A Hundred Lives to Change

[Ally3772]

Chapter Eleven

"If you keep wiggling it then it will fall out in no time!" Catherine said.

I peaked my head in the toddler room to find Meredith sitting on one of the beds.

"Oh no, another loose tooth?!" I asked.

"Yep! My second one!" She said proudly.

"If you keep this up the tooth fairy is going to go broke!" I giggled.

"Is that possible?" Meredith gasped.

"That would be silly!" Catherine said.



"What are you guys doing in here anyway?" I asked.

Catherine and Meredith just looked at each other.

"Girls..." I said.

"We don't like Sophia." Meredith said quietly.

I walked fully in the room and closed the door behind me. Catherine went and sat down next to Meredith and I sat across from them.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"She doesn't want to be here, and she doesn't really talk to us." Catherine said.

"Well, you guys were lucky in the sense that you were very little when you were brought here. You had no way of knowing that this wasn't your normal living situation. She was taken from everything she knew and brought to a stranger. It may take some time for her to open up and adjust." I explained.

"I suppose that makes sense." Meredith said.

"So try to give her a little more time, for me?" I asked.

"We will." Catherine said.

Meredith nodded her head.

"Thank you! Now, time to get ready for school." I told them.

They both got up from the bed and walked into the hall towards the bathroom. I walked down the hall to the nursery to find Jackson standing there holding Megan.

"Was she hungry? I didn't hear her cry!" I said.

"She started fussing when I walked in." He told me.



"Thank you for feeding her." I told him.

"No problem, I see you got her some new onesies?" He asked.

I walked over to the brown paper bag on the footstool.

"Yeah, I found them in the market last week. Figured I'd grab them for whenever we got more babies in." I told him.

"She's so tiny!" Jackson said.

He tickled her stomach making her giggle a little.

"You were that tiny once." I laughed.

"Crazy." He said.



Later that afternoon I was in the living room when Sophia walked in.

"Come sit." I said, patting the couch.

She slowly walked over and sat down next to me.

"How do you like it here so far? It's been a few days." I asked.

"It's okay, but I want to go home." She said.

I nodded, "I know it's hard with the sudden change."

"My mom will come get me soon, I just know she will." She told me.

"Your mom? Your file didn't say anything about your parents." I questioned.

"She told me not to tell." She said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

She turned away from me. Okay.

"Well, I'm sure she has her reasons. But I don't think she's going to come back." I told her.

"You don't know anything!" Sophia yelled.

She suddenly stood up to face me, balling up her fists at her sides as she glared at me.

"Alright, let's calm down. I didn't mean to upset you." I said calmly.

"I HATE IT HERE!" She screamed.

She ran out of the room and bolted upstairs. I was left feeling shell shocked as I tried to process what just had happened. It was dark now and Catherine was outside playing with Meredith while we waited for the chicken to finish cooking. I walked to the backyard to call the girls in when I heard water splashing and giggling. My heart sank because there was a rule that the children were not allowed to swim unattended for safety reasons. I rushed outside to see Catherine inside the fountain splashing around and Meredith standing off to the side laughing.



"Catherine! Get out of there right now! You'll get sick!" I scolded.

"I'm being careful!" She whined.

"Right now! Come dry off, dinner will be ready soon." I told her.

"Fine." She groaned.

Meredith helped her out of the fountain.

"Sorry mama." Catherine said.

"It's okay, I didn't mean to scold you. I just don't want you to catch a cold." I told her.

I kissed the top of her head.

After dinner we all sat around the table and talked for a bit. Catherine and Emerson were in kitchen cleaning up the majority of the dishes.

"So, how was the date?" Anthony asked.

"Good, except her phone accidently got thrown away and I had to go dumpster diving." Jackson said.

"Explains why you stink." Jennah said, plugging her nose.

"He can take a shower soon, dinner just was ready." I laughed.



"Sophia, you still haven't eaten. Is everything okay?" I asked.

"I'm not hungry." She grumbled.

"You didn't eat at all today, and barely anything yesterday. You need to eat." I said.

She glared at me.

"So I was thinking of taking the girls to the park tomorrow, it was suppose to be warm." Anthony offered.

"Parks are for children." Sophia said.

I sighed, "You can go up to your room Sophia."

She pushed her chair back and walked out of the dining room.

"This is going smoothly." I groaned.

"She'll come around." Jackson said.

"I hope, because I've been lucky so far with wonderful children who have transitioned into the new normal pretty well." I said.

...

"Little miss it is time for bed." I said.

Megan looked up at me.

"Yes, and you didn't have a nap today so you should be tired." I told her.



I carefully laid her down in the bassinet.

"I'll be back to check on you a little later." I told her.

I closed the door after shutting off the lights.

"The kids are down." Anthony said.

He was heading into the boys room. I offered to make him his own room, but he refused and said he didn't mind staying where he was.

"Thank you." I told him.

"Hey, listen. I wouldn't beat yourself up too much over Sophia. She's just confused and angry, she'll eventually calm down." He told me.

"I know, but she's so angry. If this keeps up I may have to get some help with her. I can't have her upsetting everyone else in the process." I said.

"We'll keep an eye on her." He said.

"Goodnight." I said.

"Night." He said.

Instead of going to bed I decided to head downstairs and get some painting done. I wasn't good at all, but it was fun and I could make a little extra money.



Once I finished the painting I went upstairs and changed into my pajamas. Then I grabbed ten dollars and snuck into the girls room quietly without waking them up. Meredith took a deep breath before settling in her pillow. I carefully slipped the ten dollars under her pillow along with the certificate for losing a tooth. She had lost the tooth shortly after dinner and she was so excited to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. I snuck back out of the room and walked to my room but was stopped by the sound of cooing coming from the nursery.

"Megan, please." I said.

I opened up the door and walked inside, scooping her up in my arms.



"It's going to be a long night isn't it?" I asked.

She kicked her legs and squealed.

"Alright, let's get comfortable." I said.

