Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Thanks for the reviews! It really makes me want to keep writing!
Addison found Lily coloring in the playroom.
"Want to take Grace for a walk with me?"
"Okay."
"Let's get her in her carseat."
"I'll get it." Lily ran over to the corner where the carseat was.
"Can you carry it?"
"Yeah." Lily carried it back to Addison with a little difficulty. Addison set it on the coffee table across from her. She laid Grace in it and hooked her in.
"Can you get me a blanket for her out of the playpen?" Lily came back with one. "I think we're ready." She stood up and picked up the carseat which proved to be a bit painful. She walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Kaitlyn!"
"What?"
"Come here for a minute." Kaitlyn came down the stairs. "Lily, Grace, and I are going for a walk."
"Okay."
"I need you to carry the stroller down the front steps and then carry the baby out."
"Okay." She did both.
"Thank you. We'll be back soon. Watch for Mom-Mom and Aunt Nancy."
"I will." Addison started pushing the stroller down the sidewalk. Lily walked beside her. It was a nice, warm September day.
"Can I push?"
"Yup." They switched places. They had to stop occasionally to say hi to a neighbor and show off the baby. When they came back, there was an extra car in the driveway. Carolyn and Nancy were walking up to the house.
"MOM-MOM!" She went running to Carolyn. They turned around.
"Hello!" Carolyn gave Lily a hug. Addison walked up to them with the stroller.
"Hi." Carolyn hugged her but was very excited to meet her new granddaughter.
"Here's the baby."
"This is Grace."
"She's my sister." Lily happily played the part of big sister for an audience.
"Do you hold her?"
"Yeah."
"Does she cry?"
"All the time." Carolyn and Nancy laughed.
"She's kind of right." Addison agreed with Lily.
"Let's go inside so you can show us your baby."
"Okay." She grabbed Carolyn's hand and led her up the steps of the porch. Nancy was finally able to get a word in.
"Hi."
"Hi. I'm happy you're here." Nancy hugged Addison.
"Let's go inside."
"Can you carry her in?"
"Sure." She lifted the carseat out of the stroller and they walked in. "Still sore?"
"Some. I hadn't really felt sore all day until I tried to pick up the carseat." Nancy looked down at the baby.
"It's all worth it."
"It really is."
Later that night…Everyone was in bed except for Addison and Nancy. They sat on the couch catching up while Grace slept curled up on Addison's chest.
"I want all of the gossip from New York."
"There isn't any."
"None?" Addison was disappointed.
"None. You and Derek are all of the gossip in this family."
"You have three sisters. There's really no gossip?"
"No. I want to know what's going on around here. Like what does Mark think about things now that the baby's here?"
"Mark's been great. He took the girls to make things easier for me without anyone asking. He's held Grace. He's trying to be a good dad, not exactly succeeding, but trying hard."
"So what's the problem? Is Derek not helping enough?" Nancy was talking fast.
"He's being completely wonderful. He does literally everything except feed her."
"Do we need to discuss postpartum depression?" Nancy got serious.
"No. If you would let me finish a thought, you'd find out that the girls are not taking the whole baby thing so well."
"What do you mean? They seem so excited."
"They've both been giving me a hard time. I've heard you're not my mom several times. I have Lily figured out I think. She just needs a lot of time set aside for just her and me and then she loves the baby. Earlier this week, I was a little overwhelmed and Lily wasn't getting much attention so she told me she didn't want Grace to live here."
"She's so young. It'll only take a few days to get over that. She just needs to adjust to a new schedule."
"Yeah she's doing good now."
"And Kaitlyn?"
"I don't know what to do about her. She's always been such a laid back kid and so easy. Now she's a full-blown teenager. She's always in her room. She doesn't want to do anything with us. She doesn't want to be with Mark. When Mark had them, she was awful for him. She locked him out of the girls room until 10:45 so Lily didn't get any sleep. She completely disrespected him. He grounded her and she thought it was a joke."
"You have to follow through with that."
"We are. I just don't know what to do with a teenager."
"She probably needs some attention from you too."
"I'm trying as hard as I can right now. She needs to know who's in charge."
"She might get that memo from being grounded."
"That's what I'm hoping."
"I never had a problem with any of my kids when I brought home a baby."
"They've had such rough lives. I was finally a stable part of their lives and then I brought a baby home. They're worried that now that I have my baby I'm not going to want to have them."
"Love them all equally and you'll be fine. You're such a good mother. It's going to work out in the end."
"I hope so. So you really have nothing to tell me?"
"Really no. It's boring at home. You need to move back."
"You could move here."
"You know that's not happening. You really won't move back?"
"Maybe someday. Right now, we just got our lives back in order. Derek and I just got back together and I just had a baby. Maybe I'd move my baby, but how do Mark and I share the girls from opposite coasts. I'm not just going to abandon them."
"He'll move with you."
"Right now we need new. It's too soon to move back there. But honestly, I miss it. And I really miss you."
Sorry it's kind of short and not that exciting. I promise another chapter tomorrow!