Meet Our Newest Edition

I know it has been ages since I last posted anything on our blog, but that is because it was blocked for several weeks while we were still living in Guangzhou. Now that we back home in Canada for the summer, that is no longer a concern, or an issue. I am free to post as often as I please . . . which means, I can make my happy announcement now.

Ahem . . . Glenn and I are proud to announce the arrival of our son, Josiah Breum Jacobsen, who was born on June 30th at 1:56am. My labour pains started around midnight, we got to the hospital just after 12:30am, and Josiah was born shortly after that.



A friend of mine commented that I should keep my "ridiculously short labours" to myself, but I have to admit that I was EXTREMELY grateful that it wasn't any longer than that! No time for pain killers either (!!) . . . perhaps with our next baby I'll have to camp out on the steps of the hospital to ensure I get there in time!



I only have a few pictures of Josiah and I just after he was born . . . but I will keep you up to date on how our little "J-Man" is doing . . . so far, he's just as windy as the rest of the family. Now we have a NEW member of the family on whom we can blame for our intestinal discomfort! (Mwah-ha-ha!)

As you can see, Angelica is already the BEST big sister a brother could ever ask for! Her "mothering instincts" have already kicked in.

First Art Lesson

Move over, Picasso! There's a new child prodigy in town . . . and it all begins with the first wax crayon - a splash of colour here, a naturalistic depiction of lines and squiggles there, and VOILA! A masterpiece is born! What's that? I'm a little too optimistic, you say? Maybe . . . but considering my degree is in sculpting, I have my hopes set high . . . but until her debut appearance at the Guggenheim, I'm happy to let her explore the world around. Art is, afterall, about discovery!

Such concentration!

Mischief Maker

Mischievous?? Who ME?? Look deep into my eyes . . . do I REALLY look mischievous?
The answer to that question, "Why, yes, my darling girl! You most certainly do!"

There are very few drawers that Angelica is allowed to play in . . . and even fewer that she can actually reach . . . but there are certain drawers that seem to captivate her attention more than others, and my sock drawer seems to fall into that category. Usually, Angelica will just practice opening and shutting the drawer, being ever so careful not to pinch her fingers in the process. On this particular day, however, Angelica decided my drawer needed some maintenance, and so she proceeded to "re-organize" . . . "'Cause Mommy, you just don't have it right yet."



Just trying to be helpful, Mommy!

Angelica's First Birthday

The month of February seems to have just flown by in a wink! Soon our little Jelly Belly is going to be 13 months, instead of 12! Oh my! She's growing so fast! I remember how overwhelmed I felt when we first moved to Guangzhou, and how I fretted anxiously over her first birthday - to the point of tears! I was terrified that she would have no children at her party, and it would be all my fault for not having made any friends. Well, that certainly wasn't the case! We had lots of friends to celebrate with us - and just the right number of children - for all of whom we are extremely grateful.

Well, here they are: Angelica's birthday photos. Sorry it's taken me so long to blog about it. I put the album together on my facebook account first so that family, friends, and relatives back home could get a glimpse of what Angelica's special day was like. Now it's time to put this blog in motion.

The last few days leading up to Angelica's party (on February 15th) were a maze of activity. On Thursday, I spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, buying decorations, candles, and gifts for the party bags (in Canada I could have done all of this in an hour, but in Guangzhou these items are not easy to find unless you know where to look . . . and you can speak Chinese). My friend, Shelley, came with me and introduced me to a whole new world of crazy shopping (thanks, Shelley!)! There are so many fabulous markets to explore in Guangzhou . . . and you can buy almost anything . . . but once again, you have to know where to go and where to look once you get there! Who would have thought that buying party decor could take so much time and energy!

I baked the 2 large cakes, and cupcakes, on Friday. Saturday I accosted a balloon man and spent the day shopping for fruit and icing ingredients (milk and butter - fortunately, I brought back two large bags of icing sugar from Canada - and I used all but a cup!), as well as decorating the house for the party and planning the games. Sunday morning I woke up before 6 am and started decorating the cakes (I was really feeling the pressure then!). I finished decorating both cakes, all the cupcakes, and arranging the fruit platter by 1:30 pm. This gave me enough time to eat breakfast (I was bad and only had a plum to keep me going that whole time . . . but I did snack on a few grapes and strawberries so it wasn't that bad). I was soooooo happy when all the planning was finished. All in all, I was quite pleased with how everything turned out.

