I Hart Space! - Chapter 2: Written in the Stars, Part III

Are you excited? I'm excited! Why? It's finally time to see some gen. 3 babies! Welcome to another installment of I Hart Space! written by Roxanne. If you're behind, hit the Index for past parts of this chapter and Kristina's previous chapter. Settle in - this is a long one . . .

In the last post, Andromeda completed two aspirations while Collin nearly completed his first, and they were expecting their first baby. Galaxy is still hanging out, enjoying the effects of her long-lived trait and having finally maxed her career. Right at the end, Andromeda went into labor. We're hoping for twins because of course we are, and for girls since this is a matriarchy. Let's see what happens . . .

Andromeda, after sleeping off some of her labor, is finally ready to deliver. Collin is there to support her. I always make the fathers hang around for the birth for the illusion that they give a crap about it. Fathers rarely have the pre-parental freak-out in my game for some reason, so they don't really acknowledge the births, and that bothers me.

Galaxy also finds her way up to the nursery, but that's just because she's bored and wants someone to talk to while she enjoys her glass of milk. She's pretty much on autopilot now that her career is maxed, so she does what she wants. Let's pretend she's there for the birth of her granddaughter, though.

Yep, one yellow onesie means one little girl - and more importantly, potential heiress - has joined the family. Galaxy has to set down her milk to care for the newborn because the baby's parents immediately rushed off to go make another one. They're getting close to being adults and there's no time like the present, after all.

Welcome to little Eris. The naming theme for this generation is dwarf planets from our solar system. Eris is the most massive dwarf planet in our solar system and is even larger than Pluto, which was one of the deciding factors for Pluto's demotion. It is out beyond Pluto and even has a moon. Incidentally, since so much astronomy crosses over with mythology, I wanted to mention Eris's namesake, the Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord. I picked the name first from the list of dwarf planets because it's pretty and looked up the meaning later. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.

And it looks like Eris will have a little brother or sister in just a few days! This is like two hours after Eris's birth, by the way.

"Why can I never stand up before you take the picture?"

Confetti waits for no woman, Andromeda.

"Guess what? We're going to have a baby!"
"I think you're a little mixed up, sweetie. We just did have a baby."
"No, another one!"
"WHAT?! How did this happen so soon?"
"I'll tell you when you're older, Collin."

The new parents dote on little Eris. As the firstborn, she gets the most attention. She is a generally happy little baby and they're constantly in there hovering like the first-time parents they are.

And now we've come to why this post is so long. In celebration of Eris's birth and because it was long overdue, I finished decorating the house. These following pictures were taken in the middle of the decorating, but I was too lazy to go back and take them again, so I'll just point out places where things are different. This is the front of the house and a view of the patio. That tiny terra cotta pot to the right of the front door now has an apple tree in it. Vivian Lewis is not part of the decorations.

Here's the back, and you can see Collin's garden and tent, as well as the playground.

And here's a closer look at the patio. It's pretty much entirely Perfect Patio Stuff objects, because I was playing around with them soon after I got it. Annoyingly, there are no matches for the stone counters and stone hot tub that go with the rest of the house, and the grill is another matter entirely, so those three objects are all slightly different shades. >:( Anyway, they've got their pool, a hot tub, an eating area with a bar and a grill for Collin to probably set himself on fire with eventually, and a seating area for chatting.

Here's the eat-in kitchen. I went with blue and white as a theme in many of the rooms.

Here's Galaxy's gym, which doubles as an energizing emotion room because of her awesome trophies. I made the emotion rooms the color of their emotion, so of course the walls in the gym are yellow. I later enlarged some of the posters because they looked puny on the walls.

Living room. The grandfather clock is not actually gigantic - it's just the perspective. Moved around a few of the wall decorations later on.

Views of the two opposite corners of the inspiration room. One side is for visual arts, and the other side is for writing and music. This is the most successful emotion room, as I believe it grants a +3 inspired moodlet.

The focus room which isn't very focusing at the moment because we only have one decoration so far from Andromeda's career. When we get more later this will be a better room for these focus-related objects. Another computer in here, this one for Andromeda's programming.

Andromeda and Collin's master bedroom. This was Galaxy's and Jorge's room, but I moved Galaxy to a room in the newly-expanded basement so the parents could be near their baby. This is probably my favorite room in the house.