I walked over to the chair and sank into the cushions.

Sophia is having a rough time settling in... Will she be the first kid who doesn't want to be here?

[Ally3772]

Chapter Twelve

Side note before this chapter starts! Since the base game doesn't accept bigger households, I'm using MCCC to allow it to go over eight. Since Anthony is staying there are currently nine sims in the household. In order to edit sims in CAS you have to use MCCC to do so or the game will automatically pick one sim to delete if you do it any other way. Because of this I cannot edit Megan who will age up in this update. MCCC doesn't show up for infants, but as soon as she is a toddler I can do it. So unfortunately her hair and outfits will be a little wonky!

"Alright, it's been a hectic day so it's nap time. After all, it was your birthday after all!" I said.

I looked down and smiled at Megan.



I laid her down in a crib and gently rubbed circles on her back until she eventually fell asleep. I creeped out of the room turning the light off before heading downstairs. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out.

Can we talk? -M

I was mad at her. I hadn't forgotten the fact that she's been a completely different person since I took this job. Or the fact that she told my father where I worked now knowing the type of person he was and how he treated me.

I don't know, can we? -J

My phone buzzed as her face lit up on my phone. I groaned and accepted the call.

"Hey." I said.

I heard shuffling on the other end before she answered.

"Hi." She said.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

I walked into the living room, Anthony was playing video games with Emerson so I decided the kitchen may be a better option. I walked in and sat down at the island and took a deep breath waiting for whatever Madison was about to tell me.

"I wanted to apologize." She said.

I rolled my eyes.

"For what?" I wondered.

"You know what." She said.

"No Madison, I don't. Could it be that ever since I took this job, wait no, before I even took this job you have treated me differently? Or could it be that you told the one person about this job that I didn't want to know?" I asked.

"You're mad." She winced.

I gaped at the phone. We haven't fought this hard since college when she told me she was breaking her lease early and stuck me with a huge rent bill. I wasn't planning on losing my cool today, but something snapped when she texted me and I couldn't do this anymore. I closed my eyes and took a few breaths before standing up and walking to the window. It was winter now and the days were colder. I smiled a little as I watched Catherine and Meredith try making a snowman with what little snow we have gotten so far.

"I just don't get it Madison. I have been happy for you with your job, and then meeting Riley then getting married. So what is it? Why is my job that big of a deal that it's caused this rift between us?" I asked.

"I can't have kids." She blurted out.

I was not expecting that.

"What? Since when?" I asked her.

"We found out shortly before you took the job. I went in for a routine check up, and decided to get all the tests because kids were something Riley and I had been talking about someday. Turns out that I can't have kids." She said, her voice cracking at the end.

"Oh Mads. I am so sorry." I said.

She sniffled on the other end of the line.

"I was jealous, I am jealous. I know that sounds incredibly stupid and jealous but you get to be with kids all the time. Even if they aren't yours! I'm seeing a therapist and we're working through those feelings along with others." She told me.

"I wish you had told me, but I understand it was hard." I said.

I walked back to the living room to check on Anthony and Emerson. Anthony looked up at me and smiled giving me a wave. I smiled back and waved before turning around and heading upstairs.

"I can understand the bad feelings towards my job, or at least work on it. What I can't understand is why you would tell my father about this job." I told her.

"I feel really bad about that, we ran into each other and it just slipped." She told me.

"And you didn't do it to get back at me?" I asked.

"NO! I would never do that." She said.

I walked to my room and sat on the bed. We talked for the next hour about her inability to have children and how Riley was taking the news. Eventually she had to go to dinner with Riley and his parents at their house. It was a nice conversation and helped me understand why she had been so weird lately about my job. I wasn't sure if I was ready to completely forgive her as their are wounds that need time to heal. But, now that I knew we both could work on it. I walked out of the room and was heading passed the girl toddler room when I heard voices.

"Can I join?" Jennah asked.

I peaked inside to see Sophia playing at the dollhouse.



Sophia looked up over her shoulder to see Jennah standing there.

"Uh, sure." Sophia said.

Jennah sat down next to her and slowly picked up a doll.

"So, how are you liking it here?" Jennah asked after a little bit.

"This isn't my home." Sophia said.

"It could be if you wanted it to be." Jennah said.

Sophia put her toy down for a moment before continuing to act like the doll was walking around the house.

"My dad gave me up when I was a toddler. I was brought here to live with Julia, thankfully I was too young at the time to remember what my normal was. However, I did remember my dad and suddenly he wasn't with me every day like he used to be." Jennah told her.

"Do you miss him?" Sophia asked.

Jennah looked at her, "Everyday. But recently Sarah approved me writing letters to him. Sarah is the head of this foster care facility and she's been super nice! I wrote him a letter, but haven't gotten anything back. But that's okay because at least he knows I'm okay and that I'm thinking of him."



I put my hand over my heart and took a deep breath. This was a heavy subject for adults, and here they were going through it as children.

"She told me she'd be back for me." Sophia whispered.

"Maybe she will, but maybe she won't. But you know what helps me? The other kids. We all have similar stories, and we can support each other." Jennah told her.

I wiped a few tears away quickly when I realized Jennah was standing up. Jennah jumped as she saw me standing there, she walked past me and I followed her down the hall.

"That was very mature of you. Thank you for talking to her." I said.

"I hope I helped her. She's been so angry." Jennah said.

"I think you did, and you know what? How about we celebrate with some ice cream! Come on." I said.

I put my hand on her back and we headed to the kitchen.

...

I poked my head in the computer room.

"Dinner in thirty." I said.

Anthony looked up from his game, "I'm not hungry right now."



"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just had a big lunch." He told me.

"Okay, well I'll wrap a plate for when you do." I said.

"Thanks mom." He said.

I walked back to the kitchen and continued to chop up the peppers for the chili for dinner.



After dinner I walked into the nursery to find Megan crying.

"And what may be your problem little miss?" I asked.

I immediately smelled the problem and plugged my nose with my fingers.



