WEEKEND

Bess got a special back pack this morning, not quite as special as Dora's magical back pack, but cool nonetheless. Here she is trying it on!

Bess took a monster nap, after a morning in Holland Park with the peacocks and Grandma Helen and a trip to Tesco. We finally went in to get her and she was asleep on a pile of books. Clearly she did some reading before she crashed out! She didn't look too happy when we first went in...

...but then it was all smiles and giggles!

FAT LIP – THE MORNING AFTER...

So, when Bess' sitter arrived yesterday afternoon and rang the bell, Bess flew into action. Problem was, her hand slipped and she face-planted on our stone kitchen floor. OUCH ! ! Blood everywhere. Golf ball sized fat lip. It took a few minutes for her to calm down, but then she went on to have a nice evening with the sitter and she slept 13 hours. Here is the morning after picture of her lip.

What a champ she is! In great spirits all day.

And she is currently asleep in her BIG GIRL BED for the first time tonight. Stay tuned for more news on that front...

TEA TIME ON MOTHERING DAY

In honour of Mothering Day 2007 and Sammy's amazing accomplishments, we took the family to Brown's for high tea.

Daddy reading Bess a story waiting for the food to arrive...

Bess wore her best party dress and really loved the scones!

MORE BESS IN THE BACK GARDEN

We promise to be more creative with the locale next weekend when Grandma Helen is here. Hear Bess wax on about her boyfriend Massimo, more on peacocks, nice giggles, and a solid "bye" at the end.

Try to tune out Finbar's constant goading.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BO?

Courtesy of Stephanie, here is Bo in the parking lot of our beloved Suicide Six. This was the site of many happy family vacations growing up on Sammy's side. All three kids learned to ski there and had many a hot chocolate and Toblerone bars in the lodge, not to mention one or two injuries. I'm particularly fond of the time my parents tried to slip some aspirin in my New England Clam Chowder-there's no hiding that taste! I had had a run in on the chair lift with some older boys and when it came time for me to get on the lift, the chair hit me. Hence I married a younger man!

Anyway, great memories!

Thanks for sending Steph!!!!

MAJOR, MAJOR BUGGER

I, Sammy, failed my driver's test today. All for a really stupid reason...really thought the instructor was trying to trip me up. Bloody hell! And my wacky but wonderful Irish, meditating, driving instructor yelled at me half the trip home. Bloody hell again!

I will go back. And I will pass. And if I don't, then bloody hell, I'm just not going to bother. Like with everything else in this blasted country, they just make things so darn difficult.

There, I've said it. Peace out.

MORE VIDEO

Yes, the gorgeous day that Sam just wrote about did exist. Here is video proof. Note the sunlight in Bess' hair. Note the ghost that pushes the buggy along... Also fun with animal names!

GORGEOUS DAY

Finally, some nice weekend weather. We spent all morning in Hyde Park, saw lots of horses, ducks, dogs and had a visit to the Serpentine Gallery. Saw a terrific exhibit by American Karen Kilimnick. Definitely worth seeing if you are local.

Bexter wore herself out running up and down the hill by the Albert Memorial. We also managed a quick visit with a favorite cuz in town for work.

Ahh....naptime!

WE ENTER THE VIDEO AGE

Okay, so we're the last people on the Close to figure this one out. Forgive us. But anyhow, now you can all see Bess live (sort of), and really stay up to date. In today's episode, Finbar and Bess are putting together Bess' new table set. Close observers will notice that Bess is having more success than her father - and check out those fine Moto Skilz!

BILINGUAL

A lot of Bess's friends will speak two languages. I was thinking Bess won't, at least not until she's in school. But actually, it's becoming quite clear she'll have to. Take for example our favorite new book, Nappy Duck and Potty Pig. Yes, we live in the land of nappies. But that is one word we have not adopted (buggy, yes; diary, yes; nappy, no!). So, how to make sure Bess understands that "no more nappies for ducky" means ducky has kicked the diaper habit?!!!! I suppose I could substitute one for the other. But what about her babysitters who call it a nappy? She's just going to have to be bilingual.

I was visiting a primary school today (looking ahead to Bess being 4) and in the computer class they were talking about the color of the little girl's "jumper." And I thought, hmm....jumper, going to have to teach Bess that jumper=sweater. I'm sure there will be many more.

