Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Details

I tried to be sneaky and slip into the Girl's Trip: NYC Style post that I'm pregnant. Some of you caught it and sent your congrats my way, and some of you probably didn't read through that extremely long post to discover that, yes, I'm with child. I've been asked for details from some, so I'll post them here:

I'm due May 6th, 2009 . . . that makes me 13 weeks into this pregnancy.

Jim and I will find out what we're having in another month or so (I hope it's a baby!!!). We'll keep you posted.

Here's the baby's first picture taken at appointment numeral uno. I was almost eight weeks preggers then. For those of you who don't know, the baby is the thing inside the black circle that looks like a peanut.
I'm feeling ok. I get tired a lot, and I feel like I'm starving all the time, even after I JUST ate a rather large meal. If I don't eat every few hours I start feeling sick, so then I eat and all is well again. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and feel like I haven't eaten in weeks. On these nights I try to fall back asleep, but most of the time I find my way to the kitchen and pour myself a bowl of cereal.

Jim and I are excited, Jim more so than me. I'm worried about going from one baby to two. How will I divide my time between them? Will I love the second as much as I love Tralee? How will it be with two in diapers? Am I really ready for those 2am feedings again? etc, etc. When I start thinking like this I get a little overwhelmed, so most days I call upon my dear friend Denial to help keep me comfortable. Denial tells me if you don't really think about it, then it can't really happen, right? I know the day will come when I'll be forced to discover the answers to those looming questions. But, until these concerns are thrown in my face, I'll just stay comfortable with Denial and midnight cereal splurges.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Fairy Princess

Last night a fairy princess emerged right before our very eyes! She must have flown here to pay us a visit straight from the second star to the right. We can't be sure that's where she came from, as she never did tell us.

We're pretty sure she put a spell on us, as the entire evening we were full of giggles just watching her buzz around.
Oh how we wanted to capture her and put her in a jar so we could gaze upon her always. But she was too fast to catch, and when we were lucky enough to take hold of her as she flew by, she wiggled right out of clasp. Fairies sure are sneaky little beings.

One time Jim managed to catch her, but she made it perfectly clear to him that all she wanted to do was fly away.One thing we discovered about fairies is they like candy! Since this fairy was bringing us so much delight, and we wanted her around for awhile, we thought we better keep her happy with bits of candy here and there. And boy, did she ever stay happy as long as there was a sucker in each cherubic little hand.At one point we stopped feeding the fairy sugar -- we didn't want to make her sick and have to "clap! clap! clap!" to make her all better. When Jim told the fairy, "no more candy" she took off chasing after him and I was worried she might put a tricky fairy spell on him. Jim hid from her, but since she's a scrappy little thing it didn't take long for her to buzz right up to his hiding place. I was worried that this fairy would throw a fit about us not supplying her with more sweets, but she surprised me yet again when all she required from Jim was a hug and a kiss. I didn't know fairies could be so sentimental!As the sun was setting this little fairy let us know she was ready to fly home and go to bed. She must have been full of fairy dust and happy thoughts, because it didn't take much for her to fly away.We will miss this little fairy terribly as she was a lot of fun to have around. Maybe she'll come again sometime.

I'll have the candy ready.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Kudos to Me

As I've mentioned before I'm a far cry away from being the model stay-at-home-mom. I see other women canning, sewing, baking, gardening, quilting, making their own cleaning products, staying up-dated on food storage, all the while ushering three or four kids off to school, car-pooling them to soccer practice, scheduling play dates, and cooking a meal with a cute little home-made card attached to it for their neighbor who just had a baby. These women are amazing! I don't fit it with them -- at all! I don't think I ever will.

I'm a good mom (some days I'm sure I could be better). Most days I take good care of my daughter. She's well fed, groomed, and played with throughout the day. We read, color, blow bubbles, seek out activities to do together, etc. My focus is on her. That being said, anything I accomplish besides taking care of Tralee is a huge achievement. For instance, I'm proud of myself when I take a shower and get ready before noon, cook a REAL (all food groups included) meal from scratch, or muster up the energy to go work out at the Y. If I do all things mentioned above AND try out a NEW project--well then--let's just say it's a GREAT day for me, and I give myself major kudos!

Today is a kudos day! After going for a walk, running errands, playing with stamps and ink with Tralee (brave, I know), I packed Tralee up, and we went to a local farmers market. While there I purchased some locally grown apples, came home, and for the VERY first time in my life, I dehydrated apples!!! For you women who are the type-A's I mentioned in paragraph one, this might not be something too spectacular. In fact, it might not even be something deemed note-worthy for you. I, however, am extremely pleased with myself and the aroma of cinnamon and apples that fills up my house! After returning home from my Primary presidency meeting tonight I prematurely sampled some of my efforts and lets just say it was deliciouses! I might add "dehydrate something today" more frequently on my try-to-do-something-domestic "to do" list.

