Everybody Cry Now!

Hot water soaks are tolerable. 
Cold water soaks, however, are NOT. 
Apparently, Belle came over to meet Zach (Zachary)  while I was in the hour-and-a-half long soak it took to get my plastic down to normal; and Eugene filled me in when I got back at around two in the afternoon. 
"Cooold, cold, cold, cold, cold water soaks STINK," I whimpered, rushing behind the cutout to get my usual purple dress on.  Ooh, it felt good to have that dress back on!  As I brushed through my hair, Eugene watched me and talked.
"Belle came over to see him, and she offered to help us with feedings -- Zelia, too.  I'm sure we could work out shifts so two of us are awake through the night, and the other two are awake through the day to feed him.  Then we wouldn't be as brain-dead as we were from feeding him all through last night by ourselves.  Anyway, she says he's the most perfect baby boy she's ever seen, and is completely enamored with him.  Ray came over with Zelia for awhile--oh, and Zelia said she wants to talk to you later.  Anyway, you would never have guessed how good Ray is with the girls.  I think they've taken quite a shining to him, Audrey and Casey.  Can you believe it?" 
I shook my head, grinning.  "Never.  Especially not after how he went on about me...but then again, I guess my sister was the same way.  He's virtually the male, blue-eyed and ginger-haired version of Zelia, for goodness' sake!  And a bit less friendly, though.  They really like Zelia, so I guess I could see them liking Ray."  I finished brushing my hair and turned to look at him.  "There!  Done." 

His face split into that special grin of his, and he slid off the bed to come over and set his hands around my waist.  "And gorgeous, as always." 
"Hmm...I'm just glad to not have all that weight in the front anymore, or worry about being clumsy," I said. 
"Yeah - I don't know about you, but I was kind of a wreck, worrying that you'd trip and hurt yourself or the baby.  Now I just have to worry about YOU when you fall, and not TWO!"  he winked, kissing the tip of my nose. 
I wrinkled my nose in response, but I reached to hug him.  He gave me a big bear hug, which warmed me from the inside out...but a second later, I heard a loud wail.  Zachary.  He might be 'weak', supposedly, but he can still scream very loudly.  That set Jordan off, and...yeah. 
"Mom-MA!!" Audrey screeched.  "We're trying to play!" 
I giggled, pulling away to meet his eyes.  "Never a dull moment, huh?" 
"Nope," he chuckled, letting me go see to the kiddos. 
Zelia was holding Zach, but that didn't help his dilemma, whatever it was.  "He might be blind and only a day old, but he knows who is and isn't his mother, that's for sure..." she had a look of bewilderment plastered across her face, and had no qualms about passing him over to me.  Sure enough, a few quiet words of reassurance later, I had him calmed down and happy again.  Whew.  Maybe letting him sleep on my chest last night hadn't been the best idea, because he's been inseparable all day.  I can only imagine what they went through when I went to have my soak!  Once he had calmed down, I handed him off to his father before reaching for Jordan, who was still sobbing.  I got her calmed down, too, and started bouncing her on my hip, which made her giggle. 
And then Zach started crying again. 
Audrey groaned - loudly - and Casey looked like SHE was about to cry, too, but out of frustration.  It had been a long night for everyone last night, so of course, we had two grumpy girls to deal with today as well.  Belle promptly offered to take them for a walk, just to get them away from the babies.  She hardly waited for an answer before gathering them up and heading off of the table. 
I turned back from watching Belle leave with the girls, and saw Eugene frantically trying to get Zach to calm down.  It only made things worse, it seemed. 
Oh boy. 
"Trade?"  he asked, giving me a desperate, pleading stare. 
I juggled Jordan over to him, taking Zachary instead. 
"Hey, you....you need to learn to let Daddy hold you, too..." I kissed his forehead, and he almost immediately calmed down. 
Just in time for JORDAN to start crying, mad because I'd given her over to Eugene. 
Zelia fairly cackled.  "Ohhh, what have you two gotten yourselves into?" 
I flashed her a LOOK, and she promptly shut up. 

