Monday 12 August 2013

15 minutes

Round 34: June 2040 (Winter)

Miles Jacobson is 37, Matilda is 34 and Phoebe is 3.
(Claudio is 59, Virginia is 48, Lia is 43, Maia is 38, Ethan is 34, Adrienne is 33, Alice is 14, Willow is 5, River and Peter are 3 and Beau is 2)


Narrated by Matilda Jacobson

My career has been going very well and honestly, with the money I was making, it didn’t make much sense for me and Miles to stay in our tiny house in Sullivan. So we bought a new place!




We were happy there but we’re so much happier in our new house in Exeter. 

It’s bigger, of course, but there also some nice little luxuries, like a pool in the backyard. It’s been too cold to test it out lately, unfortunately.

We’re definitely going to need to add a fence or something, to keep Phoebe safe. But still, we can’t wait to use it.

My favourite thing about our new place is that we now live literally right across the street from Adrienne.

We see each other almost every day now, because it’s just so convenient to walk across the street for a coffee or whatever.

And while we chat, Phoebe can play with Beau. They’re so cute.

We’ve raised them together, pretty much, so they’re good little buddies now. 

Seeing Phoebe with Beau is actually the main reason that Miles and I have been talking about the possibility of a second child.

We can both imagine really enjoying the experience of having another baby and it would probably be a lot of fun for Phoebe as well.

At the same time though, we do have some doubts. 

With Matilda getting older, we’re finding it easier to squeeze some couple time into our day and neither of us are sure if we’re ready to give that up for another baby. 

Miles is quite introverted and needs a lot of time to himself to recharge. That can be hard to do with one kid but it would be a lot harder with two.

Having another kid would also mean I’d have to take more time off from acting, which I’m not sure I want to do. So there’s that too.

We love having Phoebe but we’re leaning towards not having another and using the extra bedroom as a proper office for Miles. He really needs a better place than the hallway for his work and he would love to have his own space.

And Phoebe seems happy without a sibling. She likes to play with our friends’ kids but at home, she’s happy to play with Alfie instead.

Being Dad’s only grandchild means Phoebe gets spoiled a fair bit.

Dad and Virginia still live over in Sullivan but they’re over here visiting most weekends. 

Miles isn’t particularly keen on the frequency that they’re here but it’s important to me, so he copes. 

And Phoebe absolutely loves it when people come over - just about anyone - so Miles deals with it for her sake as well. 

She has so much fun with Alice especially. We have such a tiny family, so I’m glad she enjoys the relatives we do have.

Alice has even babysat Phoebe a few times. I almost wish Alice could drop out of school and be our nanny instead!

She’s great with Phoebe and she even cleans. Our nanny is good with Phoebe but her cleaning leaves a lot to be desired. We usually come to empty bottles on the floor but never with Alice. 

The past three years have gone by so fast with Phoebe. 

It doesn’t seem like so long ago that I was pregnant with her and now, she’ll be heading off to pre-school at the beginning of next year.

I wish she was starting with Beau but he’s a little younger, so he won’t go until the year after. 

Miles and I are good friends with Ethan and Maia, so seeing River is starting pre-school along with Phoebe, we invited them all over to our place. 

I also had Maia invite her sister Lia, whose son Peter is also starting at the same time. I’d never met Lia before, so of course, she walks in and the first thing she sees is Phoebe napping in the dog bed. She’s never done that before!

I’m pretty sure she thought Miles and I were total weirdos or really gross after that, because she seemed a little standoffish. 

Maia said Lia’s just like that though, especially with people she doesn’t really know. She’s had four kids, she knows they do weird things sometimes. 

That was a relief to hear, though I don’t know if Lia and I have much in common anyway. She’s a nice woman but I don’t think we’ll ever be great friends. She’s a little conservative for my tastes.

Phoebe, though, had such an awesome time with River and Peter. 

We didn’t even need to encourage them to play together. One would move off and do something and the other two would immediately follow.

I’m really excited for Phoebe to go to pre-school now. I know that she’ll love it!

