Introducing Elizabeth Mary Jarvis

Dear Friends and Family,

We are very happy and proud to announce the arrival of Elizabeth Mary Jarvis. She was born on Sunday 13 December at 5:54pm, 9lbs and 22 inches long. Beatrice is enjoying being a big sister and is excited to hang another stocking for Santa to fill with those tasty "lolly-canes"

Love,

Sarah & Zach

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To see more...

We have a new (secure!) website for our future blog updates. I will send out emails with that information. If you haven't received an email from me by the end of the year, send me an email or comment on this site with your email address (I moderate all comments, so you're info won't be posted). Looking forward to sharing more pictures and stories about Beatrice and Elizabeth with you via the new site!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

We spent the time after Beatrice's birthday (me at 37.5 weeks pregnant)...waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Though hard to believe from the photos, I didn't actually get that much bigger. So we hung out, and started getting ready for Christmas.

...and Grandma Elizabeth's arrival! Once she arrived, we decorated for real. With new tacky Christmas stuff added in!

Per doctor's orders we did go out and do some fun things while Grandma Wibbs was here (as opposed to just sit around and will the baby out). We spent a lovely afternoon and lunch at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Which inspired us to do a gingerbread house with Beatrice. Beatrice decorated with "lollycanes" (her new word - candy canes + lollipops).

I couldn't believe it when I reached 39 weeks pregnant. So incredibly uncomfortable. Seriously. Especially as contractions had been going on for about a week off and on! But we did have distractions - Jas came to visit one evening. And Beatrice had lots of time with Grandma Wibbs and Daddy ("Dad-a", as she calls him sometimes)

Then finally, after changing Grandma Wibb's ticket from Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th, labor really started (on Dec 12th). Beatrice started walking everywhere with a very wide-legged stance (guess who walks like that these days?) Grandma Wibb's took a picture of the 3 of us prior to going to the hospital.

Unfortunately it turned out to be our first trip (of 3!) to the hospital, but you get the point...baby was coming soon!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Oh Beatrice, I can't believe you're a big three year old girl! Daddy and I just have the best time with you. Given it's your big day, I thought I'd attempt to summarize some of your 'things' for posterity. It's impossible to capture your spirit, but I'll try. I think the photo Tom took of you on the swing out back does a very good job, but even that isn't close to capturing all of you. So here goes:

* Your latest 'thing' is nursery rhymes. "Black sheep, black sheep, have you any [mumble], yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, [you can't remember the words, so you mumble some more] some for the little boy that lives down lane." Today you informed Daddy that the little boy lives down the FAST lane, not the slow lane. Good to know.

* You also love books. And we love that you love to 'read' on your own. For a good 25-30 minutes. Love it. Though every now and then you insist that we read to you non-stop. I will admit to threatening you with TV if we didn't stop after one particularly long session. Your Daddy loves reminding me about that one.

* You are still very much a people person. Though now you have to at least know the person first. Still at your party you ran and jumped up to kiss everyone as they arrived at your party.

* While you don't yet actually care what you wear, you have put your foot down about hairstyles. No more ponytails. Barretts only.

* You have an absolutely amazing sense of direction. We were driving near Aurora and Amalia's house (you call her "Tamalia") the other day and you pointed out the rough direction of their house. It was incredibly impressive given we hadn't been there since a party there the previous December!

* You, like your Daddy, love maps. Any and all maps, but especially ones with England included so we can point out where you were born. It still slightly freaks me out how many of the 50 states you can name by shape / location on the US map.

* You really enjoy school. Your teachers, Betsy, Sheila and Lorena, tell us the ~5 month age gap with the other kids really isn't noticeable. And that your fine motor skills are amazing (thanks Sarah B and all those stickers!) Every morning you rush to get there to be first on the swings. I think you must swing at least an hour a day.

* Sharing is still not your favorite activity. But you're getting much better at it. When Anna and Eleanor came over recently you decided the only way you could share was if you just watched them play with your new toys. Joining in with them was too tough. It was adorable and hard to watch, all at the same time.

