Little Beth is such a joy! Everyone in the house wants to always be around her, Angie and some other older women at church were joking that she's going to have quite the difficulty when it's courting time, she's got (atleast) 8 very protective older brothers! After we got home from Newcrest, the boys took turns being under the weather, so we kept them away until they felt better so we didn't have to deal with a sick baby. As the weather gets colder we're going to be seeing more and more sicknesses doing the rounds, since a lot of our congregation travelled to their families for the holiday period there's always someone who gets awfully sick.
Thankfully I've got my recipe for chicken & dumplings and chilli on demand, they're what the boys ask for when they're not feeling too good, the food warms them from the inside out. I make large servings of both dishes so that I'm not cooking a whole new meal from scratch by the morning. I'm used to making enough servings for 15+ people, so we're constantly flowing with an abundance of leftovers, which is amazing for when guests drop by unexpectedly. Being able to show hospitality is one of the things that my mother impressed on us was our duty to excel at as wives and mothers, we show the goodness of God when we extend an invitation to others to sit and fellowship.
The boys are absolutely in love with their little sister! It seems they all grew overnight when we brought her home, they finish their chores faster, finish their homework faster, and have upped their handwashing rate by a tonne (which I'm eternally thankful for!) The little boys have been practicing being gentle when holding her, and they only hold her with either Mason or I there. Little Titus calls her his baby, which makes this mama's heart glad that he's not so burned at having his spot as the youngest being taken. I've been spending more time with him and the twins as they've adjusted to having another baby in the house, and thankfully they've done so well.
Little Beth is hitting so many milestones! She's quite stubborn and doesn't want to start, but as soon as we get her on the floor and try and get her waving, or even crawling, she puts her heart and soul into it. The boys love cheering her on, and she loves the attention so she pushes until she's overstimulated. Her stubbornness means she fights sleep because there's so much happening in the house, so nap times have to be enforced or else she'd never get any sleep and would be an overstimulated mess.
Molly, Mason's sister, is in her second trimester of her first pregnancy and is absolutely glowing! She's been in the throes of morning sickness since she announced to us at easter, and she's only just recently began feeling better. She and Elijah have completed their move to Newcrest, now they live around 20 minutes from us. Her belly is so wonderfully small, we laugh that she hasn't popped yet so she hasn't had to go shopping for a whole new maternity wardrobe. Angie and I, along with some ladies from church planned a gender reveal/baby shower for Molly as the first event to celebrate them moving to Newcrest.
(AN: There's a video but is absolutely refused to load and the gif drove the quality into the toilet - that may be a post on its own tomorrow, for now there's a screenshot form the video)
And it's a boy! The boys were so happy to get another boy in the family. Molly and Elijah haven't picked out a name yet, so they've got more work ahead of them before the little mister makes his appearance.
Angie was ecstatic getting to plan this gender reveal, we only had one when we were expecting Noah before choosing to not find out anymore with the subsequent pregnancies. She and Aaron have such a love for children that even with 9 grandchildren, they're over the moon everytime they're told that there's another one coming. Aaron pastors our congregation, and many families have adopted him and Angie as their grandparents, so they have many 'grandchildren' that they're nurturing and helping to grow in the Lord.