The next "to do" I want to try is canning. Never done it, it looks WAY too intimidating!

It's 10:00 now and I'm exhausted from my productive day. Type-A Mom is probably staying up a few more hours to work on her kid's homemade Halloween costume -- good for her. I, on the other hand, am taking my book up to bed and reading myself to slumberland.

Good night.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Jimmy

Today is my big brother's birthday. Most people call him Jim now-a-days but he'll always be Jimmy to me.

Happy birthday Jimmy, we wish you all the best!



I love this picture of Jimmy and me. We look nothing alike. Jimmy was blessed with my mother's dark olive skin, shiny dark hair, and deep brown eyes. I was the blondie of the family. Light skin, light hair, BUT I did inherit the dark eyes! That's usually the only way people can tell we're related.

Anyway, I hope you have a happy day big bro!

Daddy's Hat

Tralee found this hat and put it on. She looked so cute I grabbed the camera and took this picture. I love it.
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Monday, October 20, 2008

Pumpkin Picking Party

Last year Jim and I took Tralee pumpkin picking at a little pumpkin farm. We had a lot of fun, and thought the only way to make the experience more fun was to get more Jacobs's involved. So, we called the other Jacobs family that lives in Boise and invited them to bring their kids along for a pumpkin picking party. We were right, it was a blast! There's not really too much more to say than that, so I'll just post the pictures from our little outing. Enjoy.

Below Jovie and Tralee are checking out the sheep. The sheep REALLY liked Jovie.

Jovie and Tralee on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.
Tralee lookin' cute surrounded by pumpkins
Check out my sweet picasa skills.
I'm not sure why Tralee was yelling at the pumpkins, but she didn't really care for them too much.
Here's a nice photo of Jovie, Jared, Jim, and Tralee Jacobs
Jim was searching for the perfect pumpkin, and this is the one he found. It's a huge weird looking sucker! That's probably why Jim was drawn to it.

Tralee pointing to the pigs. After a while she actually touched one's ear instead of running away when it approached.
We all found our perfect pumpkins, then came back to our place and hung out for a bit. It was a good day.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Procrastinating

I really need to clean, but I don't want to. I told myself yesterday that today was the day I would clean. I put in one load of laundry, and then decided there must be something VERY important to read on-line. I checked my e-mail, facebook, and blog several times thinking that I must have missed some important message. No such message has emerged. Sigh.

I've also played blocks, and colored with Tralee this morning. Surly those are worthwhile activities. What's that saying, "the dust can wait." So, Tralee is not being neglected. In fact, I think I'm going to take Tralee and Corky for a walk right now. THEN, as soon as I get back I'll start cleaning for sure, unless that is, someone has an important e-mail or message to post before I get back from our walk. I'll check when I'm back from our walk, and if no news has been posted, then FOR SURE I'll clean. I mean it.

Monday, October 13, 2008

New Puzzle and PJs

I brought a little puzzle home from New York for Tralee. She loves it! Not only does she do the puzzle, but she uses the animals like blocks, she plays with them and makes them kiss each other, and she piles them on her legs. It's pretty fun to watch Tralee play with her new puzzle.

Tralee also has some new pajamas. I wish they made them in my size, they look so comfy and cute!!



Tralee's pretty cute too.
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Daddy Daughter Trip

Before you feel too bad for Jim, I just want you to know that he and Tralee took a little trip of their own while I was in New York. Jim drove me to SLC to fly out with Abby, and since he came that far he decided to go a little further and visit his sister Adrienne and her girls, and brother John and his family in St. George, UT.

I called Jim at least two or three times a day to check in, and every time I asked how things were going I heard things like this,

"Great, I'm golfing right now."

"John, Collin, and I are going to go repelling off a 160 foot cliff today."

"Oh, Tralee and I are at a park playing."

"Tralee and I are just swimming right now."

"We're driving to Mesquite to eat at the crab leg buffet."

So, it would be fair to say Jim and Tralee had a good time too. I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear how great Tralee did while I was away. She played with her cousins, went to bed really well for anyone who took her night night, and was generally happy the whole time! The only time I heard she cried was when her cousin Brody pulled her hair or sat on her head. I guess I need to teach Tralee how to defend herself from one-year-old hair-pulling boys! :)

I was a little alarmed when I saw some of the things Jim dressed Tralee in. Prior to the trip I picked out cute little outfits for Tralee, and folded the tops and bottoms together so that Jim wouldn't have any problems picking out clothes for Tralee. I guess my fool-proof plan didn't work, because in one picture I see Tralee is dressed in a bed-time T-shirt and plaid pants!! To look on the bright side, at least she was dressed.
I also got a message from Jim that went something like this, "So, I've been trying for a half an hour to put those cute pig tails in Tralee's hair that you do. How do you do it? She keeps wandering around and I can't get her to sit still, and when she does I can't get these rubber bands in her hair. I'm giving up." I was laughing so hard when I listened to that message. I only wish I could have been a fly on the wall to watch it happen.