Children's room. Yes, the wallpaper is girly, but the colors are blue-ish, so I think it'll be fine for both genders. There is room for a fourth bed just in case the game tricks us again.

Playroom for the kids, right next to their bedroom. Somehow I just now discovered that fluffy llama sculpture and I love it!

Nursery, also with extra room if we ever get multiples again.

Out in the hall between the upstairs bedrooms is a study area for the kids' homework.

Now we're down in the basement. These are two views of a massive party room that I built for any future party-aspiration sims, and just because once I started I couldn't stop. It's got a lot of stuff.

Now for overhead shots. Here's the basement. I didn't take a pic of Galaxy's room because it's pretty basic. Jorge's ashes are on a table in that room along the near wall next to the bathroom. Besides the bedroom, there's a bathroom, the massive party room, a photography studio for Andromeda to play around with, a hallway for the stairs, and an empty room in case we have a need for expansion in the future. I later decorated the bathroom, hallway, and photo studio after this picture was taken. The large, inaccessible room to the right is for storing collectibles and passing off objects from inventories between our turns.

Here's the first floor. From top left, clockwise, we have the focus room, inspiration room, living room, gym, bathroom in the middle, kitchen, and entryway/hall. There's two exits from the kitchen that lead to stairs down to the patio.

Finally we have reached the top floor and the end of the tour. The blue and black room is of course the master bedroom, then we have another bathroom, the kids' room, the playroom, yet another bathroom (hey, I hate my sims walking in on each other), the nursery, and then the study area/hallway. The stairs at the bottom left go up to the observatory deck, which just has the observatory, a bench, some lighting, and a solitary plant. I didn't take a picture of it.

Andromeda and Collin took pictures of each other with the photography studio. The backgrounds are cool but I wish I could choose the poses, and I haven't figured out all the elements yet. It'd be nice to zoom a bit more. Andromeda was confident when her picture was taken, so I believe that influenced her pose, which is interesting.

Galaxy is the most active centenarian I know. I actually have no idea how old she is because her bar has been sparkling since she was about 118 days old and I haven't kept track, but she is definitely getting up there.

I said earlier that Eris was a pretty good baby and that's true, but she did require a fair bit of maintenance. I have never had a sim baby that pooped this much. We didn't feed her any more than usual, and yet it seemed like she always had a dirty diaper. Anytime her portrait was blue, it was always for a diaper change.

Happy birthday to Collin, who is becoming an adult! Galaxy had to go to bed early so it's just Andromeda celebrating with him. She should be aging up too soon, but she got the bug where she doesn't age when she's pregnant, so she's increasingly farther behind him the more often she's pregnant.

Anyway, here's Collin. Besides looking a little sleepy, he's still the same old Collin. I've been really happy with him as a spouse. Although I think Gavin would have made beautiful babies, Collin has added a lot of personality, which you can kind of expect from a guy that used to sport a unibrow.

Eris grows up and boy, is her personality a doozy. It looks like I might have jinxed her with her name. Let's get the details and take a look at her post-makeover.

So . . . yeah. That's Eris in a nutshell. I haven't played an evil sim in 4 yet, but one of my favorite sims when I briefly played 3 was an evil sim because she was amusing. I am kind of amazed at my regular ability to roll dysfunctional personalities for my sims. Sorry, Kristina! It is rather perfect that she's rambunctious as a kid and wants to be a public enemy when she grows up. I told my sister about this roll and she asked me if I was using loaded dice. I replied that I was using the official legacy trait generator, and she asked if that was loaded too. Hmm. It just might be . . . at least for me. Anyway, Eris is a total cutie who looks almost entirely like her dad except for getting some of the Hart lip shape, and her only inherited trait (gloomy) is also from him.

She pulls some really cute faces, too. Looking at this sim child, would you suspect she's as devious as she really is? Her first, and only for a while, whim was to make an enemy. I'm not letting her make any enemies at home, but I might have to try it just for fun. I'm so used to playing my sims in a nice manner.

Andromeda gets Eris started on her homework as she has school the next day. Andromeda is also starting to show again in her second pregnancy. If this one is twins, I'm done for the generation as we only have three kids if there's an eligible heiress.

"So . . . you raised an evil daughter."
"Yes, Mom. Yes, I did. But you raised an insane son, so . . ."
*cough*  *awkward silence*
"Well at least she's good at the monkey bars, I guess."

