Shine your light-- Baby 37

For the time being, Leiah was in full wedding planning mode, she didn't even THINK about her challenge.  She was mostly busy designing a wedding dress for Lolly.

The young couple kept insisting that they have a small, private wedding with just the family.  Small it was, but Leiah set up this little spot outside.

Leiah was shocked to find that Lolly's parents didn't want to come.  She confided to Leiah that this was the way they had always been and they had mostly ignored Lolly her whole life.

So it was just the Mistoffelees...And Lolly, soon to become a Mistoffelees herself.  Thomas and Lolly quietly exchanged rings, all sense of formality gone.

Then had their first kiss.  Together, and the first kiss of their lives.

Everybody celebrated with some cake.

Then Thomas serenaded his new wife on the piano, she loved it!

Later that night, they spent their first night together as husband and wife.

Leiah let them sleep there for the night.

The next morning, while Lolly was still sleeping, Thomas got up and said goodbye to his mother, then made sure everything was set at their new house.  Camryn had left shortly after the wedding.

Leiah knew, that it now was time for birthdays.  The wedding had been over quickly and quietly, and that was just the way the couple wanted it.

Flor is one of the most adorable babies EVER.  Leiah was afraid that she would have gotten her father's weird nose, but she somehow got perfect looks.  Flor's mousy brown hair reminded Leiah of the color her hair was before she had gotten a makeover.  In fact, she looked a lot like her mom.

Abigail was even more striking than when she was a toddler, and Leiah couldn't wait to see her as a teenager.  She would have the guys ALL over her.  Time to get the shotgun!  Heheheh...Just kidding.

Arianna reminded Leiah exactly of her vampire days, except for the fact that she was a little bit of a tomboy.

Matthias was his usual handsome self.

Except for the fact that he was all of a sudden being bullied for being a vampire.  Leiah just tried to make sure he knew she loved him and forgot about it.

Baby time!  Leiah called somebody who had been interested in being in her challenge late at night.

He came over and talked to her for a little bit, but it was super late and he had to go home.

The next morning, she woke up baby Flor and got her ready for the day.

By the time she got downstairs, it was going on 9:30, and Thomas was still watching tv in his bathrobe. 

Leiah scolded him and told him to get to school.

Ten minutes later, he was dressed and ready to go.  The girls felt like if Matthias didn't go, they didn't have to go either.  So finally, all her kids were gone.

Flor was playing quietly and happily so Leiah took some quiet time and read.

She was able to finish her book, and since it had been over a week, she fixed her makeup. 

Then she went upstairs and taught Flor how to walk.

Flor, of course, was a little smarty pants and took to walking straight away.

After school, Arianna went to a friends house and was happily playing chess.

Abigail was doing her homework at HER friend's house.

Matthias was sulking in his room.

And Flor was happily playing like she had been all day.

So Leiah decided it was a perfect time to call back the next baby daddy.

She however, had an ominous feeling that something bad was about to go down.  She wasn't sure what, but she knew it was bad.

Abigail found the man, who's name was Christopher O'Malley, outside.

"Is my mom going to have a baby?"
She asked innocently.

Poor Christopher was caught off guard and didn't know quite what to do, so he answered how most men answer.

"Well, I think that's a question for your mother."

"It's just, every time a man comes here, my mommy has a baby a little bit later."
Abigail replied.

Leiah intercepted and stopped the conversation, saving Christopher.

"I'm, sorry about my daughter..."

Leiah said.

Christopher said it was okay and all was forgotten.

They cuddled in the hottub.

Then they kissed each other in the hottub.

Of course, it's quite obvious as to what comes next.

The hottub however, decided to break right afterwards, so they had to get out.

Leiah was taking care of Flor when she realized something.  She hadn't heard the lullaby.

She went outside to go fix the hottub while thinking.

Much better!  But she likely wasn't pregnant...What to do about that?

It was a quiet afternoon and everyone was playing.  Matthias said he had a big paper due and asked to be left alone.  Leiah thought nothing of it and just surfed the web.

It was suppertime, and Matthias hadn't come out of his room all day, so Leiah went to go ask him if he was going to come down to eat...  She found him on the ground with a syringe and a bottle of unidentified clear liquid next to him.

Leiah's first reaction was to want to scream, but her throat somehow wouldn't allow her to.  So she quickly called 911.

The first step at the hospital was for them to pump Matthias's stomach, then to put an iv with water in it so that his body could be cleared of whatever he had tried to put in his system.

Then it was just time to wait.  He was put into a room to rest.

Leiah mostly stayed right by Matthias's side, until they made her go out of the room so they could look over him.  They said they weren't sure what was going to happen now, they just had to wait.

Finally, early in the morning, they sent Leiah home but she didn't get any sleep.

"I'm such a terrible mother, I should've treated this more seriously before, I shouldn't have let it get to the point where he had to attempt suicide..."

Her mind was going 500 miles an hour, going always straight to the point of thinking she was a terrible mother.

She tried to calm herself by watching tv, but it didn't work.

Her phone rang and Leiah slowly brought the phone up to her ear, scared of what she might hear.

