You've got the love

Round 14: Winter 2021


Bobbie and Alexander Greene are 70, Patsy and Camryn are 30, Mia is 7 and Hanna and Jared are 5 weeks.
(Tom is 28 and Dixie is 27.)

Narrated by Bobbie Greene.

Patsy and Camryn had their twins just a few weeks ago so it has taken some getting used to from all of us. It's been so long since there were babies in our house!

Hanna and Jared are real sweeties though and they both have Patsy's red hair and green eyes. The only thing we know about the donor is that he has blonde hair, blue eyes and light skin like Camryn. We'll have to wait some time before we can say who the babies look like. But then again I've always thought that Mia looks like Patsy and Camryn even though she's not biologically theirs.

Patsy said that she had expected that the artificial insemination would be the hardest part but against all odds she got pregnant right away. She's never taken care of babies before because Mia was already a year old when Patsy and Camryn adopted her.

They've actually come up with a working routine now. Camryn's gotten back to work so she helps with the morning bottles. Usually they feed one baby at a time while the other waits. It's just easier to take care of one baby at a time.

Patsy says that she has even more respect for me now than she did before. I had three babies and a 3-year-old to take care of and she says that she doesn't know how I did it. I haven't really thought how I survived, I just did. Of course Alexander was a great help but still I was at home alone with all of our kids while he was at work.

We've heard horror stories of older siblings being overly jealous about the new babies but luckily we haven't had any problem with Mia. I think it's mainly because Patsy and Camryn treat her the same way as they did before the babies came. Patsy's still quite exhausted after the pregnancy and delivery so it's usually Camryn who takes Mia to friends' house or to the park. They went to the Henley Park just the other day and spent a few good hours skating on the rink.

They went inside to play some pinball after it got too cold to be outside. The park has been recently renovated and there's now a building with pinball machines and a pool table so that Allerdale kids have somewhere to hang after school if they're parents are not home.

There's also a new food stand. Mia said it has the best burgers she's ever eaten. I still prefer homemade food over restaurants and food stands.

Spending time with my grandchildren has helped me overcome my grief over Vicki's death. I still miss her every day but now I'm focusing on happy memories of her instead of dwelling in misery.

I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful grandchildren. And there's another one on the way! Janie and Danny are having their third child in the summer. They're currently looking for a bigger apartment or a house. I have a feeling they might move to Exmoor since it would be closer to their jobs and they also have lots of friends living there.

Alexander and I decided to drive up to the mountains and spend a weekend at the cabin. We haven't been there for a few months so it was about time to go there. We asked Patsy and Camryn if Mia could come with us and they said it's fine as long as we get back before Monday.

It was already dark when we got to the cabin so we decided to have a quick dinner and then just relax by the fireplace before heading off to bed. Mia had never been to the mountains before so she was really excited about going to the village the next day.

We headed out to the village after breakfast. Mia even got me involved in building a snowman. Spending time with her makes me feel so young again.

She adores her grandpa so Alexander entertained her while I shopped for some souvenir for our other grandkids. Hanna and Jared are a bit too young for toys but I'm sure Bridget and Lucas won't say no to new stuff.

Of course we also had to try out the local food. At first Mia wanted a hamburger but we convinced her to at least taste the Flap Jacks. She loved them and ate a whole plate of them very quickly.

Alexander and Mia headed back to the cabin but I visited the spa and got a massage. I love my job and I have no intentions of retiring but I have to admit that I'm not a young girl anymore. It's so nice to relax and unwind for a change.

We were kind of nervous how we would get Mia to bed since she's never slept anywhere but home. Spending the whole day at the village must have tired her because she dozed off on the downstairs sofa and Alexander had to carry her to bed.

We went back downstairs and sat by the fireplace for a while before I couldn't stifle a yawn any longer.

We always eat healthy food when we're at home but we're not so strict on vacations. I made cheese cake for breakfast and it turned out great. Alexander hinted that I would have time to bake cakes more often if I retired. I knew he was only joking so I told him that maybe he should retire and start baking cakes. I've worked hard my whole life and now I'm finally on top of my career. I'm not about to give it up yet.

There's nothing more annoying than going on vacation and finding a huge mess at the cabin so we make sure to always clean up before we get back home. Even Mia wanted to help although she mostly kept taking toys out of the toy box and then putting them back.

It was nice to be away for a couple of days but it was nice to get back home.

We were so excited when we heard that Dixie and Tom had gotten engaged. They're also looking for a new house because their current one is so tiny. We invited them over for dinner and told them that we wanted to pay for the wedding.

At first Tom was very reluctant and said that they had thought about paying for it themselves. I told them that they should save their money for a new house. We have money to spare and helping them and our other kids out is what we want to do. I understand that they want to be independent but we just want them to help them any way we can.

We finally managed to persuade them to let us pay. Now they just have to set a date so we'll have something to wait for after Janie and Danny's baby is born.

Notes:

• Title from "You've got the love" by Florence + The Machine.
• I wanted to focus on something else than the babies in this update because, let's face it, sim babies are quite boring. This way I could include them but it wasn't all about diapers and bottles.
• I've done Terrain Surgery on Wellington and I'm making changes to the neighborhood. Basically I've moved some of the families and community lots into a subhood and made the main hood a bit smaller. I will post pics of the changes soon. So when Bobbie talked about Janie and Danny moving to Exmoor, she meant that they're moving to that new subhood.
• I'm so glad to finally be able to start this round properly. My computer's still acting up but at least I'm able to play long enough to get pictures for updates, yay!