Wednesday 13 September 2017

Sentinel

Round 37: February 2045 (Summer)

Dominic Lachance is 35, Leslie is 34 and Stella and Oscar are 5.
(Tatiana is 62 and Chloe is 34)



Narrated by Leslie Lachance


February has been a big month for our family, with Oscar and Stella starting kindergarten and celebrating their fifth birthdays!


Both the twins are on the shy side and didn’t want a party, so we just had some celebratory cake at home. 

Oscar is really into all things space at the moment, so we got him a telescope. 

He needs my or Dominic’s help to use it but he absolutely loves it.

Oscar is constantly coming up with questions about space that neither of us can answer. We do a lot of web searches in this house!

We tried to suggest similarly expensive gifts like Oscar’s telescope for Stella, to keep things even but all she wanted was books. 

So we got her lots and she was ecstatic.

Stella is a really active little girl but since she started learning to read, it’s all she wants to do. 

Being a teacher, I’m glad Oscar and Stella are so interested in learning. They’re really excited to go to school every day and I hope that continues all through their school years.

A few months back, Dominic and I decided to add a pet to our family and decided on a lovely cat from a local shelter.

We wanted the kids to share the responsibility in caring for him, so we let them name him too. We now have a cat named Kit-Kat.

So far, so good. Oscar and Stella have both been very diligent about making sure Kit-Kat has food in his bowl and that he gets brushed regularly.

As well as thrilling the kids, Kit-Kat has served as a nice little distraction for me and Dominic.

Losing our baby so soon before we were supposed to meet her was the hardest thing we’ve been through as a couple, so it was nice to have something positive to focus on as well.

We had the go-ahead to start trying for a baby again two or three months later but we waited a while longer, to make sure we were emotionally ready as well. 

We’ve been trying since November and just this month found out that I’m six weeks along. 

I had no idea how long it would take this time but we were very lucky that it didn’t take us too long. 

We’re very excited but very cautiously so. It’s so early, so some caution is definitely warranted. Though considering how late our loss was last time, I’m not sure I’ll get to a point where I feel totally confident of a happy ending. 

I’m trying to stay relaxed and not put myself through any unnecessary stress.

I’ve already talked to Tatiana about finishing up at school a little early, probably at the end of Term 2 in July. 

It would mean I’d have to go back to work before the new baby turns 1 but I’d put up with that just to get through this pregnancy.

Tatiana obviously knows all about our history, so she’s going to make it all happen for me. 

That’s one definite advantage of having a boss who is also your mother-in-law!

I couldn’t help but tell Chloe too, seeing I tell her everything. I’d want her to know if the worst happens again anyway.

She’s always a good source of support for me, like I try to be for her.

We’re trying to put off telling the kids for as long as we can but I think we might have to do it soon.

I’m experiencing a lot of morning sickness and they’ve both already noticed that Mummy is sick a lot lately.

I’ve been sick much more frequently this time around than I was with the baby we lost.

Dominic thinks maybe it’s a good sign and I really want to agree.

I might ask Dr. Moretti about it at my next appointment. I’m happy to put up with all this sickness if it means a healthy baby at the end!

Notes:
  • Title is from Sentinel by Pavement.
  • I love having Ione's toy store up and running now. The two kites Stella and Oscar are flying were purchased by Dominic when I wasn't playing him. I love that he has twins so he bought two kites! 
  • There are apparently some studies that link increased morning sickness to a lower chance of early miscarriage but nothing is certain at the moment. But for Leslie’s sake, I hope it’s true. Of course, I doubt the mod programming is really that complicated but let’s just pretend for a bit!
  • I didn't mention in the update but Leslie is due in November. 
  • I've been thinking about the way I set up my updates since I started this new birthdays system. I'm wondering if the "last update/next update" thing is still as useful as it once might have been, now that families so often get mini-updates in birthdays between regular ones. Some of you may have no opinion at all on this, which is fine, but if you do have something to say about it, I'd love to hear your opinion.  

14 comments:

  1. I'm cautiously excited for them as well. I had forgotten about their earlier loss until you mentioned it again. Yes, I heard the same about the miscarriage risk and morning sickness, but then there's also too much morning sickness. I guess you could link the last update to the last big update and also have a link to the last mini-update the family had.

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    1. I'm trying to take super good care of Leslie! So far so good.

      Very true. I've had a couple of friends with hyperemesis gravidarum and it is no joke. I wouldn't say Leslie is quite at that point, fortunately.

      Yeah, that's what I've started to do with my links but I'm finding it really tedious, so I'm still thinking about it.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I was hoping this update would have a little one on the way for them! I've heard the same thing about morning sickness, it's exactly what I was thinking when she mentioned how much more sick she's been.

    It's nice that Leslie has such a good friend in Chloe, and that the kids get a long (for the most part!). Equally good that Tatiana is her boss and can help her get the time off that she wants. Rest will be good for her, though working might take her mind off the pregnancy.

    I understand your questioning of the previous/next... mine is a mess that I've been considering the notion of just ditching it. I'm not sure how often people use it to begin with, if it needs to be maintained, which is much more complicated with the birthday posts. I'll be interested in what you decide to do.

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    1. Poor Leslie has been pregnant for ages! She and Dominic actually tried and conceived right after she lost the last baby but I froze her until my roll told me she'd get pregnant, which was now. But I haven't played her all that much, so she didn't really suffer until this session.

      I was really happy to have Leslie and Chloe enter my hood at around the same time. A lot of my former townies don't have the same solid friendships my born-in-game sims do, so I like having this for Leslie and Chloe. As for the kids getting along...well, Oscar and Cole do. Cary and poor Stella are another story!