I quickly got the changing table ready before scooping her up and changed her diaper.

"All better, right?" I asked.

She sniffled as I wiped her tears away.

"I think I want to stay."

I jumped as I turned around to see Sophia standing in the doorway, her own set of tears falling from her face. I quickly put Megan back in her crib and guided Sophia to a sitting room. I shut the door behind us for some privacy.

"Are you sure?" I asked, sitting down in front of her.

"She's not coming back." Sophia said, wiping her nose with her wrist.

I offered her some Kleenex and she took a few.

"I don't know what happened Sophia, and you don't owe me any explanation. But I know that your mother didn't make this decision lightly. I would like to take you to see someone who may be able to help you work through some of these feelings. Would that be okay?" I asked.

"I can try." She said.

"That is all I ask, and you have a lot of people here who are behind you every step of the way." I told her.

She looked up at me and smiled at me for the first time since she's been here.

"Now, let's go eat! Then after we can watch a movie, sound good?" I asked.

"That sounds fun!" She said.

"Good, let's go!" I said.

...

"Whoever came up with math was clearly going through something." Jackson groaned.

"Yeah, I struggled with it too." Anthony said.

I walked in and leaned against the door frame.



"You're halfway there, you can do this." I said.

They both looked over to me.

"I think I know what I want to do, if Sarah allows it." Jackson told me.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I want to be a veterinarian!" He said.

"I'm sure we can work something out! But, you realize that math is a huge part of that right?" I giggled.

Jackson groaned, "I'm screwed!"

I laughed as I walked out of the room and grabbed a snack from the kitchen. I had just finished heating up some garlic noodles when I heard a scream.

"MOM!"

I ran into the bathroom to find Catherine standing there.

"What's going on?!" I gasped.

"I'm getting taller!" She said.

I put my hand on my heart.

"You scared me!" I said.

"Sorry!" She said.

"Let me see!" I told her.

She backed up to the measurement thing we had in the bathroom.

"Look at that! Soon you'll be growing out of all your clothes!" I said.



"Does that mean we can go shopping?!" Catherine asked.

I laughed, "Yes, we can once you need them."

"Thank you!!!" She said.

"Now, go get ready for bed." I told her.

I walked downstairs to find Anthony, Emerson, and Sophia in the living room.

"Emerson, it's time for bed." I signed.

"But I'm not tired." He signed back.

"You have school tomorrow, so you have to try." I signed.

He smiled and glanced back at Anthony like Anthony was going to save him.



"Mom told you to go to bed, not me." Anthony signed.

Emerson groaned.

"Where is Meredith?" I asked.

"She went to bed early. Big test coming up tomorrow." Anthony told me.

"She's been stressing about that all week." I told him.

"Does this mean I have to go to bed?" Sophia asked.

"Half an hour longer, okay?" I told her.

"Sweet! Can we watch some TV?" She asked Anthony.

"Sure! Hop on." He said, patting the couch.

"Half an hour." I reminded her.

I made my rounds before turning in for the night.

I hope you guys had a great weekend! =]

[Ally3772]

Chapter Thirteen

"Emerson, what are you doing?" I asked.

I walked over to the desk and placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know I was here.

"What are you doing?" I signed.

"Talking to a friend." He signed back.



"You have homework to do." I signed.

He groaned.

"You can talk to your friend after." I signed.

He sighed but nodded his head, shutting the computer down.

"Thank you." I signed to him.

"Megan is up from her nap." Jackson said, peeking into the computer room.

"Perfect, time for her feeding." I said.

"I'll go make her a bottle." He offered.

He headed to the kitchen while I headed to the living room where she was taking her nap in the play pen. She kicked her feet and waved her arms when she saw me giving me the biggest toothy grin.

"Happy to see you too little miss!" I giggled.



"Are you hungry?" I asked.

Jackson came back from the kitchen with a bottle in hand.

"Brother to the rescue!" I said.

He handed me the bottle just in time because Megan began to fuss the second she saw it.

"You know, if you did tummy time we could move to solid food." I joked with her.



"She still doesn't want to try it?" Jackson asked.

"Nope, every time I try she freaks out. She doesn't even let you or Anthony try." I said.

"Weird, but thankfully she still wants the bottle." He said.

"So, how's Amber? That's her name, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we decided to just be friends." He told me.

"Did something happen?" I asked him.

"No, she's a cool girl. But we just didn't feel the same." He said.

"Well at least you found that out early on." I said.

I carefully put Megan back in the play pen. I walked into the craft room to paint some more when I saw Anthony already there doing some painting.

"Nice beard." I laughed.

"Figured I'd try to make it work. Something has to hide the acne that refuses to go away." He said.

"I heard green tea could possibly help. Want me to make you some?" I asked.

"Maybe after dinner." He said.



"I could make a green tea cake for Jennah's birthday." I joked.

"I don't think she'd like that very much." He laughed.

"Speaking of cake, I better go get that in the oven." I said.

I walked into the kitchen and got started baking a simple vanilla cake with white icing. Meredith walked into the kitchen and sat down at the island.

"Do you think we get a snow day tomorrow?" She asked.

I looked outside biting my lip.

"I don't think so sweetie. We aren't getting much snow." I told her.

She sighed, "Can we play hookie?"

"Absolutely not, that's one of the rules." I said.

"Worth a shot." She said.

It was weird to think that Jennah was going to age up to a teenager before Meredith and Catherine since they came first. Then again, it was weird to think that I was in charge of kids to begin with. I feel like I just started this job and now I had eight kids in the house, two were teenagers and once they aged up they would leave to go onto their next adventures. As much as I would love to have all of them to stay like Anthony was able too, I don't think there was anymore room. I placed the cake in the oven and set a timer.

"Will you go ask Jennah what she wants to do tonight?" I asked.

"On it!" Meredith said.

She stood up from the stool and shot out of the kitchen. I wiped my hands on a towel and walked out of the kitchen when I heard the piano.

