Letters to Baby B & Journaling

Long before I got pregnant I decided to start keeping a journal. Actually it was right around the time my husband left for his training. A friend suggested keeping a journal so my husband could see all the fun adventures I did while he was gone.

I'm so thankful for the friend who suggested this! I went through a regular spiral notebook from the time he left until early March. In March I got this cute little book (above).

Writing is something that I have to force myself to do. Reading? Easy. Writing? I will find every excuse not to write in my journal.

I don't write pages and pages, some days it's definitely more than others. It's usually while I'm eating lunch or breakfast or during breaks in my workouts. I have convinced myself many times that I don't have time to write, but I'm always glad I spent the 5 minutes writing down our life.

My husband and I love looking back in my purple journal (the first one) and seeing the crazy things I did while he was gone. The day I drove all the way to Baltimore to go to Hobby Lobby and didn't buy one thing. Whoops. Or the day I baked a cake for myself.

The purple journal is sitting in a "memory" bin in our office closet. It sits among chips from Vegas hotels, my positive pregnancy test, and other random things we cannot let ourselves throw away.

2 days after I found out I was pregnant, I went to Barnes & Noble and snagged this hard cover book. I knew I wanted my baby to know every feeling/thought going on in my brain.

Come on-- Wouldn't you love to have a journal from your mom on her pregnancy and what she was thinking? Did she secretly want a baby boy? Want to name you Bartholomew? (No offense to anyone named Bartholomew).

I cannot tell you what I would give to talk to my mom about everything going on. I want to know if she had stretch marks (According to my dad, no, but what does he really know?), if she had morning sickness, if I was surprise, and what other names they were considering naming me.

Now obviously some of you can just call your mom and find out. Brats.

Regardless, I brought this journal home and first wrote about who I am. My husband did the same thing. He actually included his height..ya know, in case our child is really wondering. :-)

Every few weeks (or after appointments) we write a little letter to our baby and one day we'll give this book to him/her.

That's our plan, anyway, to write and write until we fill the journal. I threw in the extra ultrasound pictures and a card I gave my husband. I can't wait to write in the journal when our baby is actually here!

When our baby is a teenager and he or she "hates" us, my husband and I can look back and smile.

Then I can use this book to smack my kid on the booty.

Pregnancy/Baby Reading

Maybe one day I'll dust this table. Probably not.

As most of you know, I'm a big reader. Becoming pregnant opened a gigantic window of opportunities   in the reading department. There are so many books! If you're not careful you can spend some good money on books you'll never read. Be sure to pick out books that are fitting for you and your situation. 

The first book my husband snagged was The Baby Names Almanac 2013. I think he got it at Barnes & Noble so it was pricier than the $9 Amazon is showing me. 

It's okay. To me it seems silly to buy a book on names when you can just Google them, but he liked being able to finger through it (while watching Netflix) and dog ear pages. It's probably a book we'll end up donating or selling back on Amazon/Swagbucks.

I'm sure this is coming-- No, we don't officially have any names. We are pretty set on a boy name but we can't agree on a girl name. Surprise, surprise. We will probably just tell our immediate family and keep the name quiet until Baby B makes his/her debut! Sorry! I'm not a fan of when people say "Oh, I knew a ____. She was fat and a bully!". Really, people? 

The second book was recommended to us at Barnes & Noble, LOL. We got The Happiest Baby on the Block after a guy (chasing his toddler into the bathroom) said "Are you looking for a baby book? This one was a lifesaver for us. You'll need it". 

To be honest we haven't even started reading it but I've thumbed through it and it is definitely living up to all the hype. Everyone is always talking about this book so I'm glad we got it. 

Next we got The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth after a family friend recommended it. This is the book I've been reading for over a month-- it's very thorough but very informative. 

This is probably something to save for a separate post but this book is for natural births (in or out of hospitals). So if you're planning your 3rd C-Section or love epidurals, this book is not for you. No judgement, just hate for you to waste money! 

For us, it's perfect. It's a lot of information and to be honest, my husband has read maybe 5% of what I've read. That's okay. I usually read it with my feet in the bath tub and I yell for him to come in if something is important. Ha ha.

This book goes through every medical intervention and shares step by step instructions on how to avoid them unless 100% necessary. Again, I could do a whole post on why this book is so important but I don't want to be preachy.

The same friend recommended The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. Again, I haven't started this one.  I felt it was more important to read about the birth first (since that comes first!), then breastfeeding, then baby care. 

There are two others on my list but I haven't bought them just yet: The Doula Book and The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers. 

I'll definitely keep y'all posted on what I think of each book! So far I definitely recommend everything from the reviews alone. 

Happy reading. xO

January Book & February Peek

How is everyone doing with their 2013 goals? You can read more about my goals here.

One of my favorite goals was reading more. I shouldn't say more because I know I don't read enough, but 1 book a month was all I could do. Maybe later this year I'll change it to two books each month. 

Small nightstands stink for readers! Bible, devotional, The Last Lecture

For the month of February I'm reading The Last Lecture. I stole it from my dad and I think he really enjoyed it. I love books that I know my family/friends have read-- it makes the books so much more special. 

So far I thoroughly enjoy the book. It's a very quick read (I'm glad) so I should have no trouble finishing by Feb. 28th. :) 

Last month I read Two Kisses For Maddy. It was a wonderful book! It's not for everyone, though-- there was some strong language. I teared up at least 10 times.. it definitely tugs on your heart strings! 

You can read more about Two Kisses For Maddy here.

I do not have a "schedule" for my books for the rest of the year. I'm most excited about Managing Your Money For Dummies. Maybe that will be March? We'll see. :)

If you recommend any books, please comment below or email me-- elboese@yahoo.com!