Turns out, it was good news.  Dr. Alex actually promised to bring him home personally.  Matthias was instructed to just rest, and so was the rest of the family.  Abigail insisted on sleeping in the same room.  Leiah insisted that it was inappropriate, but Abigail kept saying "but mommy, you always sleep in the same room with boys." Leiah had no retort to that and quit fighting.

Matthias literally slept for a couple days straight, Dr. Alex said that it was from the medication Matthias had taken.  As soon as he woke up however, Leiah gave him a huge hug and was going to spend the whole day with him.

She made him his favorite food--Watermelon pancakes, and they talked for hours.  Even after both had finished their pancakes.

By now, it was obvious that Leiah was not pregnant.  She was planning on waiting awhile before trying again, but Matthias insisted that he would be fine and wanted to see his new sibling sooner than later.  So she called Christopher again.

While she waited for Christopher to get there, Leiah had a long talk with Matthias's school.  She explained to them what had happened and why it happened, then requested that something be done about the bullying.  After quite a while of arguing with them, she wasn't quite sure that she had gotten anything accomplished.  She would try again later.

Leiah met Christopher outside again, and they talked and held hands for a few moments.

Then they went upstairs and thankfully, the lullaby rang true and clear.

Leiah had been planning to just sit down and watch some television in the living room, but after not sleeping for a long time, Leiah was exhausted.  Needless to say, she slowly sank down from her sitting position to a..sleeping position.

The one thing that everyone in the family loved was the piano.  Especially when their mother played.  Matthias sat diligently as Leiah played some songs for him.

                             Leiah was just starting to worry that she had mistakenly heard the lullaby when she felt the unmistakable nausea.

                               
                                

Sure enough, shortly after, she vomited.

Silly little Flor preferred to sleep on the floor by her toys.  Perhaps it was so that she could just wake up and get right to playing again. 

Leiah was finding a passion in fashion designing.  She was good at it and she loved it.

Matthias's attempted suicide had made her start to think a lot.  That was when Leiah decided to have another family fun day.

They all swam and splashed each other.

Matthias was even given the okay to swim.

Little Flor was just having fun running around the yard freely.

The whole family finished the day with smores...Well, the whole family minus Flor, who was too little to roast marshmallows.  Matthias insisted on eating cake and smores, and he knew he'd get away with it.

Welcoming a baby bump, Leiah greeted the next day with a cheerful face.

Little smarty pants Arianna was addicted to chess, and was always either playing on the computer or playing on the chess board.  She had gotten so smart that she was tutoring other people her age, so Leiah felt secure in leaving her in charge at home.

Leiah was going to have a little "me" day.  With first meant a trip to Dr. Knack.

It's a boy!

Leiah was going to try for multigender twins this time around.  Therefore, she headed to the supermarket to stock up on more watermelons.

"It's a good thing I love watermelons..."

 Leiah thought as she devoured 5 mini watermelons instantly.

The park sounded like the perfect place to go, so that's where she headed next.

Leiah even caught a butterfly!  She first got super giddy and excited like a 4 year old, but realized where she was and calmed down.

"You are so beautiful..."

Leiah said to the butterfly, now calmly admiring it.

She immediately let go of the butterfly though because she didn't dare hurt a precious life.

Leiah looked up to find two burglars and their boss.  What was this, a business meeting?

She sat on the fountain on the OTHER side of the park, away from the burglars.  Enjoying the day, Leiah just sat there for a while.

Leiah always felt bad about leaving her kids, so she went home soon.

Now there was nothing to do but wait for the baby/babies to come.

She WAS going to bed, but Matthias ans Abigail were watching tv in her room.

They were so happy and so enjoying each others' company that she didn't have the heart to kick them out, she just joined them and watched tv when she felt the baby kick.

"Hi there baby boy.  Will you have a sister?"

Finally, she got to sleep. 

That day being her due date, Leiah was getting quite large and uncomfortable.

She settled down to learning some interior design.

Then she relaxed in the bathtub for an hour or so.

Everything came crashing down at once.  The bathtub broke, the toilet broke, aaaaaand Leiah's water broke.

Leiah tried to breathe through the pain, why did all this have to happen?

She decided that at this moment it was time for her to focus on her baby.  She went into her room, and couldn't help but scream.  This little guy was certainly not coming out the easy way.

Luckily, Flor was still asleep, and she was a VERY heavy sleeper.

It may have been hard, but it was not a long labor.  Half an hour later, Leiah welcomed a new baby 37 to the world.

"Liam Mistoffelees, grow up and shine your light."

Leiah told her baby boy.  She knew he didn't understand her, but he someday hopefully would.

This post is dedicated to 4 of my dear friends who recently took their lives, and 1 that tried to take her life but was lucky enough to have somebody find her in time.  I'm sorry if this post brought back something unpleasant for you, but this was weighing heavily on my heart.  Guys, no matter what, it WILL GET BETTER.  I know this personally, because I was bullied for seven years before I left the school I was at.  Now, I couldn't be more happy.  I've got great friends and a great family and life couldn't be more perfect.  Push through it because it will get better, and guys, I love you, and I guarantee there is someone else out there who does and someone out there who will.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255, everywhere else find where you live for a hotline of people you can talk to.  PLEASE, GET HELP!