1.05 - Motherhood is Hard

Haru is working here to upgrade the kids' bathroom toilet. Mucho important. Things in this game break WAY too much.

Howl and Erick work on the thinking skill while mama Haru is upgrading.
Howl: *thinking* now how can I get out of this place?
Erick: That wall is fantastic.

So Vlad darling is calling to ask Haru on a date.
After Haru killed him.
So that happened.
Haru: .......
Yeah... I uh... that's weird.
Haru: Fucking understatement of the year. *she hangs up on him*

Get it Howl! You can be adequate too!
'Cause I have no preconceived notions of you getting level 5 in all skills.

Speaking of which... Potty time!
...

Potty dance time! He was so close by this point that sent Haru in to go another round with Howl on the potty.

Wah-hooo! One skill down for Howl!

It's Erick's BIRTHDAY, by the way! Watch me fail this party with ease!

Howl shakes his money-maker while talking to his dad who is baking his cake!
Good news is this time - at least we'll have a cake! I'm already way ahead of this in my file so I didn't know about the cake trick Mojo from Boolprop taught me, but I'm storing it in my banks for later!

Haru worked on the drinks here, and I'm desperately trying to make three sims playful but doing that with a toddler is DAMN DIFFICULT.

Erick goes to blow out the candle, and you'll notice Howl is ANGRY and not playful *shakes fist.*

You'll also notice Howl and Haru have a SHITTY relationship. Howl and Erick are mostly maxed out because Erick is the stay at home parent while Haru works her ass off. I've spent SO MUCH TIME trying to get them to bond (Haru and Howl) but she's so BUSY drowning trying to get these promotions. Then whenever Howl refuses to do something with her and I try to scold him for it, it tanks the relationship further (as seen above).
I have gotten to a point where it wasn't so bad, but let's just say the next child and Haru had a HORRIBLE time because of this. I felt so terrible for my Haru. :(

Haru reads to Howl, and as you can see, we barely scraped by a Silver medal for this one. *grumbling*

Erick looks so happy as he feels Haru's stomach. I'd swear he had to be Family Oriented if I didn't know any better! Or it very well could be that he just loves Haru that much - they're so compatible it hurts sometimes.

As you can see here, Erick and Haru have breakfast together every morning (complete with flirting) and Erick makes her a sack lunch for the day! It's so cute!

I didn't realize they LET pregnant women go to space... that seems like... well a hazard on a LOT of levels. You do you, Haru.

Just a reminder that we're somehow getting tons of royalties from Erick's writing. Also I love when children and toddlers play with toys and little imagination things happen around them! It's so cute!

I hate the magic "poofing" kids do when they "play" but this interaction is pretty damn adorable. Erick was made for fatherhood.
Even has the dad-bod and all. ;)

Haru: *majestically thinking about garbage.*
Me: *snorting*

This is EXACTLY what I mentioned earlier. Howl often takes his frustration out on Haru and I feel so bad as I watch their relationship deteriorate more and more.
This is fucking heartbreaking to remember and document.

Haru has enough on her plate, juggling her aspiration, her career, her body being distorted by a baby, trying to earn points for the legacy and keep her own needs up... and Howl just can't cut her some slack!

The next day was her day off, and I was determined to bring her and Howl back up to friendly, so Haru put aside her requirements for work and her aspiration to spend the day with Howl.

They talked to each other while they ate.
(and Erick finished a book) Way to go Erick!
Erick: *from his corner* THANKS!...... I have no idea what to do without taking care of a child.
Don't worry babe, you've got another on the way. You'll have your hands full soon enough.

Haru gave Howl his every-other-day bath (I've found it works out that you can go every other day before the need gets too low).

They talked most of the day, and as you can see from their friendship meter - it's helping slowly.

All it took was some dancing together to put Haru into labor.
You know, if I were to describe why I love Haru - it's from this whole situation with Howl. This woman is pregnant, trying so hard to start a legacy and keep her family safe, and struggling to spend time with her son. She's got so much on her plate... and now she's in labor!