"Hey, I didn't know you had any interest in the piano." I said.

Catherine sat on the bench.

"I don't know if I do, but it's here so why not?" She asked.

"If you do like it then I'm sure there's lessons in town!" I told her.

"That would be cool." She said.



"Who knew that this small family could pile on so many dirty dishes?" I joked.

"Don't drop them!" Emerson signed.

Anthony had a huge pile of dishes as he walked over to the sink to rinse them off.

"Dinner was really good." Jennah said.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." I said smiling.

"So, how does it feel to be a teenager?!" Catherine asked.

"Weird so far." She laughed.

"We need to get a picture." I told her.

I stood up with my phone and pointed to have her stand by the island.

"Say cheese!" I said.

"Cheese!" She sang.



"Don't you think that shirt is a little revealing?" Jackson asked.

"Oh boy, it starts." I laughed.

"My shirt is fine." She said.

"It has holes in it." Sophia said.

"I think it looks cute." Catherine said.

"Alright, girls help your brother with the dishes please. Jennah, you said you wanted to continue with that show?" I asked.

"Yeah! I'll get it set up!" She said.

"Emerson, do you want to help me with popcorn?" I signed.

"Like you showed me last time?" He signed.

"Yep! Let's go!" I said.

I grabbed the box of popcorn that we kept by the microwave and handed it to Emerson.

Another post! I'm sorry that the ages still seem wonky! Megan is already going to age up in a few days in game which might be normal but just seems fast.

[Ally3772]

Chapter Fourteen

"The groceries were just delivered!" Anthony said.

He walked into the kitchen with arms full of bags. I rushed over to help him before he dropped everything. I made the decision to stop making things that could only be grown in the garden because it was getting to hectic. So now I either made trips into town when I could, or had them deliver to the house when I wasn't able to go. Anthony immediately started to unload what needed to be put in the freezer and fridge.

"This is great because we have three cakes to bake for Megan, Catherine, and Meredith's birthday." I said.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed this week due to having three birthdays.

"Well, since Catherine and Meredith's is on the same day they could just share one. I'm sure they wouldn't mind as long as they got to eat it at the end." He mentioned.

"That is a good point. So we would only need two then." I pondered.

Emerson came walking into the kitchen. He climbed onto a stool and sat at the island. It wasn't until he turned his head to look up at Anthony that I noticed his hearing aids were gone.

"Emerson, where are your hearing aids?" I signed.

He shrugged before signing, "Some kids at school stole them."

I gaped.

"Excuse me?! Did you tell someone?" I signed.

"I told the teacher and she said she'd talk to their parents. The kids claimed they didn't do it." He signed to me.

I sighed getting out my phone and making a note to order new ones.

"I'll order new ones tonight." I let him know.

"They're useless anyway, not like I can hear." He signed.

I looked at him sympathetically. We were hoping he would gain at least a little hearing by wearing hearing aids, but they still weren't helping him. We had accepted that and he basically wore them now so that people knew he was deaf. I looked at Anthony before turning back to Emerson.

"Do you want to stop wearing them?" I signed.

"Can I?" He signed back.

"If that's what you want." I signed.

He nodded before hopping off the stool and coming to give me a hug.

...

"Are you ready to blow the candles out?" I asked Megan.

She turned and looked at me like I had just asked her a question in a different language.



I laughed and we turned towards the cake. I showed her how to blow out the candles and eventually she joined me.

"I love me some slobber flavored cake." Jennah giggled.

"It happens every time." Anthony agreed.

Watch out world, because here came Megan on foot.



"Okay, I want her to eat something before she gets hyped up on cake." I said.

"I'll go put her in the high chair." Jackson said.

"Thank you." I said.

I got out a bowl and poured some apple sauce into it. I walked into the dining room where Jackson had just sat her down in the chair.

"Here we are." I cooed as I sat the bowl in front of her.

She just kind of looked at me before looking at the apple sauce in the bowl.

"Try it!" Jackson encouraged.



She eventually dipped her hands into it and made a face before bringing her hand to her mouth. She made another face at first but then must have decided that she liked it because she kept eating it. Once she was done we brought her to the kitchen and set her on the island where we let her have a piece of cake. I wasn't sure if she ingested more of the cake or just smeared it all over herself. But she had fun so that was all that mattered.

"Okay! Bedtime! You know the drill, go start to get ready for bed!" I announced.

The kids whined while Anthony started to clean up.

"I call the upstairs bathroom!" Jennah gasped.

"No way! You take FOREVER!" Jackson argued.

"There's plenty of bathrooms, plus don't be jealous I take the time to make sure I can't play connect the dots on my face." Jennah shot back.

"Hey now! Be nice." I warned.




Three Days Later

"Yes I understand th- If you would please just let me finish. Thank you. I understand that the kids claim they didn't steal them, but clearly someone did." I said.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but without proof that the other children did it we can't punish them." The principal of Emerson's school said.

I sighed in frustration.

"Emerson isn't the type of child to stand up for himself. I'm just trying to be that for him, he needs people in his corner." I told her.

"I understand, and I'm not giving up on this. But as of right now we have no idea who did it and where his hearing aids are." She told me.

I took a deep breath before thanking her for her time and hanging up the phone. I understood where she was coming from but I just hated that there was nothing we could do for him. This felt like more than just your average bullying to me, but I could also be over protective of him. I let out one last frustrated growl before continuing baking the cake. Meredith and Catherine said that they didn't mind sharing a cake so that meant way less work for me. Once the cakes were finally in I walked to the living room to set up the fold up tables for tonight. They requested a family game night for their birthday activities which was shocking. But I wasn't going to turn down a family night, because this was the second to last birthday we would get with them. I blinked back a few tears that formed just thinking about that.

"Pizza has been ordered." Jennah said.

"Thank you sweetie." I said.

She hesitated when she noticed I was tearing up a little.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm just thinking about how I'm going to miss you girls when you leave." I laughed at my own silliness.

