
Once the girls were done with their bath, I dried them both of and sent them to Shem to help them get dressed while I set up Elijah's bath. I tended to give the baths because I was more patient then Shem. Not that he wasn't a good father; he was incredible and loved his children more than anything. He just wasn't the most patient person. He didn't understand their little games like I did.
After Elijah's bath I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. I put together some chopped carrots, peas, and put them in a bowl in a little bit of water over the fire to steam them a bit. I then took some chicken that Shem had cut up for me and sprinkled some herbs on it. I put it in a pan and switched it out with the vegetables over the fire. While the chicken cooked, I feed the twins and changed their clothes and Shem and the girls set the table. Once I was done nursing the twins I took the chicken from the fire and put the vegetables in the pan. I mixed it all together and put a spoonful on everyone's plate. I sat down in my seat and we all began to eat.
"This is wonderful Ila." Shem said to me.
"Thank you." I replied, "What do you think girls."
"No peas." Adah said taking her peas and putting them in Elijah's bowl, who ate them greedily.
"I like chicken!" Evi told me, "Can we eat it more."
"Adah please don't give your peas to Elijah and yes Evi we can eat more chicken." Shem said, putting more peas on Adah's plate.