Where's Jack?

At least once or twice a week, Tim or I wake up in the night frantically searching for something in the covers of our bed.... that something is our baby. Of course, our searches have never (thankfully) recovered a smothered baby, because he's always safely in his bed.

But for whatever reason its this deep-seeded fear that one of us will fall asleep with him in the bed at night and forget he's there and smother him with the blanket. A few nights ago I did this. I woke up and started feeling around for him and was all "Tim where's Jack?!?" And another thing... how many different answers can this question really have?? If he's not in his bed, and he's not in our bed.... we're probably out of options. Anyways, Tim started feeling around for him all worried and I go and check to see if he's in his crib and Tim calls out "Is he in there?!?!?!" because obviously his search hasn't turned up any results. In the morning its all very funny...but maybe you have to be there.

I spoke too soon.

The past few days have been hard, hard, hard. It's amazing how everything can be going smoothly and then BAM, a hundred things go wrong at once.

Jack suddenly became a different baby and started fussing and crying after eating. We think it might be a food allergy or maybe acid reflux... it's hard to know. So I'm on an elimination diet - trying to cut out the possible offending foods. I'm on day two and I feel like all I've eaten are bananas, rice, chicken and raisins.

I have an itchy rash on my legs and arms that won't go away... and just like Jack's problem, the doctors are of little help in pinpointing what the cause is.

On top of all that Tim's car is having more issues and boooooooo hooooo we both want to cry - right along with Jack. Sometimes life gives you lemons and no, no I don't want to make lemonade right now, I'm tired. Especially since the doctor prescribed Benedryl.

But, things could be ALOT worse. I am thankful that my family is safe, we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and are generally in good health (it could be a lot worse.) I'm thankful that Jack is finally asleep and snoring next to me, that Tim and I both have jobs and that some of the weight on our shoulders will be relieved on Friday when we get paid.

I'm thankful God is still God and that even though there are times (like right now) that I wish he would step in and make everything better I can count on Him carrying me through the storm back into sunshine sometime in the hopefully near future.

Comissioned.

The fruits of my latest endeavor...

simple sketches are my favorite.

I Should Take More Pictures.

I should document our life more through photography. But I'm still on a 4 year hiatus/lack of inspiration. Leaving England killed it. Cleveland fails to recapture it. The intimidating work of others tends to discourage it. Goderich was the only place post - UK that was able to entice it. One day I hope to never be seen without a lens in front of my face. But for now, I seldom take an artistic photograph.

In other news, I'm finding that motherhood isn't as hard as I imagined. I think I was expecting it to be extremely wearing and overwhelming and no fun at all. Maybe its because Jack is "easy" or maybe I'm just more cut out for this than I realized, but I find myself feeling more of a natural at it than I anticipated. And that I fall more in love with my baby every day. My baby - the "belonging to" factor still seems odd to me. Can I believe I have my very own baby? No way. But he's here and he's perfect and I love that I'm starting to find ways to bring out his smile.

I'm still all about creativity in the kitchen - I've purchased three new cookbooks in the past couple of weeks. Tonight I made flatbread with crimini mushrooms and provolone cheese on top (Wild Mushroom Pizza) and a Greek Chicken Salad with homemade herb vinaigrette and homegrown veggies from my sister's garden. There's nothing like a fresh from the earth, organic cucumber.

Oh, and the results of our Weight-Loss Challenge? For every pound Tim loses, ten dollars gets put into a "bass fund" and for every five pounds I lose, he plans a date night. Now all we need is a scale, a fully assembled elliptical and cooler weather so I can run my socks off.

Health & Wellness.

I have to admit, since delivering Jack I haven't exactly watched what I eat. Blame it on 4 months of a strict gestational diabetes diet or just old habits dying hard once I wasn't eating for a growing fetus - either way, I've left caution to the wind...

Needless to say, I've had my fair share of indigestion and guilt ridden conscience and tonight is no exception. I could tell myself that through sheer will power I'll eat better, but that's just a pipe dream. So I need a plan. A good plan. I figure if I can incorporate my plan into this blog somehow, Julie and Julia style, I'll have a better chance at success. And if I can get Tim to participate with me - it's practically fool proof.

Now for the plan.... hmm.....

...to be continued...

Whoops.

We have Netflix. I've been anxious to see what all the fuss is about with the series Mad Men, as I often hear my in-laws raving about it. I added all of Season 1 to the que and bumped it to the top of the list.

When we got the first of the discs in the mail I wondered why it said "Disc 2" on it. My logic was that "Disc 1" was just a bunch of special features (even though that seemed a bit backwards) and that's why they didn't send it to us. We started watching the three episodes that are the included on the disc and while I was a bit confused at the beginning I figured that was just the nature of the show - you know, get right in there and figure it out as you go without much background story.

Yesterday I noticed on the menu page of the disc that it was chapters 4-6. So it finally "dinged" in my head that I skipped over having Disc 1 sent to us and we missed the first three episodes. Then the dots began to connect - like why I was so confused during what I thought was the first episode.

Sometimes my logic and reasoning skills leave much to be desired.

Food!

I've gotten back into the culinary swing of things the past couple of days, having felt compelled to fulfill my wifely duties as well as use up some of the almost-expired foods we had sitting in our fridge.

Sunday night was Oven Fried Chicken with Corn on the Cob.

Monday night was Vegetarian Angel Hair Pasta with Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.

Today Tim cooked dinner (he's way better than me both in skill and creativity) and made Shredded Pork Tacos, which were delicious.

I have a hankering to bake some cookies, and settled on a simple recipe but alas the ONE ingredient I'm missing is cooking oil. I'm guessing olive oil will be too heavy?

Anyhoo, the recipe I settled on was Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. And on that note, I can't wait till I'm able to start exercising again next week! Tim finally got the missing parts for the elliptical and I purchased a workout mat today for all those sit-ups I'm going to have to do in order to try and get some semblance of a pre-pregnancy stomach back. People say its next to impossible, but I'm up for the challenge. In the meantime, I'll be eating cookies.

Isn't it a shame that junk food is bad for you? Wouldn't life be so much sweeter (literally) if our comfort foods were good for us? But then, maybe its all a mental thing where if the junk food was considered healthy, we'd be sneaking carrot sticks and handfuls of flax seed throughout the day. Doubtful.

Ok, that's all for now.

Lately.

We've been busy playing lots of Scrabble, getting very little sleep, buying diapers (because Jack refuses to grow into the next size, of which we have full stock), tidying and re-tidying the apartment and hosting or going on visits with Jack's admirers.

For extra fun - and to maintain some semblance of our old life - we went to the Westside Market and bought bacon, explored Gordon Square Arts District (which was a huge waste of time because the only places of interest were one coffee shop and two home stores) and watched lots of movies.

Jack also embarked on his first international venture up to Canada last week, after we learned that my Nan had passed away. It felt crazy at the time to drive up with a one month old, only to stay for 12 hours but it was good and necessary to be with family to remember such an exceptional woman. We have her to thank for so many of our favorite memories, our sacred family traditions, and on a personal note - the deep and undying love for England that runs from her blood into mine.

Yesterday was relax day with lots of lazing about and cooking a delish dinner of oven fried chicken and corn on the cob, finished by a warm evening stroll to Dairy Queen for a turtle bowl sundae where I discovered indefinitely that I prefer hard scoop ice cream over soft serve.

The End.