"I'm going to miss you too. Maybe I could write you letters and you'll actually write me back." She said.

I gave her a small smile at the comment. Her dad never wrote her back no matter how many letters she wrote. She finally gave up after a while because it got too hard.

"I'll do you one better, you can call me anytime you need." I told her.

"I'd love that." She said.

Once the pizza was ordered and we all were in a food coma from eating it, it was time to blow out the candles.

"Hey, slobber free! My favorite!" Emerson signed.

We all laughed.

"Picture time!" I said.

"Catherine first!" Jennah offered.



"Beautiful! Meredith, your turn!" I said.

We followed her into the room she picked.



"Pretty!" I smiled.

We ate cake and went to play games. Emerson kicked our butts in almost every game we picked to play. I put a hand over my heart taking a mental picture of what was in front of me. I loved this children and I loved this job. But was I ready to say goodbye?

Just a small chapter! Might have another out tonight, maybe tomorrow!

[Ally3772]

Chapter Fifteen

"Jennah will you please shut that thing up!" Jackson snapped.

"You can always leave the room." Jennah shot back.

"I was here first." He argued.

"What is going on?" I asked, walking in from the kitchen.

"Her stupid phone beeps every five seconds. I'm sick of hearing it." Jackson told me.



"I told him that he is more than welcome to leave the room." She explained.

"Do you need to have the sound on?" I asked.

She gaped at me, "I guess not."

"Will you please just switch it to silent then?" I asked.

"Fine." She groaned.

"What has been up with you two lately?" I questioned.

"She's constantly around." Jackson said.

"Well this house is only so big." Jennah argued.

"There's like fifty rooms!" He gaped.

"Okay, enough." I warned.

"Sorry mom." Jackson said.

"Yeah, sorry." Jennah said.

"Now, how about we get going on our homework?" I suggested.

They both groaned in unison. Teenagers, am I right? Speaking of teenagers, I heard the piano start to play and I headed into the room it was in. Catherine sat on the bench slowly playing a song I didn't recognize. I walked over to the side and stood there listening her as she messed up a few times.

"How's everything going?" I asked.

"Good so far, I'm learning this new song but it's going slowly." She said.

"Nothing wrong with that." I told her.

"So, I was thinking about possibly making this into a career." She told me.

"Really?! That's exciting." I said.

"I still need loads of practice, but maybe I could write the next masterpiece for a pop star." She said smiling.

"My little pop star!" I laughed.



I squeezed her shoulder as I left her to practice a bit more. Emerson came running in looking frantic, I caught him by the shoulders as he ran over to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Sophia is pulling her tooth out!" He signed.

"Where?" I signed back.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs and into my room.

"Sophia! No!" I shouted as we ran in the room.



Judging by the fact that she had a pained expression on her face and her coving her mouth, I took it that we were too late.

"It was loose." She said.

"You should have waited." I told her.

"But I got it!" She replied proudly.

"You sure did! Smile so I can see?" I asked.



"It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it. Now, go put it under your pillow and we'll see if the tooth fairy is sick of coming here yet." I joked.

"Do you think he's been here too many times?" She gasped.

"No, I'm joking! Go before you lose it!" I laughed.

She ran out of the room. I turned back to Emerson who was still looking panicked.

"You did good by coming to get me." I signed too him.

"I was too late." He signed.

"True, but better to be late then to not tell anyone at all." I assured him.

I walked over to him and gave him a tight hug.

...

"Megan!" I gasped.

I had just gone into the bathroom to grab my lotion I had left in here.

"No! We don't play in the toilet!" I said.



I rushed over to her and picked her up.

"That's a bad girl." I told her.

She just looked up at me and showed her hands to me. She was also soaked from the front down.

"Can I help with anything?" Jackson asked.

I turned around to see him standing in the door way.

"Can you get her ready for a bath? I'm going to start the water." I told him.

"Of course, come here little miss." He said.

I'm not sure how the nickname little miss came to stick, but almost the entire family called her that now.



I went to the bathroom that was closest to the nursery and filled the bathtub with soap and warm water.

"One stinky baby coming up." Jackson said.

I turned around and saw Jackson walking in the room with Megan held outstretched to me.

"Stinky baby incoming oh noooo." I gasped.

I grabbed her and carefully placed her in the tub handing her the infamous rubber duck that has made its rounds.

"Duck!" She said.

"That's right! It's a yellow duck!" I told her.



Once she was all washed up and dried off I carried her to the girls room and set her down to play.

...

"The band director told me he'd love to work with me!" Catherine told me.

"That's great! Will it be after school?" I asked.

"Tuesday's and Thursday's after school." She told me.

"I'll mark it on the calendar. Anthony can come get you afterwards." I said.



Emerson and Jackson sat down at the table with their plates of food.

"What are we talking about?" Emerson signed.

"Your sister is going to become a musician!" I signed to him.

"Cool!" He signed, smiling.

"Very cool." Catherine signed to him.



"Don't forget us small people when you get famous." Jackson said.

"I might not get that far, but I promise I won't." She told him.

"I'm proud of you, I'm proud of all my kids." I said.

"Oh lord she's getting gushy." Jackson laughed.

"Am not." I laughed along.

We finished up our food and went downstairs to join Meredith, Anthony, and Sophia to watch a movie while Megan played on the floor.

I hope these chapters aren't getting too boring or feel like fillers. Sometimes I struggle to make every chapter exciting!

[Ally3772]

Chapter Sixteen

"Hi mom."

I jumped out of my skin before looking to see Meredith standing next to me.

"You need to be a ninja!" I laughed.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She giggled.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Well, for English we have an essay to write. The prompt is to write about someone who you look up too and who inspires you the most." She told me.

"That's exciting! Have you picked anyone out?" I asked.



"Yeah, I want to write about you." She said.

I was taken aback and looked at her.

"Me? Are you sure? There's a lot of more inspiring people out there." I said.

