Hello again! It’s me, Bay Spice, the second generation heiress to the Spice Legacy. When this picture was taken, I had just arrived home from college after graduating with honors. Because of flight times, I had to wait a day before my fiancé, Jim, could join me. I was so looking forward to our wedding, which may be an unusual thing for a romance sim to say, but I am an unusual romance sim.

I spent that first day catching up with Mom and Dad, helping out in the garden, and looking for a job. Since I had had such success with my cooking and my LTW had nothing to do with jobs, I decided to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any openings in our area at that time.

Finally Jim arrived the next morning! I was so elated to see him that I nearly swept him off his feet in a big hug and kiss. Once he got moved in, which didn’t take long since he didn’t bring much with him, he decided to change clothes to fit in better now that he was no longer living on Twikkii. I thought he looked handsome.

*Jim is romance/family like Bay, and also wants to graduate 3 children from college, surprisingly. His personality is 2/7/2/6/7. Lovely. Hopefully the kids won’t pick up the messy gene!

Things were moving quickly, and it was already time for our wedding. I had invited all my family, but I was starting to get nervous. This had seemed like such a good idea, but what if my romance nature rose its head and screwed things up? Dad reassured me that this was just cold feet, and that I was more than my aspiration. That helped a lot. My parents have always been so supportive and know just what to say.

“So, dear . . . Jim was telling me about . . . er, how you met.”“Oh god, not again!”

Jim just loved to discuss our first woohoo, whether or not it was appropriate (and it usually wasn’t!). This led to sometimes awkward conversations. After a little teasing, Mom dropped it. Luckily she wasn’t too embarrassed, though I was!

“And that’s for telling my mom about our first woohoo . . . AGAIN!”“Isn’t it bad luck for me to see you in your gown before the ceremony?”“Pillow fights don’t count. Now come here so I can hit you again.”

I waited upstairs while Mom, Dad, and Jim got everyone seated, then when it was time, I walked down to the beach where we were having the wedding. From that view, it was all just gorgeous! The sand, the surf, the lovely wedding setup, and not to mention Jim waiting for me at the end of the aisle! My nerves had subsided, so all the butterflies in my stomach were good ones by this point.

Although things looked beautiful from the back of the seating area, the wedding guests themselves were a little less coordinated. I had accidentally told some of my siblings to wear green, and most of them to wear red, but at the last minute I changed our colors to blue and white, and Dad wore a yellow suit. It was a bit of a visual clash.

*This is what happens when you don’t play for a long time and then start up again and forget what outfits you’d already given people.

Still, none of that really mattered. I was happy in my beautiful light blue dress, Jim looked amazing in his white tux, and we were finally getting married!

It had been three long years since we had first met and then had quickly gotten engaged. I had waited for this day, and it was everything I wanted it to be. We said our vows, and I nearly started crying when Jim said his because of the beautiful things he had come up with. I knew this was true love.

Mom and Dad had been overjoyed with each of the previous twelve weddings, and this one was no exception. As family sims, they were delighted to see all of their children finally married off. As for Jim and I, we were quite happy too. You might think that two romance sims would have a bit harder time with settling down, but I had found the right guy for me, and that was all that mattered. I know Jim felt the same way about me.

*Jim and Bay are model romance sims and never fear family milestones.

At the reception afterwards, we had our cake and ate it in the company of many of my siblings. It was a delightful party. No one throws parties quite like the Spices.

Just for fun, and because Fenugreek had asked, I got some of the guests started slap-dancing. It was really catching on!

Meanwhile, Jim and I had snuck away for some quiet time together. We couldn’t wait to celebrate our new marriage, but there was quite a ruckus from downstairs.

“If I hear one more slap, I’m going to lose it!”

It seems the slap-dance had really gotten started, much to the annoyance of Sage. It was good to see (most of) my siblings having such a good time.

Overall, the party was a real success, and Jim and I found each other again as the party was winding down. He took my hands, looked into my eyes, and told me he loved me. I felt like I already had everything I could ever want.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t worth trying to continue having new experiences, though! I still wanted to go on three more trips and see all the world of traveling had to offer, and I had never been to Takemizu Village, so that’s where Jim and I set off to for our honeymoon.

Once there, in our darling little vacation house, we finally got some quality time together, and we made the most of it.

I was still determined to see everything I could, so once again I approached my nemesis, that omnipresent tour guide that seemed to always send me on the worst tours.

This time was no exception.

“Why is it always bees? AAAAAHHHHHH!”“Sorry, can’t hear you over the buzzing. Hope you enjoyed the tour, ma’am. I’ll be charging your credit card.”“You. Are. The. Worst. Tour. Guide.”

Sometimes Jim and I went out together, and sometimes we went our separate ways. I was in a hurry to see everything the village had to offer, while Jim just wanted to relax. I found a hidden pagoda where a wise man told me an ancient legend and even taught me tai-chi. It was a two-fer!

