Top Ten Reasons I Can't Wait For Fall

Summer, we need to talk. It's been fun and all, but I'm ready for something different. I've got another season on my mind. Namely, fall. Here are the top 10 reasons I can't wait to say "see ya!" to summer and welcome my favorite season, fall.

1. Preschool! When school starts September 1, Bianca can finally see the friends she’s missed all summer long. Plus, I won’t have to hear “Mommy, I’m bored! Take me to the swimming pool zoo library store mall park climbing place grandma’s house right NOW!" on repeat, all day long.

2. Apple pies. Our apple tree is dripping with almost-ripe apples that should be ready to pick next month. I am an impatient gardener…I want to pick those babies, now!

3. Football. Oddly, I’m looking forward to football season this year. Mainly because my husband enjoys it so much, and I love watching him put on his lucky Seahawks jersey and get as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning on game day.

4. And end to Summer Pressure. Summer in Washington state is amazingly brief. It lasts a nanosecond (otherwise known as the month of August). This means that the instant the temperature tops 70, the summer pressure starts: we absolutely MUST get outside to take advantage of every last second, because it will all be over soon! I love summer (i.e. August) but I don’t love the constant pressure to squeeze every last drop out of every fleeting second.

5. New school haircuts and clothes. What mom doesn’t love seeing their kiddo look spiffy? I can’t wait to dig out the new school clothes I’ve bought and squirreled away.

6. New fall TV. I have lots of drawer-organizing and paperwork-sorting to do, and I’m saving it for fall so that I can do it while watching new episodes of Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother.

7. The return of my Uggs. They may be ugly, and I don’t even know if they’re fashionable anymore, but oh, how I love them.

8. Storytime. The return of community activities like the weekly storytime at our local library means that we’ll have some ready-made playdates and an excuse to get out of the house.

9. Holidays. I’m a fall-holiday kind of gal. Halloween? Love it. Thanksgiving? Bring it on. Sure, both holidays involve sweet treats, but I’m more excited about seeing my kids dressed up and having fun with family and friends.

10. Soups and Casseroles. I’m ready for a break from the summertime routine of nonstop hot dogs, burgers, and salads. And fall means soup weather! Every fall I set aside a couple of weekend days to fill the freezer with soups and casseroles. Easy, healthy meals that don’t involve a barbeque. Hooray!

ANOTHER REASON TO LOOK FORWARD TO FALL: A possible end to never-ending diaper chores. Mia picked yesterday to start potty training. She's only one, so this may be a fluke, and I suspect that her love of wasting toilet-paper has something to do with her potty enthusiasm. That reminds me--I need to go and buy more!

Bianca three year appointment

Bianca had her three-year appointment today after much waiting and anticipation--she loves the doctor's office, probably because she's so healthy that doctor's visits are rare and she's never had a bad experience there. She also looooves attention, so that doesn't hurt. :)

She weighs 27.5 lbs and is 37 inches high. Average height but she's still a stringbean--her dr says we might consider giving her carnation instant breakfast in the am to see if we can get more weight on her. She's always been a tiny thing and a healthy eater so I'm not worried.

So far, her threes are proving to be a bit challenging with lots of whining and bossiness. Not just limited to her family members either--this morning she was looking out the window at a bird feeder she made yesterday, and yelling at a bird across the street--"BIRDY! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!! EAT!!!!" Thankfully she's also off-the-charts cute and funny and sweet with her sister. Right now she's really into puzzles, art projects of all types, stickers, and baking. It's been so much fun to see her grow and I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

She's been trying to "teach" Mia about all sorts of things, including puzzles. Here she is trying and trying to get Mia to grab a puzzle piece. After a few minutes she announced "Mom, Mia doesn't know how to LEARN yet."

I also had the nurse do a weight check for Mia--she's 11 lbs 14 oz (Bianca was 11 lbs at 2 months).

Hanging at home

With Steve's winter break over, it's back to the regular routine for all of us. We hung at home today and I caught some pics of the girls.

