Maybe

Round 22: Spring 2015

Nick's last update/last update/Nick's next update/next update

Caleb Moretti is 33, Cara Nanale is 26 and Nick is 12.
(Maia is 13 and Aaron is 12).

Narrated by Caleb Moretti

Cara and I have been living together for almost two years now and things have been going really well. I was expecting problems between her and Nick but they get along great. I guess with Abigail getting married a couple of months ago, it's easier for him to accept that we've both moved on.


Nick is just one of those kids adults love. He's very popular with our neighbours, especially Mrs Jacobson.

Nick's pretty popular with kids his age too, considering he's so shy. He's always got friends coming home from school with him.

It's usually the same three boys he's been hanging around with since kindergarten - Calvin, Troy and Aaron - but Maia Novak comes around a lot too. Nick has a little crush on her.

Maia had dinner with us the other night and I'm a little concerned about her attitude towards school - it seems to be a place for socialising for her and not much else. Nick's got a good head on his shoulders though, so I'm not too worried about her influence.

I'm a little bit worried that every time Aaron is around, Maia seems to spend most of her time flirting with him, even though Aaron turns her down every time.

I try to remind myself that they are really just kids - they all still run out in the rain to splash in puddles!

I hope all that's needed is a bit of emotional maturity because Nick really likes Maia. I'd hate to see him hurt by her.

I've had a chat to him about it and so far, he doesn't seem to fazed by it. I'm hoping he moves onto someone else, honestly but I'm trying to stay out of it.

Cara sat me down on the couch a couple of weeks ago and said that we needed to talk. No guy ever wants to hear those words. They usually don't lead to anything good!

This time they did though, at least for me! Cara's pregnant! I couldn't be happier but she's freaking out a little. She's having enough trouble keeping up with her online classes as it is, without dealing with pregnancy and then a baby. It's like I told her though - I've done this before, with way less money than we have now. We can afford a babysitter if we need to. She's not entirely convinced but I hope her fears were allayed a bit.

I'd been carrying an engagement ring around in my pocket for the last 6 months or so, just waiting for the right time to ask Cara and I'd been thinking about marrying her since the second she moved in!

I didn't know quite how to start so I just blurted the question out and I didn't get quite the answer I was hoping for. Cara thought I was only asking her because she was pregnant and said she didn't want me to feel pressured like that.

When I pulled out the ring, Cara realised that I'd been planning this for a long time and that it wasn't some spur of the moment decision.

So that's how Cara and I got engaged. We're thinking we might get married in the summer. It's fast but we want to be married when the baby comes.

Everything felt like it was going just as it should and then things started going wrong.

Her "morning" sickness was unrelenting and it hit her morning, noon and night.

With work and school, Cara was even more exhausted than she normally would be.

There were a few nights when she looked like she was going to fall asleep right in her dinner.

I hoped that it would all be okay if she just got some really good rest.

Cara knew something was wrong though and unfortunately, she was right and we lost the baby.

We hadn't planned the baby but we'd both become more excited about it as time went on, so we're both feeling a bit numb right now.

For several days after she miscarried, Cara didn't even want to be touched.

I tried to be understanding but it was hard not to take it personally.

I bounced back before Cara did and I tried to cheer her up, to not much avail. She just needs a little more time.

Cara's still not feeling very amorous, understandably, but we can cuddle on the couch now without her pushing me away. So slowly but surely, we're getting there.

Random pics:
I'm continuing my pathological urge to fill my Sims' houses with family photos! I love doing it and wish I'd started sooner! These are just large versions of the pics that are hanging up in their triplex, which you can see in the background in a couple of pictures. I like to imagine the last one was taken after they got home from Abigail's wedding.

They also have this one of Nick in the bedroom but you've probably seen this one before - it was his toddler profile pic.

Notes:

• The title is the name of a Connells song, which is sadly not on YouTube.
• Cara and Nick get along a little too great. If Nick was an adult, they'd have two bolts. I've put them in the Friend Zone but it doesn't stop the heart-farting.
• Mrs. Jacobson's first name is Ceres and she's Matilda's mother.
• Re: the Aaron/Maia/Nick thing - the situation is partly manufactured by me, partly by the game. Nick flirts autonomously with Maia all the time but never vice versa - he's totally smitten with her, so that's all real. Maia spends most of her time talking and joking with Aaron and ignores the other boys, including poor Nick, so that's real too. But Sims seem to have pretty good gaydar with ACR because I've never had a straight Sim autonomously flirt with a gay Sim of the opposite sex (or the same sex, obviously), so the actual flirting is me directing her. Just in case you were wondering why your girls never seem to inadvertently flirt with gay boys. ;)
• I still don't know how Cara got pregnant. I usually use Inteen birth control, which seemed to work for ACR as well. Is that no longer the case? Anyway, I'm kind of relieved they're not having a baby just yet. I'm trying to take it easy on babies for the rest of the round.
• Wedding plans are on hold for Caleb and Cara right now, because I figure they'd both need some time before jumping into wedding planning. Cara's mood is still very low even though in game, it's been a couple of days since her miscarriage. I'll likely set a date for them before the end of the round though and somehow work it into another update, likely Abigail's or Evan's.