5 Favorite Books for a New Mama

Curling up with a good book in a comfy chair has got to be one of the most wonderful things in life. Give me a classic, a children's book, a cook book, or even a birthing guide - I love them all. I also love sharing my favorites and learning yours. If you would add to this list I would love to know! I am not an amazon affiliate (anymore), but if you buy books from amazon, support this homeschooling, book-loving momma! If you purchase books through clicking on her links then she will get a fraction of the cost, (merely penny's) but they add up!

Now for my favorite books to gift a new mom:

1. Beautiful Babies: Nutrition For Fertility, Pregnancy, Breast-Feeding, and Baby's First Foods.  This is the book I wish I had before I got pregnant with my first. I do not own this book, but I have checked it out at the library and it's fantastic. Pregnant with my first I thought I could eat whatever I wanted and baby got what it needed. I think this book would have helped me to understand that nutrition and gut health do matter. Kristen does an amazing job of keeping it simple and easy to read, just what a new mama's would need. Another journal similar to this book is the Weston Price Healthy Baby issue that I did get a hold of and love it, most of the articles can be found on the Weston Price website, but it's so nice to have it in a journal.   

   

2 . Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers.  I had almost every nursing problem in the book with my first, and then more with my second and I feel like i've read plenty of books out there on nursing. I didn't find any of them helpful except for this ONE book.  Most of them were entirely overwhelming, especially being postpartum and trying to figure out why the heck it hurt till I cried every single time. With the help of a wonderful lactation consultant and the advice from this book I was able to successfully breastfeed all three of my kids, I am so blessed. I think every new momma needs this book. :)

3. Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. This is a great book for the Mama who wants to go all natural. :) Its a perfect overall guide that's very positive about birth. I personally have not read the whole thing, but many of my friends and my sister has and they love it. We read the Husband Coached Childbirth and it's great, too - but I would recommend Ina May's first.

4. When it comes to fertility books, I'm really impressed with Katie Singer's The Garden of Fertility: A Guide to Charting Your Fertility Signals to Prevent or Achieve Pregnancy--Naturally--and to Gauge Your Reproductive Health. What I appreciate most about this author is her nutrition standpoint. She understands that certain foods can help or hinder our fertility, and she's totally on board with Weston Price. (whom I love :). Its a secular book so she's not in line with the church's teachings, but completely worth the read. I have learned a lot from her.

5. Jane Eyre. Although I list this book last, I think this is the best one. The BEST ONE, folks. Im in love with this book. What more can I possibly say? Maybe, just maybe it's making it on the best book I have ever read category. It's only $2.99 on amazon for the paperback and free for your kindle. You can't beat it. :) I don't have a lot of sit-down-peaceful-reading time around here (and most new moms don't) so I downloaded this free app on my phone and listened to it for free on Librivox. I could listen to it while I went for a walk, did the dishes or while I laid the baby down at night.  Im really impressed with the narrator and I simply couldn't put it down. Im hooked on audiobooks now, such a great way to listen to classics!



So that's it! I'd love to hear which books helped or inspired you as a new mom - or even a seasoned mom. What would you buy someone for their baby shower?

Im linking up with the sweet Hallie today, click on over. Have a blessed day,

- Sarah

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” -Philip Pullman (taken from here)

Oh my, Butternut

I hardly take the time to make blended soups, but OH this soup, people. You won't wanna stop. It takes some time to do the roasting and blending, but totally worth it, folks. And yes, it's not fall - but this soup makes me want  fall!

You have the option to make it with coconut milk, heavy cream or any other creamy substance, it's delicious either way. I adapted the recipe from here because I like me some more garlic, onions and butter, baby!