Mia is getting so big--she's definitely not a tiny newborn anymore and she's letting us know it! She's pretty laid-back, but also very smiley and expressive. She uses her voice a lot--Bianca keeps saying "she's talking!" I've started getting her bedtime and naptime routines in order and getting her day a bit more organized, which helps a lot when I'm juggling two kids and two bedtimes. She's eating every 3 hrs, taking 4 naps a day and going down around 8 and getting a 5-6 hour stretch--technically SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! I've heard of babies who sleep through at 8 weeks (according to my mom, I was one of them) but I NEVER thought I'd be the proud parent of one. This is such a different experience than the one we had with B. I won't go into detail about THAT experience because I don't want to scare anyone out of having kids. :) She's a great sleeper now, though.


She's so smiley!

Bianca nursing her baby while watching TV--just like mommy. :) However, I don't hold Mia quite like that. :) Bianca doesn't know exactly how nursing works (she nursed for a year but doesn't remember anything about it)--sometimes she nurses her baby on her belly button. Bianca's still rocking the Halloween t-shirt that's become her favorite. She loves that it has a spider on it.

Merry Christmas--Part 2

This Christmas was one of new traditions for us--for the first time, we spent Christmas morning at our own house as a family. It felt like my first year in the "mom" role because I was the one shopping for stocking stuffers and planning for Christmas breakfast (my first pan of cinnamon rolls--from scratch). It all went by too fast!

Bianca with one of her favorite gifts, her pony.

Our favorite Christmas gift!

Bianca with her stocking. She's in summer PJs because she declared the adorable flannel Christmas PJs that I bought her "too hot". Missing the infant days of dressing her however I wanted--those days are definitely over! :)

We spent the afternoon at Grandma's house in Lacey for more present opening. She got anothter stocking (we all did). Lucky ducks!

Kendra and Mia

One of B's favorite parts of the day was playing with their new kitty Valentino, who liked to hide under the tree and pounce out at her (you can see his little white paw here).

Playing with Sam in her new Bilibo from Kendra and Ty. She loves this thing--it can be a baby bed, a silly hat, a spinner, and any number of other things. She enjoys using it as a little chair.

What a fun day--but I needed a few days to recover! :)

Snuggle bear

OK I know I haven't uploaded Christmas photos yet, but how cute is this photo of our snuggly girl in her new bunting from Farmor and Papa? :)

Merry Christmas--Part 1

After a wonderful Christmas, I'm finally coming up for air and getting some thing done! We had a perfect holiday with our family. Not without lots of driving and the expected three-year-old meltdown moments, but full of joy, wonder, and contentedness. Kids truly bring magic to the holidays and B was really able to participate like never before. We started the day with baking, and made some cookies for Santa. B couldn't wait to go to Grandma's house and see everyone, and she was so excited she barely napped. For the first time, we didn't stay the night at my mom's in Lacey on Christmas Eve--we drove down for Chirstmas Eve dinner on the 24th and came back for gift opening and dinner on the 25th. Here are some photos from the 24th.

Daddy with his angel.

Israel and Sam in his new Christmas sweatshirt!

B did a great job keeping an eye on the presents.

Mia loves her aunties! She's such a little smiley cherub.

Bianca's wearing a dress that my grandparents brought me from Mexico over 20 years ago--she found it and had to put it on. :)

Then it was back to Tacoma to await Santa Claus!
On another note, we realized that it was Steve's 10th Lundahl Christmas. Wow--are we really ten years older?

Christmas lights

Bianca has been into Christmas lights this year, so we drove through Fantasy Lights in Parkland--I think it's the longest drive-through lights display in the Pacific NW. We stayed cozy warm in the car and listen to holiday music while we drove through. Bianca loved it and asked for "More Christmas lights!" the entire way home.

And another way to light up the holidays...our sweet smiley girl. Her little face lights up whenever we get close and talk to her or rub her tummy. Especially during diaper or clothing changes, I'll look down at her and she'll have this big grin. Such a sweetheart--my little butterball. :)

Gingerbread babies

Kendra had the great idea to get the family together to make gingerbread houses. B's favorite wintertime story has been one about a Gingerbread Baby--you catch him by building a gingerbread house. My plan is to surprise her with a gingerbread "baby" waiting in her house when she wakes up in the morning. :)

We all bought kits, but it's still harder than it looks! My/Bianca's house didn't quite work out--um, I think it was a problem with the kit! Wink wink. Glad I didn't choose a career in architecture (although I think trying to stay one step ahead of a three year old was part of my problem)! Kendra stepped in and gave Bianca her house, and helped her with it, so it all worked out. We enjoyed spiced cider and Laura made some yummy Irish soup--all in all a cozy Sunday. Hope it becomes a tradition--and next time I think I will assemble Bianca's house while she's sleeping so it's nice and solid by the time she wakes up.

