Ciara Xyerra (Author of You Live for the Fight When That’s All That You’ve Got #1)

Ciara rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki

The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the Real Truth about Becoming a Mom. Finally.
by Vicki Glembocki (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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i don't really know what the hell to think about this book. i have thought for a long time that i got lucky because ramona is just a really easy baby. why, she's napping right now, enabling me to take the time to write this review! other people, incl...more i don't really know what the hell to think about this book. i have thought for a long time that i got lucky because ramona is just a really easy baby. why, she's napping right now, enabling me to take the time to write this review! other people, including my partner, insist that ramona is easy because we are doing something right as parents. i didn't want to think that, because it felt like hubris, & because the obvious implication is that someone who is struggling is doing it to themselves. but...maybe there's actually some legitimacy to that.

it does sound like glembocki had a difficult newborn. i don't know if i'm just forgetting, but i don't think ramona cried that much when she was a month or two old. but i also had different parenting strategies. like wearing ramona instead of using a stroller. there were definitely times when she would scream unless she was being worn. i could have refused to wear her & suffered with a screaming, inconsolable baby, but instead i just accepted that i was going to have to wear her. i also accepted any & all help jared wanted to offer. glembocki writes about refusing to let her husband give their baby a bottle of pumped milk in the night because "feedings were [her] job". & then she'd complain that she was up half the night nursing the baby. sure, i struggled a first with feeling like the baby was all my responsibility & that i was a substandard mother incurring my partner's resentment if i let him pitch in. but i got over it. & having a baby that is equally attached to both parents & comfortable with our unique parenting styles makes things much easier.

she writes about not letting her baby co-sleep because she didn't want to foster "bad sleep habits". we co-slept with ramona when she was tiny. we also let her sleep in her boppy pillow & her bouncy chair--both huge no-no's to some people, who call it "accidental parenting" & claim tha using sleep props with a newborn will beget a baby that will forever reject the crib. we now have a six-month-old that sleeps twelve hours a night in her crib. so...worked out for us? i don't know.

i mean, it's nice that there are people telling "the truth" about parenting. it's definitely not all sunshine & roses. i have definitely broken down into tears before when ramona has been screaming & just won't stop. & a baby is just an incredible amount of work. seriously, kiss your child-free life GOODBYE because a baby changes EVERYTHING. & there is NO WAY to prepare in advance. you can read this book & every other book out there in the same vein & you still won't really get it until you have your own baby. also, childless nannies reading this? yeah. not the same. sorry.

but six months of intense observation & conversation has taught me that there are things new parents do that makes parenting harder. like reading too many books, trying to figure out the "right" way to get their baby to sleep, or to eat, or to reach milestones. paying too much attention to milestones. trying too hard to keep everything "like it was," in terms of friendships, relationship with partner, make-up routine, whatever. sticking rigidly to pre-conceived notions about how to parent (to co-sleep or not, to babywear or not, etc) that were dreamed up before baby was born & may not be applicable to this particular baby. glembocki wrote a whole book about her struggles to bond with her daughter & find her groove as a mom, & never seemed to reflect on any of this. which is too bad.(less)

Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Half Baked: The Story of My Nerves, My Newborn, and How We Both Learned to Breathe
by Alexa Stevenson (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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another memoir written by the parent of a NICU baby. i had no idea there were so many books like this out there! & i'd never stumbled across a single one until i had my own NICU baby (though a 32 weeks, ramona was considered merely "moderately pr...more another memoir written by the parent of a NICU baby. i had no idea there were so many books like this out there! & i'd never stumbled across a single one until i had my own NICU baby (though a 32 weeks, ramona was considered merely "moderately premature").

stevenson starts her story with her struggles to conceive, which was also something i could relate to. though she finally conceived through IVF & i didn't have to go that far. she gets pregnant with twins & then suffers the nightmare to end all nightmares: one of the twins dies in utero. she manages to hold on to the second twin for a month, eking just past viability, before she contracts an infection & goes into preterm labor.

