Joyful Domesticity

In God’s perfect timing, our sweet little redheaded boy has arrived into our open arms!

Rejoice with us in God’s great kindness!!
And isn’t he beautiful?!!
(I’ll be posting some better pics once they’re uploaded)

This is the weather we are still enjoying… with intermittent bits of blue sky & sunshine occasionally peeking through.
So my question is this: has spring actually sprung yet?! 🙂
And yes, that’s our super cute Dilly May. She loves snow!

And as an aside, I have blisters on eight of my fingers.
My father restrung my broken harp strings for me, and I couldn’t resist playing for about an hour tonight.
Pretty music, but ouch! 🙂

What’s funny is that my bridal shower was less than a year ago at this same house… the same adorable family from my church hosted last year’s bridal shower and this year’s baby shower! I am a very blessed little lady. 🙂
Anyway, I’m not going to post a host of pics of food, gifts, people, etc… but here is one of me & the cake (which the 35 or so women devoured even after a healthy brunch!), and then The Boy with his mama, grandmama, and auntie.

We were showered with wonderful gifts, encouragement, support, laughter — it was all such a blessing. I loved going through the pile of gifts back at home, showing my husband and watching him ooh & aah over things. I think he is especially exited to start reading the books to the baby. 🙂 I think we’ll be having a “read to the belly” date tonight after Bible study, hehe.
We went down to the hospital for the first time this weekend: we timed the drive for an estimate, and then got to tour the whole L&D floor. It was great. Made me nervous, though, for the first time. 😉 It’s going to be a really great place for us, and the nurses all spoke highly of our midwives. So that’s nice. 🙂
My husband also installed the carseat in the back seat of our Subaru — I’m so tempted to stick a baby doll in there for the next month until The Boy takes his place there. Haha.

I’m wondering when the excitement of diapers will wear off. Probably after about twelve poopy diapers, huh? 🙂
Well… regardless… until the excitement wears into drudgery (may it never be!) or at least habit, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my newly ordered diapers & diaper covers. I have 14 Proraps diaper covers on the way along with two dozen more (for I already have a couple dozen) prefolds. I’m super thrilled at this point. 🙂

And I have a baby shower tomorrow!! I can hardly believe it. In fact, my bridal shower was just 51 Saturdays ago at the same family’s home. Isn’t that fascinating? (not like I actually counted the weekends… hehe)

And this might sound strange… but have any of you ever tried “natural induction” methods?
You know: ye olde wives’ tales about evening primrose, castor oil, sex, spicy food, exercise, on & on… I have this feeling I’ll end up carrying The Boy to 42 weeks, and around my due date I will probably start getting antsy… so I want to know if any of those things actually work for anyone.
In the end, God has it planned anyway. I do trust in His sovereignty and wisdom.
And He will probably just give me an extra exercise in patience in the meanwhile. 🙂

Also: since I am planning to give birth in a hospital, any tips on things (besides the obvious “norm”) to bring along??

Yes, I am starting that nesting thing. Not like I am not a natural nester anyway, so I don’t think it’s new for me. 😉

Blessings on all you mommies and preggies! I know there’s gotta be something in the water…

thanks for all those comments! you gals are amazing. 🙂
I had a feeling that California homemakers would probably have something to say about cloth diapering. 🙂
I’ll be clicking on those links this evening when I get off work… THANKS!!

So here’s a question (or two or ten) for y’all, just in case anyone actually looks at my blog this week. 🙂

Do you use/have you used cloth diapers?
I’m going to use prefolds & diaper covers, so would you have a brand of diaper cover to recommend?
How many prefolds & covers would your experience say are necessary?
What other “supplies” are necessary for cloth diapering? (diaper pail, borax, etc)

Thanks for any input anyone can offer! 🙂
I’m excited about my upcoming diapering adventure. Woo hoo!

My grandparents continually bless us with the gift of Meyer Lemons, a California joy we love. And something we do not have to endure missing too often! They seem to bring us bags & boxes of lemons every time they come visit, and a couple of months ago, there were actually two (heavy!) boxes of lemons delivered to my door by Mr. UPS. How fun! My mom, sis-in-law, and I enjoy incorporating these citrus gold mines into our culinary creations. My favorites are lemon bars, poppyseed-lemon pound cake, and the basic broiled salmon with lemon. Mmm! However, I have tried breaking out of the mold twice lately… here are my two most recently tried recipes in which these lemons have been enjoyed.

1 large lemon, sliced
2 Tblsp olive oil
grated rind of 1 lemon
all the juice of that same lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I cut them into smaller pieces to shorten the cooking time)
6 small vine-ripened tomatoes, whole
10 kalamata olives
4 white potatoes, peeled and cut into medium chunks (small red potatoes, halved, would be great)

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Arrange lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of a baking dish.
3. Combine oil and next six ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken, tomatoes, olives, and potato; toss to coat well.
4. Arrange chicken in a single layer over lemon slices. Arrange remaining mixture over top.
5. Bake at 450 F for 45-60 minutes, until chicken is done.
(we ate this with a salad of romaine, sunflower seeds, and cucumber; as well as fresh bread. I think the sauce would have been slightly improved with some thickening of cornstarch)

1-2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, whole
2 Tblsp butter
1/3 cup water
~3 Tblsp lemon juice (I just used one whole large lemon)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules

1. Coat chicken with Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Brown chicken in a skillet with butter. Transfer to crock pot.
2. Place water, lemon juice, garlic, and bouillon in the skillet. Bring to a boil, and loosen browned bits from the pan. Pour over the chicken in the crock pot.
3. Cover. Cook on low for ~4 hours.
(we ate this with rice pilaf, roasted carrots & asparagus, and fresh whole wheat bread; I garnished the chicken with extra lemon slices, and made sure to serve each piece of chicken with plenty of the juice to keep both the flavor and the moist texture as strong as possible)
…sorry, I don’t think I took a picture of this meal when we had it a couple weeks ago…

Yesterday I had to (finally) toss out the remaining, dried-out remnants (see picture below, at left) of the gorgeous yellow tulips that Steven brought me a couple weeks ago.
Then last evening as I was preparing dinner when my husband arrived home from work, look what he brought me (below, at right) — a huge bunch of happy, sunny daffodils!

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.