"Not to me, you practically gave up your life to help children who didn't have homes to go too." She said.

I had to blink back a few tears from that comment, I stirred the food in the pan so that it didn't burn. I set the spoon down on the counter and turned to face her again.

"I would be honored, do you need to know anything specific?" I asked.

"Well, I think I have almost everything I need. But what was your childhood like?" She asked me.

I took a moment to think about what to say. I never really told the kids my past stories and I wasn't sure just how much I wanted to reveal to them.

"I never want to seem like I'm complaining because my childhood wasn't nearly as bad as some of yours were. However, it wasn't the best either. I was the only child and my parents argued a lot. There would be times where they argued so much that I would go to bed a lot without food because they were too busy to realize I didn't eat. Eventually they got divorced and things were a bit better. But then I got to hear each of them complain about each other when I was with one of them." I said.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry all that happened! Do you still talk to them?" She asked.

"I slowly stopped talking to my mom because she refused to understand that I didn't want to constantly hear how crappy of a husband my dad was. I lived with dad until I was able to get a job after high school because living with him once I got a job wasn't working out. He refused to get another job after losing him because he could just ask me for money." I told her.

"That wasn't fair of either of them to do." She said.

"It was not, but overall I think I turned out okay. It was part of the reason I took this job. I wanted to give children the love I didn't always receive." I said.

"You're doing a great job of that. Catherine and I don't remember our parents so to us, you are our mom." She said.

"Thank you sweetie." I said, brushing the hair from her face.

...

"You're getting good!" I said.

"I keep almost falling." Jennah said.

"I was horrible when Jackson taught me. I swear I had bruises on my butt for weeks." I laughed.



"I think I'll have a few for sure." She told me.

"Did you get your homework done?" I asked.

"Yeah! I had a free period today and decided to do it then so I didn't have to bring anything home." She said.

"That's a smart idea!" I told her.

"Mom! There you are!"

I turned around to see Catherine and Meredith walking over.

"What's up girls?" I asked.

"We decided. We're doing a girls day and you are getting a makeover." Meredith announced.

"What? No I don't need a makeover!" I told them.

"You deserve it!" Catherine said.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Meredith begged.

I looked over at Jennah for help.

"Don't look at me, I think you also deserve one." She laughed.

I groaned, "When?"

"Right now! Jennah get your shoes on!" Catherine said.

"But it's Emerson's birthday!" I objected.

"We will be home before cake!" Meredith told me.

An hour later we pulled up to the hair salon. I left Anthony in charge of the kids that stayed home. Megan should nap the entire time we're gone which only really left Sophia and Emerson that needed watching.

"This is going to be fun!" Jennah said as we walked in.

"I was thinking until your hair actually gets longer on it's own, we get you extensions!" Catherine said.

"Is that necessary?" I asked.

I hated being fussed over.

"Yes! We've only seen you with short hair!" She told me.

Meredith talked to the receptionist and before I knew it I was in a chair with the girls surrounding me and the stylist. As much as I hated being fussed over, I will admit it was fun to just have some alone time with the older girls. I did feel bad leaving Sophia behind, but she didn't seem to have any interest in coming along. I will admit that after it was all done my hair looked good! I missed having long hair and being able to actually style it in more ways then just brushing it and keeping it down. After we paid the stylist we went to the local nail salon and got our nails taken care of on both hands and feet. Then, it was time for my absolute nightmare which was clothes shopping. It wasn't too bad though and we were able to find a new outfit pretty quickly!

"We're home!" I announced.

I set the keys on the table by the door.

"Look at you!" Anthony said, coming into the foyer.

"How is the cake going?" I asked.

"It's ready so it was perfect timing." He told me.

"We need to get a picture!" Catherine said.

"Payback time I suppose." I giggled.



After all of the fuss was over it was time go get back to business.

"Kids! Cake time!" I called up the stairs.

The kids came filing down and we went into the kitchen to start singing the Happy Birthday song to him.

"Wish for something cool!" Sophia signed to Emerson.

I giggled, "Won't be too long before it's your own birthday!"

I had looked at the calendar this morning and Sophia's birthday was next week.

"Make a wish!" Jackson signed.

Emerson thought for a minute before leaning over and blowing out his candles.



"Another teenager in the house!" I signed.

"You sure you can handle it?" Emerson signed back.

I laughed before signing, "I got this."

He smiled back at me.

One Week Later

"What did you get for this problem?" Jackson asked.

I glanced up from my chair in the living room.

"32." Meredith told him.

"I got 4." He said, discouraged as he shut his book.

"How?! Here, let me help." Meredith giggled.



I heard cursing coming from the kitchen.

"Let me try!" Catherine said.

I stood up from my chair and walked into the kitchen where I saw the sink spewing water everywhere.

"What happened?!" I gasped.

"The faucet just started spraying water!" Anthony said, trying to dry his now soaking shirt.

Catherine had the wrench and was trying to tighten something on the faucet.



"There! Got it!" She said.

"How did you learn how to do that?" Anthony asked.

"There's a video serious on SimTube that shows you how to do basic things around the house." Catherine said.

"You'll have to show me those." He chuckled.

"It will come in handy when you have your own place." I mentioned.

"Yeah." She said, sadly.

I gave her a small smile. She wasn't looking forward to leaving the house and neither was Meredith. It was going to be extremely weird not having them here, but I couldn't keep everyone.

"It's my birthday!" Sophia sang, coming into the kitchen.

"It is? Why did no one tell me?!" I gasped.

"Ha ha mom! Very funny." She said.

"What do you want to do tonight?" I asked.

"Just hang out, maybe a movie?" She suggested.

"We can do that. Do you want me to cook or do you want to order a pizza?" I asked.

"Pizza!" She said.

I walked over to the fridge and pulled out the card that had the pizza place's number on it and set it on the counter for later.

"Have you had lunch yet?" I asked.

"No, Emerson is upstairs eating now though." Sophia said.

"Let's go see what we can get for you." I told her.

