9.29.15 - 99th percentile

Today Jack scored in the 99th percentile on his nursing entrance exam and his Pell grant went through to our bank account. Two major victories. We celebrated by trying a place called Pieology, which we originally thought made only pies but later learned makes pizza pies. I got pesto with chicken and pineapple, and it was great. Jack got something with as much meat on it as possible. It was a beautiful night, we sat outside, and Clara slept through most of it and woke up at the end to cuddle and enjoy the evening air. It was a really nice little family date.

9.28.15 - Don & Merlene's visit

Don and Merlene came out to see us last week. They got in very late Wednesday night so they went to their hotel and came over the next morning instead. From there they spent most of each day with us at our apartment, and it was really nice. Like when Mom visited, Jack would go to school and I'd go to get some work done and they'd happily stay and babysit Clara. Other highlights:

On Thursday night Merlene was playing with Clara with the little mirror we rest on the floor for her. Merlene would smile and wave at Clara through the mirror, and much to our delight Clara started crawling toward the mirror! It's the first time we've seen her crawl forward, so we were all pretty excited. She didn't seem to get what everyone was freaking out about, haha.

Their trip involved lots of delicious food. Merlene made tortellini dinner (a Jackson family tradition), and at other points she made taco salad, ground beef potato stir fry, and BLTs. One night we all went out for Shabu (Japanese fondu), which Jack and I had never done before. Don and Merlene even brought some pretty tasty banana nut muffins from the hotel for breakfast, and they also bought us a bunch of Diet Coke and chocolate Skinny Cow ice cream to have around the house.

Shabu

On Satuday we all got up early and went out to do a 5k called the Break Free Run out in Folsom. Side note: the shirts they gave us were really nice quality, very light fabric and soft. So that was kind of pleasant. Merlene even registered Clara in the race so she got her own shirt and number, which we pinned to her stroller, haha.

Clara is number 1447, haha.

The weather was really nice and the trail was kind of pretty--winding through parks behind nice residential areas, almost all of it in the shade. There were volunteers along the route whose whole job appeared to be to cheer all of us on. Near the end there were two volunteers dressed as minions from Despicable Me and one was holding a sign that said "You're one in a MINION!" :)

But even better than the volunteers were these two little kids, brother and sister, standing in their pajamas in the driveway of their house dancing around and waving sparkly pom poms, and the girl was using a duck call whistle over and over. They were extremely enthusiastic.

Clara fell asleep just before the race started and she woke up only a few minutes after we crossed the finish line. Don pushed her most of the way, and he and Merlene got ahead of Jack and me near the end. As Don and Clara passed the announcer at the finish line, the guy said over the bullhorn "All wrapped up and taking a nap, I love it! That's the way to do a race!" We thought that was pretty funny.

We had parked in an adjacent strip mall in front of a breakfast place. When we got back to the car I thought it would be better to feed and change Clara before driving home. So we decided to sit outside the breakfast place and maybe get some orange juice or something, but somehow that involved into eggs Florentine and mimosas, which were absolutely delicious. It was a nice break.

Then I thought Don was driving us back but instead he took a quick detour to see the house where I grew up. It was very nostalgic. We went to the end of the street and saw the old Tot Lot too, and took pictures of Clara there. So surreal to see my baby girl in the same play area I went as a child.

The next day Don got the supplies to fix our living room chair, which had been resting on the ground for months after one of the legs broke. Now it sits at a normal height again and is much easier to get in and out of. After Jack got off work, he and Don went to Ikea to pick out a couch to replace our horrible, sitting-on-metal-bars futon. Jack and I had been unsure about letting Don and Merlene get us such an extravagent gift but they insisted, and I love the couch. Not only is it way more comfortable than the futon had been, it's also one of the first pieces of "real" (read: not from a thrift shop or Craigslist) furniture we've had. I'm hoping it lasts us for years to come.