the NICU part of the story was the most interesting to me. simone was born at 25 weeks, & oscillated between thriving & the verge of death. stevenson devoted herself to spending as much time as possible at her daughter's bedside & becoming her medical advocate. i appreciated that she never pulled any punches on the reader & was upfront from the start about the fact that her daughter survives & is reasonably healthy.

for me, the book kind of falls apart toward the end, writing-wise. it was like stevenson just ran out of steam once she got to the part of the story where she has a baby at home. it read like a first draft. she starts using the phrase "come over all" really excessively. "simone would come over all periwinkle," "i don't want to come over all sad," etc etc. she used this phrase three or four times within in like twenty pages. it just felt sloppy.

i also struggled at times with how stevenson wrote about simone. she was adamant that simone was somehow extra special & wily because it was difficult to keep a fetal monitor on her, for example. i was on hospital bed rest with continual fetal monitoring as well (four days straight for me, with no breaks), & ramona was constantly swimming away from the monitor, or kicking at it. not because she was so clever & troublesome, but because that's what babies do. stevenson insisted that her daughter would overheat if she was wearing a hat, or that she needed to be held a special way after eating, or that she had certain preferences for how she was dressed or whatever...it just bugs he shit out of me when people ascribe stuff like that to little babies. they're just projecting their own weird assumptions. like people who are like, "i can't wear my newborn, she cries when i put her in a carrier." guess what? ramona cries too when she's put in a carrier. because she's being jostled all around. as soon as she's in there & we're walking, she's happy again. if i took her out & bent to her (supposed) will every time she squeaked or grunted, life would be a whole lot harder & i too would think i had a very particular, demanding baby. i don't know.

i also wasn't really into how stevenson would compare simone against older premature babies & suggest that other NICU parents were just big babies who hadn't suffered like her. ramona had seven weeks on simone, but she was still on a central line, a ventilator, three or four days of phototherapy, etc etc etc. i understand the impulse--i don't really want to hear someone's tale of NICU woe when their baby was just in for eight hours (seriously, someone tried to bond with me about that recently!). to someone whose baby was in for four months, i'm sure my 24 days looks like a walk in the park. but stevenson's NICU was apparently five minutes from her apartment, & simone's room was private, with a desk, a phone, a fridge...ramona was on a block with three other babies. there was only one chair in her room, so when jared & i were both there, one of us had to stand. we weren't allowed to eat, drink, or use our phones in her room. whatever. it's not a competition, but stevenson acts a little competitive. & i really could have lived without the little coda where she shows a healthy simone off to a current NICU mom & is all, "my baby turned out okay." people did the same thing to me when ramona was in the NICU, & it always pissed me off. i didn't care about some stranger's baby that is all hale & hearty now. i cared about my baby, who was on paralytic drugs so she wouldn't tear out her breathing tube.

huh. this review got surprisingly critical, considering that i gave the book four stars.(less)

Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures
by Amber Dusick (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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seems like most of the lower reviews for his book complained that a) most of the content was already available on the author's blog, & b) it was too short. but i had never seen the author's blog before. i was all new to me, & i enjoyed it. i'...more

Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
by David Sedaris

read in April, 2013

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i read a review of this that was all, "don't trust the five-star reviews! this book is okay, but it's not GREAT, like his other books were! what happened to david sedaris, man? he used to be so good. you don't even know. i remember back before he got...more

Ciara made a comment on for those of you wondering about ramona’s sleeping & eating

"it might just be a matter of luck, but i am also super-devoted to my pumping schedule. i don't know how much of my blog you've read, but ramona was bo...more "

Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
by Andrew Solomon

read in April, 2013

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this book is like 900 pages long, & i was reading it in dribs & drabs in between caring for a newborn baby, so it seriously took me three months to read the whole thing. if you're reading this review, you are probably already familiar with th...more this book is like 900 pages long, & i was reading it in dribs & drabs in between caring for a newborn baby, so it seriously took me three months to read the whole thing. if you're reading this review, you are probably already familiar with the concept of the book: it's all about horizontal identities--children that differ from their parents in some meaningful way. there are chapters devoted to children with down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, & dwarfism, transgender kids, children that commit crimes, children conceived in rape, prodigies, etc. explanations regarding genetics, oppression, politics, treatment, & psychology are interspersed with case reports on real families grappling with whatever issue at hand--& it seems that no two families approach their situations in quite the same way, even if the are experiencing similar issues. it's thought-provoking & eye-opening to read about how different parents tackle the same problems, & how different children relate to their unique difficulties & differences.

i really enjoyed this book--obviously, or i wouldn't have plowed on with it for hundreds & hundreds of pages. it's intellectually rigorous enough to avoid descending into what could be very treacly territory, but the sharing of real people's stories helps to keep things engaging--even compelling. my one quibble was with the author's tendency to occasionally compare his interview subjects with his own experience of being gay. it seems to me that in this day & age, being gay doesn't really hold a candle to the problems some of these people have experienced. particularly for a professional, well-educated, well off middle aged gay man with family support, a partner, & children. but solomon is from a different generation than i am & things have moved very quickly for gay rights...plus i inhabit a subcultural world where being gay just isn't a big deal at all, so my perception is skewed even more.

but that's seriously a really minor complaint in the face of a very interesting, well-written book. food for thought, for sure--particularly for a parent. i am just grateful i read this after my daughter was already born. some of the information about birth defects & birth injuries was way more than i would have been able to deal with while i was still pregnant.(less)

Ciara rated a book 2 of 5 stars

It Gets Easier!: ...and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers
by Claudine Wolk (Goodreads Author)

read in April, 2013

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yeah, this is really just okay. i think that most of the people who have given it particularly negative reviews have done so out of ideological differences with the author, claiming that she is dismissive of attachment parenting. i think she definite...more yeah, this is really just okay. i think that most of the people who have given it particularly negative reviews have done so out of ideological differences with the author, claiming that she is dismissive of attachment parenting. i think she definitely has some ideas about parenting that are not relevant to every parent, but anyone who is actually able to cling to a parenting ideology is either not yet a parent or won the parenthood lottery. i had a lot of bright ideas about attachment parenting too. before my baby was born two months premature & wound up refusing to breastfeed. i choose to pump & give her breast milk in bottles, but a) i have no choice but to give her bottles, & people make plenty of assumptions about what is in those bottles, & b) if pumping hadn't worked for me, i'd have no choice but to give my baby formula. my point is that sometimes ideological intentions don't work out, & if yours do (as some of mine have), just count your blessings rather than getting all high & mighty about it.

basically the whole book can be boiled down to this: put your baby on a schedule to save your sanity, & make your peace with the fact that you are going to end up being a housewife one way or another. it's really not the worst advice in the world. i mean, the schedule thing is kind of silly. she goes on & on & ON about how everyone told her to "feed on demand" & it didn't work for her because she was feeding her baby like every hour & didn't understand that not every cry was a hunger cry. then she put him on a schedule & everything was awesome. i have a few replies to that:

* duh, not every cry is a hunger cry. but you have to get to know your baby before you can really get a handle on that. my baby is almost five months old & i'm still figuring it out.
* "feed on demand" doesn't mean "force the baby to eat if it whimpers".
* my theory is that, if the baby is hungry & you offer it food, it will eat. if the baby is not hungry & you offer it food, it will reject the food. so it never hurts to offer food. the baby will let you know if it's not interested. this is especially true of very young babies, who are driven entirely by instinct, & even more true of bottle-fed babies, who are less likely to feed simply for comfort.
* of course, this is my theory because it's what has been true for my baby. people figure out what works for their baby & they extoll it as the way to parent a baby, even though all babies are different.
* it's worth remembering that a newborn baby's stomach is teeny tiny. it simply cannot hold enough food to see it through a four-hour stretch, & this is why a newborn baby should not be scheduled. or why it will be impossible to schedule a newborn baby.

