Day 14. New Mom
Prudence found herself waking up from a bad dream in which she had been in love with Xander. She woke up feeling unsettled–what if she was just deluding herself, and she actually missed him? She kept waiting to cry or feel sad because of what had been done to her–but she only felt disappointment at the type of life Arthur would probably lead without a father-figure.
When she finally dragged herself out of bed to feed Arthur, Prudence took her first really good look at him. He didn’t have her eyes–she tried to remember the exact shade that Xander’s eyes had been, but couldn’t. Arthur kept catching his little fists in the end of her braid whenever she leaned over him, so she started winding it around her head instead.
“Arthur,” Prudence said to her son, “I can’t promise that we’ll ever have much money, but I do promise that you and I will be close. You’re the most important thing in my life, and I will try my best to keep you happy and healthy.”
Arthur sneezed in response, and Prudence took that as a sign that Arthur was pleased with her promise.
Prudence decided to take Arthur on a trip to the Pleasant Rest Graveyard. The cab driver looked a bit troubled by the fact that she was taking her newborn to the cemetery, but he didn’t say anything. She’d heard from Judy that it was a great place to find good seeds for her garden. Her trip was a modest success–she found two seeds, but one looked so strange that she decided to do some research before planting it.
After her work in the garden, Prudence checked on Arthur, then ate some leftover macaroni and cheese. She cried out in frustration when the sink broke as she washed her bowl. Prudence had watched Clark fix it at least twice, so she thought she could figure it out on her own–but it did take her a while. Once she finished, she wiped her bleary eyes and stumbled toward the bathroom.
When the toilet backed up as well, Prudence decided it was time to call it a day. She was too exhausted to fix it, so she thought she would just mop up the mess and take care of the repairs in the morning. Little did she know that she wouldn’t get to go straight to sleep…..
Because there’s no rest for new mothers.
Wow, Pruie looks like a young girl in that first picture holding Arthur… she has a long way to go, but I like her promise to Arthur, and his sneeze in response. Nice touch!
I like Arthur’s “bed bugs” crib.
DB: She does look very young. It’s one of the things that makes her look so innocent and naive. Ha! I never thought of those as “bed bugs” but I guess they are!
Aw, Prudence is too cute in that third picture. Looks like Arthur might be giving her some trouble though. She should probably get used to that!
Carla: She made that face while playing with him, and I was lucky to catch it. Arthur is definitely giving her trouble. It wouldn’t be so bad, but there’s no other caretaker to help out, and I’m trying to have her do other things at the same time (get her gardening skill up so she can plant lifefruit, have her write a novel, etc.). It’s tricky.
Lovely chapter! I had to laugh at her questioning her feelings after that dream only to find later on she couldn’t remember Xanders’ eye colour. Isn’t she sweet with Arthur? I love her expression in pic 3. Something like: It’s just you and me now, pal.
I agree with DB. The bed bugs are fab!
Moondaisy: Thank you! I was looking for a good dream shot, and when I saw the broken heart I wondered if Prudence was still a little sad over Xander. If you go by her wishes, she only wished to er…..jump his bones, really. That might have been a residual wish left over from when they weren’t just friends though.
I think after her experience, it would be easy for Prudence to deceive herself about her own feelings. She’s probably really confused and worried about the future. But she’ll try to be a good mother to her baby–and to pick out cute bedding.
Awww, the photo of her holding him is sweet, she look so innocent and naive. Lovely chapter… hope she manages with one pretty soon or she’ll never cope with seven at a time.
Rad: Thank you! I liked that photo quite a bit. She is having a hard time managing with one. I don’t know how it will go with seven! This is definitely one reason to have them marry early, even though it means having to explain lots more infidelity. It’s so difficult to take care of a newborn without another person around, and she can’t hire a babysitter….she barely has time to grab any sleep.
You know, I’ve often marveled at how realistic Sims can be. It’s annoying in the game to have to take care of kids alone…but doing it in real life is equally hard or perhaps harder. That’s what hit me as I was looking at the last picture of Arthur crying.
Poor Prudence.
Hrootbeer: I can only imagine….I don’t have any kids, but a lot of my friends do and I know that even when they have loving, supportive spouses it is a stressful and difficult job to take care of them. And for Prudence it’s just going to get harder. One down, 25 to go!