7 Months

Eating pureed pears for the first time

Well, our sweet Jackson is 7 months old. I've been negligent in uploading our blog, primarily because I've been working a good bit of hours at the hospital, trying to clean up our house and get organized, unpacking more boxes, and taking care of my sweet baby. I've also taken a hiatus from Pinterest, as I was becoming a little addicted. Amazing how much time you can waste on the Internet!



I love these faces he makes while eating. We're still working on getting him used to the textures of food. Jackson is still nursing every 3 hours during the day, sleeps anywhere from 4-12 hours at night (4 hours, feeds, goes back to sleep...growth spurts?!).



We borrowed a doorway jumper from a friend, and to say Jackson loves it is an understatement. He's obsessed! I'll put him in the jumper while I'm cooking dinner, and I can hear the gentle tap-tap-tap of his bare baby feet on the hardwood floors, combined with much ooh-ing, aah-ing, and coo-ing.



Jackson's 2 bottom teeth are in, and I'm waiting on him to get more teeth in, evidenced by the continual drool.





Still no coordinated crawling yet, but he can definitely go after what he wants. He's such a happy baby and such a joy to us! We feel truly blessed.





Need a good end-of-summer read? I highly recommend Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder." Ann is an absolutely brilliant writer (and she lives in Nashville, fun fact). Another of her books I love is "Bel Canto." I promise you won't be disappointed in either book.





I just started Laura Hillenbrand's book "Unbroken," a true story about World War II. She's the author of "Seabiscuit," which I hope to read after this. "Unbroken" is a really intriguing read. It makes me appreciate our service men and women THAT much more than I already appreciate them! And it makes me sad that we don't have many WWII veterans left. Hillenbrand echoes my sentiments exactly in her dedication on the last page of her book: "I wish to remember the millions of Allied servicemen and prisoners of war who lived the story of the Second World War. Many of these men never came home; many others returned bearing emotional and physical scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they sacrificed, for the good of humanity."





Next week, we get to visit with some of our best friends, one of whom who recently came back from Iraq, and is now reunited with his infant and adorable wife. Thanks for your amazing service to our country Matt!

Oh wow, just finished watching the Auburn game. Close game, but at least we pulled it off! War Eagle!!!!

War Eagle

Above is a picture of how my child usually falls asleep at night: right arm raised up and resting on the bumper pad. He slept like that for a few hours last night. I have no idea how he doesn't lose all feeling in that arm from the lack of blood flow, but oh well. He sleeps.

I couldn't think of another "Title" for this blog post, and since football season is right around the corner, I thought I'd just say War Eagle :)

Pinterest has gotten me on a craft kick. These are the projects I've been doing lately:



These are lavender scented sachets from Kimberly Kennedy's book



These are fun little housewarming gifts, and if anyone wants to know how to make them, just let me know.

Second craft: Crinkly Taggies. You can find the tutorial here.



I thought I'd use wax paper as the crinkly inner part. But once I washed it, the crinkliness (made up word?!) was greatly diminished. Next time I'll use a baby wipes plastic packaging like she suggested.



This and this are next on my sewing agendas.

I just now realized that I'm not a big fan of messy eating. See Exhibit A below.



I also realize that I've got to get over myself, and that really, the sweet potato/breastmilk/rice cereal combination really wasn't that messy on Jackson, and I've only BEGUN to see messy days. Many more to come, Lord-willing.

Jackson is just now deciding he wants to eat foods, and thus far he's had teeny amounts of blueberries, a little bit of sweet potato, a teeny bit of squash and also banana, and just today, a huge helping of pureed zucchini. He loved it! Jackson still nurses during the day, every 3 hours, and he sleep for long stretches at night, getting up to nurse usually once or twice. His two bottom teeth are coming in more, and I know he'll be getting more teeth in soon as he continues to drool and gnaw on everything.






Jackson is definitely moving, as in he'll get whatever object he's after, whether he has to army crawl, do forehead-down-bottoms-up crawl, or get up on all fours, rock fiercely, and propel himself forward. It's so cute and so funny.

Bread & Jam

First of all, War Eagle! Football season is only a few short days away, and we're getting geared up in our house :)

Second of all, I'm ADDICTED to Pinterest. Maybe it's an unhealthy addiction right now, but until Andy is done with tax busy season, I'm going to continue this awesome search for DIY projects, recipes, decorating ideas, party ideas, etc.

That being said, I've found 2 great blogs and made these EASY and delicious recipes. Enjoy!

This bread is delicious and easy to make. I made this this morning and slathered it with this homemade jelly

House Pictures

Here are some before and after pictures of our house. We still have a ways to go, but thanks to hard work and to my mom's great help (she loves to decorate while babysitting Jackson), we've made some good progress!


This is taken from the dining room looking into the kitchen


Another "before" picture of the kitchen



Now an "after" shot. We had hardwoods laid in the kitchen, and we stained the floors darker throughout the house. An update of kitchen appliances is next on our to-do list, but for now, we're grateful they all work!





Below is a picture from the kitchen looking into the dining room. We also tore down a little of the wall separating the kitchen and dining room to open up the space (thanks for the suggestion, Ashley York, a fabulous designer and wonderful sister-in-law in Memphis!).



Before: The lovely wood-paneled room (with built-in liquor bar, thank you original owners)




After: We were initially going to caulk, prime, and paint this room ourselves. But it was worth every penny to get a professional to do it. It took the painter 4 days to do this exhaustive and time-consuming room!





Remember this lovely bright turquoise bathroom?



A coat (or two, or three) of paint later, and changing the doorknobs, and voila!





That's all for now! :)



Note: I've gotten quite a few comments questioning why we painted the wood-paneled room. While it truly was/is beautiful wood, whatever varnish they put on it tended to have a greenish hue to it. Therefore, time to paint! :)

And he's off...

My sweet little boy is cutting his first tooth, as well as doing a forehead-down, bottoms-up crawl. See pics below :)


I gotta focus, Mom




Are you ready??


K, watch me now...


Getting a running start (or is this a Pilates move?)




Plowing forward




Almost there...




Look at that dedication


Got it!


Sweet buddy, you're such a ham! :)