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6th out of 42 books
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36 voters
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Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family
To fifty thousand readers, Catherine Newman is the beloved author of Bringing Up Ben & Birdy, a weekly column on babycenter.com. Now in the delightfully candid, outlandishly funny Waiting for Birdy, Newman charts the year she anticipated the birth of her second child while also coping with the realities of raising a toddler. As she navigates life with her existentially c...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
March 29th 2005
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Every so often a book comes along that I love so much and can't put down but watch the page numbers turn with sadness because I don't want it to end. I absolutely and truly loved every page of this book. I teared up at points because Newman captured so eloquently the extreme joy and anxiety of mothering, and at other points I was laughing so hard that I could not breath. I have been calling my best friend to read her excerpts of the book because it is hysterical -- in a reality check, oh my god,...more
Tricia
rated it
Recommends it for:
new/expecting mums and pops and the people who wonder why they've lost their minds
I like a book that makes my husband laugh. This is one of those books that we kept in the bathroom for a little light reading while doing the do. My husband said one night, "That book in the bathroom is really good. It makes me wish I had to keep shitting just so I can read it." The truth is, I feel the same way. That book makes me wish I had to keep shitting.
(Not bad was the fact that I picked this book up for $1 at a remainders sale. I feel bad for the author, but at leas...more
(Not bad was the fact that I picked this book up for $1 at a remainders sale. I feel bad for the author, but at leas...more
This is my favorite of the many parenting memoirs that I've read in the last five years (since Iris was born). While Newman's story is about having a second child (Birdy), and I am not having more than one, she captures the experiences of mothering a newborn and a preschooler with perfect humor and horror. Ben is around age three in the book. I remember wondering if this was really what Iris would be like when she was three, and OH, WAS SHE EVER. This is Matthew's and my favorite part, both beca...more
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This is the perfect book for anyone who has ever had even the slightest interest in having and raising children. Newman's sense of humor is perfect, quick, and truly borders on genius. If you don't laugh out loud at least ten times, someone should give you your money back. This is the real thing, the way life falls and rises, and the absolute promise that children are endlessly (and unknowingly) the wisest of creatures.
I've loved Catherine Newman's blog, now called the "Dalai Mama" on Wondertime, since it was "Bringing up Ben & Birdy" on ParentCenter. She is smart, funny and incredibly honest about the joys and hassles of raising young kids. I regularly find myself laughing out loud at the computer screen when reading a blog entry. This book grew out of the blog, and it's every bit as good.
This book was sooooo good. My husband and I both said we need to buy it. It's totally worth a re-read. But my friend Tricia's review is the best--go check it out.
Catherine Newman is the kind of person you want living next door. Funny, irreverent, with a heart as big as the mattress on her family bed. She also is a great writer, with the ability to notice the little things and comment on them in a way that gives them the importance they deserve. Wry, witty, and self-deprecating, Newman tracks her journey to the birth of her second child in "Waiting for Birdy." Nothing -- from the tangerine-sized hemorrhoids to the "barfy flu" to her so...more
I found this book at the exact right time in my life. Newman so effectively shares my own thoughts & emotions that reading it was a comfort beyond words. And it makes me really question why mothers I know can’t open up like this with one another. It saddens me that so often the façade of “everything’s great!” is presented, when what we should be doing is being honest with each other and helping each other. My review makes this book sound really heavy, but it's not; Newman is funny & quirky & neu...more
The most accurate perspective on being a mother to an infant that I have ever read. Very funny and sweet in moments, I could relate completely to some of what she said, especially about being neurotic. I had a few favorite parts and it made me want to slow down and try to enjoy Hadley even more. I also need to lose some of my fear and be willing to introduce her to life. It is so well written that at times it was exhausting for me to read because it didn't feel like an escape but the descrip...more
This is part of what is turning into a series of pregnancy-and-birth memoirs that I am reading while pregnant. And it's another really good one. Newman is hilarious, I laughed out loud. Her accounts of the ups and downs of life as a pregnant woman with a toddler are, I imagine, spot-on. She gushes with love and snark and neurosis, and lots of self-deprecating humor. Maybe I should re-read this in a few years to see if I still feel the same way about its accuracy. She definitely nails the fru...more
Easy read that I laughed out loud to over two rainy days couped up inside. Her writing style is little hyperbolic, which is supposed to be part of the charm of an overly analytical/borderline neurotic young mother. I've read numerous blogs from writers who mimic this style and I find it tiring. The difference with this author, however, is she manages to break away from mold long enough to write some beautifully thoughtful things in a way that weaves all her short stories together. It makes her n...more
Hi-LAR-ious! I don't often laugh out loud when reading, but this book had me chuckling and giggling at every turn.[return][return]I knew this was going to be my kind of book when I got to this part on page 11:[return][return] "I once sat up late with a friend, enjoying a shot or two of Jagermeister and imagining a special line of Hallmark cards called 'Womanly Thoughts' or, maybe, 'Gynecological Moments.' These would be designed around moody little watercolors of women with their feet in...more
I give up trying to do this hilarious book any justice with a review. Even pulling a few quotes doesn't work. All I can say is, if you're going to be having a meal alone and you want something to read while you eat, DON'T pick this book. You'll choke. Repeatedly.
