Watching Florence grow and start to explore her world really made Juliet impatient for this next baby to be born. So impatient that, when her labor actually started, it took a couple hours for her to believe it was really truly time.
Of course, it was in the middle of a thunderstorm - which was worrying, because how would they contact a doctor if something went wrong? - but at least the time was here.
Predictably, Stefan panicked, so Juliet tried to remain as calm as she could under the circumstances. He ran about the house boiling water, finding towels, and trying to keep Florence from making a pest of herself, but he was generally as unhelpful as males usually are at this time.
Finally, little Nellie was born. Stefan made sure not to express his disappointment to his wife, but inside he seethed. Why couldn't this have been a boy? Frowning, he left Juliet to tend to their newest child, and went to find out where Florence had run off to. It was suspiciously quiet in her room, so she was definitely up to something!
It turns out, Florence had figured out how to navigate the stairs on her own, and was halfway down by the time he found her. He quickly found something for her to do until Juliet would be available to watch her again so he could get back to the business of farming. Perhaps one of the new picture books would keep her interest?..
Going out to the garden was actually a little bit of a vacation at this point, and he whistled to himself as he worked. The cold season was definitely moving in, but the plants were still producing, so money was still coming in. He wasn't sure how long that would last, however, so he was glad to have a healthy buffer in the bank. From the Almanac, and reports of previous winters from the locals, they were probably in for quite a bit of snow this year. He only hoped that buffer would last them until the spring thaw.
Juliet was again exhausted by the time he got back inside from gardening, so he offered to bathe Florence and keep her occupied before bed while she took a nap. The newborn was asleep again, and he hoped she would stay that way, because he still wasn't quite ready to face the fact that he had failed - again - to produce a son.
When Juliet awoke, she found Stefan teaching Florence to talk in the upstairs hallway. Whether the attempt was doing any good or not was hard to tell. Florence was babbling happily along, however, so at least it seemed she was having a good time. Juliet turned to care for Nellie, then headed downstairs to do some knitting.
She had found a pattern for a toddler sleeper that would look adorable on Florence, and she was dying to get working on it. It wasn't done by the time Stefan had gotten Florence put down for the night, however, and she regretfully stashed the project with the others in her knitting basket and headed up to care for Nellie before bed.
The days passed in much of a blur, but Juliet was slowly becoming aware of just how disappointed Stefan was about Nellie's gender. He had started hinting that they should get to work on having a boy, and before long, she agreed that it was time.
Keeping Florence unaware of their nightly attempts for another pregnancy was more difficult, however, and Juliet was always hyper-aware of where her oldest was at any one given time.
On the subject of Florence: she was growing quickly. She spent a lot more time downstairs, which allowed Juliet to do her housework without bothering Stefan to watch the toddler. Florence was also learning to potty train, and her vocabulary was finally becoming at least decipherable.
Florence looked great in her new sleepwear, and it kept her nice and warm in the colder nights. There wasn't a fireplace in her room, so the extra warmth was important. Granted, a fireplace in a toddler's room would just be asking for trouble, so Juliet was glad that there wasn't one there. For the most part, Florence was good at keeping away from the fireplaces in general, because she had found the play area in the spare bedroom - and that seemed to keep her attention away from dangerous trouble-making.
Stefan was definitely getting tired of being awoken at all hours of the night by the newest baby. At least Florence slept through the night. It would all be different if Nellie had been a boy.
Furiously, he stomped down the stairs to get some breakfast before taking yet another very early morning out in the fields. He and Juliet's nightly romps still had yet to produce any results, and Thanksgiving had come and gone with Stefan feeling like there was precious little to be truly thankful for. Perhaps it was the upcoming winter that had him worried, perhaps it was just stress that Juliet hadn't gotten pregnant again yet - but he was struggling not to take his anger out on his wife. Digging in the garden helped relieve his anger - but today's storm had prevented that. By nighttime he was in a horrible mood, and Nellie was crying again.
By the time they had gotten to sleep, it was nearly midnight, and Stefan had truly lost his patience with the whole day. He could only hope that the thunder and lightning wouldn't wake Florence up and he could finally get a little bit of rest.
I love this thing because it makes caring for the garden so much faster, but it certainly is immersion-breaking. It does look funny with his old fashioned clothes, though. LOL.
Oh dear, another little girl, and Stefan's temper maybe making an appearnce soon. Stress will do that to you, but excited to see Nellie as a toddler.