The Things You Enjoy


March 2025

Cyd Roseland is 30; Susan Roseland is 35; Oliver is 1.
Helen Green is 34.


As usual, Cyd and Susan Roseland were up around sunrise.



Cyd headed out on his customary early morning jog with his dog...



... while Susan went to check on their son.



 Sometimes, Susan couldn't believe the changes motherhood had made in her life.  She'd never been a morning person, and Cyd had teased her about how she always wanted to lie in as long as possible.  But now, she just couldn't wait to get out of bed and spend time with Oliver.


Cyd was back by the time she'd made breakfast.  As they ate, they talked about how things were going at the pet shop.

Cyd had owned the business for about a year, and it was fortunate that Susan had inherited a considerable amount of money from her parents, because it had taken most of that time to start making a profit.  But now, with the help of a couple of very positive reviews in the local newspaper, the shop was really taking off.  So much so that Cyd needed to hire another full-time staff member to keep up with the number of customers.


It meant more wages, but now that he had a solid customer base, and some experience as a salesman, he could put his prices up a little and not lose too many sales.


The strategy seemed to be paying off.

----

When Cyd had left for the shop, Susan thought about tidying the house, then decided against it.  She knew the landlady didn't approve of her housekeeping...


... but that was why she paid someone to come for an hour or two each day.  The dishes could wait until then.


This was her favourite time of the day, spending time with her little boy.  People who knew her were surprised by how well Susan had taken to motherhood.  She knew they thought that she would be too selfish or too lazy to care for a child.  And it was true, Susan liked to take the easy route if she could.


Sure, she could have saved a little money by not hiring a housekeeper, for example... but she could afford it, and she just saw no sense in wasting precious time on things that don't make you happy.  Spend it on the things you enjoy... like her baby.  She loved every minute she spent with him.

Sometimes friends from her old job asked her if she missed adult company, now that she was at home with Oliver all day.  She always thought it a silly question - it wasn't like she never saw another adult.  Apart from Cyd, she had plenty of visitors.  A couple of times a week, her brother Luke would have lunch with her, when he was up from the city.


Apart from the company, it was great having a mechanically-minded brother, when you have things like a dishwasher that keeps breaking down.


Cyd was no good at all with things like that.


---

Almost every day, Susan visited her cousin Helen.  It was easy, with her just two doors away.  They had been best friends since high school, and Susan had encouraged Helen to move into one of the townhouses on the same block, when she came back to Richmond.


"I wasn't sure if you'd be here," said Susan.  "I thought you might be in visiting your Dad."
"No, I'm going this evening," said Helen, "when Leo's home to look after Lizzie."
"Hey, if you need a babysitter any time, then - "

"Thanks, but between Leo and Samantha and Roman, I think we've got it covered,"  Helen said, as they walked into the living room.  "Dad's coming home on the weekend anyway, and until then, well, they can't get enough of her."
"I'm not surprised," said Susan.  "She's soooo adorable!"  She stopped in the doorway.  "Wow, this is different!"


"Sssh," Helen said.  "I only just got Lizzie to stop crying."  She glanced over at the baby, then added softly, "It's all Leo's stuff.  We finished moving him in yesterday."
"It looks great," said Susan.  "But isn't it a little cramped here, with Leo, and Samantha, and the baby?"


"Not really,"  Helen said, still whispering.  "Lizzy doesn't need her own room yet, and it helps having Samantha's share of the rent, while Leo is trying to save to start his own business.  I mean, we'll need more space eventually, but we'll worry about that at the time."

"Lizzie looks settled now," said Susan, gesturing to the happily playing baby.  "I don't think we need to whisper.  Lets go sit down."


Lizzie gurgled contentedly.  "Awww, I miss Oliver being that size!"  Susan said.
"Really?!" said Helen.


