Becoming Part of the Family

[justagirl4fun]

I want to try this again. Luke and Julia Ahern have always dreamed of having a large family. However, after having Alison and Elizabeth, now 8 and 5, Julia had trouble getting pregnant. Eventually they tried fertility treatments, but subsequent pregnancies ended in miscarriage and a stillbirth. Finally they decided to adopt. As they scoured the files of children waiting for families, they fell in love with a tiny two-year-old and knew she was meant to be theirs. Shortly after committing to adopting the girl Julia discovered she was pregnant, but they chose to follow through with the adoption anyways. Julia gave birth to their third daughter, Sadie, three weeks before they were due to travel to China to pick up the child they had named Emme, who was now just a few weeks shy of three years old. They decided that Luke would travel alone, as Julia was exclusively breastfeeding and couldn't leave their newborn.

While in China, Emme struggled with her new situation and grieved the loss of the only life she'd known. Aside from spending much of her first year in the hospital, fisrt recovering from open heart surgery to repair a serious congenital heart defect, and then several times with pneumonia, she'd never left the orphanage and found the outside world frightening and overwhelming. She spent most of her first days with Luke either crying or completely shut down, refusing to make eye contact with him and trying to avoid his touch as much as possible. Her potty training regressed to the point where he finally put her back in diapers. By the end of their two weeks together, though, she finally began to trust him and bond with him.

The rp will begin with Luke and Emme arriving in New York after their long flight from China, where Julia and the girls meet them at the airport. I will be Emme and Luke. I need someone to play the mom and the three girls, though I ask that if you play the baby you also play Julia or one of the older sisters as well. Please post here with a description of the character(s) you wish to play.

[Shy-Diapers]

I could play the 5 year old, and the mother, and if necessary, the 8 year old as well.

Grace was 5 years old, and full of energy. She was always doing something, somewhere. She was a little on the shy side however, being nervous about new people. She wears diapers at night for bedwetting, and had frequent daytime accidents, on the verge of needing pull-ups in the day.

Julia is 31, and has always dreamed of a big family. She was very excited when she found out she was finally pregnant again, even though they had already decided to adopt.

That good?

[justagirl4fun]

Yes, that's perfect (except the 5-year-old's name is Elizabeth...). I'll wait a little bit to see if anyone wants the baby and the 8-year-old. If not, you can be Allison and I'll be the baby and we can start.

[Shy-Diapers]

Oops sorry, I missed that part.

[justagirl4fun]

No biggie, we can change it to Grace if you want. Want to get started since no one else has replied?

[justagirl4fun]

If anyone wants to be baby Sadie or 8-year-old Alison, you have until tomorrow afternoon to claim your character and post a description. We'll start when I get home from work.

[noahVmiller]

I want to be Sadie! <3

Sadie is a newborn but already got a head full of hair

[justagirl4fun]

Nope, not even close. Sadie is five weeks old, if you bothered to read the original post. So basically she eats, sleeps, pees, poops, and cries. (Simple math...she was born 3 weeks before Luke left to get Emme, and he was in China for two weeks.)

[justagirl4fun]

Last chance if anyone wants to be 5-week-old Sadie or 8-year-old Alison.

[Shy-Diapers]

I can be Alison if we can get someone to be Sadie

[justagirl4fun]

I'll be Sadie.

[Shy-Diapers]

Alison ran towards her father as soon as she caught sight of him, not listening to her mother who told her to watch out for other people. "I missed you!" She squealed, paying no notice to Emme just yet.

Elizabeth was practically in tears as she clung onto Luke's leg as tight as she possibly could. "Daddy!" Being only five, and up until a few week ago, the youngest, she wasn't used to not getting all of her father's attention all the time.

[justagirl4fun]

"I missed you too!" Luke said as he bent down to kiss his daughters and hug them with his free arm once he dropped his carry-on. "Were you good girls for mommy while I was gone?"

[Shy-Diapers]

"uh huh! I helped MaMa with dinner every night!" Alison announced very proudly.

Elizabeth reached up for Luke, wanting him to hold her after being gone for what seemed like an eternity. "Daddy! Don't leave agan!" The five-year-old girl pleaded.

[justagirl4fun]

"I bet she was glad to have that help!" Luke said and ruffled Alison's hair. He felt awful leaving Julia with a newborn, but was glad Alison was old enough to help out a bit around the house. Then he turned to Elizabeth, groaning as he scooped her up in his free arm. "Trust me, I'm not going anywhere any time soon. Especially now that Emme's here. Turns out she's not a fan of flying," he said with a chuckle, relieved that at least the toddler's airsickness had finally subsided.

[Shy-Diapers]

Elizabeth hadn't even payed any attention to the girl in her father's other arm until now. She sniffled and wiped away her tears. "Hi"

[justagirl4fun]

Emme turned away when Elizabeth spoke to her, avoiding eye contact. She clung to Luke even tighter, her tiny fingernails digging into his skin. "She's a little shy, and scared right now,"

[Shy-Diapers]

Elizabeth frowned when Emme ignored her. Julia had told her to be nice to the new girl, but she wasn't very thrilled about getting another new sister.

"Hi honey." Julia said, standing up and hugging Luke. "Hi there sweetie. You must be Emme." She said softly. She reached into her diaper bag and pulled out a small stuffed panda for Emme.

[justagirl4fun]

Luke hugged Julia back and kissed her. Emme looked down, still avoiding eye contact, but slowly reached out for the panda, the tiniest of smiles playing at the corners of her plump, bow-shaped lips. She then retreated, resting her head on Luke's shoulder as she held the stuffed animal tight to her chest. Luke shrugged. "Well, it's better than the day I got her. I'm pretty sure everyone within a mile radius heard her scream when the nanny tried to give her to me."

[Shy-Diapers]

Julia smiled when Emme accepted the toy. "Well, that's a good thing!" She smiled and gently stroked the toddler's hair. Seeing Elizabeth still in Luke's arms she decided to hav e her get down. "Elizabeth, let Daddy carry his stuff. You're a big enough girl to walk."

[justagirl4fun]

Luke set Elizabeth down and, still balancing Emme on one hip, managed to retrieve his two suitcases from the luggage carousel. He stacked one on top of the other and pulled them over to the chairs. "Alison, can you take this one for me?" he asked, handing her his carry-on. It was a bit on the heavy side but had wheels and he was confident she'd be strong enough to pull it to the car.

[Shy-Diapers]

Elizabeth started crying again when Luke put her down and she clung onto his leg.

"Elizabeth Rose Ahren! Get up and let your father walk." Julia snapped.

Elizabeth refused to let go and just hugged her father's leg tughter.

Alison started pulling the carry-on along with little struglle.

[justagirl4fun]

"Julia, it's fine," Luke said with a sigh as he set Emme down and picked Elizabeth up. "Here baby, hold on to this," he said as he placed one of Emme's hands on the handle of his suitcase before grabbing the handle and starting to walk slowly towards the exit, turning to make sure the tiny girl was walking with him.

[Shy-Diapers]

Elizabeth hugged Luke as tight as she could and hid her face in his neck.

Julia sighed and dragged the baby and followed behind her husband.

[justagirl4fun]

Once they reached the minivan