Go with the flow

Round 27: Winter 2025

last update/next update

Evan Moretti is 36, Ione is 29 and Justin and Xavier are both 4.

Narrated by Evan Moretti

This winter, Ione and I found out we were expecting another baby!

I remember being so terrified when we found out that Ione was pregnant the first time but I'm not nearly as nervous this time. I'm just excited to meet this new baby.

I took a little bit of convincing though. For the past couple of years, Ione was wavering back and forth over whether she wanted another but once Justin and Xavier started pre-school, she wanted to start trying right away.

I took a while to come around to the idea. I really wasn't sure if I could handle another kid. Or more twins! What if we had twins again? My parents had two sets in a row, so it happens.

It doesn't help that Ione's friend Lia has twins, just over a year old. They're adorable, of course, but they're just as exhausting as I remember the boys being.

But after a while I started thinking that I probably could do it again. I did it once, after all. I've even been doing a lot of it on my own lately. Ione works nights and it's just me and the boys most nights.

It's been hard parenting twins, but it's been a lot of fun too.

The boys are getting more and more independent and it's probably a good time to have another, before the age gap is too wide.

I'm a twin myself but Amelia and I never really became close until we lived together as adults. When we were kids, we always seemed to be at odds.

Justin and Xavier are what most people expect twins to be like though. They do everything together and they're best buddies.

They still fight sometimes, like all kids, but they generally get along and are well-behaved.

I can tell they're really missing my dad right now. They're extra clingy with Henry when he comes to visit (which is all the time).

We all miss Dad but Justin and Xavier are too young to truly understand why he can't come and see us any more.

Every time I think about this new baby, I think about how much Dad would have loved to meet him or her. We found out Ione was pregnant not long after Dad died, so he never knew.

Dad's life insurance has given us a little bit of money to play around with though and we've been able to do some nice things we weren't able to do before. Justin has been begging for a cat all year. So we got Babette and the twins adore her.

I'm more of a dog person but I have to admit that Babette charmed me in no time at all.

We even took the day off work and had lunch at a nice cafe while the kids were at pre-school.

I can't remember the last time we got to do that! It was probably before we were married. We didn't get much of a chance to be newlyweds before Justin and Xavier came along.

One of the only good things about Ione working nights (we're hoping she gets promoted soon) is that there's always one of us home for the kids. They had a snow day recently and Ione and Araminta took the kids to the park to enjoy it.

Justin and Xavier love any chance they get to play with their cousin Declan.

Elspeth thinks she's too grown up to play with her nephews but she was apparently on her best behaviour all day.

Caitlin's too young to do much of anything right now, so she had to be content to sit on the bench with Ione and her mother while they caught up.

I can just imagine what the main topic of conversation was. We were going to wait until the second trimester before we started telling people but Ione wanted to start telling right away. Xavier is pretty excited about the prospect; Justin is a little more cautious about it.

Henry is so excited - he's been wanting another grandchild for a couple of years now - since Caitlin was born, I think.

As thrilled as Ione is about this impending baby, she's really having an awful time this pregnancy.

For one thing, her morning sickness has been much worse this time that it was with the twins.

Ione's also been getting a lot of muscle aches. Sometimes she'll let me try giving her a back rub to help her out.

Other times, she just doesn't want my hands anywhere near her.

Ione's been like that a lot during this pregnancy. I'll come over and try to touch or kiss her and she just doesn't want any part of it.

I'm trying to remember that it's just hormones - she's always apologetic and extra-affectionate later on when it happens - but it still sucks.

I really hope this phase doesn't last for the whole nine months and that Ione is back to her usual sweet self soon.

Bits 'n' pieces:
Just in case there was any doubt that Declan is Victoria's son! I didn't notice until I was just about to age him up that he had his mother's chin but it's very clear now.

LOL! Luc had a snow day as well! He was at the park the entire time I had the kids there and he was bogarting that swing for the whole morning.

This one broke the fourth wall a bit too much for me to use in the actual update but I cracked up at Caitlin's face here. I love this kid more every time I play with her.

Notes:

• Title is from Go With The Flow by Queens of the Stone Age.
• I wonder if I'm starting another family tradition here. Henry's a cop, Ione is a cop, Evan's a cop (well, he's Captain Hero, but I ignore that and pretend he's a cop). It would be cool if one of their kids ended up as a cop too, like with Sophie and her ancestors.
• For a Popularity Sim, Evan is a damn good father! I usually find Popularity Sims don't roll up too many wants for their families but Evan does. He's always wanting to play or talk to his sons and he rolls up a lot of those general "Talk to Relative" and "Play with Relative" wants too, which I normally only see with Family Sims. Evan's like a secret Family Sim!
• Ione rejecting Evan's flirts was total game play. Of course, she wouldn't do it when I needed pictures of it, so I had to set that up. It seems quite realistic that she'd be a bit cranky - her morning sickness has been quite awful.
• Baby Moretti #3 will arrive in Autumn 2026. I'm just as worried about twins as Evan is! Ione's got that fertility benefit, which was responsible for Justin and Xavier. If they do have twins, they'll need to move. :\ Which means they'll likely need to go into debt again because even with the $10,000 Filippo left them (which they still have most of), they still can't afford a new house.