Book Review- Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth by Jenny McCarthy

The only word I can really think of to describe this book is cute.  It's not so much an educational book on pregnancy as it is a book to tell you that you're not alone.  It was refreshingly (and humorously) honest, and totally bang on in a lot of areas.  I had many "YES!" moments when she'd describe a symptom or emotion that I'd been feeling, but wasn't sure was normal.

The writing isn't spectacular, but I don't think that's the point. It's written in a conversational way that makes you feel like you're chatting with a girl friend over drinks, and you almost forget that you're reading.

It's an easy, short read that can be finished in one quick sitting, and for any one who, like me, is waiting for the "magic" of pregnancy to kick in (you know, like those women who loooooved being pregnant...???) it's reassuring to see that you're not the only one struggling a little.  Even for someone with the money and time for personal trainers and stylists and gym memberships, pregnancy wasn't always the miracle happy time that we're often led to believe that it is.  If the weight gain and exhaustion and emotions and self consciousness get the better of even a former Playmate, there may be hope for me yet.

I really recommend this to all women who are expecting or who are TTC.  BUT.... be prepared. She's crass, super blunt and she doesn't hold back. This book certainly isn't for the more conservative crowd. She tells it like it is, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

My Christmas wish for everyone this year.....

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light

Next year all our troubles will be out of sight.

Update: Getting back in the (new) swing

So, with the exception of yesterdays poll, it's been over a month since my last post and yet again there have been many changes.  I'm at place now where I feel like I can share what was troubling me so, but I won't bother with the long and drawn out details.  Just  a general gist and an update.

At the beginning of October, I found out that I was going to be laid-off.  After a long and drawn out couple of weeks, I learned that they planned to keep me until the end of they year, but then I would be jobless.  This news on its own would normally have been difficult enough to hear, but it was shared with me exactly 7 days after I found out that I was expecting our first baby.  7 days of sheer,  over-the-moon joy (and shock) were replaced by panic and the most severe depression I've ever fallen into.  Then to add to it, I got very sick.  Exhaustion and nausea day in and day out. 

I knew that the pregnancy and its required time off with many doctors visits, impending maternity leave (etc.) made me a less than attractive candidate for new work.  To add to that, I applied for several jobs everyday for a month and only got one interview out of the whole batch.  I was so terrified that I was bringing this baby into the world at a time where I wouldn't be able to provide for him or her in the way that I had always planned.  How would I buy the supplies we need, or pay the bills, or even afford to buy maternity clothes?  All these questions weighed heavy on me to the point where I was having difficulty with normal day-to-day tasks.

But, by mid-November, after over a month of living in a state of total anxiety, the words of my parents and friends started to sink in. I realized that, regardless of what my job situation was or how much I worried, this baby was still coming in June and I needed to pull myself together.  I have an awesome family, a great husband, and we'll make this work.  It will be a struggle and I'm still terrified (and stressed), but I've been able to find the joy in my pregnancy again, and have started to function at a somewhat normal level. 

So, with work winding down (although there's talks of more temporary work with the same company after the holidays) I'm just trying to get prepared for the year or so to come.  Trying to work out a budget, trying to figure out what my options are in terms of a job... all that jazz.  It's still a work in progress, but there's a small part of me that excited for the unknown. It's the first time in my life that I haven't had everything planned out, and it's refreshing on some level.

So that's it. I'm coming back.  Slowly but surely.  And for all my followers, don't worry. I don't plan to bore you with endless details about my pregnancy and baby.  I've started a new blog for the express purpose of journaling my pregnancy.... and I don't expect followers.  Online friends, please don't feel pressured. It's just way for me to keep track on what I'm thinking and feeling.  I'm also throwing the odd belly picture in too.

Hopefully I'll be back to update on some book reviews and on what's gone on over the last few months; including a whirlwind trip to the Bahamas that I need to document before I forget the details.

Oh! And Happy Christmas Week.  It's my favorite time of the year.

Christmas Poll

I stole these questions from my friend Tameka.  I thought it might help to kick off Christmas week.

Whats Your Favorite Holiday Movie?

The Family Stone

Whats Your Favorite Christmas Color?

I love white. The snow, white lights... so pretty.

Do You Like To Stay in Your PJs Or Dress Up For Christmas?

I'm pretty casual on Christmas, but no PJs.  We do too much running around.

