Book Review: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D.

After posting a few days ago about my trouble with Aiden's latest sleep habits I picked up this book.  Jamie over at Another Joyous Journey suggested it, telling me how great it worked for them with their son.  I love her blog and totally trusted her opinion.  I read the book in a day!

It was such an eye opening experience.  I had no idea that our main problem is his bedtime.  Turns out his bedtime is too late!  We normally get him to sleep by 9pm, some nights it's 10pm, and then he wakes up 1-3 times a night before getting up at 6-7am.  We thought we were doing good because 90% of the time he falls asleep easily at 9pm.  The book said to start moving bedtime up 20 minutes at a time and see how it goes.  Last night I put Aiden down at 830pm and I'm sure it's not seriously going to be THIS easy, but he slept amazing!  He woke up at 915 and I rocked him right back to sleep.  Then he stayed asleep form 933pm-712am without waking up once!  I was shocked!  Just having one good night has really inspired me.  I feel like we are on the right track.  After further reading it makes a lot of sense why he needs to go to bed earlier.  I mention a quote below that talked about this.

Once we get him in the habit of going to bed earlier and finding the time that works for us {I'm aiming for asleep between 730-8pm} routinely our next step will be cutting out his 3rd nap.  He still takes it but I know it's time to cut it out.  We'll start doing that slowly, I don't want to change bedtime AND nap time all at once.  So bedtime first and I think the nap will start to fade out naturally. 

There was one passage that as I read I got all excited... I read it to Kris and we were both like "whoa - this IS totally OUR problem!".  I'd like to share it with you... {page 125}

"Sometimes, around nine to twelve months of age, a child falls asleep around 5:30pm and is up around 730 or 8pm {ours is more like 430-6 for a nap}, then is up playing with parents for a few hours until 10pm, and finally goes back to sleep but does not sleep well at night.  The parents think the child is taking a third nap at 530pm, but in reality the child needs a very early bedtime, maybe around 6pm, and no playing between 730-10pm."

After reading that I am confident that this book is the right one for us!  Dr. Weissbluth doesn't tell you that you HAVE to let your child cry it out, it explains how it is a healthy option and how to go about it, it really just explains sleep problems and possible solutions.  I am so very glad it was suggested to me and can't wait to see REAL progress and be able to share it!  The book is broken down by ages and goes from birth all the way until they are in teens.  Talking about common problems that may show up as they grow, like sleep walking, nightmares etc.  I can see this book being helpful for many years, and many children, to come. 

Book Review: Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

This book was a random find at Target and I really enjoyed it. Here is what the back cover of the book said that made me want to read it....

PARIS, JULY 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard – their secret hiding place – and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

SIXTY YEARS LATER: Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own romantic future.

The first thing I had to know was "did he get out of the cupboard?!?" and of course I can't share that with you because if I did it would ruin the book for you!  I am surprised I didn't cry while reading this book.  It was a very eye opening book.  Everyone knows about the Holocaust, some know more than others of course, but this book touched upon the events of the Vel’ d’Hiv’ {a stadium where Jews were held before going to Auschwitz}.  The french police were the ones who went and arrested the Jews, not the Germans, and so a lot of people didn't know what was going on and what to think.  It was interesting to read some of the lesser known events of the Holocaust, this book has a lot of facts, but by no means is historical or overloaded with facts. 

You follow the young girl Sarah and Julia as she learns about Sarah's past and find out more about her future.  Julia has struggles with her family, her husband and grows as a mother when she learns more about the children affected in the past, like Sarah and her brother.  The two stories are easily intertwined and I has no problem following along.  I plan to pass this book along to my mom and would suggest others read it too.  I hope you enjoy if you give it a read. 

Book Review: Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields

I have been very open lately about having Postpartum Depression.  It's not always easy talking about it openly, but I think it's important.  Brooke Sheilds takes the same approach.  She is a celebrity and has always been in the public eye, but she isn't afraid to share her story in Down Came the Rain.