While the guys were gone, Clara took a nap and Merlene and I got to have a good one-on-one visit. That means a lot to me because I don't talk to the Jacksons that often when we're in different states, and even when we are around each other in groups I feel like most of our conversation is relatively casual. It was enjoyable to get to have a conversation of some depth with her. We talked about parenting and what it's like for her to have adult children. We talked about the apparent gender gap in the way people treat birthdays. It was just a good visit.

After the guys came back, Don and Merlene watched Clara so Jack and I could go on a date. We went to our tried and true favorite sushi place, got our favorite table, and had some very delicious food.

Jack was kind of tired, but it was still nice for some uninterrupted one-on-one time. There was a mom with two girls (looked to be age 5-7 or so) at a table near us. The girls looked like sisters and they were giggling uncontrollably and goofing around with each other and it was really very cute. Jack and I talked about when we might have another kid and thought about what it would be like for Clara to be a sibling. As we drove home from the date we got to see the lunar eclipse. I can't remember if I've ever seen one in person before. It was pretty amazing to watch, although way beyond the capabilities of my phone camera. Don got some pictures of it though.

Click to enlarge.

Today, the last day they were here, they came over in the morning and the guys went to pick up the couch while Merlene and I hung out again. We got to talk about why I'm so behind on my research, which I think was a helpful conversation in maybe getting me back in gear on that.

Later after the guys came back Merlene was talking about how she needs to learn some more kids' songs to sing to Clara, and that segued into her pointing out she knows a lot of Christian songs for kids but she wasn't sure how we would feel about that. I was actually very pleased she brought that up, because it's the first chance I've had to openly discuss our different religious views (mine and Jack's vs. Don and Merlene's). It was something I was nervous about bringing up because it seems like it's easy for those conversations to go sideways, so I was really glad Merlene brought it up herself. We talked about how Jack and I don't expect them to hide such an important part of their lives from our children, and as long as there isn't any "we're right and your parents are wrong" type of mentality we're fine with it. Merlene looked vaguely horrified at the thought and said they'd never do anything like that--and I wouldn't have expected them to, for the record, but it was still nice to have a direct conversation about it. Anyway I was really glad we got to talk about that. I just feel so much better when the people in my life and I can be direct about even tricky subjects.

Anyway, shortly after they left, but one of the great things about a September visit is now Christmas doesn't feel so far away. :)

Butterscotch Banana Bread

Baking Time:  40 minutes

Recipe Makes: 10

Calories:          249

             

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup of butterscotch chips 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients (butterscotch chips last) and mix.  Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 40 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

9.15.15 - mini FroYo date night & Jack's Joy Inventory

The weather finally cooled down! We went from days pushing or surpassing 100 degrees just last week to a high of only 75 today. It was glorious!

As a kind of celebration, Jack and I decided to have a family outing and go for a walk in the evening. He looked up the nearest frozen yogurt place to his campus, and we dropped by there for a treat.

Left: fruity yogurt with lots of fruit and nuts on top.

Right: chocolatey yogurt with lots of choclate candies and cherries on top.

Guess whose is whose?

We took the yogurt and walked Miss Clara (in her stroller) up to Jack's campus and all around. It's a pretty campus with lots of huge trees. It reminds me of a mixture of the junior college and university I attended for my undergrad. It was kind of nostalgic that way. Jack showed me where each of his classes is this semester and we just chit chatted. At one point we walked past some big leafy trees as the wind was blowing and several golden leafs blew past us and it just made me so happy--finally it seems like summer is over!

