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Here's to the: best dish-washer, best daddy to Sage, best listener, best eater of gross food experiments, best giver of hugs, best chiropractor, best massage therapist (sorry folks, he only has one client), best pragmatist, best at being upbeat and optimistic, best sounding board, best cleaner-upper, best pair of legs (those lips aren't bad either) and my best friend.

Happy Birthday Shaner!

Minimahal kita

If You Love Pride & Prejudice....

...then you MUST watch this movie. I just finished it and I'm still smiling sappy smiles. You can find it on Netflix.

Listen Up

Donovan Frankenreiter is what you might call a "Jack Johnson knock-off," a pro-surfer turned musician who makes mellow tunes.

Listen up here.

Firsts

Christmas was lots of fun. We traveled to Oregon and enjoyed the snow (and the food and a darling little cottage) in the beautiful town of Ashland. Next on to Grandma and Grandpa's in Northern California to enjoy yummy food and lots of laughs.

Lots of firsts this trip:

First underdog from a kid...not just any kid but her super humanly strong cousin Nathaniel

First time painting her own face (at the San Jose Kid's Museum)

First sled ride (in Oregon)

First snowman

Midwife

The amazing Sue

midwife (noun): a woman skilled in aiding the delivery of babies

Yesterday was my very first visit (she comes to our house!) with my homebirth midwife Sue. We chatted about nutrition and birth, among other things, and an hour and half flew right by.

After Sue left Sage commented, "I like Sue."

My feelings exactly.

Listen Up

I am loving Adele, soulful new British singer.

Listen up here.

Pregnancy Diet

We care a lot about what we eat. Let me put a disclaimer on that: when we're at someone's house we're happy to eat anything at all (especially desserts) but here at home we try hard to stick to our Weston Price diet.

Who the heck is Weston Price?

If you really want to know here's a little something about him over on our CORE blog. Basically we try to eat the way people ate 200 years ago...all kinds of meats and fish, raw dairy (milk, cream, cheese, butter) fruits, veggies, fermented foods (sauerkraut etc.) and whole grains.

And guess what? There's a Weston Price pregnancy diet and I love it!

So this is what I try to eat everyday:


Cod Liver Oil

1 quart whole raw milk

4 tablespoons butter

2 or more eggs

Fresh seafood (2-4 times per week)

Fresh beef or lamb (and bacon too)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

Soaked whole grains (like sprouted bread)

Fresh vegetables and fruits

A Little Shepherd Gave Us The Best Gift of All

Christmas 2007

One little tradition we have is to hide a star and manger, dress Sage up like a shepherd and have her go and find the Baby Jesus. This year Shane and I co-starred as Mary and Joseph (as per her request).

When Sage found the manger (her baby cradle stuffed with hay) we told her the news about the baby. Later that night Shane and I wrote down her response:

"Are you teasing?"

"Awww...ohhhh...can I touch your belly?"

"Did you just put it in there today?"

"You never had a baby in your belly before."

Telling Sage was definitely our favorite part of Christmas.

Our Favorite Things

Christmas was lovely. We had our very own and then another with the F. family.

Here are some of our favorite gifts (well mostly mine):

This book is amazing...it explains the whys and hows of reading aloud to your child. I feel recommitted to spending more time with Sage reading.


Shane and Sage love yogurt and now we can easily make raw milk yogurt with our very own yogurt maker.


Sage is at the perfect age for games and we love this simple, sweet Picnic Game.


I got a subscription to the very cool Cooks Illustrated...a crazy bunch of cooks test recipes until they are absolutely perfect, then they pass them along in this ad-free magazine.


And I got me some beef...35 pounds of grass fed meat...what more could a pregnant lady want?

Listen Up

Ray LaMontagne is one scruffy looking dude and the best way to describe his voice is....well, scruffy but also lovable.

Listen up here.