This book was her own personal story about her struggle and triumph through Postpartum Depression.  Her depression was much worse than my own, she had thoughts of running away from her baby or visions of her baby being hurt.  She talks about how she ignored her feelings and what her caring friends were trying to tell her.  She went through a few different medicines before finally finding one that worked to keep her feeling "normal".  She went and talked to a therapist about her feelings and find comfort in that.  She talks about her struggle to go back to being in showbiz and how she juggles being a working mom.  Her story is very touching.  Her husband was a great support to her and she eventually found a Filipino baby nurse to help her around the house and keeping her daughter on a schedule while she was at work or having a bad day.  She had to learn who she was again in order to find out how to be a mother.

A few of my personal favorite quotes from this book, quotes that spoke to me and that I could relate to are the following: 

"I was feeling so bad that I found it hard to believe a tiny pink pill could lift the black cloud following me around like Pigpin from Peanuts."

"I shouldn't be afraid or embarrassed to take medicine, and it was not a terrible thing to accept all the help that was available."

"....and I had to admit to being a legitimate member of a depressed mommy society.  Did this mean that I was crazy or that I was destined to be on the six o'clock news because of my inevitable actions?  Of course not."

I think this is a quick and great read for anyone, but especially someone struggling with Postpartum Depression.  It was great to read someone else's story. 

Her book ends with Rowan turning 1.  Since writing this book Brooke went on to have another daughter without having any PPD problems the second time around.  This is very encouraging to me personally.

Book Review: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

I almost didn't do a book review for this one.  I don't know why, but I feel silly reviewing this book.  I mean I guess if you'd read the first 6 books you would enjoy this post, but otherwise it's kind of childish. 

Harry Potter is finally concluded.  It's a nail bitter too.  At least it was for me!  I couldn't put it down.  Sure it was a bit daunting, being over 700 pages and all, but it was a very quick read indeed {just shy of a week for me and I was up reading until midnight}.  Harry, Hermione and Ron set out to finish the job that Dumbledore gave them.  They travel in and out of the muggle world, the come across a handful of scary and interesting people.  They fight, the get hurt, some characters die {I will say it was not one of the main 3 though} and I was gasping aloud and in shock for the majority of the book.  We finally understand Snape a bit more too.  I can't really share more than that because I'd hate to ruin it for someone.  It sure did make me eager for the next movie.  It's going to drive me insane that the last book was broken into 2 movies though - I am already going crazy waiting!

In conclusion, I did like the way the book ended.  I was afraid that J.K. Rowling would leave the readers hanging.  I hate that.  I hate when books don't have a real finish to them.  This one did.  She made sure to tie up some lose ends and tell us where the main characters landed later in life.  Very fulfilling.  So if you have followed along with the gang, pick this one up and finish the series!  You won't be disappointed.

Book Review: A Ship Made of Paper

This was a great read!  My mom bought this one for me and told me I would love it, she was right!  This book is a National Book Award Finalist and reminds me of something Oprah would suggest.  I would have a hard time summing this book up for you because I'd probably give too much away or make it sound boring.  Here is what the back of the book says:

Daniel Emerson lives with Kate Ellis and is like a father to her daughter, Ruby. But he cannot control his desire for Iris Davenport, the African-American woman whose son is Ruby's best friend. During a freak October blizzard, Daniel is stranded at Iris's house and they begin a sexual liaison that eventually imperils all their relationships, Daniel's profession, their children's well-being, their own race- blindness, and their view of themselves as essentially good people.  A Ship Made of Paper captures all the drama, nuance, and helpless intensity of sexual and romantic yearning, and it bears witness to the age-old conflict between the order of the human community and the disorder of desire.

It was a very quick read and I would suggest it to anyone.  I will say however that I was not a huge fan of the ending.  It was one of those that left you deciding what happened on your own.  It hints at the authors plan for the characters, but I personally like the end of a book to have a clear end.  None of this "make up your own ending".  That is the only thing I would change about this book.

Writer's Workshop: A compelling book & My Orca Fear story....

5.) Where does that fear come from? Write about something that frightens you that other people might find ridiculous. Write about it in a poem, a story, or whatever.

I was going to write about a crazy fear of mine, but then I remembered that I already did that for a Mama Kat prompt... CLICK HERE to read about my irrational fear of Orca Whales.  Other than my recent PPD post it has the most views, I guess it's pretty funny.  So go read it for a laugh!

