Monday 28 November 2011

Tornados

Round 32: February 2036 (Summer)
last update/next update

Steve Nihill is 41, Olivia is 39, Ramona is 9, Jacinta is 6 and Theo is 6 months.
Link(Asha is 39, Camilla is 23, Ruby is 9 and Grace is 6)
LinkNarrated by Olivia Nihill

This week, Ramona and Jacinta started back at school after six weeks of summer vacation.

As a special treat for the first day back, I cooked up some waffles for breakfast.

Ramona really enjoyed them. She couldn't get them into her mouth fast enough.

Steve and I happened to both have that Monday off, so we got to spend a quiet, relaxing day at home.

We're lucky that Theo lets us do that. He's been our easiest baby by far.

Theo is very easily soothed and unbelievably quiet, compared to his sisters.

Theo has just been a really lovely, happy baby so far. We weren't planning on a third child, at least not so soon but we're glad now that he came along when he did.

Ramona and Jacinta both wanted another sister but I don't think they've been too disappointed with Theo.

The girls just like trying to make him smile and giggle. I hope they love him when he's older the same way they do now. They're so sweet with him.

During my maternity leave, I always felt like I was doing more of the work with Theo, no matter how much Steve helped out.

Now that we're both working again, it feels like more of a shared load. Steve's never been the kind of dad to leave all the dirty work to me, so it's nice.

He probably does more for Theo than I do at the moment, seeing I work longer hours than he does.

I'm taking a little break from designing at the moment and working as a stylist. Some of my clients have very definite ideas of what they want and it's a hard sell to get them to go with my ideas.

Others are willing to let me do whatever I want.

Ultimately, they're always happy with my work.

They just need to learn to trust me. I know what I'm doing.

My intern, Camilla, makes my job a lot easier. She's so eager to learn, so I have a tendency to pass a lot of my smaller duties on to her.

Camilla is often the one who finds items which I then recommend to various clients.

Any time there's a fashion show I'm attending, Camilla is usually right next to me. I work Camilla pretty hard, which I feel bad about sometimes. It's just the reality of this business sometimes though and I think Camilla understands that.

We've also become good friends outside of work as well. We met a few years ago, before we started working together and found we had a lot in common.

We both grew up in families full of sports nuts and neither of us have many friends who are into anything artistic, so we talk a lot about that.

Not just fashion but sculpture, painting...anything visual. I love having someone to discuss that with.

Camilla does make me feel a little old though! I'm 39, she's 23 and our daughters are the same age.

Jacinta buddied up with Grace at their pre-school orientation and they've been close ever since.

We try to organise plenty of play dates for them.

Sometimes they set up their own play dates and Steve or I come home only to find out Grace has been there for a couple of hours. They just feel like visiting, so they get off the bus together after school.

We've been trying to impress upon Jacinta the importance of checking with both sets of parents before having friends over to play, so that's hopefully happened for the last time. They don't mean to be naughty, they just get too excited about playing together.

At least Grace isn't as exhausting as Ramona's friend Ruby. I'm pretty sure the pillow fight in our bedroom wasn't Ramona's idea.

But of course, she's 9, so once it was suggested, she was totally on board with the idea.

I don't know how Asha deals with Ruby, plus her two brothers. Who are pretty similar to Ruby, by all accounts. Ruby tires me out after having her over for just a few hours.

Asha always says she's not sure she does deal with it, at least not well. She tries to discipline them but Luc is a soft touch, so she doesn't think it does much good.

I still don't know what Theo will be like but hearing about Asha's kids makes me glad for my relatively sedate daughters.

We don't have any grandparents to leave them with and all our friends have kids of their own, so it's nice to know we can call a babysitter without her refusing to come back a second time.

Steve asked me a few days ago if I wanted to take advantage of that and go somewhere together, just the two of us.

That was the best idea I'd heard in a long time!

We're going to go in the spring, so the trip will coincide with our ten year anniversary. I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

Notes:
  • Title is from Tornados by Ben Lee.
  • Steve and Olivia aren't allowed birth control, so I'm experimenting with them to see if they try again. Olivia's IFS is 3, so she's definitely done. Steve's is 5 but they haven't tried for another baby (yet? LOL), so I think Theo may well and truly be their last. Olivia is getting up there in years and she's never been the most fertile Sim.
  • Doing all of Olivia and Camilla's scenes made me wish I had a Fashion Design career lot in the game. That'll probably be my next one.
  • Can you believe Steve and Olivia have been married almost 10 years? I checked their profiles near the end of my play session and had to include a little nod to that. ;) They have the want to go on another vacation, so I'll send them sometime. Off-camera. I'll share pictures if anything cute happens.

15 comments:

  1. Wow, ten years! I can't believe it, I remember when they just started dating!

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  2. Apple Valley, pretty crazy, huh? And Olivia and Steve started dating twenty years ago, just to blow your mind a little bit more!

