Generation 1: Chapter 6

Pandora was a real fusspot - always waking Hal and I up for a cuddle, or some milk. We'd never known a baby who required so much, but we loved her all the same.

It was birthday time again! Pandora and Jack were going to age up on the same day, and Jack went first. I couldn't wait to see who he looked like more - Me or Hal!

Jack aged up in a shower of rainbow sparkles, excited to finally be a "big boy".
"Mommy! Look at me!" he said excitedly, jumping around excitedly.

He was looking forward to his first day of school already, but he still had three days until he had to go. He kept asking me questions about what it was like.
"Mommy! What's school like? Will there be people I don't know? Will I make friends? Are the subjects hard? Will we get lockers? What..."
There were almost too many questions for me to keep up with.
"Ask your dad," I said. "Remember, I didn't grow up here, I grew up in Sunset Valley."

Jack was a good mixture of Hal and I - he was so handsome, and all ours! His baby and toddler years just flew by, and I was getting a little nostalgic.

But, there was no time for moping around! It was Pandora's turn to grow up now, and I was so excited to see what she would look like as a toddler. There would be a little less screaming and crying now, but there would still be many sleepless nights. Unfortunately there would be sleepless nights for Jack, too, as he had to share a room with his little sister. We didn't have enough money to build a new room.

As the sparkles engulfed her, Pandora gurgled incomprehensibly, sitting up on her own for the first time. I stood over her, clapping and cheering, feeling a rush of pride. I love my kids!

What a cutie! Pandora looked so happy to finally be a toddler and immediately went into the nursery to play with some toys. But she didn't get long because the kids had had an exciting day and I decided they would both have to go to bed.

During the night, I got up and placed Jack's birthday present in the kids' room - his own Easy-Bake Oven!  I made sure to get a blue one since it seemed a little feminine but who was I to question my son's happiness? He had wanted one of these ever since he saw an ad for one on TV, and pointed to it saying "Mama! Me want! Me want pweez!" I could tell he was going to get a huge surprise when he woke up.

Sure enough, as soon as he saw the oven he let out a little squeal and ran through to the kitchen where I was cooking breakfast, squealing "THANK YOU MOMMY!" excitedly. He hugged me tightly around the waist and said, "So when can I start baking?"
"Ingredients are in the cupboard," I smiled, pointing down to the counter.
"Yay!" He grabbed his ingredients and followed the instructions, mixing his eggs and flour diligently, exactly as the recipe said. His first batch of vanilla muffins burned but the second batch turned out brilliantly. He brought them over to me and set them on the counter. "Here you go!" he said. "I'm gonna make more now!"

Jack loved his baby sister. When he saw her in the morning he always gave her a hug, saying "Good morning" in her ear. I had never seen a kid who loved his baby sister so much, and it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest to see that they had bonded in such a way.

One night, I had woken up to get myself a drink and saw the smallest baby bump. I could hardly contain my excitement but was a little confused. Hal and I had taken all the precautions but yet I was pregnant...again. I had always wanted a big family but I wasn't sure what Hal would think. We hardly had enough money to support us now, so what would it be like with a new baby on the way?

For some reason, pregnancy was a lot harder on me this time around. I just couldn't understand it. I always seemed to be hungry. But even so I always tried to find the time to spend with my kids and my garden. Teaching Pandora to walk was on top of my priority list but she seemed to get the hang of it soon enough. I was so preoccupied, my plants all seemed to die on me, but I would quickly go to rescue them. I always liked to have fresh fruit and vegetables to put in the family meals.

It was late at night again when I went into labour. I had just finished my...*ahem* business when my water broke! I had another home birth because to be frank, the hospital scared me slightly. And I gave birth to...

A boy! Little baby Denver cooed at me and I brought him into the nursery/bedroom.
"Hal," I said quietly. "The baby came."
"What!?" he said, shocked.
"Yep." I turned to him, smiling. But that smile faded fast when more contractions hit.

"Oww!" I screeched.
"AJ!" Hal rushed to my aid. "I can't believe it..."
"Neither...can...I!" I wheezed. "Don't...panic...I'll...be...Ouch! Fine..."
"Honey, it'll be fine."
"I know!" I snapped. "I've done this before tonight!"
"Mommy..." Jack mumbled, half-asleep. "What's happenin'?"
"Nothing, Jack..." I said softly. "Go back to sleep."
In less than 5 seconds his head had softly flopped onto the pillow and I resumed giving birth...

...to a beautiful baby girl! We called her Lilith, and as I laid her in her cot I couldn't believe I had twins. TWINS! How were we going to cope!?
Thankfully, Hal had saved up all his bonus and promotion money for a rainy day - and today it was raining cats and dogs!

We had plenty of money to spend on a brand-spanking-new house, with a small garden for my crops outside. Let's have the grand tour...

When you walk in, the first thing you see is the dining area. This room is large and open plan, so if you look to your left...

...you see the study and hobby area, with a drawing board to research fashion concepts, which would be useful to my career. We also had a computer for Hal to work on his police reports.

If you look to your right there's the living area, with a nice, larger TV because Jack would want to watch his shows more comfortably.

Directly beside the dining area there's the kitchen. We finally have a dishwasher so we won't have to walk the whole way to the bathroom to wash dishes, so we'll avoid some awkward situations!

The door in the study/hobby area leads to the bathroom, which is nice and big, and very modern. I'm not sure about the shower but I dare say I'll get used to it.

Here's Hal and I's room. It has a nice tropical bamboo-type theme to it, and there's a big mirror in the corner, which you can't see in this picture.

Here's the playroom, with toys galore for all the kids to play with! It's cluttered because I'm slightly scared to touch the toys to clean them up - Pandora likes to bite her toys.

On the first door to the right is the twins' room - nice and bright, with a lovely colour scheme, if I do say so myself. It's bright and airy, and not focused around one child.

Next door to Denver and Lilith's room is Pandora's room - it's very pink, her favourite colour. She just loves the flower pattern on the top of her cot and sometimes she'll lie on her back, "talking" to them.

On the opposite side of the wall, a door leads to Jack's bedroom - in his favourite colour, red. He's not a vehicle enthusiast but he really liked the pattern on this wallpaper so we had to get it, and for his bed as well! He certainly loves it, and can't wait to show it to his future school friends.

Of course, not even a new house could take the attention away from the twins. They were real mischief makers - waking up and crying at the exact same time, making it seem like they had planned it! Yes, I know they look peaceful, innocent and perfectly angelic in THIS picture, but please, don't be fooled. I dreaded the toddler years...

But, of course, life goes on. Jack went to his first day of school. I gardened in my formal wear. Pandora (sort of) learned to eat solid food. She always played with and cuddled her "pet tiger", whom she imaginatively named "Tiger". She also has Panda, Bunny, and Mr. Bear. Jack found a friend in one of the Broke family's children (his name escapes me right now...) and Pandora took her first steps. We were a large, busy household, and I was just so exhausted from everything. I had been feeling so tired lately, but the kids didn't give me much peace. I was up on my feet all day cooking, cleaning, and feeding the twins and Pandora. It would get even more difficult when I resumed work, and I had heard bad things about the babysitters. Hopefully I would get one that was OK, but we would have to worry about that later, when I returned to work. I swear, if a babysitter so much as turns on the TV while one of my babies are crying, they would get fired.

I am so exhausted! I guess that's why I went off on a rant there. I think I need to relax a bit...