The May Nest

in thinking about the new year, my main resolution is to live more simply and be more organized.  (i know, i know, Dream On, you say)

here’s the thing.  i have too much stuff.

i hold on to my stuff for two main reasons:

1.  fear.  fear i will NEED those items some time in the future, and i might not have the ability (financial or otherwise) to go get what i need.

2.  guilt.  guilt for throwing away gifts people have given me (us, jackson) or for just trashing perfectly good items that i simply don’t want any more.

so, i feel as though someone needs to let me off the hook, and give me permission to go ahead and throw everything away.

these items might include:  weird shampoo bottles that i keep “just in case i run out” but i hate the smell, so i usually run and go get what i need anyway . . . picture frames that were gifts that don’t match our style . . . papers, papers and more papers! . . . extra envelopes that are odd sizes . . . candles that have just a FEW more burns left in them but i often pick them up and choose another one . . .

thanks, Mom, for giving me permission to go ahead and give it all away.

onward and upward.  time to purge, people.

so we were headed to a halloween party in which case jackson was pretty much going to get there and go to sleep.  however, we wanted to do something fun anyway, and the whole bachelor tuxedo thing was just not going to happen again. so jmay pulled out this teddy bear onesie that someone gave us when he was first born and it STILL fit!  i was amazed.  after we put the little hood up, the wonderful and creative hubs said, “hey, all he needs is a crown, and he can be max from where the wild things are!”.  2 minutes and a central market brown paper bag later, Jax as Max was a success!

I never thought I’d be the girl that made her Own Baby Food.  Who ARE those people anyway?  I have my organic friends that make fun of me for eating “conventional vegetables” (heaven forbid!) and I could pretty much suffice on macaroni and cheese everyday and be just fine.  But something about sweet little Jackson and his perfect body, not yet contaminated with cheese and chocolate, makes me want to strive for that purity as long as possible.  Maybe it’s just the smell of those nasty baby food jars, or maybe I think I’ll win some award for being the Queen of Puree or something, but I decided to go all out and make Jackson’s food from — you guessed it, SCRATCH.

I documented my first attempt with some sweet potatoes. I have now been making his food for over 2 months and still LOVE it.

1.  Slice and Dice.

2.  Steam.

3.  Puree.

4.  Put into little ice cube trays — perfect 2 oz portions.

5.  Success!  (Freeze)

<<disclaimer>>

No, this is not a product plug for the fabulous invention called the Beaba.  I simply didn’t own a food processor of any sort (gasp!) so the fact that this could steam and puree in one little all in one device sounded like the best option for me.  Easy, peasy, right??

And what did Jax think?

so my mom’s group met at the arboretum to take some pictures of our munchkins in their costumes.

jax was doing great until we GOT there {of course} and decided to have an all out melt down while taking the big group pics.

how SAD is that face with the lone tear?! poor Boo!

for his first halloween, jax is The Bachelor, so he was asking sweet Anna {aka bumble bee} to “Please accept his rose” {see his sign??}

it was getting chilly and he was uncomfortable in his jacket, so i added a hat, and he was suddenly a conductor?!

and here he is begging me to quit taking pictures and just pick him up . . .