* Daily routine: Wake up, call out for Mommy or Daddy depending on the day (Mommy on weekdays and Daddy on weekends). If a weekday, we cuddle together for a few minutes and then I begin the long drawn out process of getting you dressed and ready for school. While you love school, getting you dressed takes a battle of wills. Still not sure why. Eventually I get showered while you read books in the bathroom, and then I find some sneaky way of getting you dressed. Then we go downstairs, you get the paper from the front porch and we have breakfast (usually cereal) together and check the weather and the funnies. Your favorite is Family Circus and Garfield. Then we aim to get to school between 8:30 and 9, though you try to be first to be sure and get one of the swings. Weekends are much slower and we all go downstairs in our PJs for a bit.

Weekdays you get picked up from school at 12 by Jessica. Then it's lunch and nap and playtime. You and Jessica go to the library LOTS. Jessica leaves at 5:30 most days and then you and I hang out till Daddy gets home. The more pregnant I get, the more we've been watching Sesame Street on the couch together. Then it's dinner, Daddy home, reading, bath time, battle over going to the bathroom, and Daddy puts you to bed at 7:45 or 8.

Weekends are a toss up. Anything can happen. But whatever we do, you are very involved - asking questions and wanting to help plan. And trying to sneak in a trip to Babies R Us. "Daddy, where we go next? After that then we go to Babies R Us, ok? Ok Daddy?"

And in between all of our daily activities we have some of the most wonderful, joyful moments. Along with moments that make us all want to tear out hair out in frustration.

Now we're all getting ready for you to become a big sister.
Happy Birthday Beatrice! Mommy & Daddy love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent a lovely day with family and friends. Absolutely perfect day, except for the fact that I am still 9+ months pregnant. So ready...

Beatrice, Anna & Eleanor were adorable. Both clothed and not.

Luckily Tom shared his photos, as I've given up taking photos!

Happy Mommy!

My card from Beatrice this year says:

"Happy Mommy!

I love you.

Beatrice"

Doesn't get much better than that. Oh, perhaps NOT being 9 months pregnant on my birthday. I could handle that.

I did tell Zach the other day that I finally felt like my face looked pregnant - puffy cheeks, nose, etc. He just looked at me for a minute and then said with a grin, "Um...Sarah, I'm pretty sure people aren't looking at your face to figure that out." I laughed for about 10 minutes.

37 Weeks

My favorite part about this picture is that we're wearing matching striped outfits. This was absolutely intentional, of course. Too bad I don't have sparkly house shoes to match Bea's.

We're all very ready for the baby. And a thousand house guests by the look of our bathroom closet...seems I have been nesting for a while now, I just didn't realize how bad it was until I decided to organize the bathroom closet. Everything is getting rearranged and made just so. I can't help myself. Nesting! The other photo is of me 37 weeks with Beatrice. I can't tell if I'm bigger or not, certainly just as ready.

Now, I just have to get through tomorrow. So do not want to give birth on my birthday!

Birthday cake for breakfast

One of the best traditions ever

3rd Birthday Party

We had a very small gathering (for us) over on Saturday to celebrate Beatrice's birthday. We hadn't planned on having a real party, but she really wanted a chocolate cake with pink frosting. So, we had cake from 4-5pm. Zach made chocolate cake the night before, and he and Beatrice made the pink frosting on Saturday. I decorated the cake.

We decorated the dining room with streamers and balloons and B's artwork from school. To prep for the party, Beatrice also spent time swinging out back and at least an hour 'reading' her new library books. The girl loves to 'read'.

The party itself went off without a hitch. We had cake, Beatrice opened presents, and I did not go into labor.

After the party Beatrice had another piece of cake and decided to skip clean-up and go read in the living room. So adorable.

I'm glad we had a party. Especially glad we had it with chocolate cake and pink frosting. When Beatrice told us she wanted a party (by asking people to come to it and telling us what kind of cake she wanted), I was reminded of the story Mama told me about when she was 8 and invited friends over for her birthday (it was the Depression and she wasn't allowed to have a party, as they didn't have enough extra to make a cake). But she wanted a party and presents. I think she said she told her mother about an hour or so before her friends were due to arrive, just in time for her mother to whip up a cake. Pretty sure Mama got a spanking after the party, but she also got a birthday party out of it. I could see Beatrice resorting to something similar had we outright banned a party.