Eris looks rather happy. I wonder what the occasion is.

"Can't you see Mom's plumbbob? It's orange! She's really uncomfortable. Isn't that the greatest?"

Evil Eris gets happy mood buffs from being around sims in negative emotions. As long as she's not causing the emotions, that's good, I guess.

Galaxy is on to Eris, however. She always gets nasty looks on her face from dealing with her. It's kind of hilarious. She knows what goes on in that child's mind and she is not impressed.

However, most of the time Eris is a model citizen. I told Kristina that I knew who this generation's Aries would be, but Eris has kind of proved me wrong. Although she continually wants to make an enemy, she actually behaves pretty well. Maybe that's part of her evilness: making everyone think she's good.

However, she is downright delighted when Andromeda goes into labor. That +40 uncomfortable moodlet is sweet music to her ears. Her evil, evil ears.

Just as Andromeda is about to give birth, Collin finally autonomously wakes up from the fifth night in the tent, completing his aspiration! His next one is one of the family ones but I don't have my notes next to me right now. I figured he should interact with his kids more. I celebrated by immediately selling off his tent before he had even left the area. Galaxy was always trying to go to sleep in it for some reason, so I wanted it gone. Instead I put in this cute little garden, with the camping mascot so that we will never forget the misery that was The Great Five-Night Campout of '15. I remember.

Collin books it upstairs, where Andromeda has already given birth to . . . another single girl! Yay girl, boo singles! I have not had a twin or triplet birth in my game yet despite playing this family, my legacy, and my Wonder Child Challenge. Grr.

Anyway, that's not this little darling's fault. Welcome to Ceres, the second child and also a potential heiress. Looks like we'll have a choice for heiress this generation! Ceres the dwarf planet is part of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and is the only currently officially recognized dwarf planet that lies within the orbit of Neptune. The other four, including Pluto, are obviously out beyond that, mostly in the Kuiper belt, where scientists theorize there are many more dwarf planets that we just haven't been able to find yet. Ceres the goddess was a Roman deity and presided over agriculture, fertility, and motherhood and was seen by the Romans as an equivalent to the Greeks' Demeter. Hopefully this means that Ceres the sim will be a bit more wholesome than her sister.

Andromeda and Collin immediately get started on child #3. I'm beginning to wonder how useful that fertile trait actually is. It does seem to help with conception, but I'm peeved that I haven't seen any twins.

Anyway, the third try is a success, and Andromeda is pregnant for the last time this generation.

"You're WHAT? How does this keep happening?!"

Someone really needs to sit Collin down for The Talk.

Still, Collin adores his girls, and both he and Andromeda spend a lot of time with both of them.

The time flies (since everyone is busy with things not worth taking pictures of) and Ceres is soon growing into a child too. And yes, she turned out pretty much completely different from Eris.

Wow! Quite different! Not sure where the Nerd Brain comes from, but the rest of her personality seems to say that she is a bright, bubbly social butterfly to the core. Clumsy may seem like it doesn't fit, but I see it as her just being so focused on life and other people that she doesn't notice where she's going - that kind of thing. Ceres also looks very different from Eris except for hair and eye color. She got the Hart eye shape and her Dad's mouth. Once baby #3 is a child, I'm going to put up a comparison graphic so we can marvel at how different the genes turned out. I think Collin and Andromeda's genes mix very well, though. Although they look quite different, both Eris and Ceres are very beautiful.

Ceres is a very happy kid as long as she's socializing. She is the ultimate extrovert, but with a cute little geek side, maybe a little unaware of how strongly she comes across, but always with lots of friends. I gave her the cheeriest outfit I could muster. I think she's just adorable. I can't decide which of the two I like better. It will be a hard choice for heiress, made even harder if #3 is a girl too.

Ceres gets started on the dreaded Social Butterfly aspiration with a mail carrier that happens to be just walking by. Nothing like sending your sim children out to talk to random strangers and befriend them. I've completed this aspiration once before (in The Silvas Succeed, my Wonder Child Challenge), and I did it the same way - accost walkbys. I guess because she's outgoing, Ceres builds social skill incredibly fast. She reached level 10 social skill within a few days after her age-up, and as of this writing, just has to make those five adult and child friends to complete her aspiration.