"I'll come along." Anthony said.

We all headed upstairs into the mini kitchen we had. Emerson was sitting at the table already with a plate of food in front of him. Anthony and Sophia took the seats next to him as I heated up a plate for Sophia.



It was weird seeing Emerson without his hearing aids still. Nothing came from the whole kids stealing them fiasco unfortunately. They weren't able to pin down just one kid who did it, so I eventually told them it was fine. I wouldn't let it slide so easily next time though if the bullying kept going. We still ran into small issues from time to time when he had substitute teachers. They would ask him a question not knowing that he couldn't hear them ask in the first place. Clearly they weren't reading the files given to them because it was clearly stated on his sheet that he was deaf. The kids in the class weren't helpful either when they could have easily told her. I was hopeful that he would make more friends in high school and that it wouldn't get worse for him. Although he was a strong kid, he never once complained and wasn't sad about having no friends. He mainly kept to himself even when he was at home.

A few hours later the cake was ready and Sophia blew out her candles after making a wish.



"That outfit is sick!" Jackson said.

We all laughed at his reaction.

"Thanks." Sophia said laughing.

"Is it movie time?" Emerson signed.

"I think it is! Did we make sure the captions are on for Emerson?" I asked while signing.

"Yeah! Got it all set up!" Anthony called from the living room.

"Let's go then!" I said.

...

"Meredith, you're barely eating." I mentioned.

"Sorry." She said.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Fine." She mumbled.

I looked at Jackson who just shrugged and kept eating.

"Meredith, what's wrong?" I asked.



"Nothing, okay?" She asked.

"Alright." I said.

She picked up her fork again before putting it down and promptly bursting into tears.

"Oh boy." Jackson said.

"He's talking to Suzie!" She cried.

"Who is he? And who is Suzie?" I asked.

"Josh!" She sniffed.

I looked at Jackson but he seemed equally as lost as I was.

"Honey, I may be missing something. Who is Josh?" I asked.

"My boyfriend, well maybe ex-boyfriend." She said.

"You have a boyfriend?" I asked.

"We only just started to date, but now he was caught talking to Suzie and someone said he kissed her." She wailed.

I saw Jackson grip his fork so tight his knuckles got white.



"Oh honey, I'm so sorry." I said.

"I confronted him after school and he told me that I needed to stop being so dramatic and walked away." She told me.

"I'll hurt him." Jackson growled.

"No! I don't want him to get hurt!" She cried harder.

"He hurt you!" Jackson snapped.

"Okay, just everyone take a deep breath." I said.

"I loved him mom." She whispered.



My heart broke watching her so destroyed over a boy. I remember that feeling and it was like your whole chest was going to explode from all the pain.

"I'm going to talk to him." Jackson said, standing up.

"Don't!" Meredith cried.

But Jackson just left the room with his plate leaving Meredith crying on the chair. I got up and pulled her into my arms and she sobbed into my shoulder.

"It's okay, shhh." I soothed.

Two birthdays and broken heart! Finally found the motivation to get a chapter out! Hope you guys enjoyed!

[Ally3772]

Chapter Seventeen

"Let's blow them out! On three, ready? 1...2...3!" I sang.



I leaned forward and together Megan and I blew out the candles to her cake.

"Yay!" I clapped.

Just like that, our last toddler was now a child.

"Happy Birthday!" Jackson said.



"Cake time! My favorite parts of birthdays!" Jennah said.

We all went into the kitchen and ate our cake. Afterwards we played tag in the backyard until the sun went down.

"Alright, I hate to be the boring parent but tomorrow is Monday! That means school!" I said.

There was a chorus of groans as we headed back inside.

"Teeth brushed and in bed!" I said.

After the kids were all in bed, I decided to stay up for a few hours afterwards. I laid in my bed and watched the last few episodes I missed of the medical drama show that I was watching. After the episodes I got dressed in my pajamas and had just crawled under the covers when there was a frantic knock on my door. I was about to get up out of bed to answer it when the door opened and Meredith poked her head in.

"Mom! Something is wrong with Megan!" She gapsed.

That was all I needed to hear before I was up out of bed and running down the hall and into the bathroom where Meredith lead me. Megan was in the fetal position on the floor crying and groaning in pain.

"What happened?!" I asked.

Catherine was kneeling over her wiping her forehead with a cool cloth.

"My tummy hurts so bad." Megan cried.

"Okay, on a scale of one to ten?" I asked.

"A nine!" She cried.

"Alright Catherine get her into the car please. Meredith wake Anthony up and tell him that we are going to urgent care right away." I said.

"I don't wanna go to the hospital!" Megan whined.

"I learned the hard way with Emerson, I'm not doing that again." I told her.

...

"It's been an hour." I told the receptionist.

"I understand, and I will let you know when the doctor is ready." She told me for the millionth time.

I took a deep breath and walked back into the hospital room. Catherine was reading to Megan who was trying not to focus on the pain. They gave her something to relieve the pain but it wasn't kicking in fast enough. The doctor checked her out and was almost positive that Megan was lactose intolerant. He had her drink some kind of liquid and also took her blood for testing and was told the tests may take up to two hours. I was relieved that it was nothing serious, but I just wanted to get her back home and in bed.

"Can I never have ice cream anymore?" Megan asked.

"Unfortunately yes, unless you want a stomach ache like this one." I told her.

"This stinks." She groaned.

"It's a change for sure, but we can manage it. I will research the deserts you can have and I'll make them even better than ice cream!" I told her.

"Can it be just for me?" She asked.

"Anyone who touches them will be in trouble." I promised.

"Cool." She said.

Another hour had passed and the doctor finally came back in the room. He pulled up a stool and sat by Megan with his clipboard.

"The tests came back positive, she is lactose intolerant." He told me.

"Am I going to die?" Megan asked.

He chuckled, "You're not going to die."

"She is a little upset she's going to have to give up ice cream." I said.

"Ice cream is overrated anyway." He told her.

Megan gave a little laugh.

