Storytime- 2nd attempt.

So I wanted to make a list of my favorite books, must read books, current reads, and future reads. Wow-not sure if that made sense-but here it goes.
(hyperlink overload, sorry-wanted to make it as easy as possible for anyone to find these books)
Recent Book Purchases:
Babywise and Babywise II by Gary Ezzo
Square foot gardening by Mel Bartholemew
and
Lean Mommy by Lisa Druxman

Current Books checked out from the library:
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
(I've never read a Francine Rivers book but they are well reviewed!!)
Several books on bread machine recipes (I borrowed my sister's bread maker and I'm all about baking bread now)

I've checked out a few books that I'm gonna have to come back to. I'm not ready for them yet and they're due back. However, I wanted to document them so I can remember them!!!
Before five in a row by Jane Claire Lambert
Kitchen Table Play & Learn by Tara Coply & Andrea Custer and
Mommy, Teach Me! by Barbara Curtis
You can see the theme of these books. I want to make sure I'm doing learning activities with Max as soon as possible. Not totally just learning projects-but fun playtime/learning things. I searched for the books while it was fresh in my mind, but I know I'll forget it all before I'm ready for them. I'll just check them out again later.

I love pretty much every book I've read from Steeple Hill Cafe. They're motto is "life, faith, and getting it right." I feel that way pretty much every day!!! I love reading about other young women who are learning a little more about God each and every day!!! Many of the authors are now writing stories about young moms....perfect!!!

Parenting books:
Happiest Baby on the Block (want to get Happiest Toddler on the Block next)
by Harvey Karp (check out the website here) (they have excellent videos on the subject too)

Baby Whisperer by Tracey Hogg (video is not as good here, but excellent concepts).

And of course, Babywise by Ezzo

My "greener living, crunchy experiment" books-
Green Babies, Sage Moms by Lynda Fassa
Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano
Both of these are from the library. They have some good info. I like Green Babies better. Won't be buying either of them though.

Whoa-that was alot. I have a ton of books from the library at any given moment...I always have some to go to. I usually don't have a ton of time to read-so many of the nonfiction ones get flipped through quickly.

Enjoy!!!

Storytime....

Well, I intended to blog today about what I'm currently reading-but I took a little nap while Max was napping so now I'm running behind. So hopefully tomorrow...

Oh and BTW-storytime at the library was cancelled. (I guess they take a break for a few weeks and will start with the summer reading program). So, yes, storytime wasn't meant to be!!

Tune in Tuesday!!

I'm hoping to get more organized with my blog posts!! I've been wanting to write for a while about some music that Max loves and we love too!!! It's very parent friendly!!

Max's all time favorite song is the theme to "Big Bang Theory". The song is by Barenaked Ladies. He can be in the middle of a meltdown when the show comes on and he'll stop to see where the music is coming from. Needless to say its cued up on the ipod in its speaker dock in the kitchen at all times!!

I'm very fond of Justin Robert's Meltdown. He has a very cool sound and quirky lyrics.

We have many Dan Zanes CDs and they are pretty good. He's even more quirky and some of the songs get on Jason's nerves. I keep reminding him it's better than the Wiggles!!!

I do have a CD by Raffi, too. He comes highly recommended-although I haven't listened to it much. It is more traditional kids songs, but that's ok!!

Believe it or not, John Lithgow has a few kids CDs that are highly recommended as well!!!

I somehow found the CD For The Kids at the library and we all really like it. With various artists like Cake, Guster, and Dan Wilson singing hits in Max's style-it keeps the entire family happy!!!

I've become a big Jack Johnson fan!!! The Curious George Soundtrack was where we started, but I'm finding all his music is pretty kid friendly!!!

A music label I found when I was pregnant that I thoroughly enjoy is Rockabye Baby!! We have U2 but hope to soon get Coldplay (mommy and daddy are big fans) and Green Day (maybe daddy will get this one for father's day!! hmmm). It's gorgeous kiddy versions of mom and dad's favorites!!

They Might Be Giants has a cd we like and will probably look for more of theirs. Who knew these guys did kids music!!!

And next on the list is Barenaked Ladies new kids CD and Justin Roberts new one!!! There is also a Praise CD called Sing over Me that has beautiful lyrics and songs. It has some of my favorite Christian women artists on it!!!

I'm sorry for all the hyperlinks. Make sure you right click and open in a new window!!!

I also did make the baby food last thursday. Yay me!!! Max even likes it all!!! I'll try to blog on it. I have so many topics to share...oy ve!!!

Also-check out Max's blog for some new pics of my little stud!!!

Thursday night....

Thursday nights always get me. I work weekend nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That allows me to be off monday-thursday. It's just not enough time. I feel like I'm cramming a ton of stuff into those 4 days (which really isn't 4 days because I have to recover on Mondays).

I feel like we got some stuff done this week. You saw my yard/garden post. We also got the under sink area cleaned out and organized. Each week I want to tackle some sort of project-just to feel like I've accomplished something. Next week it's the medicine cabinet and/or laundry room. We'll see.

