Generation 4: Part 11. Isn't she lovely.

Having five children was something really big, and I wasn’t really sure if we were able to cope with that. Some might say that having five was almost like having four, plus one, but there really was more to that. It meant more responsibility, it meant watching out for another small human being and it meant having another baby crying in the middle of the night. I was way too old for that by now and I was afraid Cassie soon would be, too. But she promised me over and over that we would be okay. Grace and Henner were already big enough to help us out sometimes, even if it was clear that we wouldn’t make them spend all of their free time taking care of their little siblings. We were their parents and it was our task to make sure they were alright. While we talked about this, we had some weird noises from Ivy’s and Isabella’s bedroom, which was next door. When we ran over to see what was going on, we had to watch our two little ones grow up! How on earth could we take care of a fifth child if we forgot about two birthdays at the same time?!

Isabella got her mother’s hair and also her nose, I think. She really turned out beautiful and especially fond of the color red. 

We had been curious about our twins’ hair, of course. Grace had gotten her grandfather’s, while Henner looked like an exact replica of me. Isabella apparently had her mother’s and we could now see that Ivy had some weird mixture between Cassie and me. Her hair was less colorful and could have been her grandmother’s (Cassie’s mom, remember her? The one that hit on me). Nevertheless she was a sweet girl as well and we couldn’t wait to see her make the first steps in life. Literally.

Their older siblings hadn’t realized their birthday, either. Instead they spent their free time outside in our beautiful garden, playing with each other. It seemed like Grace only enjoyed her brother’s company and preferred being alone apart from that. It seemed like she had developed in some kind of loner and we weren’t sure whether to worry about that. But since Cassie sometimes felt the exact same way, we figured she was going to be okay.

The more kids we had, the more they started being on their own. Whenever I was off to work, Cassie didn’t have to take care of our little ones, because they were doing great. Ivy had found the doll house and spent hours playing with it. And Isabella enjoyed playing with all the toys we had bought them, too. Sometimes Cassie practically had to drag them away from what they were doing so that they could learn how to walk and talk. We knew that it didn’t make sense to force children to learn something, because then they wouldn’t be very successful. Each child was so different and we had to respect that by not treating them the exact same way. When children want to learn, they will learn, so we tried to find the perfect moments to get together with them. This turned out to be really difficult, but we made it. At least partly.

Isabella was very eager about talking and it seemed like she couldn’t be taught fast enough. This was so great! I wondered whether she would be in a job that required talking and the appropriate use of language later, like journalism or as a freelance writer. But back to the present, how can I could about her future if she didn’t even go to school yet?!

Ever since Cassie had told me she was pregnant, we had barely talked. I was still so unsure of whether we would be up to that and partly blamed her for it. I know that it takes two to make a baby, but she was carrying that little person in her body, not me, so to me it seemed it was more hers than ours. But one night, when we had put the children to bed, we talked for a long time and made up. We were going to make it. 

And while Ivy apparently was not somebody who appreciated learning, her sister loved the attention Cassie and I gave her. She was the first one who knew how to talk and also the one who was able to walk earlier than Ivy. Still, that was fine with us. At least most of the time.

When it came to learning and education, Isabella and Henner clearly were on the same path. Henner was much more independent than his little sister, of course, and so he spent his afternoons with reading books or working on some skills. I was so proud of my only boy so far. Who knew, maybe our fifth child was another boy!

He also enjoyed playing video games (and I’m sorry to say this, but he sucked at them), which felt like he was trying to remind himself that he was still a kid and supposed to have fun once in a while.

I know I’m repeating myself, but we were so proud of our two oldest kids. Henner was working hard for school and Grace really tried to keep our house clean. Surely this was Cassie’s task, but as her pregnancy progressed, she wasn’t able to do some of the stuff she used to do before. So Grace jumped in and became some kind of second mother, something we really appreciated.

Unfortunately the independence of Grace of Henner meant that we didn’t really interact with them much anymore, instead we focused on Bella (that’s shorter and sweeter, don’t you think?) and Ivy having a good time. At least I sometimes tried to do something with our oldest, but Cassie sometimes didn’t talk to them for days. This was something we had to change!

The only relief was the good relationship between Grace and Henner, because it meant that somebody was there for them. 

And that wasn’t about to change when Cassie surprisingly went into labor one afternoon! None of us had expected it this early, but after her water broke, it was clear to us that she was about to give birth. [I have no idea who that teenage girl is, I swear] While I stayed at home to have an eye on our kids, she rushed to the hospital to give birth to our fifth child, a sweet baby…

Girl! We named her Julia. Cassie told me later that on the way back from the hospital Julia had blinked in the rhythm of the song that was played on the taxi’s radio. It seemed like we had a little virtuoso amongst us! Or would she be more artistic in general? We weren’t sure about that. But here we were, with five children, all so different from each other. Five young personalities were about to develop and all of them were our responsibility. The next years were going to be tough.

Author's notes: We are back! Sorry it took me so long, but after we were done moving, there was so much to do around here. I had three presentations during the last two weeks (whic may not seem much, but it was a lot of work preparing them) and also I didn't really want to go on with the story. There was just some point where I didn't care about my family any more, maybe because seven sims is so much that I'm almost afraid to start the game. But since I've played way ahead, I now forced myself to get on with the story. As soon as I know who is going to be heir, I maybe can kick people out, even if I like them. So for now this is a little update on what is happening over there, or what has happened the last times I was playing. Good news - while writing this chapter, I thought that I might like to play again soon. So after the next 2-3 chapters there will be an heir vote and after that I can finally get on with the game.

The chapter's title is a beautiful song by Stevie Wonder (that I've sung in a choir workshop last year or so), who wrote this for his newborn daughter. So this fitted just perfectly! :)