Angelica's lady bug cake. Yes, I decorated it myself and everything was made from scratch - from the frosting to the cake batter. The only synthetic additions were the oreo cookies and the licorice antennae.


This was supposed to be a large daisy, but I accidentally put it on the wrong cake platter. My bad!

To go with our ladybug theme, my friend Shelley bought Jelly the sweetest ladybug bowling set.

Angelica LOVES ribbons!

Angelica's first taste of birthday cake. Personally, I wish her hat came in MY size!


As for the invitations, I only made one like this. When I realized how long it was going to take me to make the rest, I quickly abandonned that idea and created something on photoshop to email out. The e-vite only took 30 minutes (once Glenn showed me how to convert my creation to a PDF file - I'm so thankful for him!).

This is the poem that I wrote on the invitation:

Squeals, giggles, and wiggly toes,
Wispy blond hair, and a cute button nose.
A year has flown by, like a bee on a flower;
So we’d love you to join us for this happy hour!

Angelica’s birthday ~ a lovely surprise!
It’s sure to delight and bring joy to her eyes
To see you all there with your smiles and songs,
And we promise her party won’t last very long.

Please join us for ice cream and cake, if you please,
And IF you’re all good there may even be CHEESE!
Please RSVP of your plans to attend;
We thank you all kindly for the responses you’ll send.

Guess how many Cheerios were in the sippy cup? Give up? 250 . . . believe it or not!



Daisy Cupcakes


The BIG birthday blowout!

Luke wanted to show me how his birthday blower worked.

I can't understand why Luke didn't believe me when I said I'd be serving this for dinner the next time he came to visit (playdough cooking set).

It certainly was a memorable day. A special thanks goes out to everyone who shared it with us! We were so glad that you could be apart of it.

Malaysia - TRULY Asia!

Unable to bear the cold any longer, the Jacobsen clan headed for Marvelous Malaysia (our new favourite hot spot, next to Thailand - literally!). We had a glorious time . . . and from the pictures below you can see that we spent most of it in the water. It took Angelica a few minutes to get used to it, but after a week and a half of swimming everyday, she became a little beach bum!

The Frangipani's dining room . . . we enjoyed the oceanscape every morning during breakfast.

Angelica's first dip in the ocean in Langkawi. As you can see, while we dined on fine Malaysian cuisine, the mosquitos feasted on the appetizing Angelica. She had over 35 bites on her face alone. When they were finished with her, she looked like a pepperoni pizza.



Angelica got to experience her first trip to an aquarium. She loved the petting tanks best!


A rare family photo taken together in front of the Palace Gardens (Kuala Lumpur).


War Memorial in Kuala Lumpur



As you can see, my daughter is quite modest!

Daddy's girl



Glenn and I love our life. We feel so fortunate to have been able to see the world - Asia will always have a special place in our hearts.

Chinese New Year

This year, we celebrated Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year, as we've known it in Korea) in another part of Asia - Guangzhou, China, to be precise - and it was c-c-c-old! For those of you living in Northern China, South Korea, and Canada, it was certainly not as cold as you've experienced. However, one thing remains to be said: YOU have central heating (whimps!!), we do NOT.

In Guangzhou, Chinese New Year is usually the COLDEST time of year, reaching only a few degrees above 0 celcius, and legend has it that if it is not, the year will bring "bad luck".

So to bring in the New Year, Glenn and I ventured over to the Sports' Stadium and partook in the festivities.

I can't say I understand the reason behind all the inflatable hammers, but to each his own!


I was absolutely intrigued by this unique plant, so I enquired about it. Expecting to hear some exotic and scientific name, I was a little taken back to learn that it's called the nipple plant . . . I kid you not! Now aren't you glad I asked?

Angelica and I dressed to the nines in our winter garb!



The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival. This festival is celebrated at night with beautiful lantern displays and often a parade of children carrying their own.