      I am considering ditching mine too but I'm still thinking if there's an easier way to do it. I'm dubious as to whether anyone uses them that often.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I love it when my sims buy things on their own, it it is cute that Dominic bought two kites. I like the choices the twins made for their presents, and I hope things work out with their baby this time.

    I've been thinking about the 'previous update' thing, too... I end up linking a whole bunch of previous updates because I often cover two (or more) families in one update. I'm more likely to use tags if I'm trying to catch up on a particular family or storyline in a blog (although I have to make mine a little more specific, I think - looking for reference pictures for my new hood, I've realized that half my blog is tagged either Green or Centowski so it's not all that helpful!).

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    1. Sims buying things on their own is the main reason I love retail businesses so much. I really want to make some more. :)

      Yes, I have a few families with a crazy amount of tags too! Nine years of simming, it's hard to avoid. I'm wondering if it would just be more helpful if I tagged specific updates within the text of the story, only if something particularly remarkable happened that I need to refer to. Because with the way all of our hoods work, significant things often happen to our sims between updates and mini-updates, when they're visitors at other sims' lots. So linking to the last family update doesn't necessarily give you a full picture anyway. But like I said...still thinking!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Although I wouldn't want you to keep the links if I'm the only one, I wanted to let you know I use the previous post links a lot... I often go back and read the previous post, and sometimes scan a few back to help make up for my memory not always being the best.

    It was so much fun seeing the kites! I had forgotten those existed in the game; I can't remember the last time I had a toy store but I think it was an early version of Simdale Valley or my legacy. That really motivates me to have someone open one in Falls Bridge when I can, but their skills leave a lot to be desired right now ;-)

    I remember the lot tour for Dominic and Leslie's house and I loved their kitchen/dining area with the bar and fireplace. It's fun to see it again.

    I'm glad they conceived again and am sure they will be ok this time! I think morning sickness can be caused by the hormones that maintain early pregnancy so it makes sense that if you have a low level of pregnancy hormone early on, you may be at more risk for early miscarriage, while having less morning sickness.

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    1. I appreciate you letting me know. I'll probably still mull it over for a while!

      I had almost forgotten about the kites myself, until I had Ione stock her store with them. They did a great job with the toys in OFB and I haven't used them in so long, just because I haven't had a toy shop to sell them! I hope you can set one up in Falls Bridge but early hood businesses are definitely a challenge, skillwise and moneywise!

      Ah, I love Dominic and Leslie's kitchen! I'm hoping they can stay here when this new baby comes. I'm 99% positive they have a spare bedroom. Sharing with Oscar or Stella is not an option, as the rooms are very small.

      That makes sense. Let's hope it continues to work that way for Leslie!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. PS I agree about the game system for determining preferred hobbies and am going to check if you have a post about how you decide them since I'm playing sims 2 again.

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    1. Missed this! Glad you found the post on your own!

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  6. Lovely update and I'm glad to see that Leslie is pregnant again. I've got my fingers crossed for them that everything goes smoothly this time around! I think the kids would be excited but I can understand their reluctance to tell them after what happened last time.

    I click on the last update links to sometimes get a brief update of what happened last time, mainly if you refer to something major in the current update. It wouldn't bother me too much if you took them away though, but do whatever works for you. :)

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    1. Oscar and Stella will definitely be excited but with early losses being so common and Leslie having a history of a late loss, she and Dominic are just being very cautious about getting them excited too early.

      I appreciate your input. I wouldn't leave you all with no way to easily refer back, so no worries there. I'm just trying to think of an easy way to do it that isn't super-tedious for me. Which the current system has become, especially when someone moves in or out and I have to track multiple "previous/next updates".

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. I wouldn't count on the game programming making the sickness/health connection, but I also heard sickness = healthy baby in real life, so here's hoping! I am excited for them and I hope Leslie is super pampered for the next 9 months!

    I will occasionally check out the last/next links on people's blogs, but more often I like the family or name tags when I'm reading back entries. Or if there's a relevant post that's linked to in the story (for example here with Leslie & Dominic, if I were a new reader, I might appreciate a link to the post when their baby was lost, whether it was their exact last update, or maybe further back).

    And about the last name tags, I used to use those on TS2 LH in the beginning, but I found it irrelevant after a few generations when the families got larger and half the town shares a popular last name, lol! Now I use first name only tags, and I have a personal rule that no two sims will ever have the same first name. (I had a couple pairs of shared names from the old TS2 days who I have to give nicknames to.) I don't know if other people find the tags useful, but I use them myself all the time when I'm refreshing my memory to write new updates.

    I'm kicking myself now that I didn't start first name tags on my Tumblr blog a lot sooner. There's about 1-2 years of posts there where I didn't tag the sims in the pictures at all!

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    1. No, it's definitely not in the game programming and I don't think InTeen even touches morning sickness, so I doubt it's in there either. I'm taking it as a good sign anyway though!

      Oooh, you've really given me something to think about here! Have you noticed the ginormous Novak and Lachance tags, for instance? They have caused me a lot of grief now that most of my surnames are shared among multiple families! And I've been lazy about linking to relevant previous updates within the text lately, probably because the tags are so cumbersome! First name tags are something to think about though. They would be a huge amount of work to add now...but possibly worth it in the end, I think. I do use your first name tags, by the way, so I find them useful, at least!

      I feel like people on Tumblr who only follow you there and not at your blog are probably not the types to be clicking tags for sim names anyway. I would consider them very casual readers. So don't kick yourself too hard.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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