Chapter 2: Green Babies...

Green Babies, Noodlesoothers, and Nannies!

When we last left our happy couple over in Chapter 1, they were basking in the glow of post matrimonial WooHoo. Now that we're in Chapter 2, let's drop the walls and see what they're up to now...




"And, to reflect my new marital status, a new hairstyle. And perhaps some facial growth to lend an air of maturity as well."

Just pull the hair out of your eyes so you can give Vidcund his bowl back. As soon as you have money to spare, I'll have someone get you some clothes.

"I thought I heard that voice again..."

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I know people are raving about the noodlesoother and how it helps get promotions by keeping the mood bar high while at work. Texas and Waylon have gotten several promotions by using it, but from the look on Waylon's face, I swear it's sucking the gray matter right out of him.

"I like Mr. Noodle."

Gods help me...*/em smack head*

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Texas, what's wrong? You look kinda green... I mean sick... yeah, sick.

"Mah stomach is all twisty churny from workin' at the Diggity Dog all day. I've got the flu, an' food poisoning, and I dumped cold fry oil all over myself tryin' ta empty the frier to clean it, and I stink, and this frelling noodlehootchie thing is trying to hoover my brains right out. Good thing I'm wearing my hat."

I hate to tell you this Texas but...

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I don't think it's just the flu and food poisoning that's making you sick.

"Ohmigawed... what the..."

Congratulations. You're pregnant. You and Waylon are going to bring a new little Holldum into the world. Even the noodlesoother seems surprised and rather creepily happy about it.

"I'm fat!!! No more sneaking chili dogs during my shift!"

I so hope their IQ recovers once the noodlesoother is off.

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Now that you've recovered from your shock, why don't you run over and greet Strangetown's most traumatized family sim, Nervous Subject. He won't bite... at least, I don't think he will.

"Didn't I see him workin' the coffee bar up on campus?"

I think it's just the haircut. I've seen a lot of baristas with it. And trust me, you've never met anyone like Nervous before.

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*hurp... urk... huhn... gak...*

A little afternoon sickness? Oh, wait... you've had your first bump. Usually there's no morning sickness after that.

"Still... *yak*... got the... *hurp*... flu. And Nervy... *gurk*... slob... *yurp*... when eating."

Ah right... I forgot about that... Messy fellow. I warned you that you'd never met anyone like him before. But there's some help for that ambling down the sidewalk right now. I'll send Waylon over to meet him.

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"Ah, Mr Beaker, an honor to meet you sir. I've heard... rumors... about your scientific research. I'm quite interested in becoming a mad scientist myself you know. By the way, your housemate Nervous is making my wife quite sick at the moment with his atrocious manners. She's a tad enceinte at the moment and gets nauseated at the drop of a hat. Might you be persuaded to escort him home?"

Both being knowledge sims, these two hit it off surprisingly well even though Loki isn't the most personable of sims. Maybe Loki can put in a good word for Waylon with the Nutty Professor and Mad Scientist Brotherhood of Greater Strangetown.

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"What's that my yet-unborn offspring? You hear the voices too, even though all audio devices are off?"

"Hun, stop talkin to the baby and jes rub my belly. You're scarin' me."

"Yes dear."

"And maybe you should stop wearin' that noodlehootchie thing ta work. I think it's done sucked a good chunk of yer brains out."

"Yes dear."

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"Ooooo... Waylon, git yourself over here!"

*yawn* *stretch* "What's going on mon petit chou? I was catching a catnap on our patio furniture, which was somehow mysteriously moved inside by unknown forces just before the wedding."

"Stop calling me a cabbage and git over here! I'm having your baby right now."

"Let me just rub the sleep from my eyes first so I can see better..."

"Now Waylon!"

"Yes dear."

---

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen dear. You not only instantly regained your delightfully curvy figure but you also brought a small new life into the world. But... um... love... our son is green."

*sigh* "I'm green. Our son is green. Makes sense, don't it?"

"But he's green..."

What did Texas tell you about that noodlesoother Waylon?

