Round 7 Part 2: Dejackome Place (2053-2057)

Melanie Tse: 57 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Max All Skills. (Fulfilled: Become Game Designer.) Astrological sign: Virgo.
Gavin Dejackome: 35 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Criminal Mastermind. Astrological sign: Cancer.
Annie (Riedmayer) Dejackome: 32 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become Captain Hero. Astrological sign: Aquarius.
Rivka Dejackome: 3 years old. Astrological sign: Scorpio.

BJ Bigfoot

For a family tree, see this post. The only difference is that Caitlin and Patrick got older, but I didn't take updated screenshots so I can't update the tree anyway.

"One, Two, Three"
narrated by Annie Dejackome

Gavin had to go away on business a few weeks before I was due with the twins, and sure enough, I went into labor the day before he was scheduled to come home. Fortunately, I still had plenty of support. Aunt Mel kept Rivka entertained and out of the way the whole time.

Meanwhile, my dad and my sister Agatha came over to provide support and medical expertise (at least, Dad had a bit of medical expertise). We played lots of chess to pass the time. I think Dad won every game, but of course I was a little distracted.

Finally, the twins were born! First was Melanie Jill, whom we call Lanie. (As you might guess, she's named after Aunt Mel and my aunt Jill, who was like a mother to me growing up.)

The second twin was a boy, Quinton John. (That was my late father's name, but it also honors Dad, who goes by Johnson.)

Gavin had heard that his brother-in-law Donte had made a robot, so not to be outdone, he created Moh. Moh was a little obsessed with the babies, but I guess that's a good thing when you have twin newborns and a preschooler.

Fortunately, Rivka wasn't a preschooler for very long. She's still the spitting image of her father, though as she's gotten older her hair has turned more strawberry blond than true red (and of course her eyes are brown, like mine).

The same year, I finally got my dream job with the SCPD, and before I knew it I had been awarded the prestigious Captain Hero award.

While I was working the twins kept growing, and soon took Riv's place as resident rampaging toddler. (Times two!) Lanie looked pretty much exactly like her sister had at that age.

Quinton looked a bit more like me.

It was very important to Gavin that we get Rivka into Bluewater Academy. I would have liked to wait and do the whole admissions process when the twins were old enough to attend, but Gavin engineered the whole thing, so I let him. I figured Riv would enjoy being in school with all her cousins, anyway.

I must admit, even though they're a lot of work I'm not too eager for the twins to go to school. I'll miss those rare moments when they spend a quiet morning coloring at their activity table, being all tiny and cute everything. But that's how it goes, isn't it? You close your eyes and when you open them again everyone's grown a little older and all sorts of things have changed.

And here's the house at the end of the week. I feel like I need to scrap the whole thing and make it fresh at some point, because it has an awkward layout after being added onto many times. 

I am more pleased with the outside--it took a very long time to get the roof just right.

Notes:

1. All the adults got secondary aspirations this round...Melanie and Annie got Family (yay Comfort Soup!) and Gavin got Romance, which could spell trouble. I guess we'll see.

2. I don't know what Annie's new LTW is now that she's a Captain Hero. I'll have to look it up when I play them next.

Week Six Part Two: Dejackome Place

Melanie Tse: 50 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Max All Skills. (Fulfilled: Become Game Designer.) Astrological sign: Virgo.
Gavin Dejackome: 28 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Criminal Mastermind. Astrological sign: Cancer.
Annie Riedmayer: 25 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become Captain Hero. Astrological sign: Aquarius.

For complete family trees, please see the college update. For now, a quick recap:
Gavin is the only son of founder Rivka Dejackome, so of course he has returned to his childhood home after college.
Annie Riedmayer is the elder of Quinton Riedmayer's two daughters, and thus a member of the far smaller second branch of the massive Riedmayer family (the other branch containing Elwood's numerous descendants). She is Gavin's fiancee and thus came with him after college rather than moving back to her own childhood home.
Melanie Tse was close friends with the late Rivka Dejackome and became a live-in nanny to the children, which was fortunate since Rivka died before any of them became teens. She also served as placeholder while Gavin was away at college. 
Since the prosperity challenge rules dictate that college graduates can move in with a) a relative (or maybe just a parent?) or b) a best friend, and since Melanie is not actually Gavin's relative, I made sure that they remained BFFs throughout his college years. Gavin moved in with his BFF Melanie, and then Annie was able to move in with her BFF Gavin. 

"Role Reversal"

Narrated by Melanie Tse

Gavin and Annie ended up being able to leave Sim City earlier than they thought, so they arrived about half an hour after I left for work. (I'm a substitute teacher.) When they arrived, they were apparently terrified that I was lying dead or injured somewhere because the yard looked so terrible...old newspapers piled up, weeds everywhere...After they checked the house and didn't see me, they got to work cleaning things up, even though it was raining fairly hard at the time.

As soon as I reassured them that I was not dead, they started planning their wedding. It was held early the following year: Saturday, February 9, 2047.

They are a lovely couple, obviously very devoted, and I knew that they would be very happy together.

They also have a sense of humor, which is always important in a marriage.

