Space oddity

Round 17: Days 81-85

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Narrated by Ottilie Draper

Of all of us, Mum was the one who had the least amount of opportunity to bond with Rose, so she's been taking every opportunity to do that when she has the time.



I've just found out I'm pregnant again too. Lake almost didn't believe me when I told him. We thought it would take us a little longer now I'm a bit older but we only tried a couple of times.

So with one little girl and another baby on the way, it really wasn't a good time for one of us to be unemployed. Unfortunately, that's what happened. No magazines have wanted to publish Lake's articles lately, so essentially, he's unemployed. He's really down on himself about it.

I think Rose really cheers him up though. She definitely keeps him busy while he's home.

And he's certainly amorous by the time I get home. I don't know if he's trying to make up for not bringing in any cash or if he just gets bored but it's nice to be greeted so enthusiastically. He's still trying to get his stories published but no luck so far.

The other night, I sat Rose down and told her that she'd soon have a little brother or sister. She pretty much just scowled and rolled her eyes. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for. I think she likes being an only child.

She perked up a lot when she saw how we'd done up her bedroom as a birthday present. Apparently, she didn't go crazy from all the pink in her nursery because she's very much a girly-girl. She would wear dresses all the time but it's a little too cold now and I won't let her.

To alleviate his boredom, Lake has been going to the shop with Dad. Drusilla doesn't work weekends, so he can use the extra help then. He had a little trouble with the cash register but he's got his bronze badge now, so he's getting there.

Dad wants him to take over the store when he dies (I hate it when Dad talks about dying) if Leo doesn't want it, so he's training him up too. He likes it. There are no pictures of his pottery but he's actually getting really good.

I'm getting so big. I'm sick of people asking me if I'm having twins. "No, I'm just fat!" I really feel like saying that sometimes.

I'm happy to say that Rose has warmed up to the idea of having a little sibling though. She was really excited when I said that the baby could kind of hear what's going on out here and she talks to him/her every day now.

We're coming into winter and we were planning on just leaving the vegetable patch empty until spring but Rose is really into gardening, like us, and insisted on planting some tomatoes. I hope she doesn't get too disappointed when they die when it gets cold, which they inevitably will.

I was really hoping Mum would live to see this baby born but she recently passed away, aged 76.

I think, "Mummy, you look like a sumo wrestler" was the last thing I needed to hear.

Mere hours after Mum died, Patience Ivy made her appearance!

Rose is very pleased she's got a sister.

Lake hates the nursery! I think he's had enough pink. I say at least it's not as retina burning as Rose's nursery was!

I think he secretly likes having two girly girls in the house though!

Looking after Patience has been wonderful for Dad. I think he was the most despondent about Mum's death. They were together since he was 16 or 17.

I think it's still hitting us all hard though.

Lake is a wonderful father but it's really suspicious that whenever he passes Patience to me, she's got a smelly green cloud following her.

I think Rose is missing her days as a carefree toddler. She's at school now and she seems fairly "meh" on the whole thing. I guess she's not an academic.

Notes:

• Patience is 1 year old now, so you can check her out in her profile.
• I'm still deciding on whether it'll be Leo or Lake who gets the store. I might just let it go to whoever gets it when Elias dies, because I think it'd be a bit of a pain to transfer it. I wish they'd made a better way to transfer businesses. Why should you only be able to transfer it to someone in the same household? Silly. I might experiment with selling the deed on the home lot and see how that works.