"Who's your daddy.... who's your baby...."
Last time we were in Riverview, there was a distinct lack of cowardice from Sherman, Kettie split her time between writing trashy fanfic and rumpling the bedsheets with her husband, and Rhoda beat our happy couple to the punch and provided Ma Bagley a grandchild before Kettie and Sherman.
Not to be put off by this, Kettie and Sherman continued with their plans to increment their family by one.
Hey! I'm having a child here, not running an If - Then loop.
While everything went well with Kettie's pregnancy, apparently everything didn't go exactly perfectly. I didn't get to choose both trails for the newest addition to the family, but I did get to choose one. Oh, and of course we had to name the rugrat too.
I can't believe you named my child Sloan. Isn't that the name of the chick in Ferris Bueller?
Umm... I think so. Honestly, I didn't even think of that when I named him.
Hmmrph.
Anyway, Sloan was born with the Friendly trait...
Just like his daddy.
And a roll of the dice decreed that his second trait would be excitable. I don't think I've had an excitable sim yet.
I wonder why that is.
Hmmm... *looks uncomfortable* Maybe because in my other hoods I have a proliferation of evil sims. I didn't make them that way -- well, not most of them, just the green one -- they were born that way.
*raises an eyebrow* Mmm-hmmm. Right.
Anyway, after leaving the hospital following a swift and apparently problem-free delivery, Kettie and company climbed into a cab and headed for home. I thought this was a cute shot of the three of them... although Sherman does look a little shell-shocked there.
He's just tired.
Well, give me just a moment to get you some nursery items purchased and three of you will be able to hit the hay.
*sighs* I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you haven't purchased any baby furniture yet.
Neither your nor Sherman spun up any wants for any. I'd wait until you do, but I would really prefer you not to raise your kids on the kitchen floor. This isn't TS2.
Sherman, I know you're a new parent and all, but I'm pretty sure they explained to you somewhere that the bottle needs to go in your child's mouth in order for them to drink.
I tried to tell him.
Sherman: *coos and talks baby talk to Sloan*
Now, in my other households, the moment a baby's portrait dips below solid green the poor thing gets zergswarmed by residents (and guests) trying to care for him. This tends to lead to none of the baby's needs being taken care of and other mass chaos. So, needless to say, while I was excited about the newest little addition to the Bagley household I wasn't looking forwards to the swarms of people trying to care for him all at once.
I shouldn't have worried.
After all, Grandma Ma was on the job. Seriously, as soon as little Sloan popped up in her queue, everyone else quit trying to head up to take care of him.
"Well of course. It's a grandmother's prerogative to have first dibs on taking care of the grandkids and all."
And a lot of new parents see grandparents-in-residence as live-in babysitters.
*Grandma Ma delivers "The Look"*
Heh. Okay, so you've made it abundantly clear to the happy couple that you're not in-house childcare.
"Only when I want to be."
Hey hey hey! While I want you guys to have a spare or two, do you think you could wait until Sloan's at least a toddler?
Guys?
*sigh*
If you get pregnant, I hope you have twins. Triplets even.
Gratuitous cute picture of mom and toddler.
Okay, we've had our cute overdose for the next few chapters, so... moving along.
Just as Kettie needs to write reports for the journalism career, Sherman needs to write reports for... um... whatever position he has with the police. And like Kettie, I could have him wander around and question the neighbors, or... I could just have him rummage through The Don's trash.
Guess which one I chose *cackle*
So after scampering back to the house with his trash and other assorted discoveries, I sent Sherman off to Ma's room to type it all up on her laptop. I was hoping that since he was good friends with Ruby, and that Ruby lives at Don's place (she is his wife, after all) that the info he found in the trash was hers. No such luck though. It was still all Don.
Boy, you really have it made, don't you?
Whatever do you mean?
I mean, here you are, a new mom, and not having to lift a finger to take care of your little one. Other new moms run themselves ragged trying to handle and cope with everything. But not you. You just kick back, relax, and write your trashy novels. *chuckle*
Hey now! I've tried to help out with my son, but he's got an over-possessive grandma! Other than the occasional snuggle or two, Sherman and I haven't been able to get near him.
Is that true? Are you a Helicopter Granny?
"I'm just making sure my only grandson is well and properly cared for. Not that I doubt my daughter-in-law's childcare skills or anything, but..."
