Don't think twice, it's alright

Round 34: January 2039 (Summer)

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Kimberly Carmody is 68, Nick Moretti is 36, Sarah is 34, Thomas is 8, Ryan is 7 and Catherine is 5.
(Maia is 37, Troy is 36, Ethan is 33, Jude is 7 and Willow is 4)

Narrated by Nick Moretti

Once Sarah and I decided to move house, we were lucky enough that the process was fairly quick from there on out.

It helped that after really looking at our finances, we found that money was not going to be much of an issue. We’re not millionaires by any means but we knew we could afford a home with plenty of space for all of us.

Even though this house is much bigger than our old place, we’re in a better financial position now than we were before.

I guess not having to constantly call tradespeople in to make repairs on such an old house really makes a difference. Everything actually works here!

And of course, Sarah is actually making more money now. Ever since she made partner at her firm, we really haven’t had to worry about finances.

We’re all settled in now and are really loving our new house.

The kids all have their own rooms now but Thomas and Ryan are clearly used to sharing. They’re always in and out of each other’s rooms.

They’re not too interested in Catherine’s dolls, so she usually has her room to herself.

Catherine has always had her own room but this one is very special to her, because Sarah and I let her pick out all the colours and help choose the furniture too.

We haven’t done much with the yard yet but the kids are loving finally having a decent-sized yard to play in. Thomas, Ryan and Catherine take after both me and Sarah and are all very active. They have a lot of energy to burn off and now there’s plenty of space for that.

Kimberly hasn’t been taking advantage of the great outdoors much, which is unlike her. It’s been really hot this summer, so she hasn’t felt up to it.

She’s put on a little weight as a result, which she’s not especially thrilled about. Sarah really takes care of herself, so she’s been nagging Kimberly to get some exercise. She doesn’t care that her mother is bigger than she used to be but she does worry about her health.

Sarah managed to goad her into working out together a few times but Kimberly mostly complained about it the whole time.

Kimberly knows Sarah was trying to help but she’ll just be waiting until the weather gets cooler, so she can start going on her hikes again.

Hiking is the only exercise Kimberly really enjoys and will do voluntarily.

I think she might enjoy walking our new dog, Christy, too. Christy could certainly use all the walks she can get.

We thought getting an adult dog might mean we’d skip the hyper puppy stage. Christy is fully grown though and she shows no signs of slowing down. She’s always tearing through the house at top speed.

But then, an active dog fits right into our family. We have plenty of room and no shortage of kids willing to play with Christy whenever she wants.

The kids were all hoping for a puppy but they were so excited to have a dog at all that they really didn’t care.

Of course, Ryan had to have Jude over, so he could introduce Christy to his best friend.

Thomas and Ryan got the idea that they wanted a dog of their own when they met Jude’s dog Paisley, so they were excited to show Jude they had one of their own now.

Ryan wants Troy and Jude to bring Paisley over for a doggy play date some time.

Not the most practical suggestion, seeing Troy and Josie don’t have a car but maybe we can take Christy to a park near their house sometime and meet up.

Maia and Ethan did bring Kaiser over last weekend though. Kaiser is getting pretty old now, so he’s not quite as keen to play as Christy is.

They didn’t fight or anything though, and Kaiser seemed willing to at least humour Christy, so we'll call it a success.

Catherine buddied up a little with Willow. They hadn’t really played much together before but they had a great time.

Catherine is the grade above Willow at school, so they’re quite close in age. That hasn’t stopped Catherine from mothering her somewhat.

I guess she’s the baby of the family, so having someone around who is younger than her is a bit of a novelty.

Maia mentioned that she thought Catherine would make a good big sister, knowing Sarah and I have been talking about a fourth.

She was being nosy, trying to see if we’d started trying yet or if we were maybe expecting already but Sarah and I were very non-committal.

In fact, Sarah is pregnant with our fourth right now. Sarah’s career and the fact that our house was way too small for another kid were the only things holding us back. So when Sarah was promoted and we moved shortly after, we decided to go for it.

It’s very early though, much too early to start telling people. We haven’t even told Kimberly yet and she lives with us.

Sarah’s nausea might soon give the game away though!

Kimberly will be thrilled when we do tell her. Four grandchildren apparently isn’t enough and she would love another one.

We’ll tell her, as well as my parents soon and then we’re going to wait another month or so before we tell anyone else. We’re so excited though, so it’s going to be hard to keep our mouths shut for that long!

We’ve both always wanted a big family and I’m so happy everything has fallen into place to let us have one.

Notes:

• Title is from Don't Think Twice, It's Alright by Bob Dylan.
• Sarah and Nick's new house was built by Tanja and shared as part of the April Project at N99. It is incredibly awesome. Enormous, yet somehow they still had $20000 left once they'd furnished it. And I fully furnished it, as you can probably see - not just the basics. Anyway, that's why I wrote in the little bit about how much better they're doing financially at the moment. I'll put up a lot tour soon - I already have the photos.
• Kimberly rolled the ROS to put on weight, except she was already as big as a Sim can be. ;) Let's pretend she wasn't! Anyway, she has zero motivation to work out or do anything active, so I guess she'll be staying the way she is.
• And yay, another baby is on the way! It feels like my hood is as it should be now - someone is finally pregnant again. I haven't had anyone have a baby since Adrienne and Amar had Beau! I don't know if I'm hoping for a girl or a boy this time. Maybe a girl - make it even!
• An update on my crashing problem, it is sadly not fixed. I thought it might be but I wasn't 100% confident. In this session, I crashed once while saving (though fortunately, I'd saved not too long before) and then again when Nick was coming back from a community lot. :\ I'm not positive what my next step will be but I hope I can fix this once and for all.