anyway. sorry this review sucks, my brain is fried from listening to the coverage of the boston marathon bombing suspect manhunt all day. the bottom line, i guess, is that this book offered a few useful tips that might help a frazzled new parent through those early days (& i mean early, like first few weeks--if your baby is more than like three months old, there probably won't be much of use here). but as with any book on parenting, you really have to read with an open mind rather than a rigid ideology & think about what might actually work for you as a parent & your baby as an individual. no one method or book is going to show you The Way To A Perfect Baby. & i also secretly feel that it does get easier. then again, i have a pretty awesome baby.(less)

Ciara rated a book 3 of 5 stars

I just want to pee alone by Stacey Hatton

I just want to pee alone : a collection of humorous essays by kick ass mom bloggers
by Stacey Hatton (Goodreads Author)

read in April, 2013

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i don't know. this was all right. it was a pleasant enough way to pass an airplane ride with a baby passed out on my chest. it's an anthology of humorous essays about parenting from various mom bloggers. it suffers from the problem that a lot of blog...more i don't know. this was all right. it was a pleasant enough way to pass an airplane ride with a baby passed out on my chest. it's an anthology of humorous essays about parenting from various mom bloggers. it suffers from the problem that a lot of blogs-into-books suffer from: a lot of the writing has a very casual "you know what i'm saying"-type vibe to it that comes from the bloggers writing for an audience that is offering them constant real-time feedback in the form of blog comments. it's a style that translates very poorly to real books. because i, for one, have only ever read one of the bloggers featured here (rants from mommyland) & i don't even follow that one on the regular. the only blogs i read are either written by zine people i know or are snarks of YA books i read as a child. i should probably add more mom blogs to my blog roll, because i do enjoy embarrassing parenting stories & i'm a mom now, but i just haven't gotten around to it & i've been burned the few times i have tried (like the time my favorite infertility blogger posted an insane screed against abortion).

i have no idea how many of the "essays" in this book (i use that term very loosely) were originally published as blog entries. all of them? it seems likely.

maybe in homage to the book's title, it seems like almost all of them were about embarrassing bathroom-related things. my baby is only four months old, so she is not yet capable of walking in on me in the bathroom or saying embarrassing things about me to strangers. is this really what i have to look forward to? i don't remember ever walking in on my mom in the bathroom. hmmm. we will see. the first few stories in this vein perhaps elicited a chuckle or two, but it got kind of tedious after a while. eventually i was thinking, "um, invest in a lock." is this hubris that will come back to haunt me? check back in about three years.

but for a mom without a lot of time to read, & without a lot of mental energy to put into reading anything too involved, feeling desperate to commiserate with other parents about some of the unexpected indignities of parenthood, this may not be a bad choice. there are probably funnier, more original parenting memoirs out there, but this is the one i happened to read most recently. *shrug*(less)

Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family
by Catherine Newman

read in April, 2013

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i heard about this book because the author writes the etiquette column in "real simple". yes, i still read "real simple". & i really like the etiquette column. obviously a memoir about awaiting the birth of a second child while raising a toddler...more i heard about this book because the author writes the etiquette column in "real simple". yes, i still read "real simple". & i really like the etiquette column. obviously a memoir about awaiting the birth of a second child while raising a toddler is something that is right up my alley, given my all-consuming obsession with parenting memoirs. can you believe my library didn't have this? i don't know why! it was great! i had to get it as an ebook. not that i regret it at all; i really enjoyed it.