---

Welcome little Cleveland Holldum. Daddy's blue eyes and who knows which parent gave him the red hair. Babies all look pretty much alike at this state so we'll have to wait 'till toddlerhood to see whom he looks like.

Neither Waylon nor Texas spun up a "have a baby want" after they were married and they didn't spin one up after Cleveland was born either. But, whether they spin up the want or not, they'll be trying for a second one here in a few days.

---

Wait... stop... Texas, please tell me you're not hiring a nanny. Haven't you read the horror stories about them all over the exchange?

"Okay so I won't tell ya then, but that's what I'm doing."

But... why?

"How else am I going to become a celebrity chef before I'm an old lady? I even gots the name of mah Yummy Channel show all picked out. It's gonna be 'Grill of the Golden West'."

Far be it from me to stand between girl and her grill. Hire away then. I pray to the hundred little gods nothing goes wrong.

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"As much as I love my dear wife, I am beginning to question her decision to return to Strangetown after college. Since we arrived, not only have I been hearing a strange disembodied voice but now I swear I see a large yellow rabbit mocking my wife behind my back."

"Did you say somethin' punkin?"

"Nothing my dear. Just making myself a lunch meat sandwich as I slowly go crazy."

"You been laying off the noodlehootchie?"

"No... I mean yes dear."

---

"Ain't you jes the cutest little green guy I've ever met?"

They're all cute at that stage Texas. We'll know more when he grows into a toddler.

"My cutey-wooty greeny-weeny-beany."

Ugh.

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It's quarter till and Texas' carpool is almost here. You know what that mean... Nanny-time *dum da da dum*

Time will only tell if Sophie here is a "good nanny" or a "baaaaaaaaad nanny".

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Well, Texas is off to work, and Sophie is off to a good start by giving a hungry little Cleveland a bottle...

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... but things rapidly seem to go from good to bad. Cleveland! What are you doing there? Where's Sophie? Did she go running off to the bathroom or something? You guys don't have a pool so I know she's not there.

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No, it seems Sophie just got bored with taking care of our young heir. You'd better show some improvement soon Sophie, or you're getting the boot and Texas will use up her vacation time.

---

Well I suppose that looks a little better. After another bottle and a snuggle, Sophie is putting little Cleveland down for a nap. Texas and Waylon will be home from work before he has a chance to wake up and be terrorized by her again.

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Poor Waylon just doesn't look perky this afternoon, does he?. Has the noodlesoother finally sucked out the last amount of gray matter? Nope, it seems he's just not happy with the life of an artist, being the knowledge-seeking geek he is. Don't worry Waylon, we've got the camera now so you can quit, raise little Cleveland through toddlerhood, and then pursue your dream to be a mad scientist.

"Mr Noodle says that soon, soon world domination will be mine."

Er, okay... let's take off Mr Noodle, leave him here by the mailbox, and go work on that LTW mmmmmkay?

---

Ooo! Flare! *snap snap*

"There, I've done got another promotion fer ya, so take this dang noodlehootchie offa my head so I kin go crash in bed with mah hubby."

Sheesh... touchy! I don't remember The Roomie being this testy after a shift at Fridays. Of course, he had less Flare. *snap snap* I will say once again that since they started using the noodlesoother, Texas and Waylon have been racking up the promotions left and right. Of course, once they hit perma-plat, Mr Noodle can get drop kicked into the dustbin.

---

"What are you doing with our precocious young son, my dear?"

"I'm washing the nanny-cooties off 'im. Who knows where that old bat's been leaving him."

"Ah, I would lend some assistance but my own fear of nanny-cooties prevents me."

Chicken.

"There! It's that voice again!"

"That's jus' the nanny-cooties, hun."

---

And now it's the time everyone's been waiting for with bated breath... time to commit toddlerage with the heir. We managed to do it with only one cake too.

"Happy Burfday dear Cleveland..."

Up goes da baby and...

*POOF*

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...down comes the toddler. Nice choice of clothes too. Classy, traditional little boy type clothes. Have to get over to the toddler mirror and fix that hair though. He definitely looks a lot like his dad in the face I think, at least from this angle.

