Thursday 9 November 2017

You say it's your birthday, April 2045

Round 37: April 2045 (Autumn)




At the Carmody-Moretti house, the family is adjusting to life with baby Richie.

Richie is the fifth child for Nick and Sarah though, so it’s not as if this isn’t something they’ve all been through many times before!


Everyone but Alex, anyway. He and Richie are sharing a room, so thankfully, Richie is a good sleeper!

Alex was the baby for five years and now he’s a big brother. Richie’s too young to do much of anything though, so Alex still feels like the baby sometimes.

He’s got a special bond with older sister Catherine but being that this is her last year at primary school, he’s worried she’ll leave him behind next year.

Once she’s in high school, he’s hoping she’ll still play video games with him or toss a ball around.

For her part, Catherine is very excited about being top of the heap at Sullivan Primary this year. She and her friends all feel very grown-up!

Sarah has certainly been noticing how big her kids are getting and wants to go on a family holiday before they’re all up and out of the house completely.

Nick loves the idea. If they went camping, it wouldn’t even have to cost very much, even for such a big family. 

Richie will be too young for a while yet but Kimberly volunteers to watch him as soon as she hears the idea.

One baby for a few days, especially one as easy to keep happy as Richie, would be a total breeze.

Dragging Thomas away from his girlfriend Jacinta might be a challenge!

They’ve been together almost a year now and inseparable.

Ryan is still more absorbed in the world of his books rather than the world of dating.

Thomas and Jacinta got together rather suddenly though, so Nick and Sarah are aware that could all change in an instant!

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Over at the Benton household, Audrey and Jack have gone insane and decided a big party for Zoe’s third birthday is a fantastic idea.

They had been considering inviting a couple of Zoe’s little friends as well as family…but with this family, gatherings are large enough!

Dominic’s wife Leslie is taking it as easy as possible during her pregnancy, so Dominic is on solo duty with Oscar and Stella for the afternoon. 

Watching Jack’s nephew Andrew tormenting poor Stella, he realises he could have a much, much harder job!

Fortunately, Josie intervenes with her son before Dominic has to say anything. 

It’s a very bustling household for those few hours but the birthday girl seems to enjoy it!

Zoe is always happy to see her cousin Eliza. The two girls are the same age and they adore each other.

Jack and Audrey made sure to have a cake made for Zoe - what’s a birthday without cake? - but in the end, she is completely uninterested in going anywhere near it!

But never mind! Most of the other guests are pretty keen for some cake!

As fun as the party was, it’s lovely to have a peaceful house again at the end of a very noisy day!

It also means Jack and Audrey finally have time to really digest the news they got this morning - Audrey is pregnant with their second child!

She’s only a few weeks along, so not even their parents know yet but they are thrilled that Zoe will soon have a baby brother or sister.

Baby Lachance is due in January 2046. 

**********
Leslie is much further along than Audrey and on Zoe’s birthday, she’s had the quietest day she’s had in a long time. Her intense nausea has subsided and at 14 weeks in now, she’s feeling a bit more like herself.

There are probably chores she could be catching up on - that sink full of dishes, for instance - but she’s taking Dominic’s advice to rest very seriously!

She has a few hours to catch up on all the TV shows she never gets to watch any more and Leslie is planning on taking full advantage of it! Baby #3 is due in November. 

**********



Elspeth is 31 today and what better day for a birthday than a Saturday!

She and Josh have been spending most of their weekends planning their November wedding of late but today, they’re just going to relax and enjoy it.

Josh and Elspeth really don’t have the money for fancy restaurants at the moment, after buying a house and saving for the wedding.

But Josh talks to Elspeth’s friend Sophie, the owner, and she agrees to give them an amazing deal, including free champagne and dessert. So they get dressed up and head to The Claudette.

Elspeth isn’t an especially fancy person but who wouldn’t enjoy a meal somewhere they normally couldn’t afford?

It’s a wonderful treat for the birthday girl!

And of course, she’s back into wedding planning the next morning!

Other birthdays this month:
Peter Nott turns 8
Keira Romilly turns 4
Noah Gottlieb turns 27
Hope Novak turns 34
Rebecca Collins turns 36
Matilda Jacobson turns 39
Claudia Kirby and Victoria Romilly turn 44
Amelia Gottlieb and Evan Moretti turn 56
Anna Collins turns 67

April wedding anniversaries:
Noah and Brigit Gottlieb - 1 year
Jack and Audrey Benton - 5 years
Lake and  Kendal Draper - 31 years
Emil and Anna Collins - 38 years

Notes:
  • I may or may not show Sarah and Nick's holiday in another birthdays update. If I don't, it'll be on my Tumblr at some point. 
  • Audrey and Jack don't have a baby want but they tried for a baby three times while on Inteen BC. That's my new criteria for letting sims try to conceive, so Baby Benton is now on the way!

12 comments:

  1. I'm super excited about the new baby. I adore Jack and Audrey. Do you think Nick and Sarah might try for #6?

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    Replies
    1. I'm always happy to hear other people like my couples as much as I do.

      As for Nick and Sarah, I fully believe they'd try for #6 if they could...but the game mechanics literally won't let them! With Richie, their household is now 8 sims and a dog. They could get another pet but until Kimberly dies or Thomas goes off to college, there can't be any more more sims. By that point, Sarah's fertility will have dipped. On top of that, the likelihood of a TFB drops as the kids get older.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  2. I love playing big families, although they are a lot easier to play if the kids are spaced well apart. I have to limit them, though, as there is already enough of a population explosion in my hood (I am very aware of this right now. I just recreated every last one of them).

    There are mods that let you have more than 8 sims in a household, although that could get a little dangerous, too, for the above population explosion reasons.

    The party looked like hectic fun. On the other side of it, nice to see Leslie enjoying her quiet day... I'm looking forward to that baby making an appearance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, multiple toddlers and babies always makes big families a lot harder! Nick and Sarah have never been remotely difficult to play, because they've always had Kimberly there to help out.

      My main concern about population has always been the number of updates I have to write...but with my new system, I've made it so there are the same number of updates every round. But I know huge populations have other drawbacks, so I will need to curb my baby wants anyway!

      The party was fun to play out but if I was one of those sims, I definitely would have preferred to spend my day the way Leslie did. I think she had a great excuse to have a perfect day!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I hope we get to see some pictures from Sarah and Nick's big family camping trip! (Even if just on Tubmlr.) That sounds like it'll be fun to play!

    Every time I read about Sarah and Nick's family, I get a little itch to let one of my sims have five kids, lol! Four is the most I've had so far (or soon-to-be four), with Hayden and two relationships, and I think he might be the only one I've let have four since Gen 1! I have the same worries about population, update writing, and also having too many cousins in the dating pool when they grow up.

    Happy birthday Zoe! What a lucky girl to have such a big celebration. Spoiled only child... but not for long! I'm so excited for another baby for Jack and Audrey!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'll definitely put any camping pics on Tumblr. I have to make a note to actually take them on the trip, or else I'll totally forget!

      A few of my sims have had five kids before but Nick and Sarah are the only ones who've done it without twins in the mix, with the same two parents for all five kids. The amount of cousins is more of a worry to me than population or update writing, actually! I remember it was hard to pair up all of Filippo and Maria's grandkids, because there were so damn many of them!

      I cannot wait for Jack and Audrey's new baby! I'm hoping for another one who looks like Jack - get those genes out there a bit more!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. I agree, Three Lakes & camping are some of my favorite pastimes in Sims 2 and I look forward to seeing a bit of Sarah and Nick's family trip. Five kids!

    And I'm excited about Jack and Audrey's baby news, and glad Leslie is getting plenty of rest.

    Is the Claudette working well? I remember it was giving you a little bit of an issue a while back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, although only four kids will be going on the trip! I don't even know if you can hire a nanny on vacation lots, even if I teleported Richie in (which would be the only way I could get him there).

      It's not too long until I bump Audrey up to her second trimester and Leslie up to her third, so hopefully I can get some momentum back and get these babies born!

      As for the Claudette...well, there's a reason there are no plates on Josh and Elspeth's table. :( I have to do some more tinkering. They can eat just fine on the larger tables but there's something about those small ones.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Congrats to Nick and Sarah! With four kids already I'm sure looking after this little bub will be a breeze. So cute that Alex and Catherine are so close and enjoy playing together. Hopefully this bond stays even after one of them starts school. Look forward to seeing where they go for a family holiday too. :)

    Looks like Zoe's party was a success! It's great when you hold a big party and majority of the sims you invited actually attend. lol I'm not sure how you plan/hold parties in game but it can be a struggle in TS3 to get everyone to attend.

    Good to see Leslie is still taking it easy. Fingers crossed for her!

    And very sweet of Josh to spoil Elspeth, birthday date nights are the best! :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. When you've already got four kids, what's one more? ;) Nick and Sarah produce such nice kids too, so it's really not as hectic as it could be in their house!

      The good thing about TS2 is you don't really have to hold an actual party! I rarely do, unless one of my sims has the want for one. I just teleport everyone in and take control of them, so they literally cannot leave until I say so!

      Nothing like being spoiled on your birthday, I agree!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. I'm so excited for Jack and Audrey! Little Zoe is such a cutie-pie. I was wondering at her birthday party if they were going to have another. The party looked like a blast, albeit a ton of people! I can see why they were happy for the peace and quiet when it was over.

    Leslie binge watching television is perfect. I'm glad she's taking care of herself.

    Elspeth's dinner out was really lovely, nice that they were able to get a good deal and enjoy themselves. I'm looking forward to their wedding.

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    Replies
    1. I've been wondering myself if Audrey and Jack would have another! They've seemed perfectly content with just Zoe but I guess they've finally decided to go for it.

      Leslie's living her best life with her binge-watching, lol!

      Ha, I gotta get back to my damn game so I can actually get that wedding happening! I'm looking forward to it too.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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