Year 2000 - New Additions: Straight and Harris

"We've all really grown up since our days at Eden State, haven't we?" Gregory Harris commented over lunch with his wife Robin and good friends Chris and Sophie Straight.  Since graduating and moving to New Eden they had started their careers, moved into their own homes, and both couples were about to become parents for the first time.

Even though she was pregnant, Robin was determined to get a jump start on her career at the law firm and worked through the beginning of her pregnancy, for as long as she was allowed to.  Gregory was an appreciative husband and never neglected to give his wife a much needed backkrub after a long day at the office or when the strains of pregnancy gave her a back ache.

When Robin had a craving for fresh fish, Gregory had a  fishing pond built at the side of the house and got out the fishing poles.

"Are you sure fresh fish is really what you want?" Gregory asked when he wasn't having much luck catching anything edible.  "Can't we just order some takeout instead?"

"Let's try a little bit longer," Robin insisted.  "The baby is really craving fish right now.  Besides I read an article today that said fish is a really good food to eat while pregnant.  It helps promote brain development."

"Oh, alright," Gregory in.  "We can try a little longer, but if we don't catch something besides boots soon, I'm calling the pizza guy."

Success!

"Good job, honey.  I knew you could do it if you just stayed with it long enough.  Thank you."

"Anything for you and our little one."

Robin was anxious to get back to work as soon as possible after the baby was born.  She wished official labor laws didn't require her to stay home during the second and third trimesters of her pregnancy, but she made the best of it and was glad when Gregory offered to stay home with the baby, if necessary, so she could go back to work.  He could take a few months away from dancing and focus on running his home dance studio, where he would be close at hand if the baby needed him.

Christopher and Sophie decided to spend their time before the baby was born, with their friends.  They knew there wouldn't be much time for socializing after the baby came.

Chris set up a poker table in the basement and had a game night with the guys.

While Sophie and a few of the neighborhood women hung out upstairs in the dining room, taking advantage of the chance for some much needed girl talk.

Sophie reached her due date first.  Late in the night on Wednesday night, simday 106, she gave birth to a little girl.  Welcome to the world, Elsa Straight.

Robin's pregnancy was soon coming to an end as well.  The next day on Thursday, simday 107, Robin went into labor just as she was about to take a shower before bedtime.  Gregory, the anxious new father, was right at her side.

Welcome to the world, another baby girl, Melody Harris.

Moving In: University, Jr./Sr. High School, Ebadi

New Eden currently has two lots in the hood to supply housing for students, one for college students studying at New Eden University and one for teenage students (grades 7-12) enrolled at the Jr. / Sr. High School whose families live outside of New Eden (namely those who have chosen not to move from Eden to New Eden, but want their children to experience the opportunities available in the new hood.)

Enrolled at New Eden University for the 2001 Spring Semester are Chase Platz and twin sisters Felicity and Joy London.

Lodging in the boarding house for the Jr./Sr. High are (from left) Bryan Carson, Sofia Hartman, Sierra Thaytowski, Charlotte Platz, Augustus Thaytowsi and Maia Hayes (seated).  Rich Cormier (not shown) and Jessica Ebadi are teachers at the school.  Violet Cormier, Owen Rossi, and Geneva Rossi (not pictured) are also enrolled at the school for the spring 2001 semester, but live in the hood with their families and not in school housing.  

In addition to her teaching responsibilites Jessica also volunteered to take on the duty of living full time at the boarding school to serve as a housemother for the students lodging there.  Unfortunately, soon after moving to the hood, Jessica discovers that she is pregnant and unable to continue her job as housemother beyond the orientation period.

As soon as a temporary replacement was found to take her place, Jessica moved out of the boarding house and bought a house of her own and just in time.  The evening after she moved in Jessica gave birth, not to one baby, as expected, but two, a boy, Bryce, and a girl, Bridget.

Jessica knew being a single mother would be difficult, but a single mother to twins is definitely a challenge.  She hopes that she's up to it.

Moving In: The First Family

Seth and Ivy First are late-comers when it comes to making the move from Eden to New Eden.  At first they declined the opportunity to make the move, Seth hesitant to leave the native hood his grandparents were the original founders of.  But when members of the hood called them again, looking for sims qualified to work in the science and medical field and when they considered the opportunities they would be giving their daughter, Seth and Ivy had a change of heart and decided to make the move after all.

