two months old

Whether I believe it or not, eight whole weeks have passed since little Benjamin was born. That means 56 nights we've survived, people! Oh yeah... and all those days, too. It's easy to block out all the difficult parts of infantdom which is good because otherwise the species would not go on. I forgot how stressful the random sleeping is, how brutal the witching hours of 6-10pm can be, how it's still not pleasant having to wake up after two hours of sleep. But when I hold his little tiny body next to me, when I smell his warm, milky skin and hear his little soft sighs and coos as he nurses, when I see his smile as he looks at me.... well, I don't care how much trouble he (sometimes) is.

That smile is so allusive to catch on film

Meanwhile... don't go to Costco on an empty stomach. And whatever you do, don't go past the rotisserie chickens because you might just end up with two of them because they look so delicious. Ahem. 

So... I've been busy. Jacob has actually been sick this week, Benjamin (thankfully) has been sleeping pretty well during the day, and I have been making a lot of chicken dishes. I made a chicken corn chowder, this super delicious chicken tetrazzini and chicken enchilada casserole which I haven't tried yet. Plus, I've made homemade chicken broth!

I've always wanted to make homemade chicken stock but was always turned off by the idea of using a whole chicken only to throw it away after boiling it in the water. But you can also just use the carcass with whatever meat is left on there. I used the general recipe from here which is just a fun blog to check in on anyway. It's really awesome that this pan of compost-looking stuff...

 can be turned into the deliciousness of this...

I sauteed some celery and carrots then added the broth and chicken. Let me tell you, it tastes much better than Campbell's chicken and stars. Much more like... well, chicken.

We'll see how the next few days go. Hopefully Jacob starts feeling better soon. And when he does, we might just have to make these chocolate chip cookies. To celebrate, you know.