BBQ--Saturday, June 11

Jesse has been wanting to smoke a Boston Butt for quite some time.  He put the 5 lb pork on the grill as soon as he woke up this morning and let it cook all day. 

My school was open for three hours today for teachers to clear out final items from their classroom.  Jackson stayed home with Jesse, so I made sure there were two bottles ready just in case he got really hungry or I took longer than expected.  I thought I had already brought most of my school items home, but I still had two entire filing cabinets to go through.  Any paperwork that includes students names and ID numbers must be shredded, so it was a pain going through everything.  I ended up with quite a good bit more in my car than I planned--so much so that Jackson can't possibly fit in my car. 

I had originally planned to go out to lunch with my teammates, but I had a funeral to attend in Gastonia.  One of my childhood friend's mother passed away earlier this week, and my heart aches for her.  She is an only child.  While I know too well the pain of losing a parent, I cannot imagine grieving alone. 

Jesse and Jackson ran errands around town.  After returning home at 4 p.m. I was able to nurse Jackson and pump. Jesse had invited his parents over for dinner and I had invited my friend Ellen and her boyfriend over for dinner.  Before we knew it we were feeding seven people.  Jesse was so proud of his pork.  He chopped it and put it in the crockpot while I was delegated the responsibility of making slaw.  This is a chore because our food processor broke and I just end up with bits of cabbage everywhere. 

Family and friends came over and we feasted on BBQ, baked beans, potatoes, slaw, and ice cream.  Jackson slept in the swing while we ate.

This was the first time since the birth of Jackson that I felt relaxed and happy to entertain and cook for people.  Of course I'm always paranoid that there's not going to be enough food and tend to over compensate.  But there was no added stress about where to feed Jackson, Jackson crying, having too many burp cloths strewn about, etc.  We are parents of a two month old baby and I have proudly accepted the facts that I breastfeed, have a fussy baby in the evenings, and our son spits up a lot.  This acceptance feels so freeing.  Now I can enjoy being a mom and spending time with friends and family without feeling conflicted.

Shortly after the in-laws left we put Jackson in his crib for the night and played Taboo and Scattergories with Ellen, Drew, and Andrew.  Though you can't tell from the picture, both games were hilariously entertaining.

Our company just left at 10:30 and Jesse and I are ready to crash.  I pumped once more tonight, totalling 15 ounces of milk pumped for the day.  I now have over 100 ounces (20+ storage bags) of milk in the freezer, in addition to 5-10 ounces in the fridge at any given moment. 

Now it is officially time to sleep!