obviously it took me forever to read this because it takes me forever to read everything now that i have a baby. but it was kind of nice because it was good to have a book i was enjoying so much. the best thing about this book is that it is seriously, legitimately funny. obviously i am too fried from baby care (we had our first "vacation" last week, in detroit, which was really just a fun experience in having ramona screaming her face off in someone else's apartment, & we weren't even home for 48 hours when my partner's parents came to town to meet the baby--they are holding her right now, which is how i'm able to write this) to recall any specific jokes i really liked...there was one about awaiting the milestone of teenagers shooting each other up with heroin that was good. there was another one about doctors recommending that pregnant women exercise caution getting in & out of the shower, "as if you're just doing a crazy vaudeville routine, slipping all over the place when you're not pregnant". you know i love anything related to the possibility of people falling down.

i have read A LOT of parenting memoirs, & this is one of the best. it makes me kind of scared to have another kid, because she writes about how her toddler basically slipped into a clinical depression after his little sister was born, but...whatever. ramona is only four months old now. we have plenty of time before we are even going to be thinking about adding a second kid to the family. (who am i kidding? we're already thinking about it.)(less)

Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Babyproofing Your Marriage by Stacie Cockrell

Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More, Argue Less, and Communicate Better as Your Family Grows
by Stacie Cockrell

read in March, 2013

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i am relieved that i didn't read this until after i already had a baby, because it definitely would have scared me. but as a parent, i found it quite helpful. i picked it up from the library after yet another fight with jared. allow me to explain: in...more i am relieved that i didn't read this until after i already had a baby, because it definitely would have scared me. but as a parent, i found it quite helpful. i picked it up from the library after yet another fight with jared. allow me to explain: in the almost-six years we were together before we had our baby, we had fights maybe once or twice a year. since we had ramona, we are averaging fights more like once or twice a month. that's still chump change compared to a lot of couples, i know, but for us, it's like a tenfold increase! it's been really stressful!

so we had another fight because i was feeling rushed to take over baby duty for the day, but all of ramona's bottles were dirty, but i didn't have room to wash them because the counter was still littered with dishes from dinner the night before. i freaked out a little & jared said, "i feel like i have to walk on eggshells because you're clearly about to have a tantrum," & i, of course, objected to the infantilizing language & said something to the effect of, "remember when we first started dating & i told you that it wouldn't fly with me if you spoke to me in a condescending manner? i don't know why you think anything has changed. we have an actual baby if you really feel the need to infantilize someone." actually, that's exactly what i said, & he was all, "fine! i'm leaving!" but instead he just shut himself in the office with ramona, which freed me up to take a walk to the library.

the most helpful chapter in the book for me was about "scorekeeping". i didn't even know there was a name for it, but i knew that i did it & i knew that it probably wasn't good for our relationship. scorekeeping is when you keep a running tally in your head of all the things you do for the baby & for your partner, & a converse tally of all the boneheaded things your partner does to make your life more difficult. like putting the pizza box in the recycling even though you've told him at least 1200 times that the recycling guy doesn't take pizza boxes. or the time he put away the laundry without being asked, but stuffed the diapers so they were all bunched up & leaky. or that time he washed all the dishes...except for the baby's bottles, which were all dirty. or that other time when he gave the baby a bath...but he didn't wash her face & she had another baby acne outbreak. get the picture?

this book definitely made me appreciate jared a lot more & it gave me some helpful tools for communicating with him & letting him know that i appreciate him. i could have lived without the annoying gender essentialism (mommy is hardwired to protect the baby! daddy is hardwired to provide for the baby!). it's annoying that the book assumes that all parenting couples are married (jared & i are not). it's even more annoying that the book assumes that all parenting couples are straight. i can't even imagine being in a queer couple & trying to glean wisdom from this book. it could be done, but so much of it is geared for straight couples, it's pretty overwhelming. but as i personally am in a straight couple, it was at least halfways useful to me.