Seth First and Ivy Copur met while in University.  They were both math majors (Seth 3 semesters ahead of Ivy) and lived in the same dormitory,  but they really didn't pay much attention to each other, during those years.

Both were highly focused on their studies and were already dating other sims.  Seth had been seeing Suzanna Carr, while Ivy had started dating Suzanna's younger brother, Jesse, when they were still teens.

After graduation, things changed.  Both couples had started to grow distant as they focused on the demands of university and Seth and Suzanna focused on their starting out in their respective, demanding careers of science and medicine.  During this time Eden had signed the nightlife deal and the advances made in the field of romantic chemistry put a twist in the plans for these couple's futures.

Before either relationship could move to the next level after university, Seth and Ivy met again in the science lab where they both started working after graduation. They couldn't believe they hadn't taken notice of each other sooner, they had so much in common and the chemistry was great. 

It was hard for both of them to let go of the relationships that had been part of their lives since they were kids, but the relationships of high school / college sweethearts had run their course and if they were really honest, they had to admit that they had started to lose interest in maintaining those old relationships long before Seth and Ivy happened to meet again.

When a relationship is right, you just know it.  Even though they felt bad for breaking up with Suzanna and Jesse, they had to follow their hearts.  Seth proposed to Ivy and she accepted.

They were married at Seth's historical family home and lived there with Seth's older sister and their aging mother.

And, a few years later, had a baby girl, Kendra.  Although their previous breakups were amicable, they tried to avoid seeing their exes as much as possible after the wedding, in the interest of avoiding stirring up old jealousies.  It all worked out well as Jesse and Suzanna were free to find their true loves and build wonderful, fulfilling lives for themselves in the hood of Apple Valley.

Seth was glad that he was able to move into an exact replica of his old family home to New Eden.  He looked forward to possibly handing it down to his daughter, Kendra one day. 

They also brought their family cat, Jake, with them, as well as a group of other pets that were sent to the pet adoption agency for other New Eden residents to adopt.

Even though it seemed like they were living in the same house, with many of the same sims as neighbors, there were adjustments to be made to living in a new hood.  Since Seth's sister Enid and her husband chose not to move with them, they lost their live in babysitters and had to hire a nanny. 

They were pleased that the nanny took such good care of Kendra (and Jake) while they were gone, but when her jobs were done, Seth was home from work, and she had time to start playing online poker, Seth decided it was time to send her home for the day.

An active toddler, Kendra didn't seem to require much sleep at a time and her parents found themselves sleeping in shifts so that one of them would be awake in the evening and night hours when she would wake up.

Then when Kendra was fast asleep, the odd sleeping hours would mean that Ivy was wide awake with no one to spend time with.

She missed the days when she could spend time with her husband when they were both awake.  These lonely, sleepless nights made Ivy question whether moving to New Eden was the best thing to do.  She tried to remind herself that it would get better.  Before long Kendra would be old enough to more things for herself and life would seem less demanding.  Besides, she knew that the move would be the best thing for their daughter and give her the best opportunities and education and she and Seth both wanted the best for their daughter.  It was hard now, but it would soon get better.

Kendra seemed to be happy, despite the changes and the new situation.

She and Jake were fond playmates and were soon becoming the best of friends.

Jake the cat seemed to be adjusting to his new home well too.

The first few days in New Eden passed quickly.  Some of it a blur as the family got settled into their new routines, but they didn't let themselves forget that it was time for their baby girl's birthday.  There was no way they wouldn't make time to celebrate this milestone in her life.

The proud papa, Seth congratulated his daughter on taking the next step towards becoming a young lady.  Ivy found herself in shock.  She couldn't believe that her baby was a baby no more.

Also, the supportive husband, Seth gives his wife a comforting hug and tells her that he's proud of her as well.  They've raised a happy, healthy little girl.  Life should be a little easier for them now.

After cake, comes bedtime and as Kendra gets settled in for the night, Ivy and Seth sneak in a little, much needed, alone time.  Now that Kendra is a little older, they hope they'll be able to spend more time together than they have in recent days, unless they're thinking it might be time to start considering having baby number two...

