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Boris Yeltsin: Learning to cook is a good, but I'm gonna go ahead and do that in the 'Goodbyes' story, so doing it in this one as well would be boring.

Chapter Eleven: Practicing Parenthood

"Katie, Lexie's trying to wake Becky up," Caleb said.

This was the fourth time she'd tried to wake that poor baby up. I'm glad I'm just having the one right now. More than that would probably drive me insane.

I stood up from my bed and walked down the hall to Becky and Lexie's room, crossing my arms as I stood at the doorway. "Alexis Nichole, what did I tell you?" I asked.

"I no do nofink," Lexie said, backing away from Becky's crib.

"Leave Becky alone. Come in my room. Wes is here," I said, holding my arms out.

"I see Wes?" Lexie asked, running over to me.

"Yep. He's here to see you, but he'll leave if you're being bad," I said as I picked her up and walked back to my room. "See? He's right there," I said, handing her to Weston.

"Hey, Beautiful," Weston said.

"Hi, Hassum," Lexie said.

That was actually supposed to be 'hi, handsome', but she's still only two, so she's still learning how to pronounce certain words and letters. I think her speech impediment is absolutely adorable, but Mom likes to work with Lexie on it. If Lexie mispronounces a word, Mom will spend a minute or two helping her correctly pronounce it. I guess it's a good thing. At least she's learning.

"What are you doing to Becky?" Weston asked.

"I no do nofink," Lexie said.

"I heard you're trying to wake her up."

"Yeah."

"How come?"

"I no know."

"Well, don't wake her up. She needs to sleep so she can grow and so she can play with you later. Leave her alone, okay?"

"Otay."

I smiled and sat on my bed, leaning against the headboard. I watched Weston and Lexie interact with one another for a couple minutes, as my mind wondered. If he's this great with my sister, he's bound to be amazing with our own baby. That's a relief. He doesn't have any younger siblings, so my brother and sisters are basically his as well. Of course, I imagine someday they'll be his siblings, when and if we get married. That's a nice thought.

I can't wait until our baby comes. I mean, yeah, it's gonna be scary. But, I have people around willing to help. Sharon's really excited to have a baby around, too. Especially since the last time a baby was actually around for her, was Weston. Of course, there's Becky and Lexie, but she doesn't see them very often.

Mom roped us into babysitting the little ones earlier this morning. She had a few things to do at the Tipton. It's pretty weird, actually. I practically grew up in the hotel, but I'm hardly ever there anymore. I should go pay a visit one of these days. I love bugging Patrick. He gets to nervous when I'm around. It's rewarding, actually. Esteban is fun to freak out, too. So is Arwin. He's hilarious, I love him. Grandpa is someone you don't mess with. Grandma's the fun, energetic, young at heart grandmother. I love her to death. Grandpa Kurt… Well, I don't see him very often, but he's fun to hang out with. We always get in trouble.

"Katie, Becky's awake," Caleb said from the doorway.

"Okay. Thanks," I said, standing up.

I looked at Weston and Lexie for a few seconds and I smiled, before making my way down to Becky's room. I walked over to her crib just as she stood up and she stared at me, sucking her thumb as she held onto the railing with her free hand. "Hi, Sexy Becksy."

Becky smiled behind her thumb and let out a quick giggle. I laughed lightly and kissed her nose, picking her up from the crib. I walked to the changing table and handed her a stuffed animal to play with after laying her down. It didn't take long at all to change her diaper, so I was done in at least a minute. I picked her up again and rested her on my hip as I walked back to my room. I stood at the doorway and laughed a little, seeing that Weston and Lexie were having a tickle fight.

Becky pointed to them and she babbled, looking from me, to Weston and Lexie, and then back to me.

"Yeah, they're playing huh?" I asked. "You wanna play, too?"

"Play," Becky said.

I walked over to Weston and Lexie and put Becky on the bed. The girls climbed on top of Weston and I sat on the bed, picking up my phone as 'Round and Round' by V Factory started playing. I pressed the 'talk' button and held my phone to my ear.

"Katherine speaking," I said.

"Katie, it's Mom," Mom said.

"Hi, Mom. How's it going?"

"Good, but we're a little held up. Chelsea's gonna drop Aimee and Tracy off at the house because she got called into work early, so you're gonna have to watch them, alright?"

"Okay."

"How are the kids behaving?"

"Good. Lexie was trying to wake up Becky, but I got her to play with Weston. He and the girls are having a tickle fight."

"What about Caleb?"

"I haven't heard from him in about ten minutes, he might be on his play station."

"Alright, well check on him about every half hour."

"I will."

"Have you fed them yet, or have they been awake for very long?"

"Caleb ate about an hour ago, Lexie about a half hour ago, and Becky just woke up ten minutes ago, so I'll give her something in a few minutes."