Notes:
  • Title is from 15 Minutes by the Strokes.
  • So much of this was game play! Every time there were people over, Miles would go hide out and I'd have to force him to come back and spend time with everyone. Also, Alice spent most of her visit cleaning her sister's house! Which is kind of rude, in my books, but I can imagine Matilda being cool with it. 
  • Lia looked so disgusted at Phoebe in the dog bed, so I think she was judging a little bit. ;)
  • Unless Matilda or Miles roll a baby want (or have a risky woohoo pregnancy), I think Phoebe is it for them. I kind of like the idea of having an only child around again, as I haven't had one among my playables since Madelyn! Seeing she's 60 now, that's a long time.
  • When did these guys all get so old? I had it my head that Matilda was 31, Miles was 34 and Phoebe was 2. I was quite surprised when I checked my notes and realised Phoebe will be a child next time I play her!

20 comments:

  1. Even thoughI would love to see another child from these two, I also kind of like the idea of Phoebe being an only child.
    I don't have many families either with only one child, it just seems like something you don't do, lol!
    It's hard to believe that Phoebe will start school next time, but it's going to be intersting when she grows up I think.
    I love the shot of Lia 'judging' Phoebe napping in the dog bed, I do kind of like that action though :)

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    1. One child families seem especially like something I don't do, lol! But I don't want all my families to keep growing exponentially, so having a few only children here and there might be a good way to curb that. And I can see Phoebe being the spoiled kind of only child as well! Her parents are rich and she's lowish in nice points!

      I only played Phoebe once as a toddler and now she's going off to pre-school! I think she must have been close to her first birthday the last time I played her, so I ended up skipping most of her toddler years.

      I love the dog bed naps too! I thought Lia's reaction was pretty funny as well though, lol.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Out of curiosity, are in-ground pools common in Australia? I know where I live (Midwestern U.S.) you have to be pretty well-off to have a house with a pool, and even then it's rare, though many people will put out inflatable pools in the summer.

    (Of course, now I feel like I should look and see how many families in Sullivan actually have pools--I might be unfairly judging your Sims' richness. :))

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Honestly, I have no idea how common they are in general and can only speak from my own experience. I never had one growing up (we were an inflatable pool kind of family) and I don't have one now, nor do any of my friends or relatives. A lot of the kids I teach have pools at home but I teach in a relatively affluent area, so that is probably skewed. The area I grew up in, nobody had a pool. Partly because it was an urban area with very small backyards and partly because it just wasn't as affluent.

      In game, they're not really something I think to add very often, because I don't enjoy swimming myself. But if my sims have them, it's usually because it came with the house. A couple of times, I've had sims roll frequent "go swimming" wants and if I think they're the type of family to have a pool, I might give them one if they have the money. Regardless, Miles and Matilda are very well-off in game and they could easily afford a pool. :) Most of my pool-having families are relatively wealthy, I think. At least upper-middle class, in real world terms.

      I fudge my sims' class a lot though, because it's so easy to make money in game. I only have a few families who I consider really rich but I keep up the pretense of a more modest living for others with a lot of moolah, because it's just not realistic to have everyone rolling in money.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. I seriously need to get some CC or something to make my Sims poorer. It's boring when everybody has a mansion and a fleet of luxury cars. :)

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    3. That's why I fudge it - some of my sims have a ton of money, but you'd never know it, because their houses are small, they're lucky if they have one car and they don't get to go on endless vacations or anything like that. Taking that route ultimately seemed a lot easier than working out a system, using CC or otherwise, to slow down the money-making.

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  3. I can see them as a family with only one child, I would like a few more only child families, but a lot of my sims seem to want boatloads of them :)

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    1. Ha, yes, mine too, especially my Family sims! I tend to give a lot of my sims a secondary Family aspiration, to the point where there's usually at least one Family aspiration at play with most of my couples. ;) None with Miles and Matilda though, so we'll see how they feel next round.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. I think that Phoebe being an only child works really well for this family, and I love the idea of it. I haven't been able to keep a one child family since Grant and Regina were kids. So far Chaz is an only child though, and I am happy with that. And Violet-Adele and Lorelei all have IFS of one, so I may have a few! What is Miles and Matilda's IFS?

    I totally think that Phoebe being spoiled by everyone is perfect too, it just seems to fit this family really well. Though I have to say that Phoebe is totally adorable, and I wouldn't object to another one running around just to see what they would like too. <-- which is why I rarely have one child per family.

    I have some legitimately poor sims, I wonder what I do that mine are never very rich. Annie Carver rarely breaks over $1000. And my middle class have about 30,000 in their savings. How much do your sims have that are middle class. I know your big ticket families from taxes, curious about the middle group.

