30 Day Book Challenge

30 Day Reading Challenge: The List

I saw this the other day at Live to Read, Read to Live and decided to give it a try. I'm going to start it tomorrow, but I just wanted to put this here to remind myself.

Day 01 – The best book you read this year:
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favorite series:
Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series:
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad:
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book:
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favorite classic book:
Day 11 – A book you hated:
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer:
Day 14 –book from your favorite writer :
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote:
Day 18: First “chapter book” you can remember reading as a child:
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Book that makes you laugh out loud
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood:
Day 22 - Book you’re currently reading
Day 23 – Your guilty pleasure
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read:
Day 25 - Favorite book you read in school:
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked:
Day 30 - Favorite book:

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My Grandmother Sucks

I hate to do this on my blog, but I just have to get it out. I am so frustrated and saddened by my grandmother. Growing up, my sister and I always knew that for some reason, we came second in my grandmother's heart to our cousin Amanda. Amanda is actually our second cousin, so she's my grandmother's niece. I love Amanda like a sister, so it's never affected my relationship with her. I've usually just put up with my grandmother's crap, but it all has been really bothering me since CJ's first birthday party.

My grandmother walked into the party an hour early, and sat down and didn't help at all. She's not an old lady, she's a spry lady of 60. She could've at least offered. She proceeded to complain about everything, the heat, traveling, EVERYTHING. I didn't see her hold my son at all. Her husband couldn't get enough of him and my great-grandmother spent a lot of time holding him too. My grandmother was also bragging to my sister-in-law about all her diamonds that her husband buys her and going on and on about all the money she spends. So imagine my surprise when we open up the card for CJ from her and it is a $10 bill. I don't even mind that she gave him a $10 bill. It's the fact that she couldn't even take the time to go out and pick him up a present. I know for a fact she was at the mall the day prior shopping because she called my mom to complain that her macy's card wasn't working. My great-grandmother barely even leaves her house and she managed to buy him an outfit.

So then for the icing on the cake. My cousin Amanda is pregnant, which is awesome. I told her I'm going to throw her baby shower for her. So my grandmother tells me to let her know when it'll be so she can send some money to help pay for it. Are you kidding me?! Where were you at my baby shower? Why was my mom going out of her way to save up for my baby shower while you were sipping margaritas out by the pool? She was also talking about how she's going to spoil Amanda's baby, which again is fine, but why can't you even hold your grandson? Your grandson who is by the way, the most amazingly perfect and happy baby in existence.

So in the end, I'm just really irritated by the whole thing. I don't want him growing up wondering why his great-nana doesn't love him just like we wondered growing up. I'm going to write her a letter and tell her that she can either make her ONLY great-grandchild a priority in her life or she can choose not to have a great-grandchild in her life.

So what do you think? Am I being crazy and irrational? Or do you think how I feel is justified? Let me know! Pin It

CJ's 1st Birthday Photo

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English Curricula for Homeschooling

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it already, but I might have the opportunity to teach English at a home-school co-op. I'm really excited about it. Here in Massachusetts, we have the MCAS test. It's one of those horrible standardized tests that everyone has to pass in order to graduate high school. I've been dreading having to teach English in a public school because I feel like I would be teaching "How to pass the MCAS 101" and not get to teach any actual literature. If I get to teach at the co-op, I feel like I'll have a much better chance of ACTUALLY teaching English, both grammar and literature. They had their meeting today and the director was supposed to tell them about my class so hopefully I'll hear back soon.

Obviously, the bambino is a little too young  for school yet, but I'm seriously thinking about homeschooling him. There are soooo many amazing curricula out there these days. I actually just found one at thegreatbooks.com that I think I'm actually going to do myself. If I had done this way back in high school, I would be so well read, college would've been easy.

For my class, I'll be combining a few different curricula. For grammar, I'm going to use Our Mother Tongue. It uses biblical stories and stories from literature to teach grammar. It also has a bunch of awesome little anecdotes about the growth of the English language. For literature, I'm going to use a mix of the 7th and 8th grade versions of Lightning Literature. It uses Stories & Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children. We'll also be reading four novels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Helen Keller's The Story of My Life, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Hobbit. There will also be daily journaling with prompts that relate to the grammar and books. It's going to be pretty intense for a 5th grader, but I think they'll be able to handle it. Pin It

CJ's Belly Button

Sorry everyone about the glitch. Our computer battery died last week and we just now got the replacement battery. So I am back and ready to write.

While I was nursing CJ for his nap earlier today, I wrote an entire blog post in my head. I cannot remember a single word of it now....

So Craig went on a stag night this weekend. His friend Ben is getting married in September so they all went camping up in Vermont and are going to see the Dropkick Murphy's tonight. So it is just me and the bambino tonight. CJ has been hysterical the last few days. He's just been being really funny. I'll post some videos of him and his insanity. I gotta go get him ready for bed but I'll come back on later and do a more content-rich post.

This had me cracking up. I always tickle CJ's belly and say "belly belly belly belly button" and I caught him doing it to himself. Pin It

What I'm Reading...

