Sunkids

Round 37: May 2045 (Autumn)

Novak 2 household profile

Connor and Lila Novak are 32 and Jonathan is 3 months old. 
(Kirstin is 61, Hope is 34, Camilla is 32, Mason is 3 and Caroline is 2 months old)

Narrated by Lila Novak

Connor actually decided he wanted to start a family before I came around to the idea but I was still curious to see how he’d cope with actual fatherhood.

He can be so rigid about having things exactly his way and babies generally don’t care about that.

Connor has definitely had his frazzled moments since Jonathan was born.

But he’s pretty good overall. He takes all the nighttime shifts with the baby, without even thinking about it.

It just makes sense. He doesn’t start work until mid-afternoon, so he stays up much later than I do anyway. 

I’m at home with Jonathan all day and although I can sometimes nap when he does, I’m still pretty wiped out by the time Connor is here to take over. 

Once Connor goes to bed at about 4am, Jonathan will usually sleep through until about 6, when I get up. 

Despite how easy it is for us to share the load with Jonathan with Connor’s current schedule, I’m hoping he’ll move back onto a day shift sooner rather than later. 

On his work days, we usually only see each other in the few hours he has in the early afternoon before he has to go to work. 

Unfortunately, Connor thinks that might be a while away. It’s only the ones at the very top who never have to work nights. 

He gets a longer weekend to compensate, at least. He has Mondays off and we try to always spend that day together. 

Camilla has been very helpful  over the past few months. She’s done this three times before and I don’t think she’s been surprised by anything I’ve asked her for advice about.

She works during the day but sometimes she can pop out at lunch and help me out for an hour or so. 

Camilla likes having an extra opportunity to see Jonathan, so she doesn’t mind sneaking out of work.

This is the first time she’s been an aunt on our side of the family, so it’s very exciting. 

I just wish she could stay longer. I get really bored at home during the day. 

I’m finding maternity leave to be very lonely and isolating and I can’t wait to go back to work.

I love Jonathan, of course and it’s not that I don’t enjoy spending time with him. I just need a bit more stimulation than I’m currently getting. 

He’s a surprisingly easy baby - considering his genes, I was expecting a far grumpier child - but it doesn’t change the fact that I find it all pretty samey. 

My cousin Hope is also on maternity leave right now and we’ve been getting together every now and then. It’s been nice to have some more adult conversation.

For me, it’s also a little peek of what it might be like with multiple kids! Caroline is too little to get into anything but we have to keep all the doors closed for Mason, because he gets into everything otherwise!

Hope took a whole year of maternity leave after she had Mason and found she actually missed being at home with him once she went back.

She’s taking a full year again with Caroline and is determined to make the most of it. 

I just don’t see myself missing being at home all day, when the time comes. I’m considering going back to work early, actually. 

Mum gets it. She didn't have it quite so bad, as she had her own mother living with her but she felt much the same about being a stay-at-home mother when Camilla and I were babies. 

I think Mum and I are quite similar in most ways, so that wasn’t a real surprise to hear. 

She told me I should tell Connor he can take some parental leave next time, just to even things out. 

Connor and I haven’t even talked about a second child yet but I decided to broach the topic with him anyway. 

He was a bit surprised, which surprised me. I’ve hardly made it a secret that I’ve found being at home really difficult.

I don’t think he’s particularly thrilled about the idea but he’s open to making some different arrangements, if we do have another kid one day. 

It was a real relief to hear that Connor is willing to do things differently next time.

I’ve talked to my boss about coming back early too and it shouldn’t be a problem at all. As much as I hate my boss, I’m really looking forward to going to work every day again. 

Notes:

• Title is from Sunkids by Sleepy Jackson.
• I was curious to see how Connor did with Jonathan and he's actually pretty good! Lila is too but her wants panel was filled with Go to Work, Earn [X amount of money], Be Promoted...so she's ready for her maternity leave to be over. So if they have a second, they'll be sharing the leave. I'll portion it out myself with InSim.
• Jonathan was born with 10 nice points. Lila has 1 and Connor has 3, so that was a surprise. But when I rerolled his points (I use this system), I got Random when I got to the nice points. That's basically a wild card where I can do whatever I want, so I decided to just leave it at 10. I kind of like the idea of these two grouches having this very sweet son! And I'm a sucker for super-nice sims too. 
• Sidenote but I noticed that Hope has rolled a baby want! She's keen, seeing Caroline is still so tiny. For the curious, Hope's IFS is 6 and Malcolm's is 3. I may let them have another but we'll see. :)