    Their new house is very nice, and the pool too. Phoebe will get to enjoy that soon, can't believe she's going to be a child! Nor can I believe that the giant house only has three bedrooms in it!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Miles's IFS is 3 (which I actually don't think is very him) and Matilda's is 2, so it's still realistic that they'd want to keep their family quite small, even if I am going against the IFS here. I often do anyway. The IFS has more of an effect on sims who aren't allowed birth control and Miles and Matilda both are.

      Phoebe is pretty cute and that's really the only reason I'd consider ignoring the lack of baby wants and letting them try anyway. Too damn adorable children is the same reason most of my sims end up having babies without the want. I say I'll wait for it but I never do. But I'm going to with Miles and Matilda. :)

      I don't know what you do! I have had sims in the past who were dirt poor, but it was because they'd taken out large loans to buy their house. I haven't had that in a while but it'll happen again eventually. My "middle class" families usually have between $20,000 and $100,000 in savings, most having something right in the middle of those two figures. Some are multi-generational houses (Kirby, Lachance - as in Jonas and Tatiana) but the others, I can't explain how they rack up so much cash!

      Phoebe's going to be a popular little girl with the pool in the backyard! It's quite small though, so maybe not that popular, lol. I'm thinking of extending it a little, if there's enough space around it.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. I like the play date with the other kids who will soon start pre-school. It's nice for the kids to get to know each other. Poor Matilda must have been mortified when Lia saw Phoebe sleeping in the dog bed. Not exactly a great first impression LOL.

    Having just one child would fit this couple really well. Their life seems quite complete as it is. Not that I would mind seeing them have another one because Phoebe is so darn cute!

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    1. Yeah, I love doing the pre-pre school-play dates! Toddlers together are so cute and seeing I can't do a proper orientation (seeing I have no school), it's a nice way for the kids to get to know each other.

      Ha, Phoebe pulled out all her best tricks for Lia's visit! Hopefully Lia won't hold it against Matilda and Phoebe, lol.

      The more I think about it, the more I can't imagine them with a second child. I mean if either them rolls the want, I'll let them try but I do think they'll be happy with just the one. Phoebe really is cute though!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Poor Miles! Being an introvert isn't always easy. Him fleeing when guests visited cracked me up. Reminds me of my own husband. ;)

    Their house is gorgeous! I love the blue in the living room.

    I am kind of hoping they have another baby... maybe an accident? ;)

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    1. I'm an introvert myself and am just really happy that I've only ever lived with other introverts! I couldn't really take constant visitors or - God forbid - pop-ins! I can sympathise with Miles, definitely.

      Thanks for the compliments on the house. Each house I decorate becomes my new favourite, because I have even more CC in, lol!

      Well, maybe an accident! Stranger things have happened. We'll have to wait and see. :) I've had at least two sims get pregnant on birth control (not including ACR2's original borked BC, which struck three of my sims).

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. Aww, the play date was cute. LOL at Lia! Most people I know would wonder why a toddler is sleeping in a dog bed. I can sympathize with an introverted Miles too. I tend to run from most gatherings of more than 5 people.
    I think it would be a good idea to keep Phoebe as an only child. You have enough of a baby boom as is.

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    1. I would probably wonder about the dog bed myself, I must admit! But kids do get themselves into weird places sometimes! In game, I was actually kind of glad Phoebe had crawled in there, because she was sleepy and her parents were occupied!

      Five and under sounds like the perfect size for a gathering to me. Any more and it's not so much fun.

      Phoebe will likely remain an only child but we'll see. It would be a definite plus for my slight overpopulation problem, you're right there!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. Carla, you make make really miss being able to play my game. I have to go back and read more! I didn't even know about Phoebe!

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    1. I almost forgot about Phoebe myself, after the long hiatus I had from playing! It was probably a year since I'd last played this family.

      Reading blogs always gets me in the mood to sim. Hope you get to play sometime soon. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. I literally died of cuteness overload at Phoebe's pictures! (usually, where there's Miles, I only see him, but that little one has stolen my heart! This picture with Beau is too adorable! And when she's sleeping in the dog's bed! Awww, she's too precious! She's SO cute! *sigh* Well, she has two gorgeous parents!
    Yeah for the new house! (see, I do have read about other things that Phoebe! ;D)
    What a cool idea, that play date!!!

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    1. Phoebe turned out pretty adorable. She looks a lot like Miles to me, so maybe that's why you like her so much. ;) I think she's going to end up pretty spoiled though!

      I love doing the three-year-old play dates. It's always so cute and I love getting the toddlers together. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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