My sympathies too. I was so upset when the final _bug_ I needed popped up and my last child had just turned 14! I had some babies nursing, but no kids to pick it up. I could only watch helplessly as it vanished. Fortunately, it did reappear not too long afterwards when I had some kids. I hope your luck improves soon. I did find the last three rare collectables I needed within a three day period, so you just never know!

One thing you can try to do, if you're working on esteemed elders, you can have your adults kiss over and over again to parenting kills. I had them do all the kissing in that patch where the bugs can appear. That way I could keep my eye on it, and still feel as though I was being productive.