    Thanks for reading!

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  3. I just love their kids, and I'm happy they aren't totallay against having another one, even though I don't see it happen :)

    I love the fact the Ruby and Ramona are best friends, especially since their mothers get along so great as well. And I'm happy Jacinta found a best friend as well, and that it's the daughter of Olivia's intern.


    I always love how you play your sims' careers!

    I can't wait to see your Fashion Desigh career lot!

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  4. I love the way you play with your sims' careers too. It's so inspiring.

    Can't wait to see where they go for their anniversary. Here's hoping they don't come back with another bundle. 10 years of marriage and 20 years altogether is amazing.

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  5. Tanja, well, I would say Olivia is done for sure. Steve would like a couple more but they're not trying, so this is probably it for them. Olivia will be 41 next time I play them, so it's getting less and less likely.

    Ruby and Ramona are fun. They're very different though and Ruby's playfulness seems to rub off on Ramona when they're together! I'm looking forward to playing a little more with Grace and Jacinta and watching them interact.

    I'm glad you enjoy the way I do careers. I'm always looking for more things to add and I get plenty of ideas from other bloggers too!

    Thanks for reading!

    Choco, thank you, I'm glad! The careers aren't as fleshed out as they could be yet but I'm getting there.

    Steve and Olivia have done pretty well for themselves. They waited long enough to get married, so I should think so! ;) They just went to the beach with the girls a little while ago, so probably the mountains or the Far East this time. Man, that's just making me wish I had more destinations in my game, lol!

    Thanks for reading!

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  6. It's so hard watching the group grow up, have families of their own. Soon they're kids will be in college, getting ready to do the same thing!

    I hope something good happens on the vacation. I want to see it. LOL

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  7. Riverdale, that is a little sad but it means we get to see whole new groups of kids grow up and come into their own, which is really exciting!

    LOL, I'll probably end up posting some pics no matter what happens. I'll get some pretty shots, I'm sure, even if they're not exciting. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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  8. Wow on the ten years and the age gap between Camilla. I can't believe that Olivia is 39 now! I can understand the exhaustion from Ruby, she's just lucky the boys don't come too. And I can not wait til Theo ages up to see who he looks like. It's sad that he didn't get to meet his grandparents and that Steve had none to offer. ;) I loved the action shots of her career, what do you have in mind for the lot?

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  9. Maisie, I know, Olivia's group was such a fun group in college and it's hard to believe that was so long ago!

    Ruby is not what Olivia is used to. ;) Ramona and Jacinta are very placid children, lol!

    Yeah, because of the age difference between Max and Olivia, he got started with kids much earlier and his children had much more time with Caterina before she died (and Josh even knew Ben).

    Hmmm, I think I'll have fun doing the fashion design lot but none of my ideas are very solid at the moment. I can't even decide if I want o make it look very sleek and modern or more converted warehouse-y! But I'll have a catwalk somewhere on the lot, a couple of offices, a sewing room where all the production will take place, a design room (I can use those drafting tables there)...just got to figure out a way to put it all together!

    Thanks for reading!

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  10. The time, the time! I refuse to believe that Olivia is 39. Refuse.

    The girls are so cute, but yeah, Ruby is a handful. Olivia should be glad that Ruby's all she has to handle, and even then, not for long. It's good that she and her... employee, I guess, get along so well. If only all boss/employee relationships could be so good.

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  11. Fini, it's pretty insane, I know. Even though my Sims are aging up one year at a time, I still update my profiles and every year I'll think "really? You're that old already?"

    I think it would be close to impossible for Olivia and Steve to produce a daughter like Ruby, so they can be thankful for that too! As for Camilla and Olivia, it probably helps that they were friends first and Olivia was how Camilla got her foot in the door.

    Thanks for reading!

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  12. Jacinta and Grace are so cute together! It's a good thing the kids get along, since their mothers spend quite a bit of time together, too.

    Ten years?! Has it really been that long? Wow!

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    Replies
    1. I love those two little girls together. Everett is a bit left out of it all but in real life, it's likely he would be anyway. ;)

      Ten years, yep! It's still hard to believe though!

      Thanks for reading!

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  13. This picture of Jacinta with Theo is too cute for words. And the ones with Grace!!! Aww... (I'm "awwwing" a lot when I read about your Sims).
    I enjoyed as well the fashion show. I can't wait to see if your fashion design lot is done now!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I had to scroll up to see what picture of Theo and Jacinta you meant. I like that one too - and I think she looked down at him on her own, which was nice. She and Grace are so sweet together.

      Man, I really want to get a fashion design lot done! I still haven't though, lol! Frustrating, because it's definitely the career where I feel the need for a lot most. I'm always thinking of scenes I want to do and then I can't do them because I have nowhere to stage them!

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete