Saturday 11 April 2015

Looking at the sun

Round 35: October 2042 (Spring)
last update/next update
Jacobson 2 household profile

Miles Jacobson is 39, Matilda is 36 and Phoebe is 5. 
(Claudio is 61, Virginia is 50, Amar is 41, Aaron is 39, Adrienne is 35, Alice is 16, Natalie is 5, Beau is 4 and Elisa is 5 months)

Narrated by Miles Jacobson

Phoebe started piano lessons this year, so we now have a grand piano taking up space in the living room. I'm happy Phoebe has picked up something creative - we’re an artsy kind of family - but it seems a bit much.

I don’t really see why a 5-year-old needs a grand piano to practise on but Matilda insisted, because it matched our decor. She’s a little more extravagant than I am. 

I worry that being around all these expensive things all the time is making Phoebe a bit spoiled. She can be very demanding sometimes.

She really doesn't like hearing “no” but sometimes, we just have to say it! She wasn't happy about not getting her pool birthday party (in August, at the tail end of winter). She sulked over that for a couple of days. 

She is making up for lost time now and swimming in the pool is her favourite weekend activity. 

Now that Phoebe is at school, she’s made a couple of new friends, the closest being Natalie Clarke. 

Our friends with kids Phoebe’s age have boys, so Natalie is Phoebe’s first true female friend and they’re great buddies.

Natalie is very shy and quiet, so Phoebe usually takes the lead with whatever game they play.

Natalie’s dad Aaron says she’s like that at home too, with her older sister. 

I guess she’s just an easygoing kid, which works out well for Phoebe, who is anything but. 

It would probably be a good thing for her to get her way a little less often. Being an only child, she’s not really used to it.

She usually has no one to compete with for attention, seeing it’s just her at home with us. 

When Phoebe was younger, Matilda and I talked about having another but there are more cons than pros for us, so we've decided against it. For now, at least.

We still have one child, obviously, so we can’t go out at the drop of a hat. Even when we can’t though, it’s nice to put her to bed and just have the evening to ourselves. 

We prefer staying in a lot of the time. It cuts down on the amount of photographers trying to get our picture!

Sometimes we’ll go out anyway but it really is nice to avoid all that hassle. 

Matilda’s film career is going from strength to strength and it’s so much easier for me to get work done here at home without an infant. 

I've now stopped teaching and apart from a little freelance restoration work, I make my living off my art now. It’s what I've always wanted and it’s fantastic. 

Of course, I couldn't do that if Matilda didn't make six times what I do. And she wouldn't be so well-paid if we had another baby. Stopping at one is just a good decision for us. 

We’re just really happy with our family the way it is and don’t feel like we need to expand it at all. 

Any baby urges either of us have are more than satisfied by spending time with our friends’ babies. Adrienne and Amar live very close and they come by with Beau and their new baby girl, Elisa, often enough to scratch that itch.

Elisa isn’t quite as easy a baby as Beau was. She’s 5 months old and she’s apparently a cranky little thing.

Elisa is cute but hearing that doesn’t make another baby very appealing to either of us!

The only person we ever get any grief from about our decision to stop at one is Claudio, Matilda’s dad.

He’s pretty desperate for another grandchild. He knows it will (hopefully) be years before Alice is ready, so he’s pinning all his hopes on us.

Claudio is very keen on Phoebe not being an only child, which drives Matilda up the wall, seeing she was basically raised an only child and turned out just fine.

She has Alice, of course, but Alice wasn’t born until Matilda was already away at college, so they weren’t raised together. They’ve always been at completely different places in their lives. 

They get along and care about each other but Matilda’s almost like an aunt to Alice, rather than a sister.

I think Claudio will let up, eventually, once he realises we've made our minds up.

We’ll just probably just have to put up with the occasional nagging in the mean time. 

Notes:
  • Title is from Looking at the Sun by Matthew Sweet.
  • Matilda reached the top of her career this session! I think she's the first sim to do that in this hood, at least since I started actually paying attention to careers. She has had significantly less time off than Patience, so she's ahead of her even though Patience is a few years older.
  • I'm pretty sure these two are just going to stick with one kid. It's been a long time since I've had an only child in Sullivan! The last one I remember is Madelyn Novak. She might even be the only other one, actually. 