Eris, meanwhile, is still plugging away at the Rambunctious Scamp aspiration. I think she's on the final level as well, but she did have several days' head start on Ceres. While Ceres lives and breathes her aspiration, Eris is more mercurial: she doesn't like to play on the monkey bars for too long, and she tends to wander away from tasks. It's a bit more of a challenge to get her to complete objectives, and she definitely is not building motor skill as quickly as Ceres built social.

Ooh, fail. Poor Andromeda was on her way to bed after a long day of work and being pregnant and didn't make it. In my defense, I did try to get her to drink a moodlet solver.

See? Photographic proof from just a minute earlier. However, she just set it down and tried to get to bed. Once again, if a sim would just listen, she wouldn't be in this situation. I do feel bad though. I got Andromeda up and packed off to bed quickly. This pregnancy is being a lot harder on her than the other two. Maybe that means multiples? Not that we need them now, though.

Grandma Galaxy is still not putting up with any of Eris's tricks. Ceres, however, is positively enamored by her sister. She rolls so many whims for Eris.

Another day, and the family is in the kitchen again. They're all so busy that it's really the only place they usually congregate. Ceres is bombarding Eris with jokes and socials, and Eris does a pretty good job of putting up with her gregarious little sister. Andromeda back there is almost ready to pop, and Collin is standing around like a doofus because Andromeda is blocking the fridge and he's hungry and can't wait for breakfast. Galaxy is still in bed. She gets to do pretty much whatever she wants.

Eris needed a best friend for the second level of her aspiration, and she only knew one child at that point: her sister. Even though their personalities are polar opposites, they do get along really well so I had them become BFFs.

This sends Ceres into a rapturous reverie of grins. She's so cute, yet so exhaustingly social.

She's really excited to be a big sister, too. When she isn't rolling whims for Eris, they're all for Andromeda. Galaxy is the same way kind of. She doesn't ever roll whims for anyone but Andromeda. I find that amusing.

Thinking about Eris and Ceres making best friends, I realized that Andromeda didn't have one, and the natural choice was her husband, so they are now BFFs as well.

Galaxy finally gets out of bed and gets pumped to eat her breakfast. She so embodies the active trait, it isn't even funny anymore. Okay, actually it is. Even though Andromeda and Collin are active too, no one but Galaxy likes to do do random morning pushups.

Andromeda finally goes into labor and is whiling away the time playing games in between contractions, while Collin stays nearby working on his guitar skill for his job that he can not get promoted at. Galaxy, on free will, chose to read a book, but decided to read it standing up in the corner of the inspiration room instead of by the bookcase in the living room. I guess she wanted to support her daughter too.

Meanwhile, Ceres is making friends earnestly while other friends of hers try to visit. This just cracks me up, because if I was walking by a house and an overly enthusiastic child ran up and asked me to cloudgaze, I'm not sure my first inclination would be to say yes, but Nancy Landgraab is cool with it. Devon, the girl at the door, is another mail carrier. That's right: Ceres knows not one, but two mail carriers.

Eris sneaks away from typing practice to bask in her mom's uncomfortable moodlet, meanwhile.

Finally the time has come for the last birth of this generation.

Andromeda gives birth to a little boy, and Collin admires the backyard, too tired to even try to care at this point.

Just one baby (the fertile trait is a lie!) but we have a little boy. That means the heiress will be Ceres or Eris. This little one, meanwhile, is Pluto. How could he not be? Everyone knows Pluto, right? I don't need to do an introduction for the former-planet-now-dwarf-planet? Pluto in mythology, in case you don't know, is the Roman equivalent of Hades, the god of the underworld.

Although he can't be heir, Andromeda is still delighted with her son. That marks the completion of this generation, and all that's left is to work on all the aspirations and schoolwork that raising this generation will entail.

"My grandmother powers are telling me I have another grandchild! I'll probably go see him after a few more laps!"

That's all for this time. Next time we'll see Eris, Ceres, and Pluto grow up into somewhat well-adjusted youths. I also have a little interlude of what the spares have been up to planned, so keep an eye out for that as well. This brings us up to where I played last in the game and I have some family stuff going on, so I may or may not get more updates out soon, depending on how things go. As always, thanks for reading and check back for more chapters, and visit Kristina and me at SiMania.