I found some Ice Cube trays to make baby food!!! (found them at Container Store-afraid I was gonna have to order them online!!) Woo hoo!!! I have a food processor (in red) and a baby food mill. I have everything I need now and I have no excuse. I plan on using www.wholesomebabyfood.com and several books from my library. I'm actually eager to start making purees for Bubby Max. I will then continue it into our food (a la Sneaky Chef style). I'm actually looking forward to it. I've just been hesitant to start for some reason. Fear of messing up, laziness...who knows!!! Well, that's a project for next week!!

Well, The Office's season finale is tonight. I can't wait to watch it!!! We're tivo-ing it and watching it commercial free!!! Woo hoo!!!

More next week.....

Update

I had a great first Mother's day!!! Jason and Max got me a shirt from So Cool Mom. I love the theory behind these products-Live Happy, Love Well!!! Kate wears them on John and Kate plus Eight!! (I love this family BTW!!!).

So we finally had a day without rain-so Grandpa and Great-grandma came up and helped us in our yard!!! We mulched, I planted Wave Petunias, and we finished our Square foot Garden!!

I've planted a sweet pepper, hot pepper, yellow pepper, green beans, lettuce, onions, carrots, cilantro, oregano, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes and marigolds. I've mentioned before the Square Foot Gardening method-I'm so excited to see how we do. I would never have imagined planting that much stuff ever before-I'm so excited to see how we end up!!! I'm excited because we bought organic plants from neighbors and many of the other plants were in compost-able pots. I'm hoping we will save some money this summer on produce and I think we're helping out the environment by using green methods!!
Here are some more pictures around the house:

My Lilac Bush:
Another shot of the square:

My Wave Petunias:

(in the last shot you can see my lilies in the background!)

We used 31 bags of mulch-holy cow!!! Thank goodness Great Grandma was here to spend the day with Bubby Max b/c we just finished and we started early!!! (well, we did have breakfast, went to Lowe's twice, took 2 trips to get mulch and stopped for lunch).

This is the first time I've really taken an interest in my flower beds, the mulch and a garden!! I'm so excited!!!

Pregnancy Must Haves list 1

Since Max is napping-I thought I'd work on my list of Pregnancy Must Have's for Erin and Kara:).

I don't think either Jason or I would have slept if it weren't for my Boppy Total Body Pillow. This thing was a Godsend!!! I kept a regular body pillow on one side and the Boppy on the other. Jason called it my cocoon!! On the side with the regular body billow I also used the Pregnancy Wedge from the same company. This was also great for vacation because it was easier to pack!!!

I was addicted the the Body Butter at The Body Shop. I really enjoyed the grapefruit fragarance!! My OB actually recommended this product and it kept my belly from itching!!

These razors (Schick Intuitions) were lifesavers!!! When your belly is big it's hard to shave your legs...it's the cold hard truth!!! I loved these in the bathtub-you can practically shave without lifting your leg out of the water!! They were great in the hospital (I didn't have to pack shaving cream). I didn't think I'd bother shaving at the hospital-but I had a little chair in the shower-I had the best shave I'd had in weeks!!! I still use these razors too!!! Bought a huge thing of replacement heads at Sam's Club!!!

These candies (altoid tangerines) are great. They totally helped me during my morning sickness and gagging phases!!!

I lived in these Gauchos from Old Navy!! Had them in several colors and wore them through the ENTIRE pregnancy and a few weeks postpartum!!!

I may have another installment as I think of more!!

Naptime is better!!!

Max seems to be doing so much better napping. He's definitely a boy that needs his sleep!!!! I can feel myself get anxious around naptime-but after a few cries he calms down. (Now today it was more than a few cries-but still....)

Jason, Max and I went to the greenhouse this week and bought some Wave Petunias for our back and front flower beds!!! Then it started raining so I didn't get them in the ground yet...hopefully next week!!

On saturday, there is a plant sale near our house and I'm so eager to get my plants in my Square Foot Garden!!! I hope to have pictures of it up next week!!!

I'm hoping to update Max's Blog with some pics here soon!!! Make sure you check it out!!!

Win an Ergo!!!

Enter to win a free Ergo Baby Carrier here!!!

I love Ergo Baby Carriers!!! It's my favorite!!!! (well, next to the one Kara made me!!!).

Where did Spring go??

Max and I will be off to Bible Study soon. His napping has been so much better-yay!!!!! He actually slept 3 hours in his crib yesterday!! Woo Hoo!!!

We've been reading Babywise and Babywise 2 which have totally helped. Also Heathly Sleep Habits, Happy Child has been a huge help!!!

Since it's been so darn cold here and we all have been sick we haven't been walking at all!!! I even had to cover one of my bushes tuesday night because of a frost warning!!! I'm ready for that sunny weather we had a few weeks ago!!!

We are putting our garden boxes together today!!! (and by we I mean Jason). I mentioned before that we are using the Square Foot Gardening method. I'm so excited and hope we can get them planted next week!!! I can't wait to try to make Spaghetti sauce this summer and eat all our veggies!!! Jason is even better eating veggies!!!