Moving In: The McMillian Family

James McMillian is a more recent transplant to New Eden, unlike most of the residents of the neighborhood, he didn't move here from Eden. He's originally from Apple Valley. He became acquainted with the area when his brother began dating (and later married) an Eden native, Suzanna Carr. Employed in the architecture and construction field, James was naturally interested in the move to New Eden and the building and city planning process. After exchanging a few e-mails with Robin Young about the types of building materials being used and what grade of asphalt was being used on the streets, he was offered a job by the neighborhood to access the construction work that had been done so far and oversee any future projects.

Taking his job seriously and wanting to make sure his choices were what the sims of New Eden wanted, James set to networking immediately after moving to New Eden. When their time came in the rotation for the first few sim days, every household knew to expect a phone call survey from James about what they liked about New Eden so far and about what improvements they would like to see made. As you would expect, some sims were more eager to share their opinions than others.

James' efforts towards networking weren't only for professional reasons, but also for personal reasons. As a newcomer to New Eden and one of the only sims here who wasn't already familiar with the neighbors he was interested in becoming acquainted, making new friends, and as a single sim, he was also keeping an eye out for a potential date. Unfortunately many of the sims he met were already married . . .

 Or married and pregnant . . . 

Or had no interest in construction (any woman who wants to be with James has to accept that construction isn't just his career, it's one of his passions)

But sometimes someone who seems to take interest in his building surveys on the phone . . .

turns out to be rather obnoxious in person.

James doesn't mind that true love hasn't come to him as quickly and easily as it did with Bradford and Suzanna.  He's enjoying his life and work in New Eden.  Making friends with the neighbors, redesigning and remodeling his own bachelor pad and keeping busy with his work, redesigning the local art museum and boarding school for the junior and senior high school kids.

Moving In: The Havers-Rossi Family

 Alexis Havers was once a well known actress, appearing on not one, but two, international soap operas, Arrendale Heights and Pahala Shore.  Her career seemed to be going well until a widespread writers' strike put her out of work and practically put an end to international soaps as she knew them.

Part of the reason she decided to move to New Eden was as a last ditch effort to jump start her career and to keep her name and face in the public eye.  She had hoped that living near her agent, Winston Crabtree, would help her with that goal.  Winston had been honest with her before she had decided to make the move and told her up front that her chances of finding the kind of international work she was used to was slim to none and that she should probably focus more on smaller, local projects if she wanted to continue in the business. 

These days, according to Winston, the real fame and money to be made was in music, as evidenced by the widespread popularity of the band Aerial Bionic.  Even though she refuses to give up on her own stardom, totally, Alexis has decided to turn her attention to the career of her teenage daughter, Geneva, a member of the girl group, Glitter.

Alexis also decided to make the move to New Eden to have a fresh start.  When her relationship with her long time boyfriend had ended, the tabloids had a hay day with the story, so she decided to move with their two children, twins Geneva and Owen, to New Eden to start afresh and hopefully find better opportunities for them all.

When it came to opportunities for improving her love life, New Eden did not seem to be the place to be for Alexis.  There weren't many single men here, period, let alone many to her liking.  And the feeling was mutual.  Most of the sims Alexis met were immediately put off by her often blunt and snobbish personality and it was difficult for her to even make friends.  Lack of a decent social life made her wonder if New Eden was the right place for her, but she had no doubt her kids would have more opportunities and a better time fitting in here and that was enough to make her want to give New Eden another chance.

The one exception to her floundering social life was a former co-star of hers, Neil Hayes, who she was more than pleased to pursue a flirtation with and luckily for her, the feeling was mutual.

Alexis may not have been known as the most devoted mom.  It's no secret that motherhood came as a surprise to her.  It certainly wasn't something she'd planned on when she discovered she was pregnant, with twins no less.  Even though her career kept her traveling away from home when her kids were small, she did have a good relationship with both her daughter and son.

She was the kind of mom that wanted to be one of her kids' best friends.  It meant that they were close and had fun together, but it also meant that she didn't mind letting her kids do as they pleased most of the time.  Her career in local theater had her working mostly evenings and nights, which meant the kids were often home alone after school and have no qualms about taking full advantage of their freedom and it doesn't take long for the Havers-Rossi household to get a reputation for being a little unruly.