typical new parents post

And so there's our little babe.  Our first picture!  To say we are in love is the understatement of the year.

I had an appointment at a hospital this week.  The whole experience was fantastic.  Look, I'm delivering this baby in a third world country.  The first hospital I visited almost four weeks ago now was...not such a nice experience.  I've had very few episodes of heaving "I-live-in-Africa-and-I-miss-home" tears but after leaving that first hospital, those tears revealed themselves.  

I was a bit stunned at the state of the beds and how "un-hospital" it was.  Everything was clean, though.  I'm sure the doctors there are nice and I've heard they have the best scan equipment!  After all, the doctors are American. :)  I just couldn't do the hospital.

Cue this other hospital.  Obviously, it's about 500 times smaller than a typical capital city hospital but it is a proper hospital.  Proper beds, proper cafeteria, proper rooms, the whole bit.  

Everything is paid for in cash here.  We've already paid for all the prenatal visits, scans, and tests as well as the delivery which brought the grand total to less than $2,000.  I know. So affordable.

My prayer requests mean so much more here without the safety net of a first-world country.  Here they are:  that the baby is healthy and I don't have to leave the country for complications, that the delivery goes smoothly, that I won't worry about things I can't control :) (like pre-eclampsia and whatever else could possibly go wrong).

So that's the baby update.  The scan reported the baby is 14 weeks tomorrow but the doctor still put my due date down as August 16th.  So sometime in August the wait will be over!

the newest babies

My sister-in-law got two new Boerboel puppies!  I am so jealous.  :)  I am not really a dog person but living here it is absolutely necessary to have dogs.  These two beauties are going to grow up to be nice guard dogs.

They have stayed on the farm since she got them and will be going to her place very soon.  This morning, I looked out our front doors and there they were, sitting in the orchard.  They had crawled through the fence where they're staying.  It wasn't hard to get them to trot over.  

They found my citronella candles quite amusing.  It was adorable to see the one carrying it around in its mouth.

We will miss having them here!  Can't wait to get my own someday.

pudding

When I first arrived on the farm in all my newly-wedded excitement, I began to make "pudding" (in American terms "dessert") every night.  I remember early on catching my brother-in-law throwing my husband a look when I mentioned pudding yet again.  The look was , "Really? What is this?  You can't be serious!"  So I began to question, "Don't you all have pudding every night?"  No.  "Oh really?  I thought you did!"  And so it ended almost as quickly as it began.  Now, I make pudding on the weekends (sometimes) and almost always when we host and any other time I or my husband gets a sweet tooth.

The past few nights, we have had pudding two nights in a row.  I saw a recipe on Pinterest for brownies and decided to make them Monday.  However, my sister-in-law was making cake for her husband and decided to send some over.  The brownies were finally made Tuesday.  

These brownies have 1) gotten me out of bed this morning 2) helped me through a mere two hours of homeschooling today.  It's been an epic, unsurpassed week in homeschooling and I'm ready for it to be over already.  Also, breakfast is my least favorite meal.  As I was lying there in bed thinking "what can I make for breakfast" I remembered....brownies!  

I've always struggled with brownies.  They are either too dry or too moist.  But these turned out beautifully.  I wouldn't say they're "too die for" or "over-the-top delicious" but they're definitely a keeper.

1 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

Mix butter and cocoa.  Add flour + sugar.  Add vanilla and eggs but don't over mix.  Spread into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake for 20-25 min.

ps...I courteously ask you not to pin from here.  Please pin from the website below.  :)  Thank you.

Recipe from here >> http://www.saltboxhousecreations.com/2008/12/have-brownie.html