2.) What book captured your heart? Write about why the first book you loved is the first book you loved.

So instead I decided to write about a book that captured my heart.  It's funny because this book wasn't a huge love story, or some big thriller that sucked me in and I just had to know what happened.  It was a odd and witty book that I think about rereading often.  It took me a couple months to get through, I was just finishing it when I met Kris actually.  I asked a lady at the Powell's book store what book she suggested reading and this was her pick.  It was huge, and I mean huge as in small print and 624 pages huge and it was much more expensive than any book I planned to buy.  So I kept it in mind and bought something else.  A week later this book, brand new with a recipt still tucked inside it, showed up as a "left on board" item on an aircraft I met.  I snagged it - people who fly out never come back for books!  I was thrilled, it was like fate telling me to read this book! 

In short it's about a man who loses his cat, his job and his wife.  He goes on a search for his wife and cat and meets a slew of interesting characters along the way.  A chain of events follow that prove that his seemingly mundane boring life is much more complicated than it appears.  The man character meets pyschic sisters and ends up in the bottom of a well for sometime, he also meets a soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War.  Interesting I tell ya, interesting!  The book is set in Japan and some of the characters names are hard to guess at, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it.  It's sometimes hard to follow but somehow it really sucks you in.  I was just captivated and couldn't stop reading it.  I would suggest it to anyone who really does enjoy reading. 

I even went on to read 2 other books by the same author.  Both shorter and not nearly as compelling. 

The Davinci Code: Book Review

So I finally finished my 2nd book for the year.  If you recall I'm on a mission to read 12 for the year, roughly 1 a month.   Book 2 took a while, but I am here to tell you about it. 

Dan Brown really does a great job writing.  It took me a while to get sucked in, I think it was because I had seen the movie soo many times that I was just not excited about the book.  I stuck to it though and once I got into it I really liked the book better than the movie.  Usually I read a book before I read the movie, I like to compare it that way.  However, it was kinda fun to read the book after the movie this time.  The book has a lot of differences, some small and some huge changes.  I understand the reason some peices were left out, it would be a much longer movie otherwise.  There was one big change that I liked better though - stop reading if you don't want a spoiler - I liked that in the book Sophie's brother lived instead of dying in the car crash.  I liked how Dan Brown had the grandma raising the boy and he explained how the 2 grandparents were the ones Sophie saw in the "sex scene" when she snuck in on the Priory ceremony.  It made much more sense to me than for her to be alone in the world at the end of the book.  Also, at the end of the book she is hitting on Langdon and they set up a date - but in the movie it would have been better if she flirted with Langdon - I mean hello - she was left to carry on the bloodline. 

Anyway, overall I really enjoyed the book once I got going into it.  I'd certainly suggest it, but I still am torn whether I'd suggest reading the book first or seeing the movie first - you decide!

Book Review: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

This book was in my Christmas stocking from my hubby. There is always a new book in my stocking, I love it. So of course I wasted no time reading this one. I haven't really read a book since before Aiden was born - I missed reading. I actually picked this book out, I have not read any of Nicholas Sparks books, but I have loved all his movies. The Notebook is my personal favorite.

This book didn't disappoint, although it wasn't my favorite story. In short it's about an Army guy and a young southern girl. She is naive' and he is tough. They have a summer fling and it turns into a long distance romance when he goes back from leave.

I won't ruin the book for you, but of course there are trials and hard times in their new love. Going months apart makes the heart grow fonder - isn't that the idea? Well, near the end of the book I cried - due to a sub plot - not the romance I will say. I didn't cry at the end of the book, but it did leave me wanting a different result. I was okay with the result, and I saw it coming well before the end, but still, it left me wanting more. I wish there was at least one more chapter.

I hate when books just end and I don't get a follow up. I want to KNOW what the author sees as the characters future, not just guess it. Silly isn't it? Oh well, I enjoyed the book. I think I may have to find another of his to read - probably another one I haven't seen the movie to yet. I had watching a movie first - I would rather read the book, then see the movie.

Overall I'd give the book a B. It was an easy quick read - took me less than a week and that is with a newborn in tow. It wasn't as sappy and wonderful as A Walk To Remember or The Notebook though.