"Yeah," said Susan.  "I mean, I love the size Oliver is now, too, but there's something special about a little baby..."
Helen looked at Susan suspiciously.  "You're not pregnant again, are you?"
"Not yet," said Susan, grinning,.  "so you don't have to worry about refitting the bridesmaid dress. But, yeah, we are trying."
Helen laughed weakly.  "I wasn't even thinking about the bridesmaid dress... " she said.
"Then... what?"
"It doesn't matter... " she said, as Oliver reached up for his mother.  "How does he get on with your dog?" she asked suddenly,  "because, Leo's thinking of getting one."


"He was a bit scared at first..." Susan said.


"... but now they just love each other!


"Get Leo to talk to Cyd," she suggested.  "He knows which breeds are best with kids."
Helen nodded.  She was going to reply when Lizzie started to wail again.  "Oh, no..." she groaned.

Susan got up and picked up the baby.  "What is is honey... huh.. what is it?  You just want some cuddles, don't you...?"  She jiggled her around in her arms until the crying stopped.


"How did you do that?"  Helen asked.
"Do what?"
"Just... just stop her crying like that?  How did you even know what she wanted?"
Susan shrugged.  "I don't know.  Sometimes you can just tell."
"I can't tell," said Helen.
"You will," Susan said.  "It just takes time."
----

For dinner, they ate the leftover salad from lunch.


 Cooking was another thing that Susan preferred to not waste time on if she could avoid it.

After that, they went to bed relatively early.  For Susan, that was fair exchange for the early start.


Particularly as they didn't always go right to sleep.  Well, she'd meant it when she told Helen that they were trying... She didn't know how long it would take before Baby Roseland #2 came into being, but she couldn't wait.  If having another child made her even half as happy as Oliver had, then life would be just about perfect.

-----

Susan is the daughter of Serdar's older brother.  Its probably easy to guess which Pleasantview premade sim was her mother, they look quite similar.  It was the second marriage for both parents, so Luke is her half-brother with a different mother.  She's family/pleasure with one active point, which is probably why I couldn't get her to concentrate on cleaning anything for more than about a minute.


These guys are a bit too perfect... lol... they love each other, they both love Oliver, and they both want another baby.  All of Susan's wants are to either do something with her child, or to have another one... she's never lower than high gold aspiration, because the toddler interaction wants are so easy to fulfil.  So not much to write about there.  But, nothing like an update with a nice, happy family to advance a more interesting storyline with one of my other sims :)  


Helen...  I don't think I've ever seen her interact autonomously with Lizzie! Samantha gave the baby her first bottle. Leo has fed her... and Serdar even turned up at the house autonomously and gave his granddaughter a bottle!  And they all have a higher relationship with the baby than Helen does (as does Roman).  Maybe its just because the others get in before her, I don't know...  Its kind of strange, because I can imagine that everyone would be worried that Roman wouldn't handle parenthood... and it seems to be Helen who is having the problems.

Comments

  1. Cyd and Susan are very sweet. It's not like there's a shortage of drama around Richmond, right? LOL.

    I wonder if Helen has some kind of post-natal depression. Or if she's just a bit overwhelmed at the moment, with wedding planning and a baby to take care of.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I've been away from Richmond for quiet some time! I've read evey update, but didn't have the time to comment, I'm so sorry!

    Anyway, Cyd and Susan are a cute couple, and it's nice when sims are happy with their lifes, not eveyone needs a lot of drama in their lifes.

    Maybe Helen isn't much of a baby-fan, and she gets better once Lizzie gets older... I really hope so, because I would for her to have bond with her daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carla, lol, right, the quiet sweet families are the exception around here :)

    I imagine Helen would be feeling a bit overwhelmed... I'm not really sure how things will work out with her at this point.

    Tanja, thanks for reading every update! Don't worry about not commenting, I do that too, when I have a big backlog of blogs to read.

    It might just be that Helen isn't a baby-fan as you say... it's not like she actually planned to have one at this point. Hopefully she will be closer to Lizzie as she gets older.

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  4. I'm really enjoying this. I feel for Helen. Not everybody is naturally maternal. And Susan...just go right on spending your time the way you want to!

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  5. S.B., glad you're enjoying it! It's true that not everyone is naturally maternal, and Helen didn't plan to have a baby. It probably makes it all the harder to adjust to being a mother.

    ReplyDelete

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