Welcome back again to I Hart Space, a joint legacy between Roxanne and Kristina. It's Kristina here, bringing you the third part of chapter seven, in which we will meet the children of generation eight!
If you missed any of the previous parts, you can catch up here. Otherwise, let's get this done!
In our previous update, we saw Cassini travel to Selvadorada and become an accomplished archaeologist and explorer. She satisfied her desire to explore art from a totally different corner of the sim world and even found the love of her life there among the ruins (technically, she found him in the local bar, but this way sounds nicer).
After a beautiful Sulani beach wedding, Cassini conceived the first baby of generation eight. We left off with her going into labor, mere moments away from the birth of her first child.
Everyone crowded into our tiny nursery, eager to meet the new arrival. I was excited as well, to see if we could break my streak of always having a boy first. Remember, the Harts are a matriarchal family, and males aren't eligible for heir. Would this finally be the baby that breaks the tradition and opens up the possibility of my having more than one option for heiress?
Nope. This is not that baby. Everyone, meet Neil.
In a generation led by a woman who is a world traveler, it is only fitting that all of her children are named after people who have explored the cosmos. Little Neil is named after Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.
Neil is extremely adorable, but is, nevertheless, a boy. He won't ever be a Hart legacy heir, but we'll try not to hold that against him.
Of course, Neil becomes the center of attention in the house right away. Ferdinando begins practicing his parenting skills immediately with a bottle while Cassini takes a well-earned rest in a comfy chair.
Her relaxation time doesn't last too long though. Once Neil is happily snoozing in his bassinet, it's back to work for our happy couple. We are still in need of an heiress, so Cassini and Ferdinando get down to the business of making one. Thankfully, our naughty dog Marfusha doesn't sneak in to supervise this time, and we are successful on our first try.
Over the next few days, the family resumes their normal activities. Cassini, after continuing to paint for a few hours, manages to create the remaining masterpieces she needs to finish the painter aspiration. This is her fifth completed aspiration, which makes her one of our most successful heiresses so far, and she's not done yet.
I swap her over to the Nerd Brain aspiration next, as I thought it might be nice for her to explore some of Ferdinando's interests. Of course, she splits her new, scientific pursuits with snuggling Neil, who is proving to be a rather mellow baby.
Hadley continues to both work on painting and helping out around the house. Most of Marfusha's care falls to her, and she can often be seen around town, walking our stubborn girl that still doesn't like to go to the potty by herself.
Not to be outdone in all the goal-completing going on in the house, Jordon manages to finish the remaining two bestsellers he needed and completes his writing aspiration. He can now write The Book of Life, which I'm sure will come in handy once Neil and his future siblings become children.
I have him switch over to the painting aspiration next, because I figure that he's done music and writing now, so we might as well go for the third creative aspiration.
As for Ferdinando, he's been continuing to work on upgrading his rocket. He finishes his fifth upgrade, and moves onto the last step of his Nerd Brain aspiration. Now, he needs to max his logic skill and fix or upgrade five objects.
I mentioned in my last update that Jordon's literary efforts had made him a minor celebrity. His latest publications have boosted him even higher. He is now a four star celebrity, and he exudes that special celebrity glow everywhere he walks. He also gained the ability to give inspirational rallies to boost other sims' skill building, so he tried it out on Ferdinando before he worked on his logic skill. It did work, even if Ferdinando doesn't look overly impressed here.
Even though everyone in the house is quite busy, Neil is not suffering at all for attention. Even Patchy is getting in on the infant care routine. He's absolute rubbish at it and never accurately guesses what the baby wants, but he's giving it his best shot.
Before long, Harvestfest rolls around again. The family spends the morning rummaging for decorations to get in the proper spirit while the gnomes begin materializing on the lot.
Jordon takes over the baby duties for the morning while basking in the gentle glow of his own celebrity. As a super parent, he can use the super-efficient baby care interaction on Neil, which has been quite helpful over the past few days. He finished writing a Book of Life for this little guy last night, and it's just sitting in his inventory, ready to be bonded to him once he is old enough.