If You Could Only Buy One Person a Present This Year Who Would It Be?

My husband.  But it would kill me not to get something for my Mom.

Do You Open Your Presents Christmas Eve Or Christmas Morning?

Christmas morning.  My parents used to let us open one on Christmas Eve from time to time, but my husband is dead set against it.

Have You Ever Built a Ginger Bread House?

I want to say yes, but I'm not totally sure.  Probably.

What Do You Like To Do On Your Time off at Christmas?

Listen to Christmas music. Cook yummy food. Watch Christmas specials.  Read.

Any Christmas Wishes?

To find peace with all of the changes going on in our lives. 

Favorite Christmas Smell?

Turkey cooking at my Mom's.  It smells like home and happiness.

Favorite Christmas Meal Or Treat?

My Mom's mashed potatoes. They include cream cheese, cheddar cheese and sour cream, and are basically heaven (and a heart attack) on a plate.  Give me those and some plain turnip and I'm a happy girl.

Do you celebrate a holiday other than Christmas?

Nope- just Christmas.  Actually, I guess I technically celebrate Festivus (Seinfeld reference FTW- especially since I despise that show)

What are you doing for the holidays this year?

This week is full of festivities!  Tonight is a Christmas Social for a club my husband belongs to. I'm having Christmas lunch with some ladies tomorrow. Thursday is the annual Christmas dinner with my two besties.  Christmas Eve will be dinner with FIL's family.  Christmas Day is always a quiet Christmas morning with just us (Bub, myself and the dogs).  Christmas Day we will stop by to see MIL and then head to my Mom's for dinner.

What's your favorite holiday drink?

Cranberry and Gingerale

Eggnog

White Hot Chocolate

Candy cane or Gingerbread men?

Candy Cane- but only the fruity flavoured ones.

What's your favorite holiday/Christmas song?

The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

It's the most wonderful time of the year - Andy Williams

What's the weirdest gift you've ever received?

My husbands grandmother gave us a joint gift one year.  It was a pink plastic purse. For both of us.

Have you ever made a snowman?

Of course, although not in a long time. It's practically a required childhood activity around here.

What is at the top of your list this Christmas? (or whichever holiday you celebrate!)

hmmm... clothes I think.  I'm down to 1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of yoga pants.  My next post will explain.

What is most important to you about the holidays?

The family time, with good food and traditions, is absolutely the best part about the holidays for me. I cherish it each and every year.

Weakness

*Please understand in advance what a rambling mess this post is. It's simply word vomit in an attempt to make sense of what I'm feeling. Followers- please don't feel it necessary to waste your time reading this.  It's purely for my own benefit*

Life is hard. 

The 21 days since my last post (and even the week before that) have been filled with a lot of tears, a ton of stress, and almost overwhelming sadness, for reasons that I'm not quite ready to delve into in detail yet. I'll just say that the last month has been, without a doubt, the most trying, exhausting and plain awful month of my life.  I'm trying to count my blessings, I really am. I have my health, I have my amazing family, and they have their health (a fact that, I assure you, does not escape me.  I understand how lucky I am in that way). BUT there's something about the way that my brain is wired that make the bad overshadow the good, and in this case, I can't seem to shake the darkness.

In a family of people who suffer from depression, I've had my share of "funks".  I'm not a stranger to overwhelming feelings of sadness which, most of the time, don't seem to have a specific cause.  Each time is awful in it's own way, but each time I've been able to fight my way through it with a chin up and carry on type of attitude.  It's definitely not easy, but I get through it.  This is different.  This one is really bringing me down, and it has me in a hole so deep I can't seem to find my way out.  I struggle through each day on the verge of tears, just praying for it to end so I can go back to bed.  I wake-up through the night, totally distraught, and then have a very hard time falling asleep.  I don't want to see my family, I can hardly bring myself to talk to my friends, I'm living in a disaster zone, and I haven't had fresh air in days.  I just don't care.

I know that many people would be able to just power through the situation I'm in. I also know that many people are going through a lot of things that they would say are much worse than what I'm dealing with.  I don't doubt that at all. I understand that allowing myself to get this deep into a depression over this is a huge indicator of my weaknesses. I don't need to be told that.  I think that's the biggest part of my problem right now. I'm coming to terms with my failures and poor decisions and the fact that I'm not, nor will I be, the person that I thought I was or that I wanted to be.  Turns out, that's a pretty tough thing to do.