Yet despite that, she still hugs her son, and carries him off to read him to sleep.

Which, as you can see from Haru's NEEDS, is far putting her son's care before her own.

Haru: I hurt. I hurt a lot. *munches on sandwich*
I was in no hurry to have Haru have the baby, instead I had her use the bathroom and grab some dinner and a sleeping potion, to help make up for the fact that she still needs to do her daily exercise task for her day at work tomorrow.

She looks so sad.
Haru: It never ends, does it?
Now is not the time to be getting existential, babe.
Haru: *whimpers*

Finally Haru takes to the bassinet to have our first girl of the challenge!

Sophie Ghibli!

The stubborn, selfless, low-self confidence having leading lady of Howl's Moving Castle who... unfortunately, spends most of her time as an old woman.

Yet she still somehow rocks silver-hair when she's younger.

Sophie is probably one of my favorite protagonists, because when I was younger I also wrestled with my place in the world (and my looks) in the same way Sophie did. Anyways, here's Sophie's trait rolls:

*shivers*

Joke Star.

*eye twitch* WHY HER?

WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS PUT SOPHIE THROUGH SO MUCH?

The next day rolled around and Haru spent some more time with Howl. Turns out she has the day off!

She and Howl work on their relationship and their skills at the same time.

... and Erick can come too. Why not?

Also, woah baby, we've hit level 5 communication. I repeat: level 5 communication! Also noteworthy that this was before I knew all the toddler tricks. I wouldn't learn about them 'til Sophie was almost out of toddlerhood, so poor Howl and Sophie got the rough end of the stick.

Howl: "Play with me!"

... and how could we say no to that?
Especially because... it's Howl's BIRTHDAY!

And now you can see based on the UI corner picture... I'm a glutton for punishment.

Dis boy is too much!

Howl wanted to shake his tailfeather once more, and I couldn't NOT cause he's so cute, so we do.

If you can't tell by the picture, Howl and Haru's relationship has been almost completely patched. Sure they're not "best friend" potential status, but that's a LOT better than where it was.

Finally it's Howl's turn to blow out his hamburger cake! Look at how big his eyes got!

He took on the Neat trait and the Social Butterfly aspiration.

He's so freaking CUTE! His eyes and hair color combo are positively INCREDIBLE!

Here's his outfits in... some semblance of an order.

Here's what our house looks like so far. Howl took over the old office area and I built a new one on the other side of the house, then Howl's old nursery was converted for Sophie to (eventually) age up into. Life is good at the Ghibli house.

Haru and Howl began bonding again, it's a lot EASIER when he's a child and not a bratty toddler!

She helps him with his homework and smooshes his cheek with a kiss of love before tucking him into bed!

Here I thought motherhood would be on the up-and-up for me...

Alas...

This was just the beginning.

Haru tends to Sophie before going to bed for the night.

What a day to be alive! Howl aged up on Sunday so he got to go to school! How lucky for him, right? Then he introduced himself to as many people as he could for his childhood aspiration.

This also gives him a boost to his manners? Ok! I'll take it!

Haru got home and Howl went bolting over to her to give her a hug.

Seeing as it's Monday that means homework and school project. Oh boy. This was my first one, so I was curious to see how it'd turn out.

Haru helped him with his homework, got changed, and they settled in for some work on his school project!

I... don't remember which one this was?

Howl needed a break so he brushed his teeth and rejoined his mom for some fun-time on the couch watching a movie.

... and apparently Haru is just now getting to level 3 of the Comedy skill. What does that say about your comedy, Haru?

Haru: *gives me the stink eye* well I am a figment of YOU so I'd say it's a reflection of you, dear writer.

Touche.

I got the notice for Sophie's birthday! I'm so excited, I actually saw it this time, so Haru helped her out of the bassinet! I was hoping to avoid repeating what happened with Howl...