One note: like The Second Nine Months and like Operating Instructions, this memoir includes cancer. For reasons unknown, I have yet to come across a parenting memoir that doesn't, and I thought I'd mention it in case it ...more
One note: like The Second Nine Months and like Operating Instructions, this memoir includes cancer. For reasons unknown, I have yet to come across a parenting memoir that doesn't, and I thought I'd mention it in case it ...more
This book I bought one day recently when I really wanted to be buying hard cover travel books but wouldn’t let myself do it. I don’t know why I torture myself that way – I end up buying two paperback books that aren’t exactly what I want to read, and then I have to force myself to read them. The other book I bought the day I bought this is a collection of nature writing essays, and although they have been mildly enjoyable, I haven’t been engaged enough with the rather small book to finish read...more
Have you ever fallen in love with a book? So in love that you just couldn't stop reading it. Or, if you had to stop, you'd be thinking about it and rushing to get things done so you could get back to it? That was me with Catherine Newman's Waiting for Birdy last weekend. (In fact, my husband was getting annoyed that I was talking more about Catherine's son, Ben, than our own son!)
Taken from Catherine's Babycentre blog, it's the story of gorgeous 3-year-old Ben and Catherine's mixed fee...more
Taken from Catherine's Babycentre blog, it's the story of gorgeous 3-year-old Ben and Catherine's mixed fee...more
This book was written by a Babycenter.com blogging mom while she was pregnant with her second child. It was fun to read because she had a 3 year old son and was expecting a daughter, just like me! She really hit home the mixed emotions I have about having another child. Although I cannot say enough how excited I am to have another baby, she describes perfectly the sadness that comes knowing it won't ever be just you and your little buddy anymore. It was cute and laugh out loud at times.
Thank goodness for all my friends who recommend and/or send me books. I hadn't heard about this one, but I'm so glad I read it. It wasn't laugh out loud funny, but it gave me a hundred inner snorts, which sounds grosser than it was. I just enjoyed her stories about her kid, about the indignities of childbirth and child raising, and about the experience of feeling her heart expand with the birth of a second child. It's a sweet book.
I just re-read this again after having a second child and I enjoyed it even more. There's so much parenting authenticity in this book - it strikes the perfect balance between honesty and humor. Never cutesy or contrived, Catherine Newman just comes off as gosh-darn genuine. Like she's an old girlfriend you're having coffee with in your pjs. And if you're a fan of Bringing Up Ben (or Bringing Up Ben and Birdy), this is a must-read.
This is the first book I've read that discusses candidly the experinence of anxiety that most moms seem to face but seem to hide from one another. It is a funny- make you laugh, cry memoir. One of those books you think- hey- did I write this...it seems too familar. I love Catherine Newman's writing style and look on life/children. It's a book you'll want to keep close, just knowing it's there is somewhat comforting.
This is my favorite book ever about being a new mom. It's hilarious at times and makes you cry in the next breath. Totally honest look at the trials, tribulations, and job of new motherhood. I totally identified with the guilt the author felt about bringing a new baby into the family and displacing the older child. I thought I was the only one who ever felt such sadness at the fact that my oldest child would no longer get all the attention and love.
I have always loved reading articles by Catherine Newman in magazines, so I thought I'd try her book. It was a tender, thoughtful, laugh-out-loud story of one year of her life as she is pregnant (and gives birth to) her second child. Really fun. She never fails to make me laugh and also take time to appreciate all the little (and big) things that go along with a life with kids.
Though the structure of the book was a bit hard to locate in the first quarter, the emotional intensity with which Newman writes makes up for your lost winding through the first 30 pages or so. She takes you through the seasons of her second pregnancy and birth, which as you get into the book seems to work well. But I found the beginning of the book too general, although insightfully hilarious. It lacked a certain intimacy. I'm glad I stuck with the book because by the first half I was fully...more
I absolutely loved every single page of this book! It is so timely that I'm currently seven months pregnant and have this book in hand to enjoy and learn from. I totally admire Catherine Newman for her candidness. She made motherhood sound so insane and yet so desirable. If you have kids, about to have kids or just plain love children, you'll find this book completely entertaining and heart-warming. It's difficult to put down!
I loved reading Catherine's blogs and was thrilled to find that her book had all of her sense of humor and charm. I enjoyed reading her blogs before I got pregnant and have enjoyed relating to her stories since having my own kiddo. This book has become a regular gift for baby showers.
I enjoyed reading this book about having a second child. I felt connected to the parts when she couldn't do all that she wanted to with her son because the pregnancy was so draining. She struggled through the change. I thought it was a helpful read before having a second child.
This is my most favorite book, writer, published person on the planet. I can't believe I hadn't already added this book. Catherine Newman is, probably, my greatest inspiration as a writer and a mother. I love her dearly for the things she has taught me....
Beautiful and hilarious and straight-up account of being pregnant while raising a toddler. I laughed out loud at least a dozen times, would read parts aloud to Bo -- both the funny ones and the ones that made me feel so, so sweet.
endearing and very real. anyone with our without kids, with 1 or more will be able to laugh and groan along with the stories in this short sweet book about a mama pregnant with her second baby while chasing her first born.
Inder
rated it
Recommends it for:
If you liked Operating Instructions ...
Recommended to Inder by:
Melissa Onstad
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Memoirs should be sad and funny, people. Sad and funny.
This little memoir hits the nail on the head. Tender, sweet, sad, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I gobbled it up (a delicious little snack) in a couple of days, and enjoyed every minute. I read bits out loud to my husband and anyone else who would listen. I recommended it to all my mom friends. Just so lovely! I miss it already.
This little memoir hits the nail on the head. Tender, sweet, sad, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I gobbled it up (a delicious little snack) in a couple of days, and enjoyed every minute. I read bits out loud to my husband and anyone else who would listen. I recommended it to all my mom friends. Just so lovely! I miss it already.
interesting considering the author was in the same situation I'm in now. I could appreciated her insight and self-deprecating humor as she dealt with her son and the neurosis of having a second child.
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