Ok, first and foremost, this blog was supposed to be about books. This is something that I seem to be forgetting. Unfortunately, with the baby, I just don't have as much time to read as I used to. I generally only get to read after the baby goes to sleep. But anyhow, let me update with a little of what I've been reading.



The last book I read was Bossypants by Tina Fey. This book was really funny, I found myself laughing out loud many times. It was a really quick read, especially considering I don't get much time to sit down and read. It is a humorous view of her life before SNL, during her time on the show, and then what she's been doing since there. She includes a prayer for her daughter which I'll share a bit of here, "May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers. Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait." That is something all parents can relate to I'm sure. I want my son to be a child for as long as possible. I hope to never hear myself tell him to "Grow up" or "Be a big boy". I'm already so sad at how fast he's grown. Overall, I gave this book 4 stars out of 5. It's not a deep read, but it is funny.

I'm currently reading A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. This is the second of the "Song of Fire and Ice" books, more popularly known as the Game of Thrones' books. I love the way these books are formatted. Each chapter is from a different character's point of view. There are hundreds of characters in the book and it is nearly impossible to keep track of all of them. Only about 10 of them are represented with their own chapters so it's not too mind-boggling. Luckily, I'm reading this on my nookcolor, so when a character is mentioned and I can't remember them, I can simply highlight their name and look them up on Wikipedia. Gotta love that Wikipedia. The books are long, this one is 1009 pages, but they read pretty quickly. You genuinely want to know what is going to happen so you go through it quickly. I've found myself awake still at 2am reading because I don't want to put it down. I gave the first book 5 stars, and I'm pretty sure this book will be getting 5 as well.

Next, I'm probably going to be reading the third Song of Fire and Ice book, which is called A Storm of Swords. These books are so crazy popular that the fifth book which just came out was referred to as "The Precious" by many avid Martin fans. "The Precious" referring to Gollum's obsession with the one ring in Lord of the Rings. It took him many years to finally release the fifth book. I'm hoping that before I even get to the fifth he'll have finished the sixth.

As for CJ, for his birthday he got a couple of books. His favorite new one is Clifford's Birthday Party. It came with a big red Clifford doll that he barks at whenever he sees it. The other day he even did the sign for dog while saying "oggie". It was adorable. Pin It

CJ Doesn't Like Cake

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Self-Weaning :(

I'm pretty sure the bambino is starting to self-wean himself off of breast milk. I feel two ways about this. One, I'm sad because I love staring down at him while he nurses and falls asleep and it's a great way to bond with him and calm him down. Two, I'm happy because that means we can start trying for baby number 2! It really came out of nowhere. Up until yesterday he was nursing when he woke up, when he took a nap, and when he went to bed. When he woke up yesterday he wasn't interested, he wanted his cheerios and fruit. Then at nap-time, he wouldn't nurse so I just cuddled with him until he fell asleep. When he woke up about an hour later, he did nurse for about an hour. Then he nursed again going to bed. This morning again he wasn't interested in nursing so he got his cheerios and fruit. Then when he started getting ready for his nap, Craig just took him into our bed and snuggled with him until he fell asleep. I didn't hear him fussing at all, so I'm assuming he fell right to sleep. He'll probably nurse tonight at bedtime.

He'll be a year in FIVE DAYS so I guess I knew it was coming soon. I can't believe how fast the time has flown. I don't know if this blog will still be around when he's old enough to go online, but I love you little man. Thanks for coming into my life.

So how did you all wean your babies? Did they initiate it or did you gradually wean them yourselves? Please share your stories and advice. Thank you!!

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Blog Updates

I just changed around the format of the blog a little bit. I thought that the right side was getting too complicated, so I added a bar to the left side. I then moved some things around to try to even it out. (I have a weird obsession with symmetry.) I also, added some ads, but let me know if those become overwhelming so I can take them down. Let me know what you think about the general layout. Thanks!

Also, hello everyone viewing this that came over from Swap-Bot! Pin It

Just Keep Swimming!

Ps. I got this idea from the blog, http://jaysinsight.wordpress.com/. 

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CJ Signing Milk

I can't believe how fast the bambino is growing. Just yesterday he was born. Now he's walking, and talking a mile a minute. I just wanted to share this video of him signing milk when he was about 8 months old. It was his first sign. He also signs mama, dada, and dog. He also understands other signs like biscuit, cheerios, auntie, uncle, and nana. He's my little genius. His favorite sign is still milk though. He signs it while he's nursing and while he's falling asleep. I have the greatest baby ever. Pin It

Birthdays!!

Yesterday was my 27th birthday, woohoo!! The hubby let me sleep in and made me pancakes. On July 15th, the little bambino turns 1. And in honor of that special occassion, Barefoot Books has a wonderful event going on. For every copy of Bear's Birthday sold in the month of July, Barefoot Books will donate a book to the children's charity Birthday Wishes. Birthday Wishes believes that all children deserve a birthday party and so provides birthday parties for homeless children. What a great thought.

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