Tuesday 23 February 2010

Another pearl

Round 25: Winter 2021

Evan Moretti is 32, Ione is 25 and Justin and Xavier are 3 months old.
(Filippo is 66, Emil is 49, Lia is 24, Araminta is 58, Henry is 56, and Elspeth is 7).
Narrated by Evan Moretti

It's unbelievable how much things have changed for us in less than a year. This time last year, Ione and I were in the middle of wedding preparations and now, we're married with twin sons.


We spent our wedding night in a hotel room, which was really nice but one day, we'd love a real honeymoon, sans kids.

Right now, every time we get some alone time, one of the boys starts crying and we have to attend to them. And once Xavier starts crying, Justin starts crying, it takes forever to settle them down and by the time we do, we're both too exhausted to do anything.

I'm not too confident yet as a dad, so Ione is having me read all of her parenting books. She finds them reassuring but I think they actually make me more nervous! All the things that can go wrong and all the many ways there are to completely screw up your kids.

The twins were unexpected but welcome. I was so freaked out when Ione came out of the bathroom after doing the pregnancy test and told me we got a positive. We'd only been married a few weeks at that point. Then when they were born, they were so tiny that I just worried I'd break them, or drop them.

My brother Emil is a total sucker for babies but Anna never agreed to having a third, so he has to be content with playing uncle instead.

It was Emil who was partially responsible for getting me used to the twins. I was the youngest in the family and despite my multitude of nieces and nephews (7 nieces and 4 nephews!), I never really got much experience with babies before Justin and Xavier.

I still wonder if I quite know what I'm doing some days but it's getting a little bit easier.

Of the two of us, Ione has the tougher job anyway. She's currently on maternity leave, so she's often alone with the boys during the day.

Ione was really excited when we found out she was pregnant but she has admitted she finds being at home with the twins a little lonely sometimes. When she's got the time away from work, Ione's friend Lia comes to visit. She likes getting a chance for some adult conversation during the day.

From what Ione tells me, Lia is desperate for a baby of her own but her boyfriend's not making any moves to propose so far. She's always telling Ione how jealous she is!

When I get home, I try to take over and let Ione get some R&R but it doesn't make up for the fact that she's doing this by herself most days.

It's hard to feel like cooking dinner after working all day and Ione's the better cook but I figure she's probably more tired than me, so I normally do it. I just sit behind a desk all day.

Besides, if I do something easy, it doesn't take so long and then we can both sit down and relax for a bit while we eat.

Until one of the boys starts crying for something, that is.

It's very rare that it's just us at home nowadays. We seem to always have company.

Our families are all pretty excited about the twins, so we've had visitors streaming in and out the front door almost constantly since they were born. Most of our relatives are more than willing to lend a hand with the boys, so it's actually a nice break for us.

Ione's parents have both been a really great help to us, so I guess the least we could do is feed them!

My Dad usually stops by to see the boys while Nathan and Hope are in school. If Mum was still alive, we probably wouldn't have been able to keep her out of here! I think Dad might be becoming even worse than Mum was with the grandbaby lust - he says he wants 20!

Dad adores Ione so it's a good opportunity for him to catch up with her too.

Usually though, Ione takes advantage of Dad's willingness to help and takes a nap while he's over. It just means she's a tiny bit less tired later on.

Since we became parents, neither of us have had much time to work on our hobbies, so I came home with a gift for Ione.

Ione became quite skilled at toy making while she was at college so I thought she might appreciate a new workbench. Even though she was exhausted, she was so keen to get started again that she got to work on a water wiggler right away.

I decided I wanted to learn too, so Ione agreed to show me what she knew.

So far, I've made...a painted brick. Not too impressive but it's a start.

Notes:
  • Title is from Another Pearl by Badly Drawn Boy.
  • Phew, so this was all about the babies but babies are about all Ione and Evan have time for. It's really exhausting. Especially for me.
  • Emil and Lia visited autonomously and a couple of days after the family dinner, Araminta visited the house of her own accord. I love when Sims do that.
  • Filippo has the 20 grandchildren want, as well as the want to have a baby. Um...yeah, that's not happening. Filippo already has 11 grandchildren but he needs another 9, apparently. All of his kids, except for Evan, are most definitely done as far as I'm concerned so...pressure's on, Ione and Evan? LOL. Henry and Araminta also have the 20 grandchildren want but those two are completely nuts.
  • Evan was promoted to Captain Hero (LTW FTW! I just wish it wasn't such a dumb job title) and got a nice little bonus. Every time he gets a bonus from work, he rolls up the want to give a gift, which is quite sweet. Last time he did it, he bought an arcade machine for Amelia to smooth things over after she attacked him at his party and was furious with him. This time, he rolled the want to buy a gift specifically for Ione (which I hadn't seen before), so he went for the toy making bench. It'll come in handy once the boys are older!

