Week Four – Suck It Up

<<Start at Week 1

Welcome back! Sorry it’s been a little while since my last update – I’ve been distracted by Aion Closed Beta Last week saw Lola pining for life outside the legacy home. This week the family grows a little more and it remains to be seen how Lola and I will cope. I don’t like babies.

SUNDAY

Once again, Lola is up early. She makes sure the house is neat and in working order so her husband will stop wishing for a maid. Granted, it seems like he just wants a maid to get out of doing his share of the chores but Lola is in a good mood so she cleans up the kitchen.

When Aiden finally wakes up he takes his turn at baby-duty and seems to be fairly on top of things. Sylar gets fed, cleaned up and taken to the potty.

When Sylar is content, Aiden takes him outside and settles him with a book. Lola works in her garden and carries on an amiable one-sided conversation with her son.

Aiden heads around to the other side of the house to practice his chess moves but his plans are interrupted by a call… from Hannah.

“Oh, ah, hey you… wha- Oh you read his birthday announcement? Yes he’s getting pretty big now… mhmm, we’re expecting again… uh huh, well why don’t we meet for drinks some time and catch up… It… it would be nice to see you again… Yeah, I guess I kinda miss you too. OK, good well, I’ll call you sometime. Bye!”

That night Lola goes into labour. She chooses to cycle to the hospital – I really can’t think of a worse way to travel while enduring contractions but each to their own.

Stein Featherstone is born fiendishly delighted; I assume from the suffering her mother endured during child-birth.

Now, I actually do have a naming scheme, although, it wouldn’t be apparent to many people. All the children born in this family will be given the Second Life first names of my friends. Sylar was named for Sylar Boyd and Stein for Stein Shilova. Stein is a really wonderful lady and also a sims player, she and I share the same RL first name and a reputation for being a little mean to our sims. Me because I like to push them to skill until they drop, ignore inconvenient wishes and give them additional toilets to eat on rather than chairs and Stein because she is pure Evil. She put her simself in a box with only a fridge, table and chair and made her eat constantly until the room was completely filled with dirty plates, garbage and puddles (while still trying to complete a lifetime wish to become an astronaut).

I’m rolling for traits so it almost made me fall off my chair when my new little baby angel rolled Evil and Insane. The only trait combo that would have been more appropriate is, ironically, Evil and Inappropriate.

MONDAY

With Monday comes work for Aiden and baby-duty for Lola. Stein seems to be a pleasant enough child but then again she’s pretty much an inanimate object at this stage (if an extremely demanding and messy one).

On his way home, Aiden calls his wife with good news.

He’s been promoted!

Lola is a bit miffed, her husband’s success just reminds her of how much she wishes she could be back at the science facility. But she manages to swallow it back and is genuinely happy for him, after all.

Mostly, anyway.

Both parents snuggle the babies before bed and everyone seems pretty determined that the family be functional.

They even manage to all be asleep at the same time.

TUESDAY

Aiden doesn’t go straight home after work on Tuesday, but at least he keeps his activities useful with a stop off at the library.

When he gets home it’s clear he wishes he’d stayed longer.

“That’s it Sy, just a few more steps.”

“Honey, could you take him in the other room -  can’t see the TV.”

“Listen, Aiden, I’ve been home with them all day. I know you’ve been at work and I’m not asking you to do anything but your son is taking his first steps so I’m surprised you don’t want to see it.”

“I do, I just… well, the TV…”

“Suck it up, darling.”

WEDNESDAY

Aiden now has Wednesdays off so he invites Sigmund over for a rematch and is victorious.

Afterwards ol’ Siggy wanders creepily into the nursery and picks Stein up. Why are the parents not intervening?!

Oh, because he’s the only one who noticed that it’s Stein’s birthday. Looks like she grew hair pretty fast.

Aiden is on baby duty Wednesday night and the little angels keep him up and down for most of it. Lola, on the other hand, gets a full night’s sleep for the first time in ages.

THURSDAY

After an exhausting night of being a good dad I let Aiden skip work – I’d already given him the vacationer reward because of the no-babysitters rule. He teaches little Stein to walk outside. I’m not sure how safe those paving stones are for tiny feet and knees but everyone seems happy enough.

Sylar too, learns some new moves.

And Lola completes the Plumber skill challenge.  It amazes me how many repairs can be gotten out of so few items.

FRIDAY

The next morning, Aiden manages to squeeze in a quick library visit before coming back home to make waffles for his wife and get ready for work. The tension between husband and wife seems to have eased and they’re back into wedded bliss for now.

Some toddler skilling gets done out on the lawn.

And the babies get their lunch on time. Stein is a little too fascinated by her hands but at least she’s not bawling.

Lola teaches her son his final essential life skill that evening – the power of speech had been denied to him up until this point.

SATURDAY

Saturday starts with the usual level of excitement.

Aiden loses another chess match – this time to Rhoda Bagley. He insists he was robbed.

Rhoda hangs around after the match and is careful to make herself as much of a nuisance as possible to Lola while she works in the garden.

Lola eventually gives up on trying to ignore the elderly guest and goes inside to have a private party for Sylar.

Sylar rolls the bookworm trait because, as it turns out, handy and green thumb can’t be assigned to children. The limited traits thing is fairly obnoxious and it’s made me decide to only force the handy and green thumb traits onto possible heiresses. Sylar will roll for his final two traits because I don’t want the family’s trait options to be limited to only those that can be assigned to children and under.

I didn’t mention this earlier (because I don’t really believe in babies having a favourite food that they can’t eat), Sylar enjoys pop music and is partial to french toast and the colour green.

His very first wish is the lifetime one to become an Illustrious Author. I let him have it because someone needs to paint the family portraits. The toddler reading started him off with a nice skill boost so things might not turn out too bad.

Thanks for reading! Week five should be up in a couple of days (after I’ve actually played it).

>>Week 5

Advertisement