Jim and I both met a mysterious ninja at various points on our trip, and we both learned the secret of ninja teleportation, which is apparently a thing. I’m sure this will come in handy when we have kids! For now, it’s just a neat party trick.

Jim also discovered the ninja doing . . . whatever this is . . . at the hot springs. Odd.

After much unsuccessful digging, I finally discovered a treasure chest. Now I had completed everything there was to do in the three vacation locales, and all that was left was to become a frequent traveler, which the airline informed me was defined as having five trips under your belt. I could do that. Just two more to go!

With my frenetic sightseeing out of the way, Jim and I were free to spend the rest of our honeymoon relaxing together. We found our way to a sauna, which reminded us mightily of those first heady days together in Twikkii, which led to . . . other things.

The rest of the vacation seemed to fly by. I was so tired and worn down all of the sudden. After I fell asleep face-first into my hamburger, I began to wonder if I had caught some kind of bug. I had been all over and done all kinds of things while on this trip. Who knows what I might have picked up? All I knew was that it was a doozy. I was exhausted.

Still, our honeymoon was amazing and Jim and I felt so refreshed and happy to be heading back home. Now we could get a start on the “real” part of our life together. We had big plans for our careers, and all kinds of things we wanted to try before we had kids.

Jim got started in the athletic career right away, and made some important promotions. I couldn’t find a job in culinary yet, but I kept looking.

All of our big plans were upended however, when I learned that I was pregnant already! I was not expecting it to happen so soon, but Jim and I had been . . . busy . . . on our honeymoon, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Oh well, I thought. How much trouble can one baby be, anyway?

When we broke the news to Mom and Dad, they were overjoyed. They already had seventeen grandkids, and they were really hopeful that this would be the first of three for Jim and I, so that they could have twenty grandchildren. As Jim and I both wanted to see three children graduate from college, that was entirely in the cards. Even though it was not in our plans, we were likewise really happy. It would be exciting to have a new addition to the family.

The early part of my pregnancy was so rough on me. I spent a lot of time relaxing or doing simple things like playing with Cat in the Hat. I hoped all my pregnancies would not be this difficult!

As I got bigger and bigger, the sickness I felt let up, leaving me with just that unrelenting exhaustion. I tried to help in the garden with Mom or around the house, but I just couldn’t keep up very well.

Mom, for her part, was not worried at all. She didn’t care as much about the garden now as she used to, and after eight pregnancies of her own, she was not impressed by my complaints. She assured me everything would be okay and then went off to sunbathe again.

Things were going well altogether. We had set up a display of all my vacation souvenirs in the study, and Jim was doing great in his job and adding a lot of skills to his repertoire on his days off. I was just busy being pregnant. It seemed to be about all I could manage. We were so happy together, though, and excited to meet our child. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Well, Lord Snugglebottom, Bay is due any day now. What do you think of that? . . . What’s that you say? We should invest in a diaper company? What an odd thing to suggest.”

Right on schedule, I went into labor, and everyone in the house was there to coach me through it. Mom was, of course, the most help, having done this herself many times before, but it was good to have Dad and Jim’s support, too.

As I got ready to give birth, the four of us were nearly over the moon with happiness and excitement!

*Bay and Jim continue to be unusual romance sims and had wants locked for a baby, but what could Cardamom and Stephan be getting 30,000 points for already?

As I handed Jim our daughter, he said in hushed tones, “She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!” I couldn’t have agreed more, but something kept me from answering. A very odd sensation was washing over me . . . like . . . like I was still in labor!

It was late at night, so Mom had fallen asleep on the couch while waiting, but I woke her up.

After all, I needed her to hold my second daughter! I couldn’t believe it.

But that’s not all! After a protracted labor, I gave birth to my third daughter, and finally felt finished, thank god. Triplets! My older brother Coriander had had triplets, and I had thought that I would never be able to handle so much craziness, but now I had signed up for exactly that! No wonder my pregnancy had been so hard on me.

Our daughters looked extremely similar at that stage, which is not too surprising considering Jim’s and my looks. The firstborn girl, who we named Sassafras, was the exception with Jim’s light blue eyes. The other two girls, Safflower and Sesame, looked just like I did when I was a baby and had my dominant genetics. I still couldn’t believe I had triplets, but I thought they were the most wonderful things in the whole world.

Shortly thereafter, while the girls were still infants, I found a great job in the culinary track, so Jim and I headed off to work, despite having three little babies who needed care.

Of course, it’s not like we were leaving them to fend for themselves! Mom had retired from her job as a visionary and was enthusiastic about playing nanny while we were at work. She was ecstatic that she had three new babies to care for, now as a grandmother, and she assured us that watching over them during the days would be no big deal.

However, Mom had never had more than two babies at a time before, and it turned out that adding one more complicated things exponentially and made it much more difficult for just one person to care for them! Mom later described a moment on the first day where all three girls needed diaper changes at once, some of the bottles on the floor were rotting because she hadn’t had time to throw them away, and she felt nauseated from the smell and overwhelmed from all the screaming. It certainly tried her patience and childrearing skills!

