Skip to main content

November Reads

-
November Reads
I don't know about you but one of the things that I enjoy most about the winter months is time spent reading by a nice roaring fire.  I read a lot more during the winter since I am not busy outside gardening, hiking, kayaking, or any of the other adventures that keep us so busy during the summer months.  Here are a few of the books that I read in November.  

 Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family by Diane Wiessinger, Diana West, Linda Smith, and Teresa Pitman: When I first picked up this book I thought it would be more along the lines of Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution.  It ended up being different but I really enjoyed it.  The book discusses different nightime and naptime strategies for a family that is breastfeeding.  This book was so refreshing and so delightful to read.  It really encouraged me to continue loving my baby in a gentle way throughout the night if she should wake while at the same time balancing the needs of myself and my family.  This book was a great reminder that every baby is different.  Our sweet Evangeline is so different from her other brother in terms of sleep.  It was clear throughout this book that the authors have done an excellent job researching the many issues associated with sleep for breastfeeding babies.  One thing that I really liked about this book were the quick tear off sheets that it includes in the back.

Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way by Mayim Bialik, PhD: In this book the author shares her parenting journey and the wisdom she has acquired along the way.  She shares about the importance of a secure attachment relationship that she has developed with her children.  I found myself so encouraged in many of the parenting decisions that my husband and I have made.  Like Bialik we absolutely love spending time with our children, breastfeed, cloth diaper, hold our babies, have our young babies sleep in our room, and generally let our kids be kids.  We work hard to balance the needs of our children with those of ourselves and our marriage.  This will look different in every family.  For us this means that we simply are not ready yet to leave our sweet Evangeline in the care of someone overnight (even a trusted grandparent) while we head off on a romantic get away.  Our baby simply is not ready and neither are we.  We are looking forward to dozens of romantic getaways once we feel like Evangeline would understand why we were leaving her and once we feel the time is right.  This book totally transformed my opinion of the author who is actually an actress who stars on The Big Bang Theory.  Bialik actually holds a phd in neuroscience and is one interesting mama.  The kind of lady that I would love to have over for lunch and a playdate.  I wouldn't say I agree with every single aspect of this book but I really did enjoy reading it overall.  She also had a great chapter for working moms.

Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success--Online and Off by Michelle Phan: I enjoyed skimming through this young author's autobiography throughout the book about how she became a successful woman in the makeup industry.  I found the book to be really basic and didn't really have the new ideas that I was hoping to find or step by step instructions on makeup application.  Surprisingly the book did include all sorts of advice on everything from etiquette to landing a job.  It would probably be more geared towards a high schooler who was preparing to go to college than a twentysomething year old mama of two who has read way too many etiquette books!  (Seriously I love good etiquette.)

The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor by Gina Homolka:  I had never heard of the blog Skinnytaste until I came across this cookbook.  When this cookbook I arrived I had high expectations.  I love to eat great food, love to cook, and am working hard to loose weight.  Honestly this cookbook was pretty disappointing.  I don't doubt that these recipes are low on calories but they all look very time consuming.  There were also a lot of ingredients that we do not purchase on a weekly shopping trip.  We purchase nicer cuts of meat and seafood for special dinners but I am not about to experiment on expensive ingredients making recipes that I am not sure that my happy husband would enjoy.  Overall this cookbook was very disappointing.  Please note that I did receive a free copy of this cookbook from Blogging For Books.

I would love to hear your book recommendations.  Please share in the comments below.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August Reads

None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different From Us by Jen Wilkin :  I'm quickly becoming quite the fan of Mrs. Jen Wilkin.  I've been working through her 1 Peter Bible Study this summer and I absolutely loved reading through this book on the attributes of God.  I found myself reminded of so many things and almost felt a sense of relief as I contemplated what God is like.  This book was a delight to read.  I love that there is now a book on God's attributes written especially for women.  Pure awesomeness!  I highly recommend this book for both new believers and those with years of experience.  I also think it would make a great book club book. The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian: This book is one that I have been wanting to read for years and I just never got around to it.  I am so glad that I finally took the time to read and pray through this book!  What better gift could I give my husband the past month than to spend time earnestly praying for him through a
1 comment
Read more

Our First Tent Camping Experience

Earlier in June we embarked on a new adventure.  TENT CAMPING!   Two summers ago we enjoyed a wonderful time camping in a borrowed pop-up camper but this was our first experience sleeping in a tent as a family.  We loaded up our very full van and headed to Land Between the Lakes in Western Kentucky for a new adventure.  It was wonderful.   One of the neatest aspects of our trip was the fact that Nina & Poppy Steve (Brandon's parents) were able to meet up with us!  (They live a good 10 hours away from us so this was a real treat.)  We had so much spending time with them.  We stayed at  Hillman Ferry Campground  and I would definitely stay there again.   Hillman Ferry Campground has a lovely beach with an area roped off for swimming.  The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and I even took them swimming in the lake.  I have been swimming many times in a lake but I think this was my children's first real time swimming in a lake.  (The closest lake to us no longer
Post a Comment
Read more

This Week's Goals

We have been so blessed to fill our August with such fun family memories. In the picture above we enjoyed a day trip to the Columbus Zoo where we got to get up close with some kangaroos!   August has been so busy for our family that I've neglected to share my goals the past few weeks.  We've been squeezing in lots of summer fun as we transition back to school days.  I also began teaching fall piano lessons.  Here are a few of my goals for this upcoming week.      This Week's Goals Marriage, Mothering, & Family 1.  Eli is playing flag football this fall!  I'm excited to attend his game on Saturday. 2.  Eva has a therapy appointment this week.  I am so thankful for all of the incredible progress that she has made over the past year.   3.  Take both children to the park to play this week.   Homemaking 4.  Work on plans for Disney.  I need to work on our packing list and make some reservations.  I also need to purchase a number of items before we lea
3 comments
Read more