One last time

Round 17: Days 81-85

last update/next update

Narrated by Zelda Benton

Tate and I are married! I'd had my dress for ages, so all we really needed to do was choose a venue. We held the wedding at a park in Sullivan that's set up especially for these kinds of events. It was a beautiful ceremony.



Our reception was a bit disappointing though. We got married on a Thursday so I guess a lot of people had work the next day and left early. We tried not to let it ruin our wedding though and we ended up singing folk songs with the remaining guests.

We soon forgot about our lacklustre reception. Tate had booked us a surprise honeymoon (surprise for me, anyway!) to the Far East. Truly, I'm more of a beach person but who am I to complain? I've got time off work, I'm with my brand new husband and I'm eating some of the most delicious food!

Poor Tate was itching from the first night onwards though. It started when he made a wish at a little shrine. I told him maybe he should stay away from those from now on but he said I was being silly, that it was just a coincidence.

We took a walking tour while we were there and we ended up wandering off from the group. We came upon this...well, building. We weren't quite sure what it was but we thought it might be a good place to take some pictures.

It turns out that it was actually someone's house! Very sparsely furnished but he invited us in for some tea, which is nice. I can't say I'd be so charitable to strangers wandering around my front yard but people are very hospitable here.

After our tea, Tate joined an impromptu tai chi class outside the markets. I opted to use the markets for what they were built for instead - shopping!

Halfway through our second day, it started raining and it didn't stop, which gave us a great excuse to enjoy our honeymoon suite!

I couldn't believe it was time for us to go already. The far east wouldn't have been my choice but I really didn't want to leave!

After my first day back at work, I realised that Tate and I would have a permanent reminder of our honeymoon soon! Looks like I'll be taking more time off work.

We redid Araminta's old room and made it into a nursery for the baby. We used neutral colours, because we're not finding out the sex. Anyway, Mum thought we did a great job.

Tate and I have been talking about buying a house but I think we might sit tight for a while. I love the community atmosphere of living in an apartment. We have a building party every Saturday that everyone comes to, plus some friends and family of the residents. It's a lot of fun.

I'm not going to say I like everything my neighbours do though. Magdalena caught Charlton peeing in our bushes this week. "Ewww" is all I can say about that!

But we don't hold it against him and he joins us in some slap dancing inside. I think Tate has taught everyone in our triplex now.

Even the youngest members of the family join in. Finn just loves music.

And he loves his grandma too. My grandma died before I was born, so I don't remember her at all but I'm glad Araminta's kids (and mine, if I get started soon enough!) will know Mum.

We didn't get to see Ione for her birthday but we saved her present for her until we did see her.

She loved it, predictably. What little girl wouldn't love a box filled with all the toys she could want?

I'm using my maternity leave to write my second novel. This one's called "The Hook" and it's about Turkish pirates off the coast of Montenegro.

It was on one of my evenings in front of the computer that I felt the baby coming.

And it's a girl - Josephine Lucille Benton, otherwise known as Josie.

Rather than me taking maternity leave, Tate has taken paternity leave. I was planning on going right back to work but I ended up taking some time off myself.

I was much more fatigued than I thought I'd be when Josie was a baby, so I was glad to be home and to have some extra bonding time with my daughter.

I could have done without the baby puke though.

We had a couple of guests over for Josie's first birthday. Tate's dad Brandon and his uncle Joseph were both here to celebrate with us.

When Josie was a baby, I thought her hair might be black, like mine but it's actually brown. And she's the absolute spitting image of her daddy.

Speaking of daddy, he's been trying to teach her to talk but she's just not interested. Why talk when you can just point or grunt? That seems to be Josie's philosophy anyway.

Potty-training is going a little better but I know Tate didn't appreciate Brandon's unwarranted advice while he was working on it with Josie the other night. Tate would rather work these things out on his own, even though Brandon's only trying to help.

Notes:

• So almost 5 years after TS2's release, I finally get to see a Sim peeing in a shrub! I really did think it was possibly a myth but then I saw Charlton standing with his back to me and his hands in front of him and I thought "Is he...he's peeing!" Also, it makes a puddle, which is gross.
• In the tai chi pic, Tate is the one in yellow, if you were wondering. The one who doesn't look like he knows what he's doing.
• I think Josie is adorable! I don't think Tate is very good-looking but his features seem to work really well on little Josie.