Luckily, Jim and I both came home with promotions that day, so it was worthwhile that we had gone to work. Jim was now a Hall of Famer, at the top of the athletic career, and I was approaching the top of my career, so we both worked fewer days. That would help when the girls needed so much care!

Although the promotions were nice and we did a bit of bragging out by the mailbox, there was no time for Jim and I to rest on our laurels. I ran out to the garden to help Mom, who was getting some fresh air and dealing with our chronically overgrown garden. We decided together to pull up the garden when there was so much domestic work to be done, but we kept our lemon tree.

Jim, meanwhile, teleported (knew that would come in handy!) up to the nursery to give the girls the care they needed. Although they weren’t particularly difficult babies, the triplets were very in sync, so they always needed feedings and diaper changes at the same time, which could be overwhelming. At least they all slept at the same time, so whoever was being caregiver at the time could have a little relief.

From then on, we took turns caring for the girls in teams of two, whether that was during the day or in the middle of the night. This way things didn’t get out of hand and the girls got all the attention and love they needed.

“Aw, yes, who’s a little cutie? Who is? You is! What’s that you say? It’s birthday time already? My, but the time flies by when you’re changing diapers around the clock, Lord Snugglebottom! We haven’t even had much time to give you any jokes this chapter.”

Lord Snugglebottom was right, as usual. The time had raced by and it was already the day of the girls’ toddler birthday! It took all day to make three cakes, but by then we were ready to celebrate and see the girls get a little bit more independence. Although all of us loved the girls, their infancy had run the four of us ragged. I shuddered to think what it would have been like if Mom and Dad hadn’t been there to help us. But that’s neither here nor there on a birthday. Let’s party!

As usual, female Spice genes seem to be less prominent in the mix, so all three girls strongly resembled Jim. However, Sassafras, in red, got my larger eyes! Yay Sassy! The girls all had pretty similar personalities too, being messy like their father, but Sassy had the potential for a bit of a mean streak.

*Sassafras (red): 2/7/9/6/1Safflower (green): 2/8/2/6/7Sesame (yellow): 2/8/10/8/7

It was interesting to note the differences between Sassy and her sisters. Mainly that was in the eyes and her personality, but what a difference they made! From an early age, she was the bolder, more fearless leader of the crawling pack. Appearance-wise, she stood out while Sesame and Safflower could have been identical twins.

Although they were out of the cribs most of the time now, the girls were still extremely synchronized and did everything together. From an early age, the three of them were on very friendly terms.

Mom and I did most of their toddler training. The girls were fairly quick learners, and amazingly, we got it all done fairly efficiently.

That left the girls lots of time to work on their other skills. They spent most of their waking time together playing at the activity table.

As we all got to know the girls better, there was a lot of best friend-making going on. There were subtle differences in their personalities. For example, Safflower was less active, like me, while Sesame and Sassy were quite energetic. Safflower and Sesame were just as sweet as their dad, while Sassy was a boundary-tester. It was nice to get to know them better.

And boy, did we have the chance to get to know them better! The girls craved attention and it wasn’t unusual when one of us was on duty for that sim to get totally mobbed by the girls, all wanting their turn! It would have been a little overwhelming if it wasn’t so cute.

Meanwhile, we all kept working on our personal goals. I became a well-known celebrity chef, which left me even more days to spend at home – not to mention the larger paycheck!

Mom reached her second LTW by maxing her skills. Not bad for a CAS sim who had 13 children. Her next LTW was to marry off six, which, considering she had just married off 13 and was an elder, seemed unlikely to say the least.

*Cardamom is ever the family sim, isn’t she?

Now that the girls were older and sleeping longer nights, Jim and I had a bit more time together in the evenings. However, one day we had to chase off a coworker of mine who I think had a bit of a crush on . . . one of us. Not really sure who. But he did follow us around all night and even snuck into the bedroom while we were woohooing to admire our candles. The nerve!

There was also some time during the day when the girls were down for naps that the four of us could sometimes get some quality time in together. I knew having three children would demand a lot of my time, but I had never imagined I would have them at once and how very much time that would take! All four of us were looking forward to the girls becoming children and going off to school so we could take a breather.

They were getting close, too. In fact, it seemed like one day they had escaped the nursery to mess around in the children’s bedroom and the next day they were sleeping there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We still had a birthday to celebrate!

That’ll have to wait until next chapter, however. I think I’ve gone on long enough about the first part of my girls’ young lives. In the mean time, draw up a beach blanket and take a rest with Mom. I’ll be back soon with more triplet madness and maybe even some more vacations!

*Thanks for reading! Check in with me at SiMania or Boolprop. <3SiMania http://z12.invisionfree.com/sim_maniaBoolprop http://boolprop.net