Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was great. I was really intrigued by it and I think I got what I wanted out of it. Some might think it is controversial but I just think it's interesting to learn about different cultures, especially their parenting styles. I think Amy Chua is great and I liked how she would compare Western parenting to Chinese parenting. Something I have never thought of or even heard of. I would recommend this to any parent. I think you would love or hate it.

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Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the stories and the main character, Lily Smith I really admire. Jeannette Walls is an excellent writer, I recommend her books if you like memoirs or true stories. I would read this book before The Glass Castle. This is a book I can probably read over and over again.

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Getting My Hands Dirty

The weather is finally nice so we have started planting. This year for my pots I'm doing something a little different from flowers. I planted 5 different herbs. -Basil

-Lemon Thyme -Dill -Cilantro -Garlic

I really have no idea how to garden so planting different herbs in one pot might not work out but I'm excited to see what happens.

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook by Cook's Illustrated
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Love this cook book. Yes, I read the whole thing.

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The Swiss Army Romance

Danny took me to the 10th anniversary tour of Dashboard Confessional and it was awesome. We had a really great time. I felt a little out of place, there were a lot of people there and I'm sure I was the only one with boobs full of milk. Saves the Day also played, they are one of our favorite bands too.

It was 10 degrees outside so we opted to take the picture of our date night in the car.

35 Weeks

My first picture since 17 weeks. I have been slacking big time.

It's a Girl!!!

We are excited to announce that we are having a baby girl.

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile but I guess this is a good one to start the summer.

Mothers Day

I had a really great mothers day. Danny made Jack and I breakfast and took care of Jack for me all morning. It was really nice and relaxing. We visited our moms who are so wonderful and do a lot for our family. They love Jack to pieces, which is all I could ask for.

11 weeks

This is me at 11 weeks. The dress isn't very form fitting so it makes me look more pregnant then I really am.

Big Brother

Baby number 2 is on the way and we are way excited. I am still trying to find a cute countdown to put on my blog. Does anyone know of some cute ones?

Bakerella

I really didn't think I had it in me.

I volunteered to make goodie bags for the RS b-day party and so I thought chewy gingersnap cookies would look great. And thanks to Sara for giving me the recipe and her tips to make them perfect.

I baked over 250 cookies and bagged them and tied cute ribbon around the bags. They turned out cute and the cookies were delicious. I have to say I am proud of myself cause I don't have a lot of experience in the kitchen let alone baking. I am sure this is the first of many.

I'M WITH COCO

Just thought I would share my loyalty to Conan.

Date night

It takes me a while to post anything since we don't have a computer yet, so my posts are going to be a little behind.

Over a week ago Danny took me out for my birthday. We have not gone on a date with just the two of us for over a year now. Yeah, it's about time! For dinner we went to all you can eat wings at Wingers. It was good. I love a good Wingers! Except Danny keeps telling me he can't go back there again because he had too many wings. That is too bad for me. After dinner we went and saw Couple's Retreat at the movie theater. I really liked it and Danny did too. After watching the movie I felt like taking my own couple's retreat down to Bora Bora. One of these days I will have a post from Bora Bora and more date nights.

Jack's Birth Story

8 months pregnant

It has been almost one year since I have given birth to my first baby boy and I have always wanted to write down his birth story for my own journaling purpose. Feel free to read or go ahead and skip.

My due day was October 15th but of course I went over a couple days, I knew I would. In the middle of the night about 1:00am I was woken up by some pain I was having. I really didn't think much of it so I tried to go back to sleep. The pain started to become more frequent, still didn't think much of it, I had no idea I was having contractions. I can be oblivious to things like that. Around 2 am it was painful and they were coming about every five minute. So I finally woke Danny up and told him. We kind of just laid there for a minute not sure what do to. Then we thought we should go to the hospital so we did and luckily the hospital is less then 5 min away because I was in a lot of pain. So we got there, they checked me and I wasn't dilating fast enough so they made me walk around the hospital like a fool for over an hour. I wanted to kill them because it hurt so bad. Finally they checked me in and gave me my epidural, thank heaven. After they set me up and given me all my drugs and broke my water I quickly dilated up to an 8 and was starting to feel my contractions again and they wanted me to start to push. At this point I wanted to die but the baby was still doing fine so that was good. My metabolism is so fast that they had to keep giving me extra drugs to stay numb and surprisingly I could still lift my legs and move around. I pushed for over an hour and Jack came out at 11:23am. He was 7lbs even and a loud screamer. It was a simple birth and somewhat fast, that's the way I like it.

At that moment I couldn't believe he was here and that I actually gave birth. I honestly thought I couldn't do it. But he was here and healthy and beautiful. Danny and I were so happy and are amazed everyday that we have such a beautiful, funny, smart little boy.

It's Britney

Danny got free Britney Spears concert tickets from his work. So I took my sister-in-law Liz. It was fun and very entertaining. The Pussy Cat Dolls opened and they were awesome too. I was thinking during the concert that my days of becoming a Pussy Cat Doll are over now that I am a mother and wife. Dang. I know who all didn't go are jealous.

I can't get to sleep

The little Rascal we love to call Jack will not let me sleep. I tried moving into mine and Danny's bedroom and it worked for one maybe two nights but this past week he was up every hour, either wanting his Binky, wanting to nurse or who knows. But I gave in and now we have a family bed. I will lay him in his own bed around 8 or 9 but then he ends up in our bed before 1am. And of course he will sleep the rest of the night if he is in bed with us. I know I am a sucker. Other then getting no sleep we are all doing well. Jack and I are waiting for spring so we can start going for walks outside. Danny just finished his big Lobby day he has been planning for weeks for his job. I really thought that day would never come. He was under a lot of stress. Jack and I showed up at the capitol to support Danny for his Lobby day and everything turned out great. And everyone from his work loved Jack, I think that was a bonus for Danny.

Big Girls Don't Cry

This week Danny and I moved out of Jacks bedroom. I was waking up to every noise he made and it seemed like he was up every hour. So we moved back into our bedroom, which at first I was really sad and worried, but now I am doing ok. I hope Danny is proud of me for not moving us back into Jacks room after the first night, well at least he should be. Jack is still getting up two or three times a night and usually ends up in our bed around five or six. But at least I can get four hours straight of sleep. I know I sound a little crazy. I am going to start Jack on rice cereal soon, I am excited. I love all these milestones.