Overall Jim did a GREAT job taking care of our little girl. Sure, she was mis-matched and a little ragamuffin-y while I was a way, but she was fed, played with, and loved. So I really can't complain!! I'm glad Jim and Tralee had fun too.

Here's Tralee and Lexi Jo (John's little girl) having a sleepover. Cute cute!! Oh, and thanks Cassi for watching Tralee and doing her hair for Jim, he REALLY appreciated it! I got another phone call where Jim said, "Cassi did Tralee's hair for me! It looks really cute!"


Uncle John holding Brody and Tralee. They're only a few months apart in age.
Here are a few more pictures from Jim's adventures repelling.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Girl's Trip: NYC Style

WARNING: Extremely long post!!!!


I grew up in Wisconsin where the LDS population was slim. I was the only active LDS person in my first high school of 2,000 kids. The only LDS kids I hung out with were the friends I made at church. Therefore I had my "school" friends and my "church" friends. There were three girls in particular that I really hit it off with at church. It didn't take long before we were nicknamed the "Fearsome Foursome." We had thousands of sleepovers, went on group dates together, went to each other's high school dances, cried on each other's shoulders, went to each other for advice, shared tents at girl's camp, got yelled at and punished at girl's camp together ("bad choices girls!"), laughed, danced, and did incredibly silly if not stupid things together. Through the years we've transformed. Two of us are stay-at-home moms, one is a New York City career woman who just added "wife" to her description, and one of us is an incredibly bright and promising BYU graduate seeking the perfect job. We've all changed through the years, but when we get together it's as though nothing has really changed at all. We're able to transform right back into the four silly girls we once were.

The Fearsome Foursome (Abby, Lauren, Mim, and yours truly) had the opportunity to get together again in New York City to celebrate Mim's wedding. It was a so much fun! I'm so grateful Jim was willing to take time off work to become Mr. Mom for a few days while I went gallivanting around New York with some of my best friends. I really appreciate it because I had a great time! We took so many pictures and did so much (we were TOTAL tourists) that I'm afraid this will be a rather long post.

Abby and I flew out of SLC together, Lauren flew out alone. When we arrived at JFK Abby and I were ready to tackle the subway system. We were pretty naive about it. Abby read that from JFK to the Manhattan area it should only take around 65 minutes using the subway. So, on we hopped and soon realized the subway system is a bit more complex than we first thought. We also realized that we had no map. I called the hotel and asked what we should do and they replied, "Get on the A train and transfer to the R train." "GREAT! Sounds easy enough." Thought I as I hung up. Two seconds later I thought, "Okay, what?" Abby and I navigated the subway system sans map or help for about 3.5 hours before we made it to our designated exit. It was quite the adventure, and between transferring at least a half dozen times we're pretty sure we saw ALL of New York from underground. However, we were pretty proud of ourselves when we made it. Also, we learned some valuable lessons, and didn't really have any troubles with the subway the rest of our trip. We felt like experts towards the end.

Poor Lauren was waiting for us at our hotel's lobby for who knows how long. However, the Crowne Plaza Times Square just renovated and they had a pretty nice lobby, so she didn't mind too much. Here are the first few pictures of our trip. They include Abby and our first subway train of the trip, us modeling our hotel room, and a view from our hotel window (41st floor!).
This was the cross street our hotel was on.
Lauren, Abby, and I all wanted to taste some real New York pizza, the kind that your have to fold to eat. So, night one we found this GREAT pizzeria! John's Pizzeria was the way to go.

Then we walked around Times Square and took some touristy pictures.
When we got back to our hotel we called Mim who was ready for some serious pre-wedding girl talk. The four of us caught up on our lives, giggled, and talked until it was way too late. It was so nice. It was also our only chance to hog Mim all to ourselves before her big day.
The next morning we woke up later than planned, took some pictures from our hotel room, and Lauren became a Crowne Plaza model as she emerged from the bathroom wearing the hotel's robe. We had a little photo shoot with Lauren before we left to explore the city.I took this pictures just for my NBA-loving husband. Does it scream "tourist" or what?The first place we stopped on Thursday was the New York Stock Exchange. There were news crews EVERYWHERE! It was pretty great to see such a historical place. We took some pictures by the George Washington statue as well. Lauren and I did our best to pretend to be those crazy stock people who wave their fingers around.
After the New York Stock Exchange we wandered towards the pier and gazed at Lady Liberty. Pretty sweet. The picture in the middle below is Abby looking at a subway map. She was our navigator for most of the trip. I really appreciated that!

