December Book Review

Happy Monday, everyone! We made it through the first week of 2018! I hope you all had a warm and cozy weekend with all the crazy weather we've been having in the States. Saturday was still freezing here and that was the day we had our maternity photoshoot scheduled for. My body was numb by the end of the it but it was so worth it because I know those photos are going to hold a special place in our hearts forever. I can't wait to see them and share them all with you! Other than that we ran some errands, which if you live in the Chicagoland area, the World Market in Northbrook is closing and everything is on sale right now! I've been twice in the last week and have found some really awesome stuff for our house, so if you have the time, go check it out...their last day open is January 20th. Yesterday we had a nice quiet day in with our family and played Monopoly. I love game nights so much and am really looking forward to having them with our kids for years to come.

So one of my favorite hobbies is reading and I really love to share what I've read with everyone! I thought I'd start a little book review series every month on what I read the previous month, so we'll start now with what I read this past December.

For Whom the Bell Tolls -Ernest Hemingway

I love a good classic, and I think we can all attest that anything written by Hemingway falls in to the category of being a GREAT classic. Not going to lie, I'd been reading this book for awhile, but it wasn't because it was bad. It was just a mixture of not being able to read every day and it being a bit long.

The plot of the novel is set during the Spanish Civil War where an American is helping to fight with the republic. The American, Robert Jordan, is supposed to help a band of republic fighters blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. The novel tells of his journey on how he formulates his plan to proceed with his orders while he has a budding romance with a woman who is a part of the Spanish group he is working with.

I really loved this novel. It kept me intrigued the entire time, and I was always excited to pick it up and read more. I wouldn't say it was the ultimate page turner where I couldn't put it down, but I definitely didn't dread picking it up either. If you like war stories and romance, this is a great pick for you!

Buy For Whom the Bell Tolls on Amazon.

On Becoming Baby Wise -Gary Ezzo & Robert Buckman

I've recently switched over to more parenting reading material over pregnancy material. As I'm coming to the end of my pregnancy, I've wanted to prepare myself for the next stage...raising our baby! I had been recommend this parenting book by multiple people, so I figured I would give it a quick read and see how I felt about it. Well I can tell you this much, I already feel great about it and Nugget hasn't even been born yet!

This book uses the parenting philosophy called PDF (Parent Directed Feeding). To put it simply, this is what it promotes; you feed your baby, you have wake time with your baby, you let your baby sleep. It's a very simple and natural routine. As time goes on, you start to lessen the amount of feedings and naps to get them to eventually sleep throughout the entire night. The goal is to have your baby sleeping 8 hours by the time they are 8-12 weeks old.

So as you can imagine, that would be any parents dream and from the statistics in the book as well as what I've heard first hand from friends who have followed this parenting style...it works! Not only does it sound extremely appealing to have our child sleeping through the night by the time I go back to work so that I'm getting a decent amount of sleep, I think the most important thing is that he is getting the proper amount of sleep, too. We all need a good nights sleep for cognitive development, so if this philosophy is going to help our baby get the proper development he needs, I am definitely on board. I also love a schedule. It makes me feel more comfortable to try to have our baby on the same routine over and over again so that we'll both get the hang of things. Practice makes perfect, right? I believe being on such a great schedule will also help promote my breastmilk production and cause less stress when it comes to that aspect of being mother, too. This is all just speculation though! I will be sure to do an update post on how this PDF philosophy actually plays out for our family and let you know our personal experiences and struggles with it.

You can buy On Becoming Baby Wise on Amazon.

I'm currently reading Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines and I can't wait to share my thoughts on it with all of you next month! What are you currently reading? Leave me a comment below! Also, if any of you use Goodreads you should add me as a friend, so we can keep up with what we're all reading together!