Book Review: A Friend of the Earth

Read it. Liked it. Don't know if I'll be reading any more T.C. Boyle again though. A little too doom and gloom for my liking. Gotta take a nap...

Lila: Week 2.5

Well, we are officially a family of four now. Benny is back from Nana and Papa's and we're all trying to live as harmoniously as possible with each other. I'm happy to report that everything is going relatively smoothly. Benny isn't very interested in his sister, but he's not acting out ... yet.

Our big sleeper has decided to go on a sleep strike at night, however. She started her strike on Sunday night and is holding on tight. I'm definitely not excited about this new development. The poor girl has gas and a snurgly nose, so she often wakes up after falling asleep and needs comfort. She and I are now sleeping in the basement so Nate and Benny can get some rest. I'm also guessing that she's going through her two-week growth spurt because she's eating every 1-2 hours. That's a lot of breast time.

She is gaining a lot of weight. Her cheeks are now chubby and she's getting little rolls on her thighs. She's also able to focus on my face and her eyes don't cross. These brain synapses must be connecting!

Book Review: After the Plague

I stumbled upon a new fantastic author at the library last week. Apparently everyone knows about T.C. Boyle except me. He's sarcastic, serious, funny and writes really, really well. I picked up a collection of his short stories called After the Plague when I was at a loss for books at the library. Our local library is great for children's books, but it's not so great for adult books. I've taken to picking out books published by Penguin. They are generally good books.

Turns out that T.C. Boyle is fantastic. After the Plague was full of stories about inherently flawed individuals. Some of the characters ended their stories tragically (a few ended in murder), some ended with a hint of humor. They were all compelling and had some interesting parallels to real life.

Lila and walked to the library today and picked up another Boyle book.

My Little Family of Four

Introducing my little family of four. Lila looks a lot like Benny when he was a newborn - minus the little cone-shaped head. She came so fast, her head is perfectly shaped. Benny had chubbier cheeks too. He was nearly a half pound bigger.

Lila is a great little baby. She sleeps a lot. However, she doesn't really like to sleep unless I'm sleeping next to her. We'll have to see how this arrangement works out when Benny returns from Nana and Papa's house next week. She may be spending some time in the bouncy seat.

A friend came over to take newborn shots today. I think they're going to be amazing - even though Lila didn't want to cooperate and stay asleep. If you ever need a photographer, look up Katy DeJong from Golden Paisley Photography. She's the best (and doesn't mind if babies poop on her nice blankets). I'm hoping that Nate will go on one of his photography binges soon so I'll have more pictures to post. Until then...

Book Review: Good Faith

I started reading Good Faith by Jane Smiley before the arrival of Miss Lila. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I finished the last half while breastfeeding Lila over the last week. While it wasn't the best book ever, I was drawn to it and wanted to know what was going to happen in the end. I don't have much more to say than that. It was a long book and its message was that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'd recommend it as a nice, easy read. Also, Jane Smiley often includes fairly detailed descriptions of sex in her books. And they're pretty realistic. That's a perk, for sure.