Bladderstone Baby Boom - 7/14/18 - complete

[Teresa]

Spoiler:

Brittany is gorgeous, she pulls off motherhood so well. I hate to say this, but the Sims 4 always seems to make my Sims super FAT over time which I get irritated by, yet Brittany still looks really good! I feel like after this point my Sims would naturally be a whale without constant exercise. In my Sims 4 legacy attempt I've been doing my founder has had 4 kids (3 pregnancies, one was an oopsie twin lol) and she's an astronaut who always exercises and it still feels like trouble... so Brittany...

I just realized I didn't answer this one

Spoiler:

ice cream maker - Taste of Diet - 2 bowls takes care of that extra weight. Brittany had two bowls after Ramsey - then Brantley had two bowls around the time the twins were born. They don't have time to exercise

[Teresa]

And week 10 is posted

Week 10

[simfulicious]

Awesome update...love your family! How do you do the family portrait?

[Teresa]

Thanks!

The portrait was a limited time free download if you downloaded the the mobile app. I don't know if it is still available, it isn't available the way I got it, and I don't know if there is another way to get it. You had to enter your phone number to get a text to receive the link to download the mobile app. That unlocked it in the PC game as a free item. The portrait automatically updates to show the current household which is awesome.

I have finished playing week 11 but need to write the update and it is my bedtime so I should have it posted tomorrow when I get home from work and then maybe week 12 before bedtime also (maybe). The teen ages tend to play faster than the younger ages, at least for me

[Teresa]

Another update has been posted
Week 11

[Teresa]

So I accepted that I wasn't going to finish this before Seasons, and I slowed my roll...

Here is week 12

Week 12



Counting Down to Seasons
7 hours and 30 minutes, give or take a few minutes...

[Teresa]

Week 13

[Teresa]

Week 14

[Livvielove]

I've been reading along but haven't had much time to comment!

Spoiler:

First thing that comes to mind about the girls is - is Brittany listening to music at all? Apparently some music in the Sims 4 can control gender outcomes... and I didn't realize that until I went looking to see if I had accidentally triggered twins at one point or if that was just luck of the draw. When you said you've gotten so many girls part of me wondered if maybe your stereo wound up stuck on Pop or something.
That's my best guess, anyways. I really love this family! You handle having kids so well, and at first you were getting me pumped for Seasons (I'm trying to wait for a sale before I buy any EPs/SPs/GPs) but it's nice to see both the upsides as well as the downsides. Toddlers getting spooked all the time and Newcrest being a rain-magnet do not sound like good things to me. Glad to see you survived your Bad Apples, though! Keep going, you're almost there! Just need a swing of boys!

[Teresa]

I've been reading along but haven't had much time to comment!

Spoiler:

First thing that comes to mind about the girls is - is Brittany listening to music at all? Apparently some music in the Sims 4 can control gender outcomes... and I didn't realize that until I went looking to see if I had accidentally triggered twins at one point or if that was just luck of the draw. When you said you've gotten so many girls part of me wondered if maybe your stereo wound up stuck on Pop or something.
That's my best guess, anyways. I really love this family! You handle having kids so well, and at first you were getting me pumped for Seasons (I'm trying to wait for a sale before I buy any EPs/SPs/GPs) but it's nice to see both the upsides as well as the downsides. Toddlers getting spooked all the time and Newcrest being a rain-magnet do not sound like good things to me. Glad to see you survived your Bad Apples, though! Keep going, you're almost there! Just need a swing of boys!

Actually about the girls...

Spoiler:

I have noticed that when both parents live in the same household that I tend to get the same gender as the parent that I use to initiate the TFB. I made a point on her last two pregnancies of using Brantley to initiate and the last two have both been boys. Because she was the at home parent, I had been using her to initiate as soon as she had delivered. I know they don't say this influences gender but it is something I have noticed as a pattern and tend to use and it works most of the time. It only works for me when both parents are in the same household. We'll see how it holds up as I need for the boys to catch up now. As for the stereo, pop is definitely another possibility and I didn't think about that (mostly because I never felt like I could get them to listen to music long enough to influence gender so I never thought about it, I just knew she wasn't eating strawberries) - but I tend to change it to pop when they insist on having it on. I use that for the dancing. And now I really feel like an idiot because I never made that connection... Thanks for mentioning that - I will start using Latin music.

Back to Seasons - I do like it, I am in Fall now and it hasn't rained at all. It is funny watching them run from the thunder. And they immediately run back to where you want them, the action doesn't drop from their queue.

I hope to have another update posted tonight.

[Teresa]

Another week under the belt

Week 15

[Teresa]

Another week has been posted
Week 16

[Teresa]

and another week...

Week 17

[Nevermore]

All caught up! The Bladderstones are so cute! They really hate doll houses.

[Teresa]

All caught up! The Bladderstones are so cute! They really hate doll houses.

it is really a love/hate relationship.

[Teresa]

a new, small chapter

Week 18

[Teresa]

Another small update

Week 19

[Livvielove]

I'm so sorry to hear of your mother! I hope you're doing alright. Hospital time is not fun.

Spoiler:

I swear I love this family! I also discovered after a bit of research that the quickest way to level up thinking is to flash card to level 4, then never stop "Asking Why." I did it in batches with my twin toddlers in my legacy and it managed to max them out relatively quickly. So far the flashcards seem to be the best way to level 4, but it really depends on your luck with the kids/their moods. For the Thinking, I'd just have them "Ask Why" 4 or 5 times, then have them fulfill some wishes and come back for another round, I think it took like 2 and a half rounds of that to max from 4 to 5. The parents will get sick of it, but that's a lot easier to manage than a toddler's anger!

Anyways I know what you mean about pictures. By the end of mine it got really sparse too. Not much you haven't seen already - I'd only be taking pictures if I found one to be particularly cute or if the family did something together that was fun or interesting. Pickings sure get slim though as the game starts to sputter a bit by the end (at least mine did, but I did the Sims 3). I can't believe how FAST you did this! I'm amazed! It's great!

[Anne]

I've been reading the Bladderstones over the past week or two and I love them! I'm not yet crazy enough to attempt my own Baby Boom Challenge, but the itch is starting to creep up on me a little bit.
I'm sorry to hear about your mother; hope everything's alright and you're okay as well!

[Teresa]

Thanks! I am really amazed at how even the genders are also - I seem to go on runs of one gender then the other but coming up on the end and they are neck and neck.

My mother went back into the hospital last night and I am headed up there now to see her and to see what is going on this time.

The Bladderstones have really been my way to escape and relax during this time so I hope I get a chance to work on week 20 later today. If things go according to plan, I might can finish it all up by next weekend.