That's basically how the day went.  Pascal hid himself behind the cutout under a blanket and I haven't seen him since.  Good choice, if you ask me!  xD
 At around three, Jordan and Zach finally went to sleep -- at the same time, imagine that! -and Eugene promptly collapsed on the bed for a nap, too.  With two hours to go until Zachary's next feeding, I sat down with Zelia. 
"So...I heard you wanted to talk about something?" 
She sighed.  "Uh...well..no.  Never mind - you've got your hands full right now, and I'm sure you'd prefer sleep-"
"Nope.  I'm okay," I said--even though sleep sounded heavenly right now.   
"Okay.  Well..um....how do you know if you love someone?  Like...you know.  How did you feel when you knew you were in love with Eugene?"  she cleared her throat and looked at me sheepishly. 
 Well.
That was kind of unexpected...but then again, it wasn't.
"Well...." I took a deep breath.   "From what I can remember of the first time I fell in love with him - which, I can remember almost everything by now - I...I don't know.  You just feel...right.  You can't bear to be away from him, you could spend ages just sitting or talking with him, and you don't even really need to talk - just his presence is enough to satisfy you.  He's there for you when you need him the most, and he doesn't judge or criticize you  for who you are.  I don't know..." I trailed off, dropping my gaze down to my lap. 
She nodded.  "Thank you...I never thought I'd ever be asking my little sister for advice like that!" 
"Ray?"  I asked. 
"Yes.  He just....we had a rocky start, and I thought I'd kill him if I had to spend one more day with him when I first met him, but now..."
"There's something sweet, and almost kind...but he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined!  But now he's dear, and so unsure...you wonder why you didn't see it there before?"  I paraphrased "Something There" from Beauty and the Beast, and she laughed. 
"Basically.  I just....I want to tell him, but I'm terrified that I'll screw up and ruin our friendship.  I don't know how he feels because, oh - guess what?!  He's just like me!"  she buried her face in her hands.  I'd never seen my sister in such a state!
"Tell him," I said.  "I'm pretty sure he'll not mind." 
"But-"
I repeated myself, and she sighed, nodding.  "I'm just scared." 
"Don't be," I reached to give her a hug, but she pulled away, making weird, choking noises. 
"Nope.  No mushiness, nope, nope, nope." 
I giggled.  "Ohh, sister-mine...I thought you had changed.  Not much, huh?" 
"Don't you DARE think that this means I'm a mushy fool!" 
I instead slugged her playfully on her shoulder.  "I know." 

That night, Zelia said she would come to take her first shift feeding Zachary at one o'clock AM.  I stayed up after Eugene had gone to bed, because Zach was very fussy, still.  I was pretty frazzled by the time I'd gotten him to go to sleep at midnight, and then I sat around and waited for Zelia. 
When she finally came at one, I showed her what she'd need to do to feed him, watched to make sure that he'd go back to sleep for her, thanked Zelia, and then went to bed, praying I could get away long enough to get a few hours of sleep.  I was still kind of achy, and was beyond tired! 
When I'd changed into my nightie, I crawled into bed....and then I heard Jordan wake up and start to cry. 
Eugene, who must not have been totally asleep, promptly snagged my arm. 
"I'll get her, honey, you go to sleep," he whispered  before leaving. 
I curled up on my side, thinking about how chaotic the day had been.  The two older girls were crabby and a bit disgusted with the newest addition needing so much attention, Jordan was just incredibly hard to please today, and...Zach, of course....need I explain?  Would it be like this forever?!  Would Zach ever stop being so clingy to me?  I buried my face in the blankets and tried not to get worked up or worried about it.  Hah, like THAT would happen!
Just a minute later, Eugene came back.  "Zelia took care of her," he mumbled, collapsing in bed and yawning loudly before pulling me close up against him.  "Love you." 
"Love you, too,"  I said...but I must've sounded a little choked up. 
"You okay?"  he peeled one eye open, reaching to stroke some hair away from my face.
"Yes...I'm fine.  I'm just....overwhelmed right now," I bit my lip. 
"I know.  But things will calm down soon, I'm sure!  Everyone was just ticked off today because we all had a long night last night.  I promise, everything will work out.  Now, get some sleep, beautiful," he winked, giving me a sleepy grin. 
Sleep. 
Sounded good to me!