22// ~Sick~

Ara would not stop crying and it was breaking my heart. "Mama. Mama. Mama."

"I know, I know baby. Shhhh, it's okay. Mamas here. You're okay."

Ara had woken up this morning a little cranky, and a couple hours later her breakfast ended up in the toilet. She's been whining for a while, complaining about her stomach and head.

"Owwie." She cried out, pressing her forehead into my chest as I walked around the room, patting her on the bum and rocking back and forth very slowly as not to jostle her already upset stomach.

"Aw my poor baby." Athena said, walking into the room. She had gone to get some medicine we could give her. She came back carrying a syringe filled up with some pink substance. I'm assuming bubble gum flavor. At least it's not grape, I never liked grape flavored medication when I was child and I'm assuming Ara wouldn't like it either.

She tried to lift the syringe up to her mouth but Ara turned her head away, facing the wall. She grumbled and put her hand up trying to push the syringe away. "Baby this is gonna make your tummy feel better, can you try and swallow it for mommy." Athena tried persuading her, but Ara just shook her head again.

"Yucky yucky."

"It won't be yucky sweetheart. It tastes like bubblegum, it's super yummy. Maybe you can have some ice cream or a popsicle after you eat it too. Would you like that?" She continued to try and bargain with Ara while she stayed in my arms.

Ara turned her head back around to Athena and looked at the syringe for a minute before opening her mouth. "Good girl." She placed the syringe into her mouth as Ara closed her lips around it and Athena slowly pushed the medicine into her mouth, suckling on it before swallowing it all.

"What a brave girl you are." I cooed once she had swallowed it all. Once Athena pulled the syringe from Ara's mouth, she continued to suckle on nothing, whining slightly and looking around the room. "Do you mind getting me a bunny out of the top draw over there?" I asked Athena.

She walked over and pulled out a pink pacifier covered with delicate flower designs, before turning around and placing it next to Ara's mouth. She instantly wrapped her lips around the binky, suckling and laying her head back down onto my chest. "There you go. Good girl, shhhh." I said.

I walked down the stairs with Ara and entered the living room. Sitting down on the couch with Athena and Morgan on either side of me with Ara in my hands, I focused my attention on the tv. Ara had already fallen asleep on my chest and I rubbed her back slowly. Every few minutes she would whine a bit and wiggle around, readjusting her position and most likely trying to relieve the pain in her tummy. Hopefully the medicine would kick in really soon. It had only been about 5 minutes since we had given it to her.

"I hate that's she's feeling so bad." Morgan voices, looking down at Ara's face as she sleeps peacefully.

"I know." I agree. "I'm hoping it's just a small stomach bug or something and it goes away pretty soon."

We turn on a movie that just came out that looks pretty good and settle in.

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"No!" Ara pushed away her plate.

"You're not hungry at all baby?"

"No mama." She reached her hands out indicating she wanted me to take her out of the high chair.

She hadn't throw up since earlier and she seemed to be a little more awake, but I guess it made sense that her stomach was still not feeling up to eating.

I picked her up out of the high chair and sat her in my lap. She was straddling my legs and grabbing my hair, playing with it and twirling it around, holding it up, and I think attempting to braid it.

I didn't mind at all. That is, until she picked it up and placed it into her mouth, chewing on and sucking on my hair. "Oh no no baby, we don't eat mamas hair." I removed it from her hands. She just pouted and looked up at me heartbroken, until she opened her mouth and she began to cry...very loudly. "Ssshhh, hold on." I grabbed her binky off of the table where I had placed it before dinner and put it into her mouth. "Oh I know, I know, mamas so mean huh?" She latched onto the binky right away and her cries sweet silenced instantly.

"Wow, all that for her binky." Morgan exclaimed.

"I guess she won't have any problems with breastfeeding." Athena joked. I assumed Ara would be shocked when she heard that as we hadn't yet discussed it, but it seemed that she was either to little or to distracted to know what was going on because she didn't react in any way.

I was the one who planned on breastfeeding her as it's something I've always wanted to experience. Looking down at my baby and seeing her so relaxed and knowing that I'm able to provide comfort and nutrients to her is just something I dream of.

She just continued to play with the strings on my sweatshirt. Suddenly she pulled my sweatshirt up and buried her head onto my chest, pulling the fabric back over her head and upper body. I just laughed, not sure what to do. "What are you doing to mama my silly girl." I peeked down the top of my sweatshirt. I wasn't wearing a shirt underneath it, but I was wearing a bra so at least there was some sort of layer between her and my breasts. Not that I would mind, but I'm not sure if she would be comfortable with doing that and realizing i was completely exposed beneath my sweatshirt.

To be honest she probably wouldn't even care. I don't know if she's even realized, but I've caught her many, many times staring at our chests, especially when we are wearing low cut shirts. Not our fault we were blessed in that department.

I had started to take lactation pills a couple weeks ago when we met Ara. I haven't started lactating yet, but I'm thinking it's going to start soon cause I've experienced side effects like discomfort in my breasts.

