The short answer was no. When she wasn’t paying homage to the porcelain god or endlessly running around after two very demanding boys, Sy would break down in tears. A case of the baby blues?

Her nights weren’t much better; she seemed plagued by nightmares.

Whatever the actual reason, which was never fully discovered, she seemed to find some solace in loving a flour sack, on which she’d painted a crude imitation of a face. And all this in her first trimester!

It didn’t help matters that one afternoon Jeremiah came home from work early. Despite being on his lunch break, his boss had decided that playing on the DS wasn’t acceptable and had fired him. Now they only had the money in the bank to survive on until Jeremiah could find another position. At least Sy no longer had to do all the cooking!

Or fix the computer for the umpteenth time…

In some ways, having a second pair of hands around the house was a help, but with very little cash coming in, things were tight. Jeremiah felt that with Sy’s due date getting ever nearer, he’d be better off staying at home and painting to earn money than leaving her to cope alone five days a week. His skills with the oils were coming on a treat! Hopefully before long he’d be able to paint a masterpiece.

Finally, the day came when everything reached a climax. Sy had just given Jonathan a bottle when she felt the contractions kicking in. The new baby was on the way…
Meet Serena.

Another set of twins in this family! Sister Susan.

It was all too much for Sy though: Jeremiah could only stand and watch while his wife suffered a full breakdown. He had to help somehow! Grabbing the phone, he called the hospital and asked them to send a therapist.

Now with FOUR children well under school age, Sy and Jeremiah’s lives were only going to get harder!