Dear Honey, this is your Mother speaking.

Thank you for returning your sisters Kindle, after only a year – she is very grateful – as am I.

You can imagine my shock when the Apple B. started whining about the 67 additional titles you have loaded up her gigabytes with. Just wanted you to know that I took your side in the matter, but she continued mumbling about there being not one in the bunch that she wanted to read ! “Oh please, of course there is – let me look…..”

Good Grief Honey, I didn’t know there were that many books on Childbirth in print! I have listed a few of my favorites, with comment of course.

Childbirth Without Fear – They obviously have never spoken to your Italian Grandmother for more than two minutes. “Just one more (horror) story before you go into labor dear….and don’t forget to put the Oregano under your tongue!”

Childbirth Across Cultures – Was there any doubt, in anyones mind, that they did this in other lands?

Childbirth At Home – Start at home, fine Honey, just finish the job at the Birthing Center.

Childbirth: A History – And we still can’t figure out the best way to do this! 

Childbirth Theory and Research?- You must be kidding, I thought you were the only one on earth to study this sort of thing!

Painless Childbirth – Simply put? A misnomer.

Birth Partner Handbook- So much responsibility these days. When I was born your Grandfathers part consisted of the bill. I can tell your right now that your father would not be up to the job if we had to do this over again. Specifically the chapter on massaging your birthing princesses you-know-what with olive oil? Has Marmot read any of these?

Ultimate Breastfeeding – I know he hasn’t read this one ….

Womanly Art of Breastfeeding – Or this one either!

I’ll buy your sister a book, poor thing, she has nothing to read.

Love from your Mother,

Queen B.

So the potential plan of TTC in December or January has put me into a little bit of a babies-rabies/panic/overdrive. And like every good Type A planning freak, as soon as I felt the need to research and obsess, I went to Amazon. And here’s what I’ve found so far:

I just finished The Big Book of Birth, and I was impressed. Like way impressed. I had anticipated some hostility towards one side or the other, but this was very objective, written very fairly. Furthermore, the writing was done in the most friendly and non-intimidating way possible. I assumed that as a nurse (that did quite well in OB actually) that I’d prefer a more textbook tone in birth books. Way wrong! And she was funny too. After reading the book, I felt like I had been able to dispel a lot of the fear I’ve always had about labor and birth, and I’m actually starting to look forward to it, if thats possible? I don’t think I could recommend this book any higher.

Earlier this year, I went through Naturally Knocked Up’s fertility e-course, another pre-pregnancy recommendation that was quite simply, excellent. I am my (crunchy) Mother’s daughter, and I really wanted to learn about getting my body ready, beyond the What to Expect Before You’re Expecting book which is much like its predecessor, and had me worrying a lot about pretty much everything. The course was laid out nicely, the topics were excellent, it had a forum for participants to discuss the week’s content, and worksheets, links, and resources on each weeks topic. Look into it!

Prenatal vitamins are quite the racket. I spent no less than five hours researching the best prenatal vitamins that met the recommendations for what the vitamin provides, and also spent at least an hour researching DHA supplements (which apparently will turn your child into a genius). The vitamins that were prenatal and DHA didn’t have quite the recommended amounts of either, one of the better prenatals had concerns about the use of bean sprouts, the next best required taking two pills three times a day (gag) and the ones I’ve been taking for the past year expire in three weeks. And just in case anyone reading is in the market, the verdict of all my research is: Rainbow Light Prenatal One vitamins and Expecta Lipil non-fish DHA supplements. And the Bellybar chewable prenatals although I find chewable aftertaste to be slightly gack, nothing like Flintstones.

I’ve got a few more books in my Amazon cart, and another few stashed on my Kindle: the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

Are there any you would recommend land in my Amazon cart?

From: Mom, queenb@thehoneyb.com 
To: Honey, honey@thehoneyb.com
Date: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Subject: March 15th – Friday Book List

Have I read any good books lately??? Do Bears still poop in the woods??? Is the Pope Polish??? Just a note Mom, the Pope is German…  

Let me give you *my* list of Perfect Books and the Perfect Goodie Combinations to go with them – because you see Honey, you can’t read and truly enjoy a good book without your reading glasses, a cup of tea, and a “nummy” (as you used to say back when chubby was still cute!)