After awhile we got to talking about the movie Inside Out again, and discussing which character, overall, we were most like. Jack claimed he was Joy and I was Disgust. I countered that I'm the one with a Joy Inventory, maybe I'm Joy. I pointed out I have 100s of entries in my Joy Inventory, and challenged him to come up with 10 things that give him joy. As he thought of them I started entering them in my phone so we wouldn't forget. The whole walk back to the car (at the frozen yogurt shop) he thought of what would be in his joy inventory, and he ended up with 50 different entries! Here they are:

1. Water so cold it hurts your throat.
2. Express checkout lanes
3. Clara
4. Reel Big Fish
5. Cold brewed coffee
6. Science
7. The smell of fresh cut grass.
8. Upper division classes.
9. Lab partners that actually care.
10. Salted caramel ice cream.
11. Wall ball.
12. Having four new tires on the car.
13. The lymphatic system.
14. Soft, bite-sized chocolate chip cookies.
15. When his head is freshly shaved.
16. Clara's farts.
17. His sleep apnea machine.
18. White Castle crave case.
19. Gas under $3/gallon.
20. Phi Mu Alpha.
21. Patrick Rothfuss.
22. The Dinkles (Peter Dinklage).
23. SG-1.
24. Game Grumps.
25. Quitting WoW.
26. Gunther's pumpkin ice cream.
27. Gunther's walnut ice cream.
28. Riding his bike everywhere/saving money on gas.
29. California rolls.
30. His car horn.
31. Tichu.
32. Lego's.
33. Puzz 3D.
34. The Resistance.
35. Newsradio.
36. Quoting Newsradio.
37. Marrying me.
38. Working on his car.
39. Knowing the way around whichever city we live in.
40. Dad's (Ed's) ribs.
41. Neil's mashed potatoes.
42. Neil.
43. Zachary's pizza.
44. Inside Out.
45. Edoku.
46. Our military.
47. Warrior.
48. Gladiator.
49. Scrubs.
50. Peanut butter m&m's.

Since I already have pictures for some of these things (our Joy Inventories cross over, how cute!) I'm just going to include them here:

7/26/16 - Jack added tshirts without tags and when younger relatives of actors play the actors' younger selves in movies or TV.

Sprinkling!

9.12.15 - Mom's visit

A week ago today Mom came out for a visit!

Jack, Clara, and I all went to the airport together to pick her up. She got to hold Clara right away. Mom and I both hope and expect Clara is more used to Mom because we all Skype together so regularly.

The whole trip was very pleasant and relaxing. Mom couldn't get enough of being with Clara, which worked out really well because either we were hanging out in the apartment together and I could get other things done while Mom and Clara played, or Mom would babysit while I went to Starbucks to do paid work and Jack was at school.

Nice JaMa cuddles.

Mom also babysat so Jack and I could go on a date. We went to see Inside Out in theaters and it was incredible. (Warning: spoilers) It was about a little girl's personified emotions, and it did a great job capturing the bittersweet process of growing up and no longer being a little kid anymore. It was so poignant, and I think it was especially raw for Jack and me, having just had our first daughter. We both cried at one point. We also laughed out loud several times. It was just a fantastic movie.

It was so good, in fact, that we decided to go with Mom and Clara and see it again, this time at the drive in. It was a week night and there were hardly any other cars there. It was pretty hot during the day for Mom's visit, but that meant the nights were pleasantly warm. We got refillable popcorn and some raisinets and we brought our own canned Diet Cokes in a mini cooler. Clara handled it all pretty well. She hung out in her carseat for awhile and then we adults all took turns holding her while she alternated between kind of watching the movie to bouncing in our laps. She only started to get fussy once, so I took her outside the car and held her while standing and swaying side-to-side, still watching the movie. It was surreal to watch a movie about a little girl growing up while holding my little girl.

Anyway, another big part of Mom's visit was her teaching me to use my sewing machine. She bought a pattern and the fabric needed to make Clara a cute red sundress. That was a brilliant idea, because having an actual project to work on allowed me a lot of opportunities to make mistakes and correct them, meaning I learned much more than I would have if I'd simply sewn a few patches on some ripped shirts. It has been really fun learning to sew and Mom was a huge help. I don't even know enough to understand the pattern's instructions without her interpretation. I tried to get as much of the dress done as I could before she had to leave, but couldn't quite finish it. That's no big deal, though, because we opted to make it a size larger than what fits Clara now, so I really have until probably next summer to finish it.