"Alright. Make sure you don't give her milk."

"I know, Mom."

I looked over to Weston and the girls and I gasped, as Lexie started vomiting.

"What? What's wrong?" Mom asked.

"Lexie's throwing up, Mom; I gotta go. I'll call you back later," I said before hanging up.

I stood up from the bed and Weston picked Lexie up, patting her back. Becky started crying and I picked her up, running my hand over her back. "Trade me babies. You get Becky something to eat; I'll get in the tub with Lexie. Is she done?" I asked.

"She seems it. I think she's more surprised than she is anything."

"Probably," I said, as we carefully switched babies.

"No milk?"

"Not unless you wanna clean two puke messes. I can't bend down, I have a kid in the way," I said, walking to the bathroom.

I turned on the bath water and I sat Lexie on the counter, before carefully taking off her shirt. I got her shorts off and wet a wash rag. I wiped Lexie's mouth and hands before putting the wash rag into the laundry bin, and I stood her up on the counter to take her diaper off.

"Do you have to go potty?" I asked.

"No potty," Lexie said.

"Okay."

I threw Lexie's diaper in the trash bin and I sat her in the tub, before turning off the water.

"Sisser in," Lexie said.

"I'm gonna get in," I said, taking my shirt off.

Once I got undressed, I got into the tub with Lexie and I grabbed the small cup on the edge of the tub and I poured water over her body. It only took a couple minutes to get her cleaned up, but we played with some of the bath toys for a while and added bubbled just a few minutes ago. Now, I'm laying back in the tub, while Lexie's sitting on my legs, playing with some of the toys.

"Katie, Chelsea's here. She wants to talk to you before she leaves," Weston said from the doorway.

"Alright. Tell her I'll be about ten minutes."

"Will do."

It took a little longer than ten minutes because Lexie had to use the big girl potty before she got dressed. I was so excited when I heard the plops I even got a picture of her on the potty just for Mom. Now, I was sitting in the living room and Chelsea was giving me a list of allergies that Aimee has.

"She's lactose in tolerant, so she basically has the same diet Becky has. She can't eat colored cereals; she's allergic to most of the dyes, so Cheerios, Cornflakes, any of the unflavored breakfasts she can have. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pick her up tonight. If I'm not, I'll see if my husband can swing by, and… I think that's it. Oh! She's allergic to peanuts too, so no peanut extractives, and definitely no peanut butter," Chelsea said.

"Alright. I got it," I said. "What exactly would happen, if she gets any of that? I mean, I'll do my best, you know I will, but I still like to be prepared."

"With milk, she gets sick and has diarrhea for about a week. The color dye numbers, she throws it right back up, so nothing really happens except getting sick, but I'd still rather her not have it. The peanuts, she's deathly allergic, so don't let her near them."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I'll write it down."

"Alright. I'll call to let you know what's going on. If anything happens, call me. I'll be over in a flash."

"Okay. Don't worry, she'll be fine. I promise."

"I know, but she's still so little…" Chelsea said, handing Aimee to me.

"I've been taking care of Lexie and Becky since Mom had them."

"I understand that, but she's… She's tiny…"

"Chelsea, I know how to take care of a baby. Tracy will tell you if I mess anything up."

"Alright… I better go, I'm already late," Chelsea said, standing up.

"Go, Chelsea. We'll be fine. There are two responsible teenagers here. We'll do good."

It took ten minutes to get Chelsea out the door, but we finally got rid of her. Right now, I was in Lexie and Becky's room, with Aimee in my arms. I was feeding her a bottle and rocking her slowly in the rocking chair.

"I'm having a baby… It'll be here in five months. You'll be seven months old when it comes. Maybe you'll be really good friends… I can't wait until my baby's here. I think I'll be pretty good at it. Look how well I'm doing with you. I haven't corrupted you yet. Tracy's okay. I think I'm doing really good for a first timer…"

"You're doing great."

I looked up to the doorway and smiled, seeing Weston standing there. "Hey…"

"Hey."

"Who's watching the kids if we're both up here?"

"Your mom's home."

"Come over here."

Weston walked over to me and he knelt in front of the rocking chair. "Yes?"

"You wanna hold her?"

"Sure…"

I took the bottle out of Aimee's mouth and handed to Weston and I smiled, watching him stare at her. "What do you think?"

"I think it's… Weird…"

"Why?"

"She's so small."

"Yeah… You know, our baby's gonna be smaller."

"Yeah, I know…"

Aimee started fussing and Weston bit his lip. I laughed a little and took her back into my arms, putting the bottle into her mouth. I kissed her forehead lightly and looked at Weston with a smile. "You think we'll do good?" I whispered.

Weston shook his head and pressed his forehead to mine. He kissed my lips lightly before answering. "I think we'll do great."