Roll

Round 32: November 2035 (Spring)

Connor's last update/last update/next update/Connor's next update

Maia Novak is 33, Ethan is 29, Connor is 22 and Willow is 6 weeks old.
(Aaron and Calvin are both is 32 and Lila is 22)

Narrated by Ethan Novak

We wanted to celebrate Willow's arrival with all of our family, so we decided to hold a little welcome party for her.

Neither of us particularly felt like cooking for such a big group, so we bought some pre-cooked meals at Delizioso.

We've been doing that a lot since Willow was born. We're probably Caleb's best customers these days.

But it's so easy and the food is great. We didn't hear any complaints from anyone at Willow's party.

Everybody was more interested in Willow than anything else anyway. She's the first grandchild for my parents, so it's particularly exciting on my side of the family.

She was such a little trooper all afternoon. She was cooed at and held by so many different people and she didn't even whimper.

Maybe she wanted to meet everybody as much as they wanted to meet her.

Willow did end up dozing off towards the end though, even among all the noise of everybody talking and laughing. It was a long day for a little girl.

I really hope Aaron and Calvin get to go home with their own child soon.

They finished their adoption application a few months ago and now they're just waiting to hear back from the social worker with a match.

Aaron and Calvin aren't holding their breath. Their social worker told them she could find a match for them at any time but they're thinking it's probably going to be later rather than sooner. They told us all they were planning on adopting just last Christmas but it feels like so much longer ago now. A lot has happened since then, I guess.

Maia and I got married and had Willow, of course.

And Connor started dating Lila.

He and Lila were friends in college and she made a move on him soon not long after they moved back to town after graduation. They got together not long after that and have now been dating since April.

Connor seems really happy with Lila. His previous girlfriends have had to goad him into going out and doing things together but he and Lila are out together several times a week.

He never talked too much about the other girls either but he'll talk about Lila. He doesn't gush or anything, because he's still Connor but this thing with Lila doesn't seem one-sided like it did with Elspeth or Audrey.

Being out with Lila so often is probably why Willow's arrival didn't really interrupt Connor's lifestyle too much. He has the upstairs bedroom, so we can walk around downstairs trying to get Willow to sleep and he doesn't hear a thing.

Connor doesn't bother too much with Willow, although he plays with her sometimes if she's getting fussy.

He doesn't do feedings and he definitely doesn't do nappies.

He's usually holed up in his room on his computer when he's home and that's fine with us. Connor pays us board to live here and that's all we expect from him.

Having Willow has naturally been a much bigger adjustment for me and Maia. She's six weeks old now and sometimes we don't feel like we know much more than we did when she was first born.

Most nights, Willow wakes up several times. I work full time, so it's usually Maia who gets up to her.

On nights before my days off though, I let Maia sleep, while I deal with Willow.

Of course, when one of us gets up, we often end up waking the other. So neither of us are as well-rested as we could be at the moment.

Maia is on maternity leave, so she definitely has it the toughest. She's at home with Willow all day.

I admit that I was a tiny bit worried. No one likes their sleep more than Maia and I didn't know if sleep deprivation would drive her insane.

But Maia is also very laid back, so she's just been napping whenever Willow is sleeping. She just does her best and tries not to get too discouraged when Willow has a bad day.

We're really enjoying parenthood, on the whole. It hasn't been easy but Willow has made it worthwhile too.

I've wanted to be a father for so long now and I was so happy for Willow to finally arrive.

I think Maia was just happy to not be pregnant any more at first. But she did say the other day that she could see why women agree to it a second time (and a third and a fourth) now. That's a big change, because before Willow got here, she couldn't imagine doing it again.

One day, I think I'd probably like to have another kid and it's nice that Maia isn't as opposed to the idea as I thought she would be.

Right now though, there's no way I'm ready! It's hard enough for Maia and I to get a minute alone together as it is at the moment, without considering adding another baby to the mix. When Willow's a little older, maybe the idea of a second child won't seem so insane.

Notes:

• Title is from Roll by Cisco Pike.
• Not much Connor but there'll be plenty of him when Josh moves back and I do an update with them in 2036.
• I didn't get to write it in but Connor was promoted to Crime Scene Investigator this round. Ethan is a Detective, so I guess the brothers are probably doing quite a bit of work alongside each other. I like the thought of that, so I might freeze them at this level for a while.
• Ethan hasn't rolled the want for another baby yet, which surprised me. Lately, my Family Sims have been rolling baby wants immediately after one baby is born! He and Maia aren't allowed BC, due to their slobbiness, so their family size is mostly up to them. They didn't try autonomously this round but with ACR, Sims often won't try if there's a baby in the house, so it doesn't mean they won't. Maia's fertility is declining though, so I don't know if it will be as easy for her to get pregnant as it was with Willow (it took three attempts, if I remember correctly).