14 comments:

  1. It makes things more realistic, too, doesn't it!
    Love the house and how - as always with your posts - the pictures match the story so perfectly.

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    1. Having different size families? Yeah, I think it adds a little realism, which is always nice. Glad you enjoyed!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I'm always so torn about the sims that don't want more than one kid because often, in my hoods, they get such adorable kids. :) But this is definitely a one child family, and a lovely one. I, too, love their house.

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    1. I'm using all the restraint I have not forcing Matilda and Miles have another! Phoebe is really cute but I was slightly disappointed she didn't look more like Matilda, so a part of me is really curious about what a second child would look like. But story-wise, I can't really justify it for them. So a family of three they will stay. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Wow a grand piano, Phoebe is definitely spoiled. ;) She's super cute though and Matilda and Miles are a lovely couple. :) If Phoebe is quite demanding then I can understand them putting off having another child especially if their alone time is really important to them.

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    1. Phoebe knows she's cute too. Probably only contributes to the entitledness, lol! I think if Miles and Matilda really wanted another, they'd go ahead and have one despite Phoebe being so demanding (another sibling might even help with that, actually). But seeing they don't. they'll just stay how they are. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. It makes total sense, I could see them easily being devoted to other things outside of child-rearing, that having another baby is more of a burden. Phoebe is an adorable child, and I think she'd do well as an only child of a starlet and an artist. She's one tabloids would keep an eye on too I'm sure!

    The grand piano is quite nice, lucky Phoebe... spoiled? Why not! They're only having one, and plenty of money. Maybe he will start up an art scholarship when he's old and Phoebe has moved out. It's nice that he gets to live his art dreams, and I totally see Matilda being ahead in the business over Patience, who was always more family focused. Less time off, and less family needs at home. Phoebe seems to take good care of entertaining herself for the most part.

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    1. Ha, I can imagine Phoebe hamming it up for paparazzi, lol! Neither Miles or Matilda have a high IFS (Matilda's is 2, Miles's is 3), so I never saw them having a huge family anyway. One kid seems good for them.

      Yeah, they're not short on cash, so they can splurge! Matilda is a Spender, so it's probably a good thing she makes so much money and can indulge that part of her personality. Miles is a Worrier and is nowhere near good enough with money to set up any sort of scholarship though. ;) I can imagine his strategy being to squirrel it all away and hope it all works out for them!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. OMG Phoebe is just like my only child! (Only we're much less wealthy, lol!) And with the family members butting in with their opinions, I totally get this family!

    In simming, the hardest thing for me is allowing a couple to decide to not have ANY kids. I think I did it once, and I still wonder what their children would have looked like, lol!

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    1. I was about to say I'd never done the no kids thing but then I remembered that I did. It was way back when I was playing pre-mades, so probably 2004 or 2005. Johnny Smith and his townie wife Jessica didn't have any kids and I was so bored with them! I was trying to play a family based only on their wants and they never rolled any baby wants. But I made a decision then that I'd never do no kids again, lol. One kid is hard enough, especially when they're cute like Phoebe. Totally curious what a brother or sister might look like but I'm going to stick to this only child thing.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Seems like one kid is working out well for them, good on them for sticking with their plans.

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    1. Yeah, I think Miles and Matilda are happy as they are, so they'll deal with any comments they might get from others. :) They know they're doing what's best for them, which is the most important thing.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. I love them as being the parents to an only child, and I think Phoebe is great. She might be a bit spoiled, but that's one of the perks of being an only child I think! It does make it more real, having different size families.
    These 2 seem pretty settled. They both got the careers they wanted and at a nice level, so money isn't a problem. I can totally see that Mathilda's higher in her career than Patience, seeing they seem to have different priorities.

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    1. Yeah, I like this family as they are too. Ha, watch one of them roll a baby want next round now, lol!

      I hadn't realised how high Miles was up in his career until I was updating my careers lists the other day. He's Level 6, which isn't too bad at all. He'll never make the kind of money Matilda does but he's contributing somewhat to the household at least and he's happy with his line of work. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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