Things I'm Loving Right Now...

This is a busy week/weekend.  I am prepping for my interview (Tuesday!  Prayers would be appreciated.) and working on a conference paper for the 16th.  Since I'm pretty sure y'all have no desire to hear about Latin or Greek, I will share some things I am loving right now...

1.  Parks and Recreation

Bech and I started watching this show a few weeks ago, and we LOVE it.  Leslie is one of the most lovable characters ever.  We are at the beginning of season 3, and I am ready for Ben and her to get together already!

2.  Sonic

Since I will be in the South this next week (but only for a few days), I am ready to have some Sonic.  I love (and miss!) Diet Cherry Limeades.

3.  Purity facewash

My mom (or technically, Santa) got me some of this facewash from Sephora for Christmas.  I love it!  It smells so good.

4.  This cute movie

It makes me smile!

5.What list would be complete without this little stinker?

Jack and I are going to have some quality time this next week.  I am flying down and back by myself with him.  I have done this before a couple of times, but now he is a lot more active.  I am going to have my hands full!  But I know he will be a sweetheart through it all.

Midweek Confessions

Today, I am linking up again with "E, Myself, and I" for Midweek Confessions.

- As a working, breastfeeding mom (so thus a pumping mom), I have started measuring the success of each day in ounces. It's sad that my mood changes based on that.

- This week, I scored 132 points on a word from "Words With Friends"...my life may be complete. 

- I have seen people cross out words on blogs like so for months now.  I have always wondered how they did it.  I just now noticed that it's a function at the top of the page, right beside bold, italic, and underline.  Please tell me this a new feature, and that I'm not just dumb or unobservant.

- This is a good confession, but it's a confession none the less...I have a job interview next week!  I am flying to interview for a Latin teaching job.  I hope I get it, but I am trying to be real about the possibility that I might not.

And because he's just so darn cute, here is a picture of Baby Jack...so serious!

Jack's Nursery, Part 2

Last June, I put up some pictures of Jack's nursery, but I haven't updated any of those pictures!

Now, please remember, we live in graduate housing.  So I can't paint the walls, and everything has a sort of industrial look to it (especially the carpet...I hate the carpet!).   But I think Jack's room has ended up pretty sweet, regardless.

I saw a picture on a blog of a nursery with a shelf and a daygown hanging from it.  My sweet friend Amy (to whom I showed the picture) happened up on this shelf in a goodwill in Pittsburgh.  She picked it up for me, I painted it, and Bech hung it.  I love how it looks!  The blue gown is the one Jack wore home from the hospital.  The white one he wore at his sip n' see in Jackson.  They are both so precious.  On the shelf I have The Velveteen Rabbit, a silver frame engraved with Jack's baptism date (and a picture of us on his baptism), and these darling bookend figurines that Miss Amy gave Jack.  And on the chair is a blanket that one of Bech's best friends from college made for Jack.

Here is Jack's dresser, the shelf, and Bella's gift to Jack.  It is a Jane Austen quote: "The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone."  I LOVE it.

The dresser, which feels a little chaotic (I need to work on it).  The piggy bank is from one of Bech's Mustard Seed co-workers and was made by one of the Seedsters.  The amphora or drinking cup was made by Bech for Jack.  

The top picture here is Bech on his first birthday...he was SUCH a cute baby!  And these apartments have no main light in each room (isn't that the weirdest thing?) so we hung a lantern.

Since Jack is too big to sleep in his Moses basket anymore, it's now holding stuffed animals and blankets.  And the wooden horse was given to him by some of my sweet professors--a Trojan Horse for Jack to play with!  I think he likes his little room (even if the carpet is ugly).

What we've been eating lately...

I have been slacking majorly in the food pictures lately...I know my mother is greatly disappointed (only kidding...she doesn't really like the food pictures!).

Part of that is because we just haven't been (or at least I haven't been) cooking much lately.  This year has been crazy what with school, Jack, and other jobs.  Mostly we just eat a lot of quesadillas, salads, hummus, etc.  We don't eat a lot of meat, partly because I don't necessarily just love meat, and partly because we try to eat grass fed beef and free range chicken.  But those types of meat are expensive--ergo, little meat.

But last week we splurged/compromised and got some organic chicken and grass fed beef.  

Here's what we've created thus far...

Buffalo chicken tacos...SO good!  Corn tortillas with lettuce, avocado, buffalo chicken, and a drizzle of blue cheese.

This is Bech's creation: beef shoulder (I think?) tacos.  These were yummy!  He slowly cooked the beef with some onions and peppers.  Then he added them to cheddar cheese and avocado on a corn tortilla.  Sprinkle some lime juice on top and it was fantastic!

Jack didn't want to miss out of any of the eating action.  This boy loves food!  He can't eat tacos yet, but I know he will love them when he can.

Also, see the super cute chevron rug in the background?  We ordered that from Urban Outfitters last week, and I love it!  I will take some more pictures of it to show.

8 Months

Baby Jack is 8 months old!

This month, we didn't get many good pictures--Jack wants to move around too much!

Jack weighs a little over 20 lbs (my guess is 21, but we won't know until we go to the doctor next month for his 9 month check-up).  He is wearing 9 to 12 month clothes (smaller in his smocked outfits).  He wears size 3 diapers.

Jack usually sleeps from 7:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. (although this month he has been going through a growth spurt, so we've had a few middle of the night feedings!).  He eats 4 times a day, about 7 oz each time.  He eats solids three times a day.

This month we tried our first finger foods--yogurt puffs.  Jack thinks they are a fun toy, but he's not so great at eating them.

Jack still just has his bottom two teeth...no signs of the tops ones, yet!

(Jack started to crawl over the edge of the chair...uh oh...!)

Jack loves to wave at people, but he has definitely started to get stranger anxiety.  Plus, he can be pretty clingy with me.  But he still loves his daycare ladies, so I am happy about that!

Jack is so much more mobile this month!  He can move himself around the floor, but he isn't quite crawling.  We are getting really close though.  He will lean over into the crawling position, but he's not sure about moving forward. Jack also loves to pull himself up on things

Likes:  Cuddling, anything that makes noise or he can chew on, sleeping, eating, baths, music, waving

Dislikes: getting out of the bath, getting his diaper changed

And finally, for comparison...