January Books

January 31st, 2010 by Rachel

I often wonder how many books I read in a year. I read a lot last year, but our “now reading” part of our blog wasn’t working and I forgot to tell my webmaster for many months. So, I am going to attempt a monthly book review, or at least list of completed books for that month, mostly out of curiosity of how many books I read in a year. One of my goals for this new year is to manage my time better and read more, let’s see how long it lasts.

Breastfeeding and Human Lactation by Jan Riordan – I plowed through this 850+ page textbook in a mere six weeks. I fell asleep many nights with that book in my lap, but I learned so much. I am pursuing certification as a lactation educator, and this was required reading.

nmgweaning
The Nursing Mother’s Guide to Weaning by Kathleen Huggins and Linda Ziedrich – another lactation educator book and one that I was interested in reading to gain some encouragement in nursing a toddler, not because I am interested in weaning anytime soon, but for ideas when the time comes. This book met those goals, and could be a good resource to a mother considering weaning at any point in her nursing relationship. I really enjoyed their insight into why Western countries nurse their babies for such a short time compared to the rest of the world. From the authors:

Americans tend to fear their children’s dependence… the same fear provokes questions and warnings from well-meaning people about the wisdom of long breastfeeding, and drives many women to wean before they are ready. We should remind ourselves that American individualism, in many of its forms, is not born of confidence and trust, but of alienation. As Elizabeth Hormann (1982) points out, ‘We are bent on weakening bonds in the name of growth and independence, then spend our adulthoods wondering why we have trouble getting close to other people.’”

pagan-christianity
Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by Frank Viola and George Barna
I read half of this book earlier in the fall and finally finished it this month. I found this book to be very interesting, but I read it through the lens of knowing the authors’ agenda–the house church movement. Basically the authors are making three points: 1) A great deal of what we do in church today does not come from the New Testament. 2) Much of what is practiced originated out of Greco-Roman customs and traditions (paganism, not Judaism), and/or human-made inventions. 3) Many of these practices actually hinder the church from being what God designed her to be. The over-arching question the authors seem to be asking is: Do the practices of modern institutional churches reflect a God-ordained/inspired development, or are they a departure from it?

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
This was my mom’s group February book. It was entertaining, but I’m not sure if I would recommend it. It only took two days to read it, and I just realized this was made into a movie to be released soon… hmmm… it was okay but I’m not sure I want to see a movie about it.

help1

The Help by Kathryn Stockett — I loved this book and could not put it down. I was so sad when it ended as it was one of those books where you feel like you know the characters so well. Based in Jackson Mississippi during the early 1960s, this book is about three main characters–two black maids (“the help”) and a young white woman recently graduated from college who sets out to write the stories of black maids working in white homes during the turbulent beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement. It was thought-provoking and very well-written. I highly recommend it.

January total = 5 (not counting the four Happy Hollister books I read aloud to Bud… please, let us move on from Happy Hollisters soon, son!)

Protected: Sugar is 20 Months Old

January 28th, 2010 by Rachel

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


Protected: Recipe of the month: Great Granola

January 26th, 2010 by Rachel

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


Protected: My Baby

January 13th, 2010 by Rachel

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


Protected: Sugar went Krogering

January 12th, 2010 by Rachel

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


2000s in Review

January 4th, 2010 by Rachel

I saw this on my friend, Megan’s, blog, and I thought it was so interesting that I had to do it myself. Our blog tends to be a little kid-focused these days, so perhaps this will give some of you a bit more information about me than you ever wanted to know.

2000
Celebrated Y2K asleep in a recliner at my best friends’ house on my first outing after back surgery.
Spent about four months in a fog recovering from said surgery.
Started my freshman year at Texas A&M University, majoring in education, thinking I was going to be a math teacher or go to nursing school.
solo-highschool1

2001
Spent spring break in London.
Decided teaching wasn’t really what I was supposed to do, changed my major to community health intending to go to nursing school someday.
Spent eight weeks in Nepal that summer. Got worms, made some great friends, experienced an earthquake and was robbed at gunpoint by Maoist rebels who stole all our stuff and attempted to burn down the house I was staying in. It was a life-changing summer, if you couldn’t tell by my brief description.
nepal-scenic
nepal-group

2002
Junior year of college, got really involved in the college ministry at our church, met Thomas and made more wonderful friends.
Applied to a bunch of nursing schools to transfer to a BSN program. Didn’t get into a single one though my grades were really good. God firmly closed that door, though it was shocking to me at the time.
witherin

2003
Lived with a wonderful family who taught me a ton about marriage and family.
Thomas and I started dating in November.
chipotle

2004
Internship at Hope Pregnancy Center the semester before graduation.
Thomas and I got engaged in August.
Graduated in December.

2005
img_8351
Thomas and I were married on January 8th. Had an awesome two-week honeymoon in Paris.
dsc00295
Found out we were pregnant in early May.
Bought a house in September.

2006
dsc01226
Bud was born in February.
Made some great mom friends who helped in the transition to motherhood.

2007
dsc06057
Lived it up with one kids and lots of fun friends (that picture is horrible, but one of the few I have of most everyone.)
Started training to become a Bradley Method childbirth instructor.
Found out I was pregnant with Sugar in October.

2008
2532451427_f91c6aec55_b
Sugar was born in May.
dsc06940
Became fully certified as a Bradley instructor.

2009
img_0543
Enjoying life with two beautiful kids and a wonderful husband.