Okay, I need to explain this next picture. As I mentioned before we were TOTAL tourists! I'm sure if Mim came along with us she would have been embarrassed. Anyway, we wanted a picture of this guy acting like the Statue of Liberty, but we didn't want to pay any money, so our plan was to have Abby walk towards him and shake his hand while we snapped a pic. This guy one-upped us and grabbed Abby, pulled her up on a stand while placing a crown on her head, a torch in her hand, and draping an American flag around her shoulders. Then he whispered in her ear, "three dollars, okay?" So, she paid three bucks for this silly picture. It makes me laugh every time I look at it and realize how naive we are!!
We walked around the perimeter of Ground Zero. We also went into a church that had a memorial museum set up. It was very touching.
We ate at a GREAT deli for lunch, and then took the subway to Brooklyn so we could walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was pretty cool, but I was tired afterwards.We were all tired after our long day, so we headed back to the Crowne Plaza and relaxed while watching Cash Cab for about an hour before heading back out again. Thursday night we walked to the Rockefeller Center, did a little shopping, and took some pictures. It was neat to see Radio City Music Hall, see where SNL is filmed, where the Today show is shot, and the NBC headquarters.

Below are a few shots of the food we noshed on. The deli's were fantastic. They served REAL meat, not the overly pasteurized stuff you get at the grocery store. The turkey tasted like turkey shaved right off of the Thanksgiving bird! I also tried a ruben, because they just don't make 'em in Idaho the way I remember having them in WI. I wasn't disappointed by my ruben sandwich in NYC!

We had an interesting dining experience on Thursday night. I'm not going to get too into it. But lets just say the three of us were suckered in! We paid way too much for food that wasn't that good, and service that was less than enjoyable. But, it makes for an interesting story! Just ask me sometime and I'll tell you all about it!

Friday we woke up, got ready, and walked towards Central Park and the Manhattan Temple. I love this picture Abby took of Lauren and I walking through Central Park. Don't know why, but I think it's cool.
Here are some of Mim's wedding shots. Mim and Martin were sealed in the Manhattan temple. It was a lovely ceremony. Afterwards everyone met in a cultural center and Martin's Dad read a beautiful poem he had learned for his own wedding, and then played the same beautiful song on the piano for Mim and Martin that he had played at his own wedding. It was very moving. After that everyone walked to central park for pictures. Here are a few shots of the happy couple.
Abby took most of these pictures, and they turned out great!

Mim's reception was at a cool little restaurant called I Tre Marie (not sure if I spelled that right). We had a great time toasting to the happy couple, visiting with old friends, and eating all the yummy food.
On our way back to the hotel we got this shot of us riding the subway. We were so NY savvy at this point (not really).
Saturday, our last day, we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. I was amazed! It was beautiful.
We also did a little shopping. Lauren loved these glasses! Actually, I made her put them on for a picture.
This was the worst picture we took in front of F.A.O. Schwarz, but I thought it was the funniest. So, that's the one you get to look at!
Our last stop of the trip was The Met. We had so much fun looking at the Art we've only ever studied in books! It was thrilling for me. I don't think I had very good Museum decorum as I pointed and yelled things like, "LOOK! That's MADAM X!!" or grabbed Lauren's arm and shouted (in a museum sort of way) "MONET! MONET!!" We had fun, and I wish we could have had all day at the museum, but I still had fun with the few hours we did have before leaving for the airport.
We had fun in the armor section. I'm not really sure what to say about this bit of armor.
I love Lichtenstein's pop art, and thought this piece kind of resembled me. Blond hair, larger chest, and big pregnant belly (oh yeah, I'm pregnant, I'll post about it later).

This is Lauren's three dollar Gatorade. Yeah, we're all in disbelief at the price. We also can't believe Lauren got suckered into paying that much. In her defense we had JUST walked across all of the Brooklyn Bridge and she was in need of some electrolytes. However, she only took a few sips that day, and couldn't bring herself to throw the rest away since it was so expensive!!
And lastly, here's another cool picture Abby took while we were wandering around the city. Cool building, huh?

I'm sure there are things I've left out or forgot about. Oh well.

This trip was so much fun!!! We're so happy for Mim and Martin, and that they got married in New York so we could make a Girl's Trip out of it. Now, we just need Lauren to get married in a place like Hawaii in a few years for our next Girl's trip! :) Actually, no matter where Lauren gets married we'll be there. That's just how the Fearsome Foursome rolls.