After dealing with gnomes and discussing what we were thankful for, Ferdinando fit in more aspiration work before the big meal. He started by playing chess with Hadley. He was able to max out his logic skill after a few games.
After finishing that, he went on an upgrade spree around the house. He was able to make three different objects unbreakable before settling down with the rest of the family to eat. This is a particularly good development for me, because less puddles on the floor means less opportunities for Marfusha to be bad. She really doesn't need any help in that department.
Uncomfortable from her pregnancy, which was moving steadily onward, Cassini spent the morning reading three books to clear the first step of the nerd brain aspiration. The next step involves her doing some repairs and woodworking projects, but before starting in on those tasks, she joined her family for a grand meal.
As usual, the family indulged in their trademark habit of choosing eating locations that aren't conducive to taking nice pictures. They did manage to make it into the same room at the same time for the meal though, which is pretty good for them. They also manged to leave their clay blobs alone while eating, which is an extreme rarity in this house. All in all, their holiday was successful.
Afterward, Ferdinando fixed our broken stereo, which completed his Nerd Brain aspiration. I decided to switch him over to Renaissance Sim next, since he is a sim that likes learning about a lot of different things.
After taking care of some woodworking and household repairs, the last thing Cassini had to do to move onto the next step of her aspiration was launch a rocket five times. For some crazy reason, the game will not let you do this while pregnant, so she was momentarily out of things to do. As it happened to be a warm fall day, she chose to relax in the pool for a little while.
Part of completing the Renaissance Sim aspiration is getting to level eight in six different skills. Ferdinando has already done that in handiness, rocket science, and logic, and has a good start in a few others. He decides to add video games to his repertoire and starts building up his points.
Also, in case you were wondering, Jordon is not cheering on Ferdinando's gaming in this shot. He was just really excited about the drink he mixed for himself in the globe bar.
The next morning brought with it a series of misadventures, starting off with Marfusha refusing to use the potty by herself. Again. At this point, the game notified me that she had learned to go outside to pee on her own, so I'm fairly certain she's playing us for extra attention.
After being personally escorted outside to go to the bathroom, she managed to find a pile of rubbish left over in the basement from when Ferdinando repaired the stereo. Filthiness ensued. Baths were needed. Lectures were given. Lectures were ignored. The usual, in other words.
Meanwhile, Ferdinando began his day by somehow managing to make his way into an inaccessible area behind the stairs. In order to let him out, I had to move an end table that was placed near the stairs specifically to block sims from going back into this space in the first place. As an actual rocket scientist, I don't know how it's possible that he got into this mess.
It was also time for little Neil's birthday, and in keeping with my luck on this particular day. the game lagged as he popped out of his bassinet and I missed taking a better picture.
Despite having a very calm and quiet infancy, in which his every need was met by a variety of loving family members, Neil entered his toddlerhood in a fit of rage. At first, I thought his glare of disdain towards his mother was due to the haircut the game gave him (which was a very upsetting choice, to be honest), so I gave him a makeover right away.
However, even after he had his glow-up, the anger remained. Neil's toddler trait is wild, which I discovered means that he is the kind of kid that has absolutely no time for your nonsense.
And lest you think that I just happened to catch Neil's face at a conveniently angry moment, here's what he looked like when Hadley asked him to go to the potty.
And this was his face when Cassini tried to teach him to talk.
And this was his face when Ferdinando tried to play dolls with him. He's cute as anything, but he definitely has a formidable little attitude.
Eventually, and under GREAT protest, Neil settled down with Ferdinando to work on his communication skills. He glared at his father the entire time, causing me to wonder if teaching him how to verbally communicate his emotions was a smart idea.
While taking a break from educating his son, Ferdinando took a moment to feel our next little Hart baby, who should be arriving very soon. Hopefully this one will be less angry.
