The greatest love of my life

Like many new parents, I'm just amazed at the amount of love I feel for this little human being that demands so much of my time and attention. Both hubby and I love him beyond words. It's amazing what he does to our hearts.

My sweet, sweet darling boy.

Fun at the fair

And another summer concludes with the the Iowa State Fair. We chose to go with our friends S and A this year. This was Jack's first visit, and he was just wonderful. The weather was nice and we found some free parking. Baby boy took everything in and seemed to enjoy it all. Here are some photos from the day.

Denim overalls, white t-shirt & Converse shoes

This morning baby boy and I went over to my parents' house for breakfast. We watched grandpa and auntie working in the garden.

Later we headed home and had our auntie S come over. We took a stroll and had dinner together. Baby boy was rocking his outfit. It's so much fun to dress him.

Highs and lows and highs

It's been a while since my last post... I know, I know. It's just that time has passed too quickly lately. Mostly we are just busy with work, family stuff, bathroom renovations, and of course, baby. Here are some new developments.

My parents came back from their vacation

My mom celebrated her birthday

We also had some sad news. A cousin of my mom's passed away unexpectedly. We are still in shock and grieving along with his family. But through it all, my little guy has provided the most comfort.

Showing off his Chuck Taylors

Sweet babe

Wearing his Sarajevo '84 Olympics vintage t-shirt while watching Olympics

More about lunch/Cousins visit

I received my Bento tiffin today, as well as some silicone cups for dividing my food. I really like it.

And here is my lunch for tomorrow. No longer boring-looking, plain old midday meal. There is a salmon-bean-arugula toss, and for snacks, I have yogurt, blueberries, grapefruit and a hard-boiled egg. It all fits and looks fun.

And for dinner, I've got some simple garlic spinach with chicken and sweet potato. Yum!

I think I'm getting hang of clean eating. The challenge will be to maintain it. Making lunch-packing a creative outlet sure helps.
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Tonight we also had some great company. Hubby's cousins came over for a little while to meet Jack. It was so nice to see them all.

It's nice to see them all together. We were missing a couple more, but it was still nice and rowdy.

The art of packing lunch

I continue to see blogs talking about Bento lunch packing for little ones. While it's a departure from the traditional Japanese Bento, it is still a fun concept - packing lunches in a creative and compact way. As someone who needs a creative outlet, I find this idea appealing. I hate packing my lunches so this is the motivation I needed to stick to my diet and save money in the process. While there is nothing really creative about my lunch and snacks, having the right containers, baggies, dividers, and lunch bags forces me to put more thought into the art of packing my lunch.

Cottage cheese, fruit, nuts, black bean soup, corn tortilla turkey breast wraps

I ordered a nifty Bento container from Amazon, but in the meanwhile I found some awesome containers at Target. They are the right sizes and snap into one another for a very compact lunch bag. I also found some fun-colored sandwich Ziploc bags (not pictured) that will come in handy.

Lunch & snacks - and they all fit into a small lunch bag

In addition, I scored a $3 lunch bag for Jack on clearance. It is only big enough to hold Jack's three daily bottles for daycare. So cute!

Fooood

Mr. Jackers has started eating pureed fruit. He definitely has his favorites (pears). But if the fruit is even a tiny bit tangy, baby boy will initially get over-dramatic in his disdain.

Waaa... sweet potato is way too sour!

But once it settles in his mouth, he usually approves and continues to eat.

Hmm... I suppose it's not that bad.

As for mom and dad, we decided to cook more at home. Obtaining over-processed fast food had gotten way too easy and cheap, so we got to make a concerted effort in planning and preparing our meals ahead. Tonight we made coconut curried lamb (for him)/chicken (for me). It was served on lime/lemongrass rice and a side of minty-fresh raita (cucumber salad). It was super-delicious.

The rest of the meals for the week have been planned out and I spent 2 hours at the grocery store trying to find some obscure ingredients. I decided to follow a meal plan in the Clean Eating magazine, which always introduces me to some new foods (bok choy? haddock?).  We'll see how it goes.