Nourishing Butternut Squash Soup 
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• One medium Butternut Squash, cut in half
• 1 onion, peeled and cut in fourths
• 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled
• salt and pepper (for roasting onions)
• 1 Tbs. Olive or Coconut Oil
• 2 cups of Broth
• 3 Tbs. Butter
• 1 tsp. Cumin
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 3/4 cup coconut milk, heavy cream or any other dairy substitute. 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut the squash in half and remove the insides. Lay flat (cut part down) on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. In the mean time, chop onion and peel garlic, coat with olive oil and salt and pepper. When the 15 minutes are over, throw the veggies on the other side of the cookie sheet and roast for another 25 minutes. When done, you should be able to easily poke a fork into the squash.
3. When cooled, scrape the squash into a food processor or blender along with the roasted onions, garlic and broth. Blend until smooth.
4. Then melt the butter in a pot and add blended squash, cumin, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pepper and milk. Heat, serve and enjoy!

              - Sarah

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

 "If you're afraid of butter, use cream."

- Julia Child

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

 

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

Coconut Flour Dutch Babies

First, I have to say this isn't my recipe, but we enjoyed it so much I'm going to share it with you here.  This recipe was submitted by Karen over at the Coconut Recipes website. They have some fabulous recipes if you want to try baking with coconut flour. We LOVE coconut flour. It was a bit of a learning curve in the beginning, but easy peasy once you get used to it. Also, a half a cup goes a long way - so it's not as expensive as it seems.

We've been getting really sick of eggs so we switched it up this morning and my kids couldn't have been happier. The original recipe says it serves 6- 8, and umm, well, this morning it served three. SO, if you are big pigs like us, then I would say 3-4 servings. :)

We made this recipe completely dairy free (because my nursling just can't take it) but by all means slather these babies with butter and maple syrup - your taste buds will thank you.


Dutch Babies

Ingredients:

• Butter or coconut oil (to grease pan)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 6 tablespoons of corn starch
•  8 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Your choice of topping: maple syrup, honey, warmed apple sauce, raspberries, blueberries, etc.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Very generously completely slather bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 glass baking pan with butter or coconut oil.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together and quickly add and whisk in the eggs and coconut milk until batter is well mixed. Pour all directly into greased pan. 

Bake for about 20 minutes until puffed and cooked all the way through. Serve immediately.

We love ours slathered in butter and maple syrup - soooo delicious!

Enjoy!

- Sarah

 

"The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant."
-St. Anthony of Padua

Jesse Tree Ornament Exchange

If you ever get a chance to participate in a Jesse Tree Ornament exchange, go for it! I recently organized a swap in our community and it was a huge success! Each of the twenty nine ladies made one kind of ornament, then we gathered, exchanged and took home a whole set. The ornaments were beautiful and each one was made with love. I wanted to share pictures of all the ornaments, (because most of us got ideas from blogs just like this!) so you can see them too.

If you would like a little more information about what a Jesse Tree is, click over here. Most Jesse trees are about twenty four ornaments with the option of adding extra bible stories. I added five extra: Melchizedek, Aaron, Joshua, Ruth and Elizabeth. These are not necessary but I had enough ladies sign up so I added them in.

We each had a chance to talk about which story our ornament represented and how we made them. It was so much fun I would love to do it again someday!

Now for the ornaments:

From left to right we have the ornaments representing: Creation, Adam and Eve, The Fall of Man, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph

Here we have: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Ruth and Boaz, Samuel, Jesse, David, Solomon and St. Joseph

 For the last of the Salvation History ornaments we have: The Blessed Mother, St. Elizabeth, John the Baptist and the Nativity. 

Now for the O Antiphons:

I found some more information about the O Antiphons on Father Z's blog, check it out if you are at all interested, I think it's fabulous. 

Here we have: Jesus is Lord, Jesus the Flower of Jesse, Jesus is the Key of David and Jesus is Radiant Dawn.

Now for the last O Antiphons:

 Jesus is King of the Gentiles, Jesus is Emmanuel and Jesus is the Light of the World.


I just want to give a big shout out to the WONDERFUL and beautiful ladies that made this all a possibility, especially to you, Gabi Karl for preparing your home and hosting all of us! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. Thank you, Thank you!

  ~ Sarah

"Advent is here. What a marvellous time in which to renew your desire, your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to come — for him to come every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church encourages us: Ecce veniet! — He is about to arrive!"

- St Josemaria Escriva