Cleveland is a nice mix of his parents. He's an Aries with a neatness of 9, and outgoing of 9, an active of 6, 3 serious points, and 5 nice points. Not bad and definitely workable for an heir.

"Awwww... my wittle greeny-weeny-beany is all gwowed up into a big greeny-weeny-beany"

*hurk hurk hurk*

---

Waylon has quit the artist career and is playing Mr Mom to help get Cleveland ready for his next birthday. He's also been messing around in the kitchen with some glow sticks, an old bicycle helmet, and some duct tape (and who knows what else) in an attempt to come up with something to impress the Nutty Professor and Mad Scientist Brotherhood of Greater Strangetown (NPMSBGS). Let's take a listen in as he tests his latest developments.

"Dada! Dada!"

"Oh yes yes yes my darling son. Say it, say it again. Oh it works, everything works! My smart helmet, my glowy milk. I can feel my brainwaves being amplified, focusing in on my brilliant child, encouraging him to learn more and more, faster and faster. The kindred souls at NPMSBGS will have to accept me into their ranks now."

"Dada!"

"Yes, yes... Mr Noodle will never mock Dada again."

---

*grumblebitchmumble* "Razzlefrazzlestupidglowymilk wearing off. Fussmutterharrumpfrellinglightbulb on the smart helmet burning out. Have to do this the long way."

"Dada! Bunnee!"

"Come here Cleveland. You can do it. Just one foot in front of the other. According to my anthropology professor it is more like repeated falling and catching yourself, and..."

Aw, Texas' men are having a 'boys day out' in their jammies. Cleveland has the cuter ones tho, with the little dinosaurs on them. And at this stage, he's less geeky than his dad too.

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Aren't they so cute when they're all snuggled up like that? Poor Cleveland finally got put down for a snooze after his parents wandered around carrying him for twenty minutes trying to figure out what to put him in. I love the new baby cradles and toddler beds, but my sims have one heck of a time figuring out where to put Cleveland if they're trying to autonomously put him to bed because he's tired. If I direct them to put him in, they're fine. *shrug*

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I've seen people talk on various boards and the Exchange about how, once their Sims max cooking, all they make to eat is lobster. Texas and Waylon still tend to make "normal food" if left to their own devices (For lunch Waylon likes lunch meat while Texas is obsess..er prefers grilled cheese. For dinner they both go for salad) but I'm curious to see how often, now that they can make it, they whip out the shellfish on their own. This is lobster #1. Since it's Waylon's, we'll call it L1(W1).

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Sophie's doing a lot better with her nanny skills. If she manages to get assigned to the family every generation, she might actually have some pretty good baby-tending skills built up by Gen 10. Here she's helping him with a little sit down on the toddler toidy...

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... followed by a bit of baby gruel. Definately a lot of Waylon in the boy, but I'm sure he'll grow into it. Or out of it. Whichever.

Still gotta change that toddler hair

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*squeaky bunny voice* "And that, little boy, is how we prevent Repetative Strain Syndrome."

"Thanks Mr Bunny, but aren't I a little young to be worrying about carpal tunnel and things like that?"

"You're never too young to worry about your hands, my boy. Never too young."

If anyone ever questions why Cleveland turned out different from his siblings, I think it all started right here...

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And finally Sophie put him to bed and tucked him in (and came back several times to tuck him him) She never would put him in the custom toddler bed; I finally had to buy a standard crib before she'd lay him down.

After she tucked him in, she walked into the next room (where Waylon was sleeping) and turned on the TV. By the time he had woken up and gotten out of bed, Sophie had gotten distracted and wandered over to tuck Cleveland in again. Waylon shut off the tv and went back to sleep. Sophie came back into the bedroom, turned the tv back on, and woke Waylon up again. Lather, rinse, repeat. These two kept at it for an hour and a half (sim-time) until Texas came home. If I'd been thinking I would've gotten video of it; it was a riot to watch.

But with the heir tucked in and Sophie off to annoy Waylon, I think it's time to wrap up this post for the night

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Onward to Chapter 3: Heir and a Clone... er Spare!
Back to Chapter 1: Texas Twosome

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