i also want to address the childless people that are reading this & complaining about how it is a terrible book because it presents parenting as this joyless, horrible thing that must be completely hateful. um...this book kind of nails parenting, actually. it doesn't present parenting in a negative light; it presents parenting in a realistic light. personally, i love my baby beyond words & i really enjoy caring for her...but is it work? HELL YES! it can be really stressful sometimes. parenting is seriously not all about curling up with your baby in a sunbeam & having this beatific mother earth moment, okay? that might happen like three times in your life, if you're lucky, but it seriously is a scramble to feed the baby, feed yourself, get your hair washed, wash the laundry, clean the litterbox, change the baby's diaper...it never ends. there are countless moments of joy, of course. seeing your baby smile just never gets old. but if you read this book & think, "ugh, parenting can't possibly be that bad!" do yourself a favor & don't have kids. because it is.(less)

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	You Live for the Fight When That’s All That You’ve Got #1 4.46 of 5 stars 4.46 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2008	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	love letters to monsters #2 3.0 of 5 stars 3.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2009	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	love letters to monsters #1 4.67 of 5 stars 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2007	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Ciara rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the Real Truth about Becoming a Mom. Finally. by Vicki Glembocki (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
i don't really know what the hell to think about this book. i have thought for a long time that i got lucky because ramona is just a really easy baby. why, she's napping right now, enabling me to take the time to write this review! other people, incl...more
23 mai 12:23 · see review
Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars Half Baked: The Story of My Nerves, My Newborn, and How We Both Learned to Breathe by Alexa Stevenson (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
another memoir written by the parent of a NICU baby. i had no idea there were so many books like this out there! & i'd never stumbled across a single one until i had my own NICU baby (though a 32 weeks, ramona was considered merely "moderately pr...more
23 mai 12:04 · see review
Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures by Amber Dusick (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
seems like most of the lower reviews for his book complained that a) most of the content was already available on the author's blog, & b) it was too short. but i had never seen the author's blog before. i was all new to me, & i enjoyed it. i'...more
23 mai 09:20 · see review
Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
i read a review of this that was all, "don't trust the five-star reviews! this book is okay, but it's not GREAT, like his other books were! what happened to david sedaris, man? he used to be so good. you don't even know. i remember back before he got...more
29 avr. 16:19 · see review
Ciara made a comment on for those of you wondering about ramona’s sleeping & eating "it might just be a matter of luck, but i am also super-devoted to my pumping schedule. i don't know how much of my blog you've read, but ramona was bo...more "
24 avr. 14:09 · see blog post
Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
this book is like 900 pages long, & i was reading it in dribs & drabs in between caring for a newborn baby, so it seriously took me three months to read the whole thing. if you're reading this review, you are probably already familiar with th...more
21 avr. 15:20 · see review
Ciara rated a book 2 of 5 stars It Gets Easier!: ...and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers by Claudine Wolk (Goodreads Author) read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
yeah, this is really just okay. i think that most of the people who have given it particularly negative reviews have done so out of ideological differences with the author, claiming that she is dismissive of attachment parenting. i think she definite...more
19 avr. 18:02 · see review
Ciara rated a book 3 of 5 stars I just want to pee alone : a collection of humorous essays by kick ass mom bloggers by Stacey Hatton (Goodreads Author) read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
i don't know. this was all right. it was a pleasant enough way to pass an airplane ride with a baby passed out on my chest. it's an anthology of humorous essays about parenting from various mom bloggers. it suffers from the problem that a lot of blog...more
11 avr. 10:16 · see review
Ciara rated a book 5 of 5 stars Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family by Catherine Newman read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
i heard about this book because the author writes the etiquette column in "real simple". yes, i still read "real simple". & i really like the etiquette column. obviously a memoir about awaiting the birth of a second child while raising a toddler...more
09 avr. 14:19 · see review
Ciara rated a book 4 of 5 stars Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More, Argue Less, and Communicate Better as Your Family Grows by Stacie Cockrell read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
i am relieved that i didn't read this until after i already had a baby, because it definitely would have scared me. but as a parent, i found it quite helpful. i picked it up from the library after yet another fight with jared. allow me to explain: in...more
27 mar. 11:57 · see review

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318 posts
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