Fitting together the skirt part of the dress.

Making sure the bodice will fit.

Another fun theme of the trip was delicious food. Mom, Clara, and I went grocery shopping one of the first few days and Mom told me to pick out whatever food I normally would like to get but wouldn't spend money on. So we got milk and cereal, Kettle sea salt chips, chocolate fudgey ice cream, and the ingredients for spinach sausage loaf, which Mom kindly made with a fruit salad. Man, that stuff is so good. A different night she tooks us out to dinner at Elephant Bar, and on our two different runs to the craft store (to get a pin cushion and other stuff for the sewing project) we got candy. That was a simple fun way to make it feel like a vacation.

Clara eats while watching TV at the Elephant Bar.

Mom stayed at a nearby hotel for the whole trip. We'd originally planned to have her sleep on an air mattress at our place to save money, but Clara had been struggling so much with sleeping recently that Mom was worried it was be too much, so she opted for the hotel. Then, due to some problems with her room, the hotel ended up refunding her entire stay! So it really worked out well--we had plenty of space from one another and it cost her nothing. 

Because she saved hundreds of dollars, Mom decided to use a little bit of it to buys us some gifts. So she ordered us a few stackable toys for Clara, a food processor, and a second fan. It was all very thoughtful. She's incredibly generous.

On her last day, Jack had to go to class, so it was just Clara and me who took Mom to the airport. We parked and went in with her, waited in line for check-in, and walked with her all the way to the trains that take passengers to the gate area. Mom did pretty well saying goodbye to cuddly little Clara, even though it was relatively sad. It helps to know we can keep Skyping with her later.

Overall it was a great trip and I'm grateful for a generous and loving Mom and JaMa to my baby girl.

Flash mobs!

Pin cushions.

9.3.15 - Clara is 6 months old.

And she can:

• scoot and roll all over the living room
• pick up objects and hold them herself
• drop them in favor of other objects
• babble
• focus on me reading multiple books in a row
• suck on her toes
• interact with people on Skype
• eat some rice cereal mixed with breast milk
• recognize herself in the mirror

And probably a lot more. That's just what came to mind first.

Yesterday morning I woke up at 6am to pump. I was just managing to fall back asleep at 7am when Clara woke up and started fussing. After I fed her she was still pretty wide awake, so I put her down on the living room floor and layed next to her. We just layed on our sides facing each other, and she kept reaching out with her little hands and touching my cheeks and hair, like she was trying to grab my face. She snuggled really close to me although she kept switching from back to tummy and back again. She kept putting her face really close to mine and brushing mine with her hands. It was a really cute, peaceful moment.

Our family's life is very hectic right now with Jack getting back into classes and cutting back on work, and me trying to ramp up work, keep the apartment in reasonable order, and fine time to work on my own project. It's a little overwhelming sometimes but I'm so glad we have Clara. We both love her intensely and it's hard to imagine a life without her now. Plus I think it's probably more straightforward to figure out education and career and paying bills than it is to figure out relationships, marriage, and having kids, so if I had to pick one or the other I'd pick the setup we have now.

Checking out Daddy's lab goggles.

Flipping the calendar

Free Starbucks samples.

8.26.15 - Rocketism

Rocket (not a morning person) asked Jill,  "Can I just sleep until I wake up and then go to school?  Can you ask them about that?"

Recent sensory joys

Baby Einstein

Shout out to Baby Einstein for being a cute, non-disruptive series to play for Clara while she's strapped into her high chair and I'm taking a break.

Green

Green slithers in to make me cool

I'm floating in a still, wet pool

with butterflies that dart and pass

surrounded by the glistening grass.

8.19.15 - milk

I see a lot of posts in the FB Mommy2Mommy group from women struggling with milks supply. Some have twins and are having a hard time producing enough to feed both. Many are struggling to save up any breast milk to freeze for their babies when they go back to work.