"Here are some pamphlets with more information and a list of foods to avoid and what's safe to eat." He told me.

I took the stack of them and put them in my purse. We talked for a little longer and made sure Megan understood everything and how to manage it. Another hour later we were finally walking back in the house. I expected everyone to be still asleep and was shocked to find everyone in the living room.

"Wha- What are you guys doing awake?! You have school tomorrow!" I scolded.

"We wanted to make sure Megan was okay." Emerson signed.

"She is going to be fine! Megan is lactose intolerant." I signed and said aloud.

"I can't have ice cream!" Megan groaned.

"Or anything dairy." I added.

"That's rough, but I'm glad you're okay!" Jennah said.

I let everyone talk for a few minutes and give Megan hugs before I got everyone back into their correct beds. It was going to be a rough morning for everyone but they couldn't miss school because of it. I was going to let Megan skip though because she obviously had it the worst. The next morning the first thing I did was put on a pot of coffee as I made sure the kids were up and on the bus on time. I walked into the craft room with my cup of coffee to find Anthony already painting.

"Already at it I see?" I asked.

"At first I didn't like painting, but now I am enjoying it." He told me.

"I do enjoy our painting sessions." I agreed.



Before we knew it the kids were home from school.

"How was it?" I asked.

"Rough, I was so tired." Sophia said.

"I know, why don't you get your homework done and you can take a nap before dinner?" I suggested.

"That sounds great." She said.

I kissed the top of her head before heading across the yard to the other part of the house.

"Hey! Look at you guys, already doing homework." I said.

"Trying too, everything is so much harder when you're tired." Catherine said.

"I want to thank you all for caring so much for Megan to sacrifice sleep. She told me how special it made her feel." I told them.

"Is she feeling better?" Emerson signed.

"Yeah! She is upstairs now resting a little more." I signed to him.

"I'll check on her after homework." Jennah offered.

"Thank you sweetie." I said.

"We love you mom." Meredith said.

"I love you guys too." I smiled.



"Are you kidding me?!" Sophia groaned.

"What?" I asked.

"Look at my face!" She said.

She held up her phone and looked at herself through the camera.

"You can call me swiss cheese, because that's how I look." She said.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh.



"It's not funny!" She gasped.

"Sorry! It slipped." I said.

"Hey! I can help with that!" Meredith said, appearing out of no where.

"You can?" Sophia asked.

"Let me show you." Meredith said.

Meredith took Sophia by the arm and led her to the bathroom. I watched as Meredith showed her how to apply a facial cleanser and a concealer.

"See! It was like they were never there!" Meredith said.

"Whoa! Thanks Mer." Sophia said.

"What are sisters for?" Meredith said.



"Hey! Look who is up and eating!" I said.

I walked into the dining room to find Megan sitting at the table.

"Anthony heated me up a plate." She told me.

"That was nice of him." I said.

I sat down next to her.

"Are you ready for your first day of school tomorrow?" I asked.

"Can I skip again?" She groaned.

"Sorry kiddo, that was a one time offer." I told her.

She grumbled.

"Hey! But I'm sure you're going to make a lot of new friends!" I said.



"MOM!" Catherine yelled.

My heart stopped at the sudden scream.

"What now?!" I asked.

I rushed into the hallway to see Catherine standing there staring at her phone.

"What?!" I asked.

"You will not believe this!!" She gasped.



She held her phone out for me to see.

"Dear Catherine, we are pleased to inform you that after reviewing your grades that you are now eligible to graduate early?!" I read from her phone.

"I can graduate early!" She screamed.

"Catherine! This is great! I am so proud of you!" I gasped.

I pulled her in my arms and squeezed her tightly.

"I can't believe it!" She said.

"What's going on?!" Jennah asked from the other room.

"Let's go tell her!" I said.

We walked into the room with the piano where Jennah was.

"I just got an email from the principal! I get to graduate early!" Catherine announced.

"What?! That's insane!!" Jennah screamed.

"I know!" Catherine said.

They hugged each other while squealing.

"I'm going to miss you in the halls." Jennah said.



I left the girls to celebrate and headed upstairs.

"Are you sure they said that?" Sophia asked.

I walked into the kitchen to see Sophia and Emerson standing there.

"Yes! They offered to pay too!" Emerson signed.



"What's going on?" I asked.

"It looks like Emerson has plans this Friday with some friends." Sophia said while signing.

"You do?! That's great sweetie!" I signed.

"We're going to the movies!" He signed to me.

"I hope you have lots of fun!" I signed to him.

I laughed as he told me all about the friends he had made. I was so glad that he was fitting in at high school and no one was bullying him so far.

Another chapter! I hope you guys have an amazing week!

[Ally3772]

Hey guys,

I have made the tough decision to end this story. When I first started it I was so excited and it sounded like a great idea! I had the motivation and was ready to try the 100 Baby Challenge with the new infant update even if I was doing it a bit different. But then it slowly grew to feel like more of a chore to not only come up with chapters that I was happy with, but to keep up with everyone's storyline. That being said I do want to thank you all for taking the time to read the story, I hope you enjoyed it! I never want to let anyone down, but I would rather end this story instead of trying to force it. However! I do want to write another story that focuses on just one family. I feel like that would be a lot easier and more enjoyable! So keep an eye out for that!

Thank you again, and I hope you all understand! Have a great week and I will talk to you all soon!

[Granny Lawlor]

Well done for getting as far as you did. I've never been brave enough to try this challenge and I think the Infant stage makes it harder.
All the best for your new story.

[Ally3772]

Well done for getting as far as you did. I've never been brave enough to try this challenge and I think the Infant stage makes it harder.
All the best for your new story.

Thank you so much, that means a lot to me <3

[MarianT]

How cool! I wish you could have kept going, but totally understand. I only have twins to deal with, and I'm already wondering if I can make it through 100. All your kids turned out to be gorgeous, and Anthony was definitely a keeper -- such a help with the little ones, too.