Saturday, February 11, 2012

Book Reviews

Thoughts on some of the books I have read in the last little while:

Brain Rules for Baby was my favorite.  Written by a developmental molecular biologist who knows a lot about brain development, this book could have been a snooze, but it was actually the perfect combination of heartwarming, informative and funny.  And somehow the book is still just a synopsis of current and methodologically sound research about brain development and how it should apply to parenting. I couldn't recommend this one more.










Lost in Shangri-La was also a good one.  Thanks Adam, for giving this book to Brad. I promptly stole it from him and gobbled it up.  A synopsis of the book would be that it is the true story of the self-proclaimed greatest rescue mission during World War II. And if you think that you wouldn't be interested in a book about war or wouldn't be able to keep up because your history lessons went in one ear and out the other, I think that they mentioned things about WWII a total of three times during the entire book.  But basically some people survive a plane wreck only to be stranded in Papua New Guinea and have no way of getting out.  And they are surrounded by a primitive, warring/sometimes canabalistic people who have been completely undisturbed by other civilizations/people since pretty much the beginning of time.  If that sounds like a discouraging book, know that I laughed out loud quite frequently during my reading.  The author finds a lot of humor in the people he was writing about.





The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was gripping.  Oh my did it have a hold on me!  I had to read the plot summary on Wikipedia to keep myself from staying up all night reading. Also I am glad that I did that because then I knew what I was getting myself into. I recommend doing so.  It is an uber gritty book, and I had to skip parts to get through it, but the main reason that I liked it was that it made me think.  It also made me feel empowered.  The main character is not a victim in any sense of the word, although she would have legitimate cause to be if she wanted to act like one. It was liberating to look at life through the eyes of someone so unconventional and strong. Pretty much horrendous things happen but they don't traumatize her, so they didn't traumatize me.  It was interesting because normally I am a very sensitive person. Disclaimer: I am not recommending this book to everyone, and it would definitely be rated R if books had ratings just fyi.  I won't go into my philosophies on morality and entertainment here to justify why I read a rated R book, but I think I have good reasons. I will discuss them with you if you want more details - just ask.  Also, I will say that I don't plan on finishing the series.  Still glad I read this one though.







The 90 Minute Baby Sleep Program was a quick read - approximately 1.5 hrs. But it works for my sister, so I am definitely hoping that it will do the same for me and my baby! And it makes a whole lot of sense.  And what parent doesn't want to their baby to get as much sleep as their little growing brains and bodies need?







This one is way more opinionated than it looks.  I was expecting an encyclopedia-type reference book, and it sort of is, but the couple who wrote it put their opinions in WAY too often for my taste.  And their opinions aren't based on scientific fact at all.  Which bothers me.  But I will say that it is still helpful and has tons of good information.  And the fact that they fight so hard for attachment parenting is good, because even though it sounds completely impossible to do 100%, attachment parenting seems to ask parents to be as unselfish as they can possibly be.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

27 Weeks - 93 days left!

I hate my computer lately.  It is so slow that all I have patience to do is post this picture and write something short. 

I am loving this period of pregnancy! I feel her move all the time - it is so fun.  Just this morning before I had even got out of bed she had already been boxing the front of my stomach and tickling my sides.  She makes me laugh all the time! Its really fun.

I think I am getting more emotional though lately.  I get overwhelmed lately with all the things we have to do before she comes, but I am trying to stay calm. I just have a really strong desire to get everything ready as soon as possible - as in right now - so the lists of things to do get pretty long.  Nesting is real people.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Shoes!



These are my new running shoes!  I have been needing a new pair since before we got married, and last night we finally got these. 

We were walking the mall after we went to dinner because I am trying to either run/walk everyday, and we were walking past Foot Locker and decided to go in and just look around.  I even told the salesman who approached us that we were "not very serious" in our browsing.  But one thing led to another, and I was trying various shoes on and these fit like a glove! And I seriously love how well you can feel the ground through them as well.  They are also so lightweight - a huge improvement from my very old and heavy Nike shocks.  I feel so liberated when wearing them!

Brad and I both really like shoes, which is fun.  I gave him new basketball shoes for Christmas last year, and we gave each other shoes for Christmas this year.  We are going to have to try to be more creative in the future probably, but I kind of love shoe shopping with him (which is how we do it - we go together to pick them out - no surprises, but you get exactly what you want!). So even though he had just given me really nice boots for Christmas, my frugal husband was encouraging this purchase.  It was great!


So today was the second time this week that I made it to the BYU indoor track to go walk/running, and it was awesome.  I could feel new muscles in my ankles and feet getting a workout because of my new shoes.  Also, it feels so good to be more active again.  My nausea and sciatic pain induced inactivity has made me so out of shape, but I can feel improvements because of my small efforts all ready.  I don't get as much pounding in my head when I walk up a long flight of stairs anymore.  Yay!  I love feeling healthy.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Whole Grains

Brad and I love the cooking show on BYUtv "Chef Brad's Fusion Grain Cooking".  The premise is to add whole grains to everything you make.  The food looks delicious, and Chef Brad is hilarious.  He says "Oh my goodness" every other sentence and bounces up and down on the balls of his feet sometimes because he gets so excited about the food he is making.  Oh my goodness it is funny.

But he has actually convinced me to start trying out various grains in my cooking.  I started tonight with a recipe from "The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook", Butternut Squash and Barley Risotto.  Sounds so fancy!  It was good, I think Brad and I both approved of the recipe, although it was very time consuming to make.  My next task in this grain quest is to actually step foot in a health foods store to get the real whole grain-y things.  Who knows, if this goes well, I might even buy a pressure cooker some day to speed up the process!