As the day wore on, Neil eventually found something in the house he enjoyed. Of course, it was our resident bad girl, who took it upon herself to interrupt his flashcard session for some cuddles. I assume she was drawn to his flagrant disregard for authority, which they appear to share.
Once bedtime rolled around, more drama ensued. Neil threw a fit, because he was tired, which caused Ferdinando to throw a fit, stomping his feet and yelling forbidden words. Ferdinando is a cheerful sim, but even his good humor only extends so far, apparently.
We called it a day and went to bed from there, and this was how Neil listened to his bedtime story. This is going to be a long toddlerhood.
That night, we got a visit from ghost Laika. This was nice, because it reminded me of a simpler time in this legacy. A time when there was a dog in the house that obeyed commands and there were no ornery toddlers pushing family members to their breaking points.
The next day, Marfusha became ill and needed to go to the vet. Her timing on this was exquisite, because Cassini went into labor at the very moment her nose lit up.
I feel like this picture pretty much sums up how this generation is going so far.
As her parents were still sleeping and Ferdinando was...busy, Cassini headed to the nursery on her own this time. After the usual pushing and yelling, our next little Hart was born.
And my luck finally turned around, because this little one is a girl! Meet Mae Hart.
Mae is named after Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. Just like with Neil, Ferdinando jumped in to start bonding with his daughter right away.
History has a way of repeating itself in this family. While looking for Jordon and Hadley to invite them up to meet Mae, I was greeted with this disturbing tableau. Poor Jordon. His celebrity can't save him from this.
Cassini hadn't been out of the house since her wedding, so I decided to let Ferdinando take care of the baby duties for awhile and let her take Marfusha to the vet. Upon arriving at the lot, Marfusha instantly fell asleep outside. This shouldn't be a big deal, but going to the vet tends to be a glitchy experience for me, and this dog is an extremely slow walker.
I suppose this is due to her couch potato trait, but she permanently walks along at a pace suitable for pallbearers at a funeral. It takes her forever to get anywhere. I didn't want her to lose her spot with the vet because she took too long to walk to the room, so Cassini woke her up and called her over to the waiting area.
She then proceeded to hide under the couch, something I have never seen her do before. It's always a drama with this one. It's a good thing we weren't first in line, because this took a while to sort out.
Luckily, our vet behaved properly and fixed her up right away. We opted for the most expensive treatment, since Marfusha is a celebrity's dog. She belongs to the great Jordan Hart, after all, and she deserves only the best.
Cassini showered her with kisses and treats afterwards, because Marfusha, inexplicably, inspires complete devotion from this family.
Back at home, Neil started off his second day as a toddler by finding ways to defy the spirit of my instructions for him. He needed to eat right when he woke up, so I put a plate of food for him in his bedroom. I wanted him to work on his skills right after he finished eating, and all his toys are upstairs.
So, instead of sitting in any one of the several chairs in his bedroom or neighboring playroom to eat, he picked up his food and began an agonizingly slow crawl all the way downstairs into the living room to eat there instead. I suppose he wanted some company.
However, he did not exactly capture Jordon's attention.
Ferdinando was already up and working during all of this, practicing his gardening. He's currently at level six here and is still working on raising up a few more skills for his aspiration, but his progress has slowed significantly with a toddler and an infant in the house.
Because I was determined not to watch Neil take several more hours to climb back up the stairs to the playroom, I placed a new toy for him to interact with in the living room. He spent his morning talking to the unicorn, and eventually maxed out his communication skill.
Once Cassini had returned home from the vet, she worked on bathing and potty training Neil, who made it up to level two in the skill and glared at his mother for most of that time.
Meanwhile, little Mae is just happy to be here. Much like Neil before her, she's not a needy baby. She only cries as much as is strictly necessary for someone in her circumstances.
After Neil's bath and potty break, Cassini starts working on the mental skill with some flashcards. Obviously, he is not pleased with this arrangement.
It wasn't long before he made his escape and streaked all over the second floor. At least he looks happy in this shot.
I decided it was high time to turn in for the night after that and sent Neil to bed. Cassini and Ferdinando then took the opportunity to go for baby number three, the last child of the generation.
