You say it's your birthday, January 2046

Round 37: January 2046 (Summer)

Audrey and Jack Benton are at Sullivan Hospital, ready to meet their new son or daughter!

Audrey’s pregnancy was an uneventful one - unlike that of Audrey’s friend Susannah - so she and Jack are feeling fairly relaxed going into it. 

Fortunately, labour is just as routine and it’s soon time for the baby’s arrival!

And it’s a girl!

So far, Mia Olivia is the spitting image of her dad, sharing his complexion, red hair and blue eyes!

Older sister Zoe will be thrilled, having already insisted the baby would be a girl anyway!

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Susannah Halmi spends her 36th birthday the same way she and Daniel have spent just about every day for the past couple of months - visiting baby son Jeremy in hospital.

The visits have been made a bit easier recently, as Jeremy was finally well enough to be transferred back to the hospital in Sullivan, which is just down the street from his family. They’re hoping to be able to bring him home within the month. 

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Elisa Hamilton will be in Mrs Gray's pre-school class this year! Her parents are really talking this up but Elisa thinks it might be more fun to keep hanging out at home, playing with the family dog Hancock!

Elisa will be joined by Eliza Benton. Hopefully, their teachers won't mix up their names too often! Unlike Elisa, Eliza is pumped for pre-school and feels more than ready to start learning!

Mason Novak will be Mrs Gray's only new boy this year. With both of his parents being in science-oriented careers, it's no surprise that science is also Mason's main interest.

Rounding out the new pre-school class is newly minted big sister, Zoe Benton. Grandma Zelda has already taught her to write a little at home, so Zoe is off to a great start for her school years!

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Catherine Moretti starts high school this year! Her parents are hoping her sudden interest in boys won't get her into too much trouble, so they're encouraging her intense interest in sports to try to counteract it. 

Catherine's best friend Francesca Moretti is also entering Grade 7. She's really not keen on her new glasses and is already begging her parents for contacts. She is, however, very excited about high school!

Iris Kirby, on the other hand, is a little bit nervous about starting high school. She's glad she won't be the only new kid and that her older sister Daphne will be there too. 

The last new student at Sullivan High School this year is Zac Whitney. It's been a tumultuous few months for Zac but he's hoping things will settle down now that his baby brother is coming home soon. 

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The Nott twins have both graduated from Suffolk University!

Georgina earned a 4.0 GPA and now holds a degree in Fine Arts/Education. 

Annabel's GPA was 3.4 - lower than her sister's but she feels like she's done well to achieve even that. Her degree is in Biology. 

Georgina has moved into a house with Caitlin and Brendan and is hoping to be able to see much, much more of Xavier, who she's been dating for a few weeks. She will be teaching the middle primary class at the local school, taking over from Tatiana, who will be able to focus on being principal. 

Annabel is also living in the same house. She was hoping to go to vet school but her GPA was not impressive enough for that, so she has set her sights on a different goal. She's still interested in working with animals, so she's keeping her eyes open for a vet nurse traineeship, which would provide on-the-job training. So far, she's had to content herself with a job as a dog walker, which she's actually loving.

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Finally, Eliot Lane is now an elder! He thinks he still has several more years of productive work ahead of him but he has found himself hoping to become a granddad sooner rather than later!

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Other January birthdays:

Byron and Noel Collins turn 2
Cole Hamilton turns 6
Beau Hamilton turns 8
Amy Clarke turns 11
Matthew and Simon Lane turn 21
Gordon Nott turns 50
Vanessa Gentry turns 57
Tatiana Lachance turns 63
Caleb Moretti and David Sitko turn 64
Kimberly Carmody turns 75
Jace Novak turns 89

January wedding anniversaries:
Amar and Adrienne Hamilton - 4 years
Ethan and Maia Novak - 11 years
Rob and Patience Ashton - 15 years
Caleb and Cara Moretti - 29 years
Jonas and Tatiana Lachance - 37 years

Notes:

• Predictably to anyone who has been reading this blog for long enough, I was very, very excited that Mia was a redhead! I'm also kind of hoping Jack and Audrey are the couple who FINALLY give me the four girl family I've been wanting for so long, so Mia being a girl was exciting too. 
• Mason turned out much cuter than I would have imagined as a toddler. He had those weird sharp cheekbones happening, which make it hard to judge. I think he looks mostly like Hope?
• Iris's mouth looks SO WEIRD when she smiles. Her teeth basically disappear entirely. Hoping that evens out by the time she's an adult! She has her grandmother Megan's mouth (I did surgery on Claudia as a teen, so hers is larger), which is still small at the adult/elder stage but not in a freaky way! She can smile normally, which is more than I can say for poor Iris! 
• I'm trying to write in newly-added traits for my age-ups, in a hopefully not-too-unnatural way. I always struggle with what to write for birthdays so it doesn't get too samey, so thinking about the traits a bit more deeply will help, I think. 
• I think I decided that if Annabel earned a 3.7 GPA, I'd send her to vet school. It was pretty clear from early on that it wasn't going to happen but I like my alternate plans for her. I had intended on putting her into one of the custom Animal Care careers from MTS but when I looked at those, I didn't really like a lot of the job titles. So I've decided to put her into the Veterinarian career and just freeze her at a certain level. Brigit Gottlieb will go into the same career once she graduates but she'll be able to progress all the way to the top. At some point, I imagine she and Annabel will be coworkers.