Some of our favorite words we've adopted so as not to immediately stand out in day-t0-day conversations:

• Buggy (stroller) (by far Sammy's favorite word and a new one for Bess)
• Diary (calendar)
• Bin (garbage can)
• Massage (with an emphasis on the first syllable rather than the second) (Very important word!)
• Garage (again, with an emphasis on the first syllable) (Much like garret!)

Finbar and I keep threatening a more complete list but you know we are very bad at this blogging thing so you'll wait a long time to see the rest.

ROUND TWO

So 4 out of 6 of us are getting ready to have second babies....the three mama's on the couch are all due in April. MORE BABIES!!!

WORLD'S WORST BLOGGERS

We are. That's just how it is. My only excuse at this point, and it's valid, is our computer is in need of a, well, break. It's tired. It's old. Good news is new laptop is on it's way! So hopefully we'll rev up. In the meantime, we continue to be busy. Bess has begun swimming in the bathtub which makes Sammy very proud-a future swimming star perhaps?!! Too cute. Good thing she's already had all those swimming lessons.

Finbar continues to be happily busy with work. We're talking vacation plans for the summer but with two monkeys, should be wild! Maybe a quiet week on the beach in Norfolk or something deliciously cozy as such. We'll see.

We've got 8 weeks until Baby Due arrives and lots to do. Sammy cannot imagine getting any bigger and hopefully won't. It's all in front but it's big. Bess has a new book about the house growing in Mummy's tummy and man is it ever.

NEW FURNITURE, TATE MODERN, UNCLE TOM OH MY!

Bess and Finbar unpacked a table and chairs for Bess and Baby's new bed and quickly got to work assembling it all. See the video in a few days.

Last weekend was more fun, less practical. We hit the Tate Modern and Uncle Tom and Finbar hit the slides.

LUNCH...OR FINGER PAINTING

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

I won't bore you with all the details but needless to say we've been plagued with internet problems. We're quite certain our friends in less-developed countries have better internet service than BT can provide. Finbar and I have made loads of new friends in India - we're thinking of visiting! In the meantime, we're back up and ready to write.

We had a quick visit to the States which included frigid temps and snow. Bess was non-plussed by the snow but it did finally teach her to wear her mittens. She did get to try out her new snow pants which seemed to really please her.




We're back in London and settling in nicely to our new place. It's really feeling like home. Bess had some friends over today and we're trying to teach her to JUMP!

Sammy continues to grow and is big as a house (though maybe our old one, not the new one!). Finbar is lamenting the loss of Citigroup, now called Citi. One of our dearest, jolliest, running mates from NYC is coming for a weekend visit and we're excited about that. And then it's all business, getting ready for numero due. We're in the no-fly zone now so we'll have to do some road trips. And we're really going to make an effort to be better bloggers. We'll see!

SNOW!

First snowfall of 2007.

BEEN BUSY

We had an end of the year visit to beautiful Prague with our pals M&M and Gra Gra and Babou and then it was back to London to pack up and move house. We're settling in well to our new digs and one of us even turned 35.

Prague

First night in with Pizza

35.

Tidying up.

MO BETTA CUZ

This is the name of a shop in Ladbroke Grove. Have no idea what it is really. But it's a great segue to this....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BELOVED UNCLE MO MO! You only get better with age...and what a lot of age that is! (wink! wink!)

GO WEST - WE ARE NO LONGER NOTTING HILLBILLIES

You might notice something ever so slightly different about the blog and that is due to the fact that we've moved! We are barely a mile from our beloved Notting Hill but we've got loads more space.

Pictures to come shortly.

A CHRISTMAS WALK AND THREE SYLLABLES

Nothing like a brisk walk in Holland Park.

And Bess can say, in addition to lots of "NO," "PEEKABOO." Let the games begin!

CHANUKAH!

Candles, pajamas and a new horse to ride.

FUN WITH AH-POO!!

Newsflash: BESS HAS WORDS ! ! They include: Ball, Bubble, Uh-oh, Bess (of course!!), No (who taught her that??), DaDa, MaMa, Shoe, Hi, Bye-bye, Choo choo and Myxlplyx (okay - we made that one up). Then, there's Apple - or, Ah-Poo. Every fruit is an Ah-Poo. Above, you can see a typical dinner / dessert combo for Bess, including Yogurt and Ah-Poo. Mmmmmm!