Marfusha was there to awkwardly observe again, and to bark loudly, of course. The perfect end to the perfect day.
Cassini fell asleep straight after this, so I had to wait until the next day to see if we were pregnant or not.
Speaking of the next day, Neil woke up in a predictably terrible mood, ate some breakfast, and got to work on his tablet to improve his thinking skill. He's at level three and we are desperately trying to get him to the stage where he can "ask why," which is a highly effective way to improve the skill.
With Neil occupied, Ferdinando takes a moment to focus in on the career-hopping aspect of his aspiration. He had more than enough aspiration reward points saved up to buy the Connections perk, which allows him to start careers off at a higher level. He needed to reach level three in several different careers, and his new perk allows him to start careers at level 4. Lucky him.
After a few hours accepting and then immediately quitting jobs, he finished that part of his aspiration. Now, all he has left to do is get a few more skills up to level eight.
The last job he accepted was astronaut, and I decided to have him stay in that for a little while. It fits in with a lot of the skills he already has and gives him something to do during the day. Accordingly, he heads off to the gym to complete his new job requirement of working out.
In an extremely off-center burst of confetti, Cassini discovers that she is pregnant when she gets up. This will be our last baby of the generation, and since we have seven sims living in the house currently, it's guaranteed to be a single birth. It would be nice if it was a girl, to give us a choice for heiress, but history is against us on this point.
Cassini immediately celebrates the news the best way she knows how.
Later on in the day, I lost track of Hadley and Cassini. I was working on everyone else's skills, and the two of them didn't have much to do. They both turned up at the bar, presumably to get a break from all the crying and open defiance from both our kid and our dog.
Since Cassini is pregnant, she still can't complete the space missions for her aspiration, and Hadley has been bouncing between painting and other random activities for a long time now. Mixology is her newest obsession, a charming hobby that leaves an extreme amount of dirty glasses all over the house. Don't worry though, Cassini had a cup of tea instead of juice here.
Jordon, after detaching himself from his clay, gets to work on another Book of Life for Mae. This will be great for her once she's working on her child skills. Gotta plan for the future here, after all. The only downside to this is that he's not publishing these, so his fame is starting to slip a little bit. I have him work on selling some paintings later on to keep it from going down too far. We have to preserve that healthy glow, after all.
As the evening starts to wind down, Cassini starts to work on some flashcards with Neil, a process that still invokes terror and rage in his little toddler heart. He's very close to level 4 thinking now, but it is going incredibly slowly, and he clearly hates building it
So after throwing a fit, he once again makes an unauthorized, excruciatingly slow trek downstairs to eat his dinner with his father, who has finished working out and moved onto the video game skill.
On a side note, Neil's wild trait means that he builds movement faster than normal. All of his streaking and stair climbing is serving a purpose, and he is up to level three movement without me directly having him work on it. He's still a little stinker though.
We end the night with a bedtime story, which Neil, predictably, scowls his way through. Thank goodness Mae is due to grow up soon. Neil is adorable, but it isn't exactly a picnic raising him.
The next day dawns with Marfusha really outdoing herself with disobedience. She pooped in the hallway, barked repeatedly at Hadley as she tried to make breakfast, and helped herself to Neil's eggs.
I couldn't spend too long being annoyed with her though, because Mae's birthday finally arrived. Hadley had the honor of tossing her into toddlerhood.
Our heiress was immediately adorable, of course, and rather more cheerful than her big brother from the outset.
After a quick makeover, she became even more adorable. Mae's toddler trait is independent, meaning that she works best alone.
Accordingly, she sat down with her blocks and began working on her thinking skill right away.
She followed that up with a trip to the potty all by herself. Already, she has surpassed our dog in the area of general life skills.
Meanwhile, her brother spent his day doing this...
Followed by this.
And then this.
By the end of the evening, Mae had earned herself a nice collection of skills, including a whopping four points in communication. Neil earned himself an early bedtime.