Only grandson? Did you forget that your daughter gave birth to a son not too long before Sloan was born? Remember little Israel McDermott?
"Hmmph. Well then, I'm just making sure that my grandson and heir to the Bagley legacy is well cared for."
I don't know if Sloan is going to be the heir yet! I'm sure Kettie and Sherman aren't done popping 'em out.
"And I'd like to thank you for keeping with the family tradition."
Family tradition?
"That boys in the Bagley line carry S names. Like my dear Sam. Sherman. And now Sloan. You obviously wouldn't have given him that name if he wasn't destined to be heir."
*sigh*
"Now that the future of the Bagley line has been assured, do ya think you could be turnin' your attention to hooking me up with someone young and sexy? Like a Simmydale dancer or something?"
*headdesk*
So what uses beyond simple dusting have you found for your....
Psst... WTF are you doing?
Hsst! GTFO. I'm gathering ideas for my next Cleaner of Hearts book.
By harassing the hired help?
What better place to get information than from a man maid himself?
He doesn't look very excited to be talking to you.
Well, it's better than him slacking off and playing on the computer or eating our leftovers.
True... true... carry on harassing him.
Apparently Sherman's report on The Don really impressed his boss, because he got the critical pop up for his career plans. As much as I would really love to have him pursue the life of a Special Agent, his LTW lies down the forensic analyst path. I tried having him change his LTW, but special agent wasn't one of his options. I just canceled the change and stuck with what he had. So with a deep breath we punched the button and ventured down the path of Riverview CSI.
Thanks to attentive care of Grandma Ma, Sloan's birthday rolled around with very few issues or incidents. Seriously, I don't think the boy slipped out of the green. Every time I turned around, Ma was feeding him or changing him or playing with him or just toting him about the house as she did stuff like watching her stories.
I'd given Sherman the perk for being a great party host, so I had him ring up a bunch of friends and throw a party for little Sloan. Imagine my surprise when Rhoda showed up pregnant. I guess she's a bit miffed over her son Israel losing the 'favourite grandson' title to Sloan, so she's trying to make up for quality with quantity.
Seeing as how Sloan is attached to Grandma Ma's hip, it was no surprise that Ma was the one who brought him to the cake.
"I'm just makin' sure my grandson and pride of the Bagley family is being well taken care of."
I'm not faulting you Ma. I'm tickled at all the attention you're showing him. It's just... if you keep heaping all this praise and stuff on the boy, he's going to develop a complex.
So Ma helped Sloan blow out his candles, then set him on the floor so he could grow up. *sighs* *facepalm* I really hate the infant to toddler transition. Why couldn't they have kept the "toss the baby in the air" animation? Or heck, used the "change the nappy" spin animation and have the kid spin from an
Anyway, here's our golden boy, Sloan, in all his toddlerhood. Cute little guy, isn't he? Of course, I swear that all toddlers look alike -- or damn near alike. Anyway, while he didn't age up into terrible hair and clothes, I did get him send to a mirror to change when I got the change. Those pics will be in the next chapter though.
After the cake was cut, everyone barreled off with a plate. Well, everyone but Odin, who ignored the entire rest of the party to read. Most people ate their cake nice and politely (mainly because there was no room on the table to set their plates down) but Billy... Billy just picked his up and shoveled it in his face. And here I thought they told us our sims were supposed to be neater in their dining habits in TS3.
And one last shot of our little guy as the party winds down and everyone heads home. The party was a blast too, so everyone got good moodlets for it.
As mentioned above, Sloan is friendly and excitable. His favorite music is kids' tunes, he can haz cheezburger (favorite food is hamburgers) and his favorite color is... hot pink? Bwah?
Are you criticizing my son's choice of favorites?
No. Just commenting on the WTFishness of the random generator.
Well stop it. You'll give my son a complex.
Oh, if he doesn't get one from Grandma Ma, I'm sure you and Sherman will be able to do that without any help from me *cackle*
*grumbles*
Sloan inherited Kettie's hair, or a shade slightly darker than Kettie's hair. I have no idea where those gray eyes came from. Kettie has a greenish/yellow-hazel sorta color and Sherman and Ma have green.
Maybe they came from his grandfather.
I don't know. I wonder if they'll stay gray as he grows up. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Lemme guess... that'll all be in another chapter.
Yup. Aren't you just dying with excitement? Think about it... next time we get to deal with... potty training!
Yay. *roll eyes*
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