IT WOULDN'T BE DECEMBER...

... without the Jacobson Family Holiday Party. This year's, our second annual fiesta, was action packed. Can you believe we fit 56 people in our hut? Okay - maybe that does include 18 munchkins, but still. Imagine the chaos. A good time was had by all (right??). Memories and craziness shown below.

LOT'S BEEN GOING ON

We're finally back from our Thanksgiving travels... it was a nutty two weeks in the States. But we're thrilled to be back in Jolly Old London. This time of year is particularly charming here... aside from the rain.

Bess is gearing up for a wet winter in the playgrounds. Hence the new wellies!

THE GUZZY MOVES ON... AS SAMMY TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS BECOMING LEGAL...

So... See below the Guzzy's replacement. It's been a great year and a half, but now it's time for the Rocket Part Deux. Instead of 1995 safety and features, we definitely needed 2002. A Guzzy retrospective will be published shortly. Long Live The Gold Guzzler!!
And in that regard, Sammy passed her written driver's license test today. Congratulations, Sam! YOU ROCK - WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU. Now, on to the road test...

IT'S OFFICIAL. WE HAVE A WALKER.

And to celebrate, we went shopping!!!!

RUN NYC

Brenda, Tom, Sara.....we're thinking of you today as well as the rest of the 37,000 or so folks running our favorite event, the New York City Marathon. Here's hoping it goes well.

Remember what Nike says at mile 21: "Run 5.2 like the wall is just a street and bring this baby home."

And just two last words....ICE BATH!!!!!!!!

YOU GUYS ROCK.

WILL WALK... FOR BEER!!!

Wow – Bess really started walking this weekend! She got her groove on during the KCWC Halloween Party. What gave her the motivation? I think it was her interest in a fine brew - she walked across the room just to get a Stella! Note: That's her in the homemade doggy outfit for Halloween (check out the tail).

IT'S NOT BEER GOGGLING, IT'S.....

I don't know what to call it. All I know is that Bess loves to wear Sammy's swim goggles around her neck. She also likes bikini bottoms but that's another story. Here she is with our beloved Salina, heading off to the Science Museum. And yes, she wore the goggles during the entire outing. Apparently she was the talk of the museum!

FOR FINBAR

Finbar is off to Scotland for some hunting and fishing and other manly pursuits. Oh, and some work. We'll miss him.

CROSSING OVER TO THE DARKSIDE

It's finally happened. I bought "American" cheerio's here. I paid £8. Can't do the math? That's nearly $15. We always told ourselves we can't convert but it's inevitable. Alas, Bess needs her Cheerio's. And by the time Grandma drives to the store, buys the box, and ships it to us, well, I figured I could just shell out the £'s.

TEST DRIVE

Little Bess gets one step closer to having a real doggy! Checking it out at John Lewis...
... and at home. Think she likes her new buddy?

Daddy hopes that it is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I found this today while cleaning up after Bess...she loves to pull everything off of the bookshelves. Finbar and I have been married for five years and together for 13.5. Kind of amazing. And he's just as cute as ever! Sorry, Babe, couldn't resist. Photo credit goes to the fabulous LouLou of Sweden.

DADDY-O COOKS!

Waiting for Daddy's challah french toast - a fabulous family tradition. Hurry Daddy, Hurry!

Chef getting supplies out of our tiny fridge in our messy kitchen.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

Technical difficulties and lots of travel have kept us from blogging but we're back! Biggest news is Bess is one. We had a fabulous fiesta courtesy of Bo and Steph back home on the East coast.

The caption for this photo is "Crazy in love with Cupcakes." Needless to say, the day of Bess's birthday she required two additional baths. It was that fun!

Since then we've been to the Cotswolds. Ask Finbar about the baby contest if you are interested. Sammy's still too bent out of shape to discuss!

Scotland, our own little Gleneaglet.

And Paris, literally in the shadow of la tour Eiffel.

Now we're back in Notting Hill and very happy. If not a little tired!

MHS REUNION 2006