Our Gifts for Baby Golding Page

Since we are showcasing the gifts that all you kind friends and family are sending for Baby Golding Page, we thought we would show you a few of the things that Mummy and Daddy (aka J&S) have bought. :-)

In the photo, you'll see Mr Crabby, the hooded towel (Daddy's find), and a soft little lamb (Mummy's find). Also, one of the outfits we bought (both of us chose that one).

We also have a Beginner's Bible, with bright pictures, and stories appropriate for toddlers.

But the pièce de résistance is our full Bible, our most important gift. This Bible is the New International Version - for all you translation nerds like us, it's unfortunately not the 2011 updated version, but we'll get one of those in time, too. (Mummy insists that 1st Corinthians must be read in the new NIV's Gordon-Fee-influenced translation from the Greek.) And it is a great children's Bible, for about up to age 11 or 12, as it stars some of our favourite kids' characters - Veggie Tales! You can see Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber there on the bright green cover.

Baby Gift from Sister in Sweden

Another fantastic international package has arrived - this time from Julie's sister, Cecilia, in Sweden. See, Julie and Cecilia have been writing since they were both 11 years old. They've met 3 times (twice in Canada and once in Sweden), and they now consider each other sisters.

The green coat is velour and came with matching pants- and note the "born 2011" tag. :-) The red and blue outfit is inspired by the famous Swedish children's character, Pippi Longstocking.

Oh yes, and not pictured are some goodies for Mummy and Daddy...some wonderful Swedish candies, including giant Marabou chocolate bars to feed our addiction.

Gifts are coming fast and furious now...stay tuned!

Updated Baby Needs List

For everyone who has asked what Baby Golding Page already has, and what is still needed, here is the updated list.

If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask us directly. Thanks! :-)

Cinnabun Recipe

By popular demand, here is our favourite recipe for cinnamon buns. We especially like the no-butter, low-fat filling. 
For the rest of the step-by-step photos, go to our flickr photos. 

Dry Ingredients:

• 3 cups (750 ml) flour
• 3/4 cup (185 ml) granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5 ml) salt

Gryffin is our eager kitchen helper.

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) shortening
• 1 cup (250 ml) milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) ground cinnamon
• a little milk 

Icing (optional):

• any icing you like, any colour, homemade or store-bought

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients with a whisk. 
2. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles small, pea-sized crumbs.
3. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Mix until well combined. 
4. When dough sticks together into a ball, roll with rolling pin on floured surface until in a rough oval or rectangle shape, 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick.
5. Combine cinnamon filling ingredients, adding milk 1 Tbsp (15 ml) at a time, just until it makes a paste. (You will probably only need the 1 spoonful of milk, so mix very well before deciding to add more.)
6. Pour cinnamon mixture over dough, then use a brush to spread it evenly.
7. Roll up the dough slowly, keeping the roll fairly tight. The direction you choose to roll will determine whether you make many, small cinnabuns or fewer, large cinnabuns.
8. With a sharp knife, cut the roll into a few large pieces. (We cut it into 4.) Then cut each large piece into the number of cinnabuns you want to make, in the size you like. (We ended up with 16.)
9. Place cinnabuns on baking sheet and shape into rounds, as necessary.
10. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 10-15 minutes, checking after the first 10, until golden.
11. When buns have cooled slightly, frost with icing (we used store-bought) and allow to melt.

- Modified from "Nanny's Cinnamon Buns" in Kyla Pierik's Treasured Recipes from Home, 2006.

1st International Baby Gift!

Today, we received our first baby gift from our many friends overseas. And from an exotic location, too - Macau, a former Portuguese colony that is now part of China. Thanks, Audrey, for the great gift! :-)

Check out these cool socks she sent:

For anyone else planning to send Baby Golding Page a gift, please check back in the next few days...we are updating our lists of What We Have, and What We Need, this weekend. Au revoir et à bientôt!

What's in a Name?

We are approaching the 3rd trimester of Julie's pregnancy, so the portentous day is now approaching when we will need to provide a name for a newborn child.

This post is an invitation to offer suggestions. But there is a catch: you have to do more than just throw names at us. We would like your comments to be either:

1. serious suggestions of names you like, but you must also say why (e.g. Ebenezer - comes from a cool Bible story), or
2. funny / clever (e.g. 'Minnie Holmes' - a pun of mini-homes), or
3. about yourself, why you have the name you do (e.g. Julie's dad Gary, named after actor Gary Cooper), or
4. about your naming philosophy (e.g. do you choose names because of how they sound? ethnicity? popular? uncommon?connection to your family history?) or
5. what you would have been named had you been born the opposite gender

Will there be any Salome Esmereldas (a serious suggestion made about Julie to her mom)? Can you pun on Page or Golding or Steve or Julie? Dazzle us, O Masters of the Moniker!
-SP

Registries Online - Our Baby / Nursery Wish Lists

Updated July 18th.
Whew! After weeks of browsing whenever we could get to a city, and comparison shopping, and researching safety issues and features (hey, it's how we shop!) we finally have set up a registry or two, to help our many sweet friends and relatives who wish to participate in our preparing for August's arrival of Baby Golding Page. Thank you all!

We have a registry with Toys-R-Us (very good website, and free shipping for qualifying orders, important given where we live). Search for last-name "Golding Page" to find us.

We also set up a short one with Sears (short because we have lots of complaints about the awful Sears website!) Search for last-name "Golding Page" to find us. We have a Sears parcel-pickup in Hudson Bay. This registry unfortunately does not automatically update itself - so if you purchase something from it, please let us know and we will do a manual update.

Both registries can be accessed online or in the stores.

Below, we list other things that we'll need, but that did not make sense to add to a Registry. After all, we need things like bibs (well, not us personally, we're not quite that messy), and we hope you will use your creativity rather than have us pick the exact ones!

Some notes to keep in mind:

• We won't know whether it's a boy or a girl until birth
• Here's a list of what we already have for Baby / Nursery
• Our Nursery décor theme is Noah's Ark
• We love bright colours - primary colours are not just for children, we believe!
• In clothing, we love the (bilingual) Gagou Tagou line of clothes and linens (from Babies R Us and The Bay)
• Our mid-August due date is "late summer" in our neck of the woods; the trees will be bare within a month. Baby's first 6 - 9 months will be mostly fall and winter.

Since our baby won't be arriving with a suitcase full of clothes, we'd love your help in giving them a wardrobe! To see what we already have for clothing, and in which sizes, click here. Some things we still need are in the following categories - especially in 6 month and up sizes, as we have mostly newborn to 3 month sizes so far:

• Onesies, rompers, bodysuits (with snaps)
• one-piece footed outfits
• a fancier outfit or two - after all, this child will be going to church lots ;-)
• nightgowns with elastic bottoms
• blanket sleepers
• sweaters
• hats / caps (heavier for the coming prairie fall & winter)
• bunting or snowsuit with attached mitts

Some other items we are especially interested in are:

• Aitken's Pewter baby mug
• Dr Seuss books (we have Oh, the Places You'll Go, The Cat in the Hat and Are You my Mother?)
• An outfit from PEI's COWS store chain (also found in Banff, etc.)
• Some waterproof pads
• Insulated bottle holder for diaper bag
• A few burp cloths
• Pocket-style or all-in-one reusable cloth diapers (the one-size option)
• Mild, HE laundry detergent with as few additives as possible (e.g High Efficiency Sunlight Sensitive Skin (in a white bottle) 
• Strap-on soft carrier or sling

Thank you to everyone who has already asked about how they can help outfit us (I mean Baby!) And thank you in advance to all of you!
-S, J and TBD