All of those posts make me very grateful supply isn't something I've had to worry about. I produce enough to feed Clara and freeze extra every day. It's good to remember how many ways parenting is going smoothly for us.

Green and Gold Bake

I eat this dish a lot when I'm calorie counting. It's savory and easy to throw together. I also eat it when I'm not calorie-counting, but usually I add more cheese and maybe some ground beef or breakfast sausage in that case.

1 24-oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 24-oz container of fat-free cottage cheese
9-12 Tbsp of egg whites
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 tomato, diced

Mix all ingredients together. Use cooking spray on a baking dish and add mix, spread evenly. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. (Sometimes I mix all ingredients but the tomato, add half to the baking dish, add all the tomato, add the other half on top.)

I like to then toast some bread and add a bunch of the G&G Bake to make a sandwich, but it's pretty good on its own too.

8.9.15 - Foot peek-a-boo

The other night I had Clara in her pjs and a swaddle but she wasn't tired yet. I had her resting in my lap, leaning against my propped up legs, facing me, bottle feeding. I was absent-mindedly looking at my phone and her foot was near my mouth so I pretend to bite it, and she thought that was funny. She started sticking her foot near my mouth on purpose and every time I'd pretend to kind of growl and bite it and she kept smiling. Soon she wasn't eating anymore and pulled away from the bottle to watch me.

Then I held her feet against my forehead so that her swaddled legs covered my face, and I'd pull her legs down quickly and shout "boo!" She was laughing so hard! Sometimes I wouldn't shout anything; I'd just pull her feet down *just* enough to see my eyes, not my whole face, and she'd grin and grin like this was some insanely clever inside joke she and I had that no one else had ever thought of. I kept alternating between "boo!" and peeking out at her for a long time while she laughed harder and harder. Melted my heart, she's so cute.

8.8.15 - Janice's last card-making session

Janice is moving out-of-state now that she has graduated and gotten a job elsewhere. Today she came over for one last card-making session. For various reasons no one else could make it, so it was just her and me crafting and chatting for a few hours (plus Clara and Beegee, neither of whom had much to say). It was enjoyable and very nostalgic. I've had a lot of fun the last few years having crafting parties with different friends from my program. It was a nice past time and tradition while it lasted. I mean I guess it may still happen but as more people move away it gets harder. I'm glad for the times we already had.

8.7.15 - Sushi buffet

Tonight my dear friend Shannon and her boyfriend Mike watched Clara so Jack and I could go out. I'd been looking forward to our date for several days because the way our schedules are right now, Jack and I don't get to spend a lot of time together, especially not a lot of baby-free time.

So we dropped Clara off at Shannon's and went to downtown Davis for an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. I haven't had sushi in a long time and it was wonderful. We sat at a counter that had little wooden boats filled with sushi rolls, edamame, pot stickers, and sesame chicken floating by, and we grabbed whatever looked good. Plus some refreshing Diet Cokes of course.

Jack had purposefully not eaten much during the day so that he would have a huge appetite. We both ate our fill plus a little more.

When we were done, Jack said he needed to "walk it off," so we walked around downtown Davis for awhile. It was a beautiful night, probably in the 70s, and since it's Friday there were a lot of people around, from all the college kids to families getting some air. There were a couple street musicians too. We walked around for maybe 20 or 30 minutes and just held hands and talked about movies our families loved growing up and where we might live after California and whether parents can tell which other adults are parents even if the kids aren't around. We talked about how much we love Clara too. It was such a nice date.

When we went to pick Clara up, she was just hanging out calmly with Shannon. Apparently they had all gone for a walk to take the dog out of the apartment and keep Clara entertained. It means so much to me to have friends willing to babysit for free to give Jack and me a break sometimes. It was a great night.

8.2.15 - Surprise gift card

Today in the mail I got a check for some editing work I did for a former professor of mine. But along with the check she sent me a Starbucks gift card "to say thank you." It was so sweet. Made my night.