mswn | Round 7 (Spring): Sweet 2 (Reply)

Previously: Tabitha Sweet left her sister's home, moved into her own place down the street, and opened up a little daycare to look after Ste-Margo's young ones while their parents were at work. With her new business only just getting off the ground, one day Tabby receives an urgent call from Mayor Frida Batavus...

In the months following the tragic death of a runaway girl on one of the town's abandoned beaches last fall, Frida has been hearing more and more disturbing reports coming out of SimCity's overburdened Child Protective Services department. Working in concert with SimCity Hall, Frida was able to secure a §10,000 grant for any Ste-Margovian willing to take in some of the overflow orphans. Though Tabby has been enjoying her little daycare, she has to admit this sounds like an important job, and one that she thinks she can handle. So, taking a deep breath, she signs on to foster two babies, two toddlers, and two children who will now serve as the town's official adoption pool!

Mario Flykt and Rebecca Benes

Valterri Mendes and Sine Reder

Sorin Turtle (in Tabby's arms) and Nanette Fitzmaurice

With this many kids and only one Tabitha, it may get kinda crazy...

Tabitha, are you ready?

Really ready?

Because there's no turning back now...

The first day is kind of a cinch. Everyone's clean and well-rested.

Tabitha even has time to sit down to a nice hot meal with Rebecca and Mario after putting the little ones to bed. (Rebecca apparently had to deal with some pretty intimidating characters before finding her way to Ste-Margo!)

The oldest children are set up in Tabby's former guest room downstairs, while the toddlers and infants stay in the daycare's original nap room and nursery.

Things start to get hectic before the first night is over, with the babies and toddlers keeping to their own internal clocks, as babies and toddlers are wont to do.

Mario: "Peeeee-yew! Girls stink!"

M: *looks overly pleased with self for making mediocre (at best!) burn*

Tabitha is more than happy to welcome her brother-in-law Charlie over to watch the kids while she tries to grab a meal/shower/nap. Thank heavens for nearby family!

Charlie is a Family sim who's had lots of experience with his own babies, so it's no trouble at all!

He's learned from personal experience that babies love the feel of cool linoleum on their bare backs in the springtime!

Mario and Rebecca have missed some school days back in SimCity. They've got some catching up to do, but having a stable home for once should help.

After Charlie leaves, a freshly-showered Tabitha has some playtime with baby Sorin. The results are disappointing, if not surprising.

Things go south rapidly.

Geraldine Snowe-Morceau doesn't mind! The arrival of the orphans is really a boon for the other kids in town since for them, it mostly means more after-school playmates to choose from.

Rebecca wants to do better in school, though; so once her friend leaves for the night, she makes sure to do some homework before going to bed.

The next day, Tabitha calls over both Charlie and her sister, Gemma. More volunteer babysitters!

Rebecca's homework has paid off! Baby Sorin is thrilled!

Geraldine came over again; Mario is telling someone about his new foster mom; and toddler Valterri is on the prowl.

They may be a lot of work, but they are all so cute. :3

That night, it's birthday time for the two babies!

Sorin!

Nanette!

Tabitha takes a well-deserved nap while Mario entertains his littlest foster sister.

Now that everyone's old enough, here's a look at their personality points:

Things should get a lot cleaner around the house once Nanette gets older!

Then again, Sorin might have something to say about that...

Sine wants everyone to know that she probably doesn't like you.

Valterri is maybe also not so nice.

And Mario... well...

Look, Rebecca wants to know how nice you'd be if you'd spent your entire childhood trapped in a broken system, hmm?

With no one awake to torment, Rebecca settles for some solitary fun on the playground.

Um... :(

Tabitha is stretched too thin to give every child all the love and attention she'd like to, but hopefully things will get better soon?

The toddler days are the hardest!

But the kids have each other! They'll be all right.

Thankfully, Tabby's dad Maximillian has heard she could use a spare hand. Yay!

Sporadic peek-a-boo sessions notwithstanding, Mario seems to really enjoy giving the toddlers a hard time these days.

Rebecca can't take it! (I sometimes feel like this, and I don't even have kids!)

Mario :|

Dad :|
Maximillian: "I'm helping!"

FINALLY. Someone is potty-trained! Go, Valterri! (Even attempting to potty train all the toddlers might have been a waste of resources, in retrospect, but what's done is done!)

Rebecca and Mario are too wound up to go to bed, so they have a (quiet!) game of cops & robbers in their room after lights out.

And before Tabitha has the chance to rest her eyes, little Nanette is up with the sun on the first day of summer. Nobody said this would be easy!

___
Notes: So, two babies, two toddlers, and two kids might have been a bit too ambitious for this little fledgling orphanage—I honestly thought Tabitha might die at several points in the round! I made liberal use of the Watch Kids Enabled cheat to have Tabby's family come over as makeshift babysitters so that she could have some chance at eating or sleeping or bathing, and I will admit to maxmotives-ing at least once. It was so hectic that I barely had time to take pictures of everyone. But hopefully, you'll be seeing the kids in other posts soon! And who knows, maybe some of them will be adopted by other Ste-Margo families?
-Can you believe Tabitha's last update was over a year ago?
-If it seems like I'm repeating the kids' names over and over to try to remember them, I am! I played this round back in early February, and their names were randomly generated, so I'm trying to remind myself who's who.

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Round 7 (Spring): Sweet 2

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