This summary provides an overview of the key events in the document: 1) Ruth gives birth to a baby boy named Oakapple after a difficult pregnancy. 2) Old Adam ages into a toddler during the birth. 3) Heather Raymond steals the family gnome and then insults them, angering the narrator. 4) The heir poll is now open for votes to determine the next generation of the family.

1. Welcome back to Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge! This chapter is hot
off the press – almost literally. I finished playing it this very morning.
And isn’t this picture fantastic? I’ve seen pictures of other people’s Sims doing this, but
mine never have, not in almost four years of playing. And then last night – squeeeeee!
I’m very excited.
But your Sims probably rub their own belly all the time and you couldn’t care less. So
let’s see what’s going on at the Shankel household, shall we?

2. VALERIE: So, Ruth… You’re feeding the baby in your underwear, and I just passed
Ryan in the hall wearing nothing but a pair of tiger-striped skivvies. May I take it that I
have another grandchild on the way?
RUTH: No, I’m pretty sure not. We’re not ready for any more. Ever heard of the “rhythm
method”?
VALERIE: Yes – I used to use that.
RUTH: Well, then, you know it works.
VALERIE: Actually, that’s how I ended up with you.

3. As you can see, Ryan is doing his part for the family – although he’s more likely to be
abducted if he stargazes at night.
Just sayin’.

4. Ruth gets official credit for teaching Buttercup to walk. To tell you the truth, though, she
only helped with the last two or three steps.

5. Valerie was the one who did the bulk of the work. She also taught Buttercup to talk. (Not
pictured.)

6. VALERIE: And potty training. Don’t forget potty training.
How could I ever forget potty training? It’s probably one of the most vital skills in any
child’s repertoire.

7. Buttercup liked to spend time playing with her blocks and her Wobbily Wabbit Head.
She has had an Officially Wacky makeover, but I’m not really sure the tiger look suits
her.
The “yellow” thing, on the other hand, is working very well indeed.

8. So well that I decided to continue it as long as I can. These cream pajamas are the closest
I can get to yellow.
And before you accuse me of violating child labor laws by having Buttercup clean so late
at night, I would just like to point out one thing.

9. Buttercup’s favorite toy is the Prints Charming Fingerprint Scanner that Daddy brought
home from his job as a SWAT Team Leader. Cleaning actually raises her fun meter, and
she cheers every time I tell her to take out the trash or scrub the bathroom. (happily)
Don’t you just love 10-Neat-Point Sims?
Ryan’s LTW is to be Captain Hero and he can only bring home three career rewards, so
he will be staying in the Law Enforcement track. I guess we won’t be getting the No
Promotions bonus this generation.
And speaking of this generation…

10. It’s almost complete.
RUTH (calls, more than a little panicked): Ma? You were right!
VALERIE: Told you so.

11. This was a particularly difficult pregnancy. I made almost no progress on any of the
bonuses and everyone was in pretty much constant motive distress the whole time.
RYAN: Okay, baby. You convince your mommy to go take a shower now – please
convince your mommy to go take a shower now! – and I will order a pizza for her while
she’s in there.
RUTH: If I didn’t want pizza, you’d be so dead right now.

12. Pizza: Saving the lives of pregnant women (and their husbands) since 2008.

13. This is part of the problem with everyone’s motives.
RUTH: Frammit! You’d think pregnant women wouldn’t have to plunge toilets! This is
not fair!
Sorry. It’s the Drew Rule.

14. VALERIE: Frammit! You’d think that old ladies wouldn’t have to plunge toilets! This is
not fair.
Sorry. It’s the Drew Rule.
VALERIE: Do you even know this “Drew” person? Who is he to make rules for you?
Just let him try coming over here and dealing with this sh –
BUTTERCUP: Grammy? Who are you talking to?

15. RYAN: Frammit! You’d think that someone who’s already been electrocuted wouldn’t
have to keep on trying to fix the fracking thing that electrocuted him! This is not fair!
Sorry. It’s the Drew Rule. And besides, now you’re out of money.

16. This is the only bonus requirement I was able to make any progress on this time, and only
because all it took was a phone call. This is The Tacky Flamingo, a venue business that
Ruth will be running and working towards building up to Level 10.
Any minute now.
Really.

17. In the midst of all the hoopla and motive distress, Old Adam became a Toddler. He will
get a bit of a makeover next time, although I don’t think that full-face makeup should be
automatic for him. We shall see.

18. Also in the middle of everything, Oakapple Shankel was born!
Oakapple is named for Robin Oakapple from Ruddigore. "Robin Oakapple" is
supposedly a simple, shy yeoman farmer. In true Gilbert & Sullivan fashion, he is
actually Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the Baronet of Ruddigore, who faked his own death
and went into exile rather than inherit the title and its attendant curse. (If the plot sounds
familiar, that's because "Robin Oakapple" is Old Adam's master.)
Oakapple is a boy, which means that the next O baby absolutely must be a girl.
Fortunately, we’ve got a whole nother generation to get through before that comes up.
This little chap has his father’s skin, his mother’s hair, and the eyes of both of them.

19. The birth of Oakapple means both that this chapter is at an end and that the danger of
imminent death has dropped dramatically. (Thank Boolprop!) Everyone was so exhausted
that nobody could even be bothered to distract Heather Raymond from stealing the
gnome.
I wouldn’t be to worried about that – everyone’s Mean enough that it will get stolen back
sooner rather than later – but then Heather went and did this:

20. Oh no you didn’t! That is adding insult to injury, missy! You’ll be lucky if I don’t start a
Ghost Hunt with you as the first victim!
The heir poll is now up, so don’t forget to go vote! The poll will be up for three weeks.
Since I usually try to update on a three-week cycle, that means that the next update will
be a special feature. I bet you can’t wait.
Until next time, Happy Simming!
*******************
Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia
The song used to title this chapter has no connection to the content of the chapter because
the Victorians liked to pretend that babies were found under cabbage leaves and that
bodily functions – or indeed, anything from the neck down – didn’t exist. Hopefully, we
will have something more relevant next time.
The last O name is “Olga.” I am seriously considering using it even for a boy.