16 comments:

  1. I never seen the want to give a gift to a particular sim either. He is a sweeties, I'll have to show my hubby this update if we ever have twins :P

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  2. Aww, good for Evan. I've had the specific gift wants a couple of times before, it's always nice.
    Ione's got a good man behind her, though, she's lucky!

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  3. Thanks, guys!

    Apple Valley, Evan is almost too sweet but it's genuine for him. He's just a very, very nice guy. It made sense that the first time I saw that want, it was Evan who rolled it. It suits him.

    Tessa, Ione is a lucky girl but Evan is a lucky guy too. They both have 10 nice points!

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  4. Aww, the babies are so cute. Evan is a sweet man and they make such a lovely couple.

    Crazy Filippo wanting 20 grandchildren! And Henry and Araminta! Sounds like they'd want Finn and Victoria to have another baby immediately LOL

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  5. Sari, Evan is gorgeous. I love him and Ione together and I'm very excited for Winter 2022 to roll around so I can see what their sons look like!

    And yeah, the pressure is on for Finn and Victoria and poor Evan and Ione! I really doubt they'll live to see Elspeth have children (though it's possible), so they'd be looking to their eldest two to provide them with grandchildren!

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  6. Aw, Evan is so sweet with his want to give Ione a gift! :) LOL at Filippo! You would think 11 grandchildren might be plenty, but I guess not. ;)

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  7. Shana, I always forget Evan and Ione are only two bolts, because they're so adorable together. After Evan gave her the toy making bench, Ione had the want to give a gift back to him.

    Filippo's a Sim, so too many is never enough! They have to do everything to the extreme, LOL.

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  8. Evan is SO sweet and thoughtful! And I love the picture of Filippo giving one of the twins a bath.

    Captain Hero is absurd, but it is kind of fun to see them take off for work. And Evan is the kind of guy who would BE a captain hero.

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  9. Awww, he's so thoughtful! I don't know if I've seen that before, a specific gift want! I want to see it now! :)

    A lot of my elder crowd are rolling up that 20 grandchildren want. So greedy, lol!

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  10. Francesca, I liked that one of Filippo too. Except for Evan being a total slob, and Filippo being a neat freak, Evan and Filippo are very similar in personality.

    Heh, I have to watch Evan fly off to work every. single. time. And I'd never thought of it before but I guess I kind of see Evan as the meek and mild type, like Clark Kent, so I could definitely see him as a superhero!

    Laura, I love discovering new wants! You wouldn't think there'd be any left, with the number of years I've been playing but I still get surprises popping up!

    Like the 10 children want, the 20 grandchildren want is one that will always, always be ignored. Sorry, but no. Especially if you only have three kids, Henry and Araminta!

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  11. Finding new wants is so much fun! I'm still finding ones I haven't seen, it's rare, but always a nice surprise. :D

    LOL at 20 grandchildren, that is insane! Family sims really need a reality check sometimes. ;)

    I loved the picture of Ione holding one of the twins, her face panicked! That one really stuck out to me. Twins are such a job!

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  12. Mao, I know, Family Sims are nutty! Filippo doesn't even roll up many wants for the grandchildren he HAS, so maybe he should focus on them. He sees them all the time though, because they come home with Nathan and Hope on the school bus.

    I was really hoping either Evan or Ione would do that panicked face with one of the babies and Ione was very co-operative! If you're going to lose your cool while parenting, you're definitely going to lose it with twins! That actually happened while I was posing them outside for their family portrait and I quickly placed her inside so I could get my pic!

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  13. I love hearing from these two too. I can't wait to see the kids as toddlers either!

    And awww... what a sweet want! I think I've seen that once or twice. never thought much about it though, lol.

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  14. Lunar, Evan and Ione are adorable, aren't they?

    Who knows, I may have seen that want a couple of times before myself! I tend to notice the wants more when they fit a particular Sim's personality perfectly and this one really fit Evan. :)

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  15. It's got to be exciting for Finn and Ione's parents to be having all these new grandchildren now; expanding their family. I'm so happy for them!

    It's funny to see Evan and Ione struggling with the twins. Those boys are adorable! They'll get the hang of it, I'm sure. It's nice having family come by to help, that's for sure...steal as many winks of sleep as you can!

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  16. Simmington, it must be and that might be why they're getting caught up in wanting 20 grandchildren! It's all very exciting right now, getting 3 grandchildren in 6 months!

    I think Evan and Ione will eventually find a kind of rhythm with the twins and things will get easier. They've got plenty of help, at least!

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