Ara looked up at me from inside my sweatshirt and smiled around her binky. "Mamamamama." She babbled around the pacifier, it bobbing up and down in her mouth as she did so.

"Ya? You see mama? You see mama from in the sweatshirt? You're so silly." I shook my head as I cooed and spoke in a high pitched voice, causing her to smile bigger.

She hid her face in my chest and I resumed conversation with Morgan and Athena who had watched the scene with adoration and smiles.

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"When suddenly, the dog began digging in the ground. He was making a big hole to bury his bone!"

"Doggy!" Ara interrupted Morgan's reading and squealed, pointing at the dog in the book.

After a long couple hours I was able to get Ara out of my sweatshirt to get her ready for bed. She had stayed in her pajamas all day because she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to change so all we had to do was put her into another pair of pajamas before brushing her teeth and hair, braiding it into two braids to stay out of her face.

We had wanted to give her a bath tonight but she said she was too tired and agreed that she would take one tomorrow morning instead, which we compromised on.

"Ya, it is a doggy. It's so cute isn't it?" I said.

"I get?"

"You want a doggy?" I clarified.

She nodded her head excitedly and started clapping her hands. "Doggy, doggy, doggy!" She chanted.

"And what would you do with a doggy, huh?" Athena questioned.

"Um, I pway." She nodded. "An I cuwdle an we be bes fwiends." She listed.

"Oh, okay." I nodded. "What kind of doggy would you want?"

"Big doggy!" She shouted, laying backwards from where she was sitting on the bed and leaning back into my lap.

"A big dog? Woah!" I said in mock fascination.

She nodded, smiling widely. "Big doggy!" She stretched out her arms to show up just how big she was talking about.

"Wow, that's really big." Morgan said, keeping the shocked tone of voice going.

"Uh-huh." Ara rolled onto her stomach and lowered her feet onto the ground. We were in our room right now so the bed was a bit higher up. She landed on the ground and began running out the room. "Be wight back!" She shouted as she left the room.

We all watched the door for her to return. We saw her enter her room from where we were so we didn't need to get up as that room was safe for her to be in by herself. A minute later she walked back into the room carrying a big book under her arms that she had grabbed from her room. It was a book that had a bunch of different species of dogs with facts about each one.

She lifted up her arms looking up at me to lift her onto the bed. I did and she crawled over in between all of us, opening up the book and flipping through a few pages.

"Doggy!" She pointed to the page with a pretty big Cane Corso on it. "Pwetty." She pet the page of the dog making me laugh. I found it funny that she thinks one of the biggest dogs is the prettiest.

"Very pretty baby." Morgan kissed the side of her head.

"Me doggy?" Ara looked at her with a pout on her face.

Morgan looked up at me and Athena not sure what to say. I made an unsure face at her. "Maybe one day you can have a doggy. I'd have to talk to mommy's about it though."

Ara looked over at me and Athena before looking back down at the book in front of her. "Otay." She said in a little bit of a disappointed voice. She kissed the dog on the page before laying down on our pillow again and Morgan continued reading the book.

Ara began yawning and rubbing her eyes, despite me gently removing her fist away from her eyes multiple times.

She fell asleep towards the end of the book, but Morgan finished it anyways as there was only a couple pages left. After she was done I gently picked Ara up off the bed, cradling her to my chest, and we made our way into her room.

Placing her down into her crib, I put button and tootsie next to her and held her binky up to her lips. She took it into her mouth and rubbed her eye again in her sleep.

I put the small woven blanket over her and brushed her hair back, kissing her gently on the forehead, before moving out of the way so Athena and Morgan could do the same.

Walking out of the room together, Athena walked out last closing the door about half way and we all walked into the room across the hall.

"What do you guys think?" I questioned.

"About what?" Athena asked.

"About getting Ara a dog." I smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not sure. I'd be fine with it but who knows if she'll still want one in a week. This could just be something she's thinking of cause she saw it in the book." Morgan shrugged.

"I think we should wait a few days and if it keeps coming up I wouldn't be against getting her a dog." I said.

"Ya. I think it'd be good for her to have that connection, plus that breed is really good for protection which would make me feel better having it around her." Athena reasoned.

Nodding, I agreed.

We all went to our rooms and got showered and changed quickly before returning to our shared room and heading to bed.

"I love you." I kissed Athena. Instead of pulling away she deepened the kiss, grabbing my ass and kissing down my neck.

Morgan walked into the room. "Well, I like this view." She smiled.

Let's just say, none of us got any sleep for the next few hours.

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Ara's pajamas she was in for the day while feeling sicky!

Then these are the pajamas that she was changed into for bedtime!

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2222 words

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Guys...oh...my...goodness! Now we have 23k views!! How did that even happen? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!! I appreciate you all for reading, commenting, and voting! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

I hope you are all doing well and are feeling healthy and good!

Question for this chapter:

What country are you guys from?

I'm from America! Also if anyone else is from America is anyone kind of concerned about our government right now? 🙈 It freaks me out every time I watch the news or see videos of things happening right now! Hopefully everything works out okay.

Thank you again for reading!

Bye-bye!

- lauren 💕