The good in everyone

Round 29: January 2030

last update/next update

Rose and Joanna Draper are both 35 and Sylvia is 4.
(Abigail is 47, Amelia is 41 and Wade is 40)

Narrated by Rose Draper

Before Sylvia started pre-school, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to her about it, just so she knew what she'd be in for. I thought she'd be so excited but her reaction was a little underwhelming.

She was even less impressed once she found out the school she'd be going to was not Joanna's school but a different school entirely. She didn't understand why she couldn't just go to school with her mum.

She got over it though. By the time her first day rolled around, she was so excited when we were waiting for the bus.

I was way more nervous than she was. She hopped on the bus with barely a glance behind her.

Once Sylvia came home, it was clear that she loved pre-school. All we heard about was how fantastic Mrs Gray was.

Right after dinner, she wanted to do her homework, just to please Mrs Gray. She really loves her teacher!

We've also discovered that Sylvia loves books, which we're both thrilled about.

She loves TV too but we're trying to encourage the books instead.

So on Saturdays, Joanna has been taking Sylvia to the library. Now that the library has a children's section, Lia has started doing story time. Sylvia loves it!

It does means Joanna has to socialise though, which is always a bit hit or miss.

Joanna just does better with people she knows well. She's always been a bit of a hermit and just doesn't have any interest in making more friends.

Joanna's going to have to get used to it though. Now that Sylvia is making her own little friends at school and elsewhere, eventually we're both going to have to deal with their parents.


I'd be happy to take on the bulk of that but I earned a promotion recently though and part of the deal is that I have to work weekends.

I'm supposed to be able to leave at 6 but lately, I haven't been getting out of the office until 8.

Every time I turn around to leave, Abigail is there with more work for me. I love that I'm getting to write real stories now, instead of horoscopes and sports reports but the workload is unbelievable.

Abigail says it will get easier when I get used to the workload, though there'll always be the occasional late night.

I hope she's right. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot at home.

Sylvia's already fast asleep when I get home. I miss spending my weekends with her.

At least Joanna and I still get to spend all of our evenings together.

For the past few months, Joanna and I have been talking seriously about adding to our family.

I'm so excited that Joanna's on board with this! I want to start right away. I wanted to start two years ago but Joanna wasn't sure about a second child then.

She definitely wants one now but we want to try artificial insemination this time and Joanna is a bit worried. Because we don't know how my body will react to pregnancy and because I've just started a new position at work, Joanna thinks we should wait until I've settled in for another few months.

I don't really want to wait much longer. I'm not getting any younger and I don't know how hard it's going to be for me to get pregnant.

I was pretty sure Joanna wasn't going to budge on waiting but I suggested to her that if we weren't going to start the actual process yet, then we could at least start preparing. Get all of our ducks in a row, so to speak.

Joanna was actually very agreeable to that. Joanna feels more confident planning for things in advance and the planning process makes everything seem more real to me.

We would be willing to use an anonymous donor if we had to but when we decided to try insemination this time, the first choice for both of us was Joanna's brother Wade. It's definitely an awkward request to make of somebody though, no matter how well you know them!

I was so amazed but Wade agreed to it right away. I always expect him to react to things the way Joanna would. I forget how easy going he is about most things.

We told him he wasn't under any obligation to say yes and that an anonymous donor was always an option. But he was very keen to help us and about as unfazed as you possibly could be by the request.

Amelia was a little taken aback by the request but the more we discussed it, the less uncomfortable she seemed.

We're so happy Wade and Amelia are okay with this. Joanna and I are both more comfortable with a donor we know, especially someone we know as well as Wade.

We've brought up the possibility of a baby brother or sister with Sylvia and she's not too excited about the idea. But she was very anti-pre-school when we first brought it up (like she had a choice!) and now she loves it. So I think she might come around.

As for me and Joanna though, we're both very excited (and a little nervous) about having another baby!

We have a preliminary appointment with a doctor next week and after that, we can look at what we need to do and decide when we should go in for our first round.

Notes:

• Title is from The Good in Everyone by Sloan.
• I've used HoodReplace on Sullivan, so if things look a bit different, that's why. I'm still placing everything just so. It's going to take a while to get it looking the way I want, so I'm just making sure the areas around the lots I play look right. I'll get there eventually!
• Rose is not pregnant. Yet. Because I'm a nerd, I actually looked up the success rates for artificial insemination and as with everything, it depends on a few factors but it ranges between 5-30%. Because there's no actual infertility here, for Wade or Joanna, I'm imagining that the main factor counting against them is Rose's age, so I'm going to use 25% as their chance.
• Game play wise, this is what I'm doing: every "month", I'll roll to determine whether Rose gets pregnant or not. If she doesn't, I'll try again the next month. If she does, I'll use InSimenator to have Wade impregnate her. Once she has the baby, she and Wade will be listed as the parents. I'll then send the baby to the adoption pool with SimLogical's teleporter cat and then have Joanna and Rose call to adopt it. Or maybe I'll just attach Joanna as the other parent with SimBlender. Hmmm. I'll decide when the time comes, as I'm not planning on having them start "trying" until May or June.