Endless summer

Round 33: February 2038 (Summer)

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Miles Jacobson is 35, Matilda is 32 and Phoebe is 6 months old.

(Claudio is 57, Virginia is 46, Amar is 37, Maia is 36, Ethan is 32, Adrienne is 31, Veronica is 21, Alice is 12, Willow is 3, River is 9 months old and Beau is 6 weeks old)

Narrated by Miles Jacobson

Phoebe is six months old now and parenthood has really been a learning curve for me and Matilda.

Phoebe is not the easiest baby in the world. From day one, she’s been quite demanding.

We were expecting that at some point, she’d start sleeping through the night and then we could too. That hasn’t really happened though.

She was sleeping well for a while but now, she’s back to waking up in the middle of the night. We try to share the load so it’s not one of us getting up to her all the time but we’re still both very, very tired.

When we found out Matilda was pregnant, we were given a few parenting books as gifts. I can’t say they’ve helped much with Phoebe though.

Even among all that, we’re having some really sweet moments with Phoebe as well.

It always makes me smile when I can see her getting drowsier and drowsier while she’s feeding. I’ll take just about any moment of quiet these days!

Our friends have babies the same age, so we try to get together with them as much as we can, so we can all have some adult conversation.

It’s not kid free, of course; Phoebe, Willow, River and Beau are all close by, just in case we’re needed.

But it’s very relaxed, generally. It's nice to get back into the swing of sharing a meal with friends.

It’s always interrupted by one of the kids but that’s par for the course for us these days.

This is the second time around for Ethan and Maia, so we often find ourselves turning to them for advice.

Beau is Adrienne and Amar’s first. He’s only 6 weeks old but he’s the most angelic child. Of the four who are at our get-togethers, he’s the least likely to make a peep.

He wasn’t the kind of child they were expecting but he seems to have inherited Amar’s easygoing nature, at least so far.

We should have those get-togethers more often. Phoebe always seems to sleep like a log on those nights.

One thing we never have to worry about with Phoebe is her getting shy around all the people we have visiting. She lets absolutely anyone pick her up, cuddle her, play with her and seems to love the attention.

Claudio told us Phoebe is very similar to what Matilda’s sister Alice was like when she was a baby.

She loved people too and she was also prone to extreme crankiness at times, just like Phoebe.

Alice seems to have got over that now, so maybe there’s hope for us yet.

Alice is loving being an aunt. We think she’s still a bit young to babysit, though Alice is very keen.

We’ve told her we’ll consider it again in a few years, when both she and Phoebe are a bit older.

By then, we might even have a second child. We weren’t really sure about it before we had Phoebe and we’re still not, but we’re considering it.

I'd really like to give Phoebe a sibling one day. I don't really want her to be an only child.

Matilda wants to wait until Phoebe is 3 or so and then see how we feel about it.

She’s not quite as on board with the idea as I am.

In part, that’s because she was the one who had to deal with photographers tailing her every move while she was pregnant and when Phoebe was a newborn.

The attention has died down a little now, so life is a bit quieter.

Matilda has been doing more work behind the camera since Phoebe was born, so she's not quite as exciting to the paparazzi at the moment.

She’s not ruling out a return to acting, because it’s her first love. But she’s enjoying directing and having a little more anonymity.

I’ve had a bit of a career change too and am now teaching art history at Suffolk University.

I wasn't sure I would enjoy it but I love it. When I was doing my comics, it was so solitary. Being able to interact with my students is a fantastic change of pace.

I always have my wedding ring on and I’m much too old for them but still, some of the female students can be a bit forward sometimes.

I just have to be very strict with them and make sure they understand appropriate boundaries between teacher and student. It hasn’t been a major problem so far, thankfully.

I think the best part of my job is that my classroom is within walking distance of the conservatorium and I’ve been able to indulge my other passion, music.

The double bass is my instrument. I’m quite rusty, because I haven’t actually played since I was in college myself.

It wasn’t the reason I took the job at the university but it was an unexpected little perk.

I’m also getting paid a little more now. Not really enough, considering the workload but no one ever said teaching was well-paid.

Matilda is definitely the main breadwinner in the family. We couldn't support our lifestyle on just my salary, especially if we want a second child. I feel guilty about that sometimes. I don’t want Matilda to feel like she has to stay in the industry if it’s not what she wants to do.

She tells me not to worry and that she’s planning on staying in show business for a long, long time yet.

I hope so. Apart from art, I'm not really sure what else I could do.

Notes:

• Title is from Endless Summer by Zwan.
• Phoebe is quite the grouch. She'll probably be fun for her teachers in years to come as well. ;)
• I can't remember Beau's exact personality but it's closer to Amar's than Adrienne's. I was surprised, because usually with one grouchy parent, the kid turns out grouchy. But even before I did my personality rolls, Beau's niceness was very high. I'm really looking forward to aging up these babies and getting to know them a bit more.
• I am still going back and forth on Miles' job but I did the career criteria on him (again!) and have come to conclusion that even though there are jobs he is better suited for on paper, he just is an artist. Matilda makes about $3000 right now, so they can well afford for Miles to have a not-so-well-paying job.
• Every time I load a lot these days, I find yet more CC I was missing. Who knew I downloaded so much between the back up I had (August '11) and early March! Anyway, that's the reason Matilda isn't sitting on a real director's chair on set. I was glad I shared my recolours of those, so I could just redownload them, instead of remaking them like I'm having to do with my family portraits.