I'm lost right now... and I'm exhausted.  I'm not really sure what to do with myself.  I need to get it together, I just can't figure out how.

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Oh Stephanie.... how is it that you write such swoon-worthy boys?  Is the boy in your real life the inspiration behind these crush inducing characters?  If so, congrats to you.  Seriously.

On Thanksgiving Monday I was feeling a little under the weather. Summer paid a final visit to Southern Ontario and the weather was absolutely perfect but I was lacking in energy to get out and enjoy it, so I opened all the windows in the house, grabbed my dogs and settled in bed with Lola for the day.  It was just what I needed.

I really adored this book.  I'm trying to decide if I loved it more or less than Anna, and I can't honestly decide.  It's a total toss up.  I think a re-read of both is in order so I can put the debate to rest once and for all (read: have an excuse to give my husband when he sees me pick these back up). 

Stephanie writes imperfect characters perfectly.  I really think the reason I love her books so much is that they seem totally and completely possible.  Like she's simply re-telling a story from her teen years.  All the characters have flaws, some more than others, and all of them evolve through the story in a very real way.  Love isn't always easy, and it's not always obvious, and Lola really captures that.  The romance is just sweet enough, with a little heartache thrown in, and that is my favorite kind of love story.

Cricket is simply perfection.  I love his dedication and loyalty to his sister, and I especially love that he's been pining for Lola all this time.  Like seriously, I think that was my fantasy from pre-teen up.  Who doesn't want an attractive, intelligent boy making moves for them?  I certainly wouldn't have minded.  Heck, I still wouldn't mind, provided the age was adjusted a little.

I don't think there was a character in this book that I didn't love and the setting, which is somewhere I've always wanted to visit, just drew me right in. I loved Lola most because it really touched on a lot of things that I wanted as a teen, and a lot of things that were important to me.  I ate it up and it left me hungry for more.

5 stars for sure. If you haven't read this yet, go do it now.  If you haven't read Anna and the French Kiss... why are you reading my blog? KIDDING! Kinda  ;)

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

I'll start my review by saying that I really, really loved Sisters Red, and I really adore Jackson Pearce. Her vlogs and Twitter feed never fail to entertain me and I think she's someone who would be pretty cool to hang out with IRL.* It kind of baffles me that we're the same age. I feel like, she's got three published books with two more on the way and I, well.... what have I done?

I was more than excited to meet her at DBF and happily came home with my signed copies of Sisters Red and Sweetly. I was finally able to tuck in to the latter recently, and I was more than excited given my past love of Sisters Red.

Sweetly was a modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel, a story that I honestly didn't know a ton about other than what I learned from the short version I had as a child. But I loved Jackson's spin on Little Red Riding Hood, so I was excited to dive into this story.

I have to admit that, with the exception of the beginning of the book, I didn't fully get the connection to Hansel and Gretel. It seemed to be a pretty big deviation from the original story, at least what I know of it. It was less a modern retelling, more a story inspired by a fairytale. That being said, I enjoyed it and it was a fun read with some very interesting characters, and I would recommend it to others for sure. I just didn’t love it the way I thought I would and admittedly, it’s quite possible that my expectations were way too high, and that some personal stuff going on in my life while I was reading this kept me from really enjoying it the way I could have otherwise. I just couldn’t quite give it 4 stars, but it was so, so, so close.

If there’s one thing Jackson can write, it’s an awesome bond between siblings. I loved Ansel and Gretchen’s relationship and how they relied on each other, and knew each other so intensely. Individually, Gretchen was a pretty interesting character too. Lots of scars from the past and yet still pretty badass. Her conflicting feelings about Sophia were my some of my favorite parts to read (next to the steamy little side romance that was a lot of fun too).

Not a real complaint, just an observation: I would really have loved to get a little more insight into what’s happening with Rosie, Scarlett and Silas. I know it would be sort of pointless, and wouldn’t have contributed anything meaningful to the plot, but I’m nostalgic like that.

In the end it was a good read that’s would be perfect for a little rainy afternoon escapism. I’m looking forward to Fathomless which is based on the original Little Mermaid story and is the final in the retelling series. If you like fantasy-type stories set in the “real-world”, I suggest you pick up both this and Sisters Red.



*Is that weird of me to say? I'm totally NOT a stalker. I promise.