Aunt Kendra and B, trying to salvage our house.

Israel with his first ever gingerbread house!

My mom took hers pretty seriously. :)

Laura and Is got Mia to smile quite a bit!

Sweet baby.

Love the cheeks--but my second favorite are her wrists and arms!

The finished creations.

Feelin' Joovy

Santa came early to the Jacobson household, and we got our Joovy Caboose double stroller this weekend! It did great on its maiden voyage around the neighborhood. It's great to be able to see both kiddos at once and Bianca loves her special "big sister" seat. I chose this one because it's lightweight, and I'm glad--pushing two kids gets heavy fast! Looking forward to lots of double-strollin', especiallly when the weather is nicer!

Family photos

A couple of weeks ago we had Marisa (Hussey) Faatoafe, my BFF Kora's younger sister, take some family photos of our growing brood! We had fun and got some great shots! I can't wait to take more next year! Here are a few of our favorite shots.

Bianca was feeling shy and didn't want to look at the camera or really sit for any of the pictures, so we had to keep her busy. Mia was a much easier photo subject. :)

Our sweet girl.

I love her round little face!

I love this photo because Mia looks so completely relaxed.

This is such a "Bianca" pose with her little shoulders shrugged.

Mia makes a lot of surprised faces--I see this look a lot.

Christmas decorations--and Santa!

Over the past few days we've been putting up our tree and decorations--it's truly been the most fun I've ever had decorating because this year Bianca has been able to take part. She's been so proud of helping with the Christmas tree.

The culmination of the Christmas craziness was visitng Santa today. Bianca was SO excited and talked about it all last night and this morning (saying that we were going to Santa Claus's house). She was too shy to talk to Santa but she made me proud by giving him a hug and sitting on his lap. Santa himself was very sweet and great with the kids.

Back at home--her cheeks are getting so big!

B's favorite ornaments--because of her gingerbread man fixation--are these that Steve's mom got for us a few years back. B calls them "gingerbread baby houses!"

Mia enjoys the lights.


Our new stockings! I couldn't wait to order them as soon as Mia was born. I love looking at them, and I can't believe we really have four stockings hanging up!

Hanging an ornament--this particular area of the tree is packed with ornaments since it's the only place she really put them. :)

My sparkly girl

OK, yes, I let my baby wear makeup...but let me explain. I realized yesterday that I absolutely couldn't live another minute without having Bianca's hair cut (moms will recognize the feeling--all of the sudden you just can't bear the length of your child's hair/fingernails or you just have an uncontrollable urge to scrub them from head to toe). I didn't have any treats in the house to distract her so I let her play with some old makeup. She was thrilled! The girl loves makeup. She was excited to be all sparkly, and I let her stay that way until after dinner. I never thought I'd see my three year old with mascara on her face, but at least I got her hair cut! :)

Put on your yarmulke...

It's time for Hannukah! We went to a Hannukah celebration at the home of our neighbors (and of B's buddy Ephraim). Steve's family is Jewish on the Jacobson side and he grew up celebrating both Christmas and Hannukah. I had always planned to incorporate a small Hannukah celebration into our holiday once we had kids...this was a great way to kick it off!

The goils wearing matching outfits from Grandma!

Yummy Hannukah treats...who can resist a holiday with lots of foods fried in oil like doughnuts and fritters? I've already decided that Krispy Kreme will be featured heavily in our personal family Hannukah celebration. :)

B and Ephraim like to curl up in his bed together...or her bed if they're at our house. This will be cute until they hit puberty, then it might be worrisome. :) Yes, he's driving a truck on her head.

Bianca playing with the dreidels.

In the words of Adam Sandler...have a happy happy happy happy Hannukah!