This might sound crazy, but I had the strangest feeling that Rivka was somehow watching the wedding herself, from wherever she is now.

Outtake: I can only invite 5 or 6 people using the "Throw Party" option, so I did a regular "Call > Invite Over" for several guests. Some asked if they could bring friends and I thought, "Why not? The more, the merrier!"

This is why not. I didn't see what led up to this slap-fest, but I'm assuming Theresa interacted romantically with her fiance, Malcolm (they're three-bolt lovers and can't keep their hands off each other), and Dog Face there got mad because he thought the one-time fling he had with Theresa when she was at college actually MEANT something.

Since money was a bit tight, Gavin and Annie decided to go to Three Lakes for their honeymoon--it's just a couple of days' drive away, or a very short flight. We ended up flying because Gavin didn't think my old bones could handle that much time in the car. Yes, he insisted that his old auntie come along on his honeymoon. I expected Annie to object, but she was all for it. I decided to be flattered rather than insulted, though I suspect they secretly think I'm a child and can't be left home alone for a week.

We managed to rent a lovely two-bedroom cabin, just right for the three of us.

I probably could have spent a whole week just relaxing in the cabin, but we did take in some local sights. Annie was much better than I at the log rolling thing...

I got the hang of slap dancing pretty quickly, though.

I must admit, though, that my favorite thing about Three Lakes was the deep tissue massage.

Gavin and Annie said that their favorite part was the sauna.

We had heard from Jeannie about the Bigfoot...excuse me, Sasquatch...oppression that went on in Three Lakes. When we met Christian there, of course we had to apply to have him move back to Prosperity Plains with us. Our application was accepted, and he moved in with us and took over Gavin's old bed. (Not Gavin's old room, though, since we'd renovated after Gavin and Annie moved back.)

For some reason, Gavin and Annie weren't able to find jobs in their desired fields right away. I had a job as a substitute teacher, so I managed to support us all right during that period, but it was difficult. (Christian couldn't find a job either. He wanted to get into education so that he could teach future generations the truth about Sasquatches.)

Annie spent most of her time networking, hoping one of her many friends would be able to give her some help. Gavin worked on honing his skills so he could impress potential employers.

Gavin finally got a job with Malcolm Landgraab's imports business in late 2049. He seems to enjoy it very much.

With our income newly increased, Gavin and Annie felt free to try for a baby and were immediately successful.

(Annie actually got pregnant long before that--I think on the honeymoon--but again, I am trying to make Sim-pregnancies seem realistic lengths.)

Their daughter was born on October 25, 2050. They named her Rivka Anne Dejackome. She ended up with her mother's brown eyes and her father's red hair; it made her look a great deal like her aunt Theresa.








After little Rivka was born, Gavin decided to get back in shape. He had put on a bit of weight in college and I think he was self-conscious about it. It was a little funny that Annie had no trouble losing her baby weight but Gavin was working so hard on losing his after the baby.

Gavin had 8 or 9 body points the whole time he was fat, and now he has 10, so he'd better not get fat again--especially since he has only about one bolt with Annie and she is turned off by fatness.

Gavin helped me lose some weight too; I'd put on quite a few pounds over the years without really realizing it.











Christian managed to get a job lecturing at a university, but Annie still hadn't managed to find a job in law enforcement. So she was a stay-at-home mother to Rivka while the rest of us worked outside the home. Before we knew it, Rivka was a beautiful little toddler. I think I see more of her father in her as she grows, but it's hard to tell at her age.

Annie and Gavin both wanted a fairly large family, and they decided that since Annie was at home anyway she might as well have another child, so that she would not want to go on maternity leave as soon as she got a job. However, it took some time for her to conceive the second time. She found out she was pregnant again shortly before little Rivka turned 3 years old.

Annie's second pregnancy was very different from her first. She was hungry all the time and craved rich foods like cheesecake. When she was about 4 months along she found out that she is having twins! I suppose that explains it; growing two babies requires more food than growing one. We're all looking forward to their arrival early next spring.

This is the house at the end of the week. Everything to the left of the flowerbed is new, and the bedroom portion inside is extensively renovated. Melanie has her own double bed in the back bedroom there, and then Gavin and Annie and Rivka all share the largest front bedroom for now. Then there's the study, Christian's room, and an empty room. (The pink bed used to be Theresa's; no sense getting rid of it when Rivka will need one of her own soon.)

Once they have a little more money, I will probably bump out the kitchen/dining/living area to be level with Melanie's room, just because I like my Sims to have plenty of room to maneuver.

And here is the outside. It looks a little funny, but I still like it. I spent quite a while getting the roof just right, since the wall bumps out one space there to the left of the flowerbed.

Other than job woes, this week was pretty boring for the Dejackome/Tse/Bigfoot household.. Next week we get to find out whether one of Annie's twins will be the Generation 3 Dejackome heir or whether she will have to try again. (I haven't started playing Week 7 yet, because real life has gotten in the way, so I don't know any more than you do!)

(If Annie and Gavin don't have a boy in their third pregnancy, I will let them stop and just have one of the girls be heir.)