Welcome to the Sunday Surf! Here are some of the best links I've read this past week.

Sam and I have been going through extreme nesting. Besides paring down our shtuff, we were bitten by the renovating bug before we even closed on the condo we've been living in for over a year now — but of course, had no money once we'd paid for the house! It's funny how that works out. Anyhow, we're trying to do a little at a time, as we have energy and money, and get at least the downstairs powder room (small bites!) finished before the baby comes. So we've pretty much spent the past two days in Home Depot and the paint store, boring Mikko out of his tiny huge¹ skull. And now I've just had a scintillating conversation with Sam about which of three whites to go with for our kitchen cabinet repainting. For this is what you do when you lose all sense.

On to some reading for a reno break!

• "What my overdue baby taught me about my induction" from Dirty Diaper Laundry: Exactly. Let babies cook till they're ready.

• "Lifetime TV Shows Us There's One (Unnecessary Intervention) Born Every Minute" from The Feminist Breeder: On a similar note, this is a fabulous review of One Born Every Minute, a show that turned me off from the promos alone. I didn't even watch it when it aired, but reading along, I was cheering TFB and booing the show!

• "Share The Important Things" from PhD in Parenting: Interesting take on equally shared parenting, with the note that "equally shared" doesn't have to mean "we both do the same things," or some mythical feminist credo that strong-minded women have to do all the "male" tasks and vice versa. I know I've felt some (self-imposed) pressure when I realize I never take out the trash (my father and brother always did!), or that I do the laundry and cleaning (so old school!) — but then I remember I take care of our family finances and business finances, and Sam handles cooking, and we both run errands and take care of the kiddo, with Sam probably taking on more of that aspect lately. When we got married, we actually did list out things we liked to do and what we didn't — and were relieved to find that chores that didn't appeal to him at all (balancing the checkbook, as an example), I found enjoyable, and the reverse was true as well. How do you share household and parenting tasks with your partner, if applicable?

• "Fear of Spoiling" from AlfieKohn.org: I liked this insightful perspective: People have always considered kids to be spoiled like never before in history. See also this interesting Q&A with Alfie Kohn after the article was published.

• "WABA Announces World Breastfeeding Week 2011 Theme" From Blacktating: The theme for 2011's World Breastfeeding Week is going to be "Talk to me! Breastfeeding — A 3D Experience," to add a third dimension of communication. Says Elita:
  

  "I'm intrigued by where they will be going with the theme this year and whether or not they will focus on social media, like the breastfeeding advocacy done online via blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter. We are communicating globally in ways that were unimaginable even a few short years ago, and Web 2.0 is a huge part of that."

  I like the RSS family in the logo (though the rest of the logo looks kinda clip-arty to me…). Heather brings up an interesting point in the comments that she hopes they'll be able to continue tying this theme in globally, even to the many people who aren't online. (If you can imagine!) The World Breastfeeding Week site has this to add:
  

  "This third dimension includes cross-generation, cross-sector, cross-gender, and cross-culture communication and encourages the sharing of knowledge and experience, thus enabling wider outreach."

• "Fun with Cosleeping." from Inder Loves Folk Art: Hilarious ode to cosleeping! For instance:
  

  "It's green! See above regarding frugality. Instead of whining about how sleep-deprived you are, you could gloat about how environmentally sound it is to sleep five mammals to one queen-sized bed. Pat yourself on the back for bucking our consumerist culture and living closer to the hunter-gatherer norm! (At this point, try not to cry.)"

  But then, also:
  

  "It's super snuggly. I don't always love cosleeping. Especially when my arms are freezing because Joe is kicking my covers off all night, or when I wake up with a foot pressed against my nose, but there are plenty of times when I can't imagine it any other way. There is nothing like middle of the night baby snuggles, or waking up to your toddler's smiling face playing peek-a-boo."

  Yes!

• "Epilogue" from Nerdy Apple Bottom: First you have to read the heartbreaking prologue, "My son is gay," about her five-year-old son's decision to wear a Daphne costume for Halloween and the flack Cop's Wife and her son got for this at his church preschool. And then you can continue the heartbreak by seeing how she was basically forced out of that church. Lovely. I say this as a Christian — that is not how church should be. (Shared via @phdinparenting, I believe, in one edition of the CarNatPar daily from paper.li.)

• Some highlights from Natural Parents Network, in a week on Responding With Sensitivity:
  
  • "Set Yourself Up to Succeed" from Mama Mo of Attached at the Nip: I love this message of letting go of battles and going with the flow in a way that's child-friendly and less stress. I find that so much of what bothers me in parenting comes down to my own unreasonable expectations.
  • "The Smallest Parishioners" also from Mama Mo: Everyone in the comments on my whining posts about my experiences with Protestant services keeps pointing to the Catholic church at being good at incorporating children into the worship service. I love stories like this:
    

    "[The priest] said,
    'But babies are people too.'
    He went on to explain that my children were members of this faith community, and as such had as much right to be there as the next person."

  • I was quite pleased with what our readers came up with for "Wordless Wednesday: Responding With Sensitivity."
  • "How to Discourage Biting While Breastfeeding": If you or someone you know has issues with this common scenario, read what our NP Mentors had to say, and feel free to send in your own questions for your peers' advice!

• Is this a repeat from last week? Why, yes, it is. But I thought I'd post it again in case anyone didn't see and is curious: "Google Reader shared items: Your public feed for reading recommendations" from LaurenWayne.com: This is a tutorial for how to keep track of and share the items you read during the week. Follow the steps to set up a public recommendations feed in Google Reader (just like mine!).

• Some great news about my new newsletter sign-up! Dionna of Code Name: Mama and I have been talking about making it a collaborative newsletter to highlight all of our sites (including Natural Parents Network) in one go. We're still working out the details, but just know that you'll be getting even more than you pay for² if you sign up!
            To subscribe, just sign up with the link or in the sidebar, and you can easily unsubscribe from a link in any newsletter, at any time. Hope you'll join me us!
  

• One lovely new giveaway for you, with more to come!
  
  I'm very excited to announce that we'll be doing a series of cloth pad (and silicone cup!) reviews and giveaways for a Green Your Period special event, both at Hobo Mama Reviews and Natural Parents Network!
  • The DivaCup reusable menstrual cup $39.99 {2.28; US/Can}: Well, yes, I'm not menstruating while pregnant, but The DivaCup gets my vote for convenience and sustainability during that time of the month! If you haven't considered a menstrual cup before or you've always wanted to try one, enter to win your own by leaving a simple comment on the giveaway post. Contest ends February 28, and is open to US and Canada.

You can find more shared items during the week at my public Google Reader recommendations feed.

Check out Authentic Parenting, Baby Dust Diaries, Navelgazing, Momma Jorje, Enjoy Birth, A Domesticated Woman's Adventures (various), Kelly Hogaboom (Fridays), The Parent Vortex, Hippie Housewife (Saturdays), Multiple Musings, Motherhood Moments, Mama and Baby Love, and A Little Bit of All of It for more Sunday Surfing! (If you also participate in a regular link list, whether on Sunday or not, let me know and I'll add your link. I might add it even if you don't let me know, because I'm like that.)

Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments. Happy reading!

---

1 He's our child. Might as well tell it like it is. No one in either of our families can buy hats off the rack…^↩
2 I.e., nothing. You'll be getting more than nothing. It's a steal!^↩