I'm not going to do Picks of the Week this week. In part because I didn't feel like much that I read this week is worth sharing. But also, because we are zipping away to a wedding tomorrow morning!


That said, I do want to share this post from Sit A Spell. Being in the middle of my first pregnancy, I am floored by the sharp contrast between my experience and these new moms in Haiti. By the mercy of God, I have easy access to massive quantities of information about pregnancy, giving birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum life. In fact, it's overwhelming at times to try to navigate through it all. When I read about these women in Haiti, and their babies, I was deeply moved. I can't imagine how scared I would be in their situation. If you only have time to read one thing this week, this is what I would recommend. And if you feel like you want to help these women (and future generations) there's an easy way to donate on the right side of the blog.


May your eyes be opened to God's mercies this week!

Picks of the Week 4.22.11


Evil and the Cross - Stand to Reason
Luther on True Contemplation of the Cross - Desiring God
Insights from a Precious Disabled Child of God - Randy Alcorn
Salt, Suffering, and Satisfaction - Desiring God
The Benefits of Taking Your Cod Liver Oil - Keeper of the Home


He is Risen! Hope everyone has a blessed Good Friday and Easter!

I have been excited to share these little gems for a long time now. They are from some of my favorite blogs and I have found the posts below to be so helpful pre-pregnancy to wrap my mind around what one really needs to take care of a baby. Now that I'm pregnant, they have served as a great foundation for creating my registries.


8 Essentials for a Newborn Baby - Simple Mom
The Things You Don't Need (But They Say You Do) For a New Baby - Simple Mom
Simplifying Babyhood: Top Items for Baby's First Year and Beyond - Simple Mom
Save It: The Baby Edition - Young House Love
Keeping It Real: The Baby Gear Factor - Young House Love


I set up registries with Wishpot.com and Target. If you care to look at my registries, you might notice that I registered for three kinds of diapers! I plan to use bumGenius cloth diapers and cloth wipes for the majority of my child's diapering lifespan, but they are a little too big for the first couple weeks so I registered for some disposables. The flat cotton rectangle "diapers" are for burp cloths. You might also notice that I registered for a moses basket as well as a crib. Our current apartment is on the small side, so baby girl will sleep in the basket for a couple months until we move into our next place where we will have the crib. I have a hand-me-down bouncy seat on the way so I didn't add that to the list, as well as some girl clothes from a friend whose twin daughters were born in France (ooh lala). Pacifiers are another item that many people find essential, but I've heard that not every baby likes them, so I might just buy one down the road and see if she is interested at all. 


For any Moms out there, what item(s) did you find most essential with your little one? 

We went to Half Moon Bay on Saturday. There was some morning fog so the beach was pretty empty, works fine for us! Shinobi had a lot of fun digging, running, and sniffing. He's still not too sure about the water though.

On Saturday night I prepped some sourdough cinnamon rolls so that I could throw them in the oven Sunday morning for breakfast to pair with some yogurt and strawberries. I wanted to test out the sweetness before adding the cream cheese frosting that the recipe suggests because Jonathan and I can get "sweeted out" pretty easily. They were delicious without any frosting at all! I'm going to have to start making these on a regular basis. A tip I should share is that it's way easier to cut the rolled up log into individual rolls if you wrap plain dental floss around the spot you want to cut and then tighten it until it slices all the way through.

Tonight, we went on a tour of Google. Our friends Josh and Kate invited us to dinner there. Their cafeteria is insane and we walked all around the campus. It was really fun to see where all the magic happens.

Picks of the Week 4.15.11


Memorizing Scripture: Why and How - Desiring God
For the Love of Sourdough! Starting a Sourdough Adventure - Keeper of the Home


We are going to the beach tomorrow! Woohoo! I need my dose of sand under my feet and salty sea air. I think we are going to bring Shinobi too. He loves digging in the sand.


Also, I think I felt my first kicks yesterday. One while I was driving and two while sitting at my desk. It felt like out of nowhere a tiny fist punched me from the inside right below my belly button. Very surprising each time, what a little rascal!

My co-worker picked a bunch of oranges off her tree this morning and brought them into work. Some of them practically fell off in her hands because they were perfectly ripe. There are not many experiences for the taste buds quite like eating an orange right off of a tree. My goodness. This is definitely a California experience and I fear I will long for it one day in the future.


I had my sixteen week check-up today. The baby's heartbeat is good, mine is good, and I'm gaining weight at just the right pace. Just have to keep doing what I'm doing I guess. I keep trying to feel movement in there but I am not sure I've felt anything yet.


Praise God for healthy babies and delicious oranges!

There is a new baby in the Thunderwolves' Pack. (We call our home group the Thunderwolves, in case you forgot). Baby Braxon was born this weekend. It was so fun getting to meet him in the hospital. He slept contentedly the whole time we held him and has such a cute little face. Pete and Charissa are beaming, happy parents. Here are a few photos:

Picks of the Week 4.8.11


The Greatest Hope of All - Compassion International Blog
Whole Family Cookbook Review - Simple Bites


Not a link, but a favorite this week for me has been homemade sourdough english muffins. I add a little more honey than the recipe requires and they are so good. If any of you out there make your own sourdough and want the recipe, let me know.


Jonathan is almost done with editing the Canada trip video for this year. It's actually pretty funny, I must say. This weekend I am grabbing breakfast with my buddy Sakura and Jonathan and I have another Monthly Midwife Tea. Should be fun!

I was in Oregon Wednesday through Sunday. I got a chance to hang out one-on-one with my dear friends Mary and Amber. But the main purpose of my trip was to throw my sister a bridal shower! 

Some of her bridesmaids came over Friday night and we surprised her with a mini-shower. They are sweet girls, it was fun getting to know them better over ice cream sundaes.

Saturday morning we had a nice brunch with homemade mini quiches, pancake stacks, a variety of pancake toppings, homemade biscotti, fruit salad, and a variety of drinks. I have to share some recipes that turned out well.

For pancake toppings, we had warmed nutella, sliced bananas, raspberries, blueberries, maple syrup, and honey orange syrup. The honey orange syrup was quite popular and the recipe can be found here. We had coffee and tea, but the sparkling lemonade and cucumber water were popular too. For sparkling lemonade, I filled a pitcher 2/3 of the way up with lemonade and added about a half cup of raspberries. I let that soak in the fridge for about an hour, then minutes before the guests arrived I filled the pitcher the rest of the way with sparkling water. For cucumber water, I thinly sliced about a quarter of a cucumber and added it to a pitcher of water (with room for ice) about an hour before guests arrived, then added some ice cubes at the last second. 

All the guests were so sweet and there was much laughing and storytelling.

It was so great to spend some time with the bride-to-be and check out the venue and other fun details. The wedding is just around the corner, I can't believe it!