Divided into categories, for your convenience:

Category: What Your Mother Wants You to Know About Men
Goodie Recommendation: Coffee, hot and strong. An Atkins bar. Also, add a pen and a notebook for jotting down ideas and thoughts for future reference.
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment Good for all of us female types no matter how young or old, married or single, fat or thin. This is a tell it like it is, fun, easy to read manual on how to treat Marmot and others of his species. I don’t agree with him on everything – he advocates doing the “doodle-dance” after just three months and I, being an old fashioned girl, would vote for waiting till the wedding night (as I know you would to Honey). I have ordered this one to share with your sisters and you. First I have to go through and highlight parts for each of you… Pink for Honey B, Yellow for Apple B, etc… I knew you would appreciate the added emphasis.

Category: Ahhh…Just for Me!
Goodie Recommendation: Mug of Tea (any type). Cinnamon Toast. Also a good pillow and one of your Grammas knitted afghans to curl up under.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Has everything you would want in a sit in a sunny window and enjoy book! A little history (WWII), of the type that does not put you to sleep. A little drama, romance, and sweet humor. All rolled together in the form of letters written from a writer in the late 40′s to her publishing agent and friends. This one is a jewel!

Category: Child in your Lap (Must be read aloud)
Goodie Recommendation: Glass of Chocolate Milk (in a sippy cup to avoid spillage). Homemade cookies (at least a handful). Comfy couch or big rocker depending on the age of the child.
The Wonderful Shrinking Shirt You have to do the voices when you read this one! Your own variation of “Hillfolk-Hillbilly” will be perfect. Think Beverly Hillbillies, then make it even twangier and louder – go ahead – get into it! This book is as much fun to read as it is to listen to. I have been known to read it to the dog when there was a shortage of short ones around. I tried reading it to your father (Mr.Left-Brain) – he sat next to me on the couch and listened with a completely straight face – even after I gave him a cookie! I think that is when I started reading to the dog.

Well thats all I can squeeze out of my gray matter today.
Love you Honey B,
Mom

The Friday Book List is back! I kept forgetting to post it on Friday’s, and I’ve finally said screw it, we’ll just pretend its Friday…who doesn’t love Friday??

This past week I’ve been thinking about what I consider to be, the Best Books EVER.

The first mention is….The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The first mention of this book was on a phenomenal post on ProBlogger (but aren’t they all phenomenal, seriously, get on the newsletter-via-email list) and it mentioned the book in the context of blog security. This book IS the reason why I ignored homework, husband, and Twitter all weekend. I don’t say it lightly, but this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m not usually into psycho-drama type books, but this one had me completely sucked in by page 20, with a story that I couldn’t figure out. LOVED it. The second (of a trilogy) is being released on March 23rd, I’ve pre-ordered.

The second book, which was number one until the above book, and that is….My Sister’s Keeper I know some people have a love-hate relationship with Jodi Picoult (I pretty much hate all her other books) but this one sucked me in. I’m not a crier, I’m not the emotional type, but I was all soggy with the crumpled Kleenex in this book. Seriously. I couldn’t decide who to side with! Haven’t seen the movie yet, due to a boycott because they changed the ending.

Another favorite….one I will read to my hypothetical children….Beauty This is an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast that my Mom was given as a gift. I think I read it in one sitting. This book is so much deeper than the fairytale I’d seen in the Disney movies, and the descriptions of everything was amazing- you could feel the velvet, taste the food…Robin McKinley’s writing was amazing, and the story was very rich. By far the best fairytale I’ve ever read.

And the fourth and final favorite…A Half Acre of Hell: A Combat Nurse in WW II Not fiction, but one of the best books I’ve ever read…and the reason I went into nursing school. I’m a history buff and this book captured one of the most raw and real WWII experiences I’ve ever read. It inspired a visit to the Army recruiting station less than a week after I finished reading it! The book was simply written, and was gripping.

Have you read any of these books….what do you think? Any others that you think would make it on my favorites list?

I use Amazon Affiliate links. I was not compensated for writing about these books, the opinions stated here are my own.

One of my favorite ways to de-stress is to sit and read about someone elses crazy life. Enter, the Pioneer Woman. Her name is Ree Drummond, and she has a blog about her transition from black heels city girl to domesticated ranching wife, and its always an entertaining read. She’s got great stories, beautiful photography, and amazing recipes that even I (the non-cook) can tackle.

Her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks came out this fall, and she did a book-signing at the Mall of America yesterday! My dear friend JuneBug and I made the trek to the MoA, and stood in line for four hours to have her sign our books! It was actually quite fun, we got to know three fun women in line with us, one of whom was getting the book signed for her daughter in Australia. After the long wait, it was exciting to finally meet her- and she is even sweeter in person than she seems on her blog!