The next day, I had the family take some time to deal with several chores that had been piling up. Due to all the art and books being created in the house, most of the family had attained some fame. Both Cassini and Jordon managed to get the quirk that makes sims throw up if they eat lower quality food. Since we eat mostly old birthday cake in this house, there were a lot of puke-filled toilets to clean.
Not to worry though, because we have Jordon, the expert chef, ready to use all the techniques he learned at the Collin Hart school of cooking to keep us fed with excellent quality food.
Perhaps wanting to escape the fiery inferno that was their kitchen, Neil and Mae opted to eat their breakfast outside in the snow. After their bellies were full, they took some time to get to know each other before heading back inside to skill.
They become fast friends, and Mae proved to be the only non-dog sim in the house who can reliably make Neil smile.
With my attention focused elsewhere, Hadley managed to get up to her old tricks of trying to freeze to death in the pool. Never a dull moment around here.
I sent her back inside just in time for Ferdinando's birthday celebration. In a rare moment of family unity, both she and Cassini managed to look in his general direction and throw confetti at the right time.
He aged exquisitely, of course.
For the rest of the afternoon Mae continued working on her toddler skills. She maxed communication first and then continued to work on her thinking. Since she works fastest alone, her learning process has gone quite smoothly.
Which is definitely more than I can say for Neil, who has absolutely no sympathy for his heavily pregnant mother. He finally made it to level 4 thinking skill and began asking Cassini why until she became enraged. On the positive side, he did end up maxing the thinking skill and then mastered the potty soon after.
After all that, it was time for bed. Somehow, this happened. I don't even know with this kid.
The night ended with Ferdinando getting a promotion to Low Orbit Specialist, which he was happier about than it appears from this photo.
The next day was Winterfest, and the family started off their celebration with some decorating.
After the exterior of the house was suitably festive, they moved on to the tree.
Before they could finish that, however, Cassini's time finally came. She rushed up to the nursery to welcome the last baby of generation 8.
Ferdinando also chose this moment to erupt into mysterious red spots. Way to steal Cassini's thunder, Ferdinando.
Before long, our last little one arrived. Predictably, it was another boy. Meet Yuri! Yuri is named after Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space.
Yuri settled into his bassinet quickly and began the long wait to toddlerhood.
Meanwhile, with the house full of sims (and one bad dog), I decided that a maid would be a good idea. You would think that Hadley and Jordon, two accomplished sims with very little to do, would be more than enough to keep the house clean, but you would be wrong. Somehow, the place was a wreck and we needed help. It ended up being money well-spent, as she immediately collected all the dirty plates that were hiding around the house and loaded them into the dishwasher.
With all this drama going on, Mae took it upon herself to finish up her potty training on her own. Yuri's birth means that she is officially our heiress, so good thing she's a star.
The family spent the rest of the day participating in the usual Winterfest festivities. Jordon provided the family with a superior grand meal,
which his grandchildren chose to eat outside in the snow, as is their general preference.
Later on the kiddos thawed out by coming inside to open presents. Neil was pleased to open up a chemistry set.
And Mae was delighted with a set of blocks.
With the decorating, meal, and presents finished, there wasn't much to do until Father Winter arrived. No longer pregnant, Cassini took the opportunity to start in on her long-delayed space flights for her Nerd Brain aspiration. She managed to finish two trips before the night was over.
As the evening started winding down, disaster struck. Father Winter arrived on the lot and promptly glitched. He wouldn't hand out gifts to either toddler. Mae took this disappointing development in stride, but Neil took it...well, like Neil. Father Winter made a powerful enemy this night.
The bassinet-bound Yuri remained blissfully unaware of the great Winterfest injustice going on downstairs and spent his holiday being cute and relatively quiet, like all the infants of this generation have been.
And this moment of relative calm is where I will leave you for now! My next chapter will be the last one of this generation, in which we will see the kids grow up, build their skills, and prepare for what I'm sure will be a very exciting stint at university with Roxy!
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