73 Books Challenge 2013

Goal: To read 73 Books in 2013

Progress (as of October 8th): 73 books read (DONE!!!)

Books

1. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Review here)
2. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Review here)
3. Freakling by Lana Krumwiede (Review Here)
4. The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
6. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Review Here)
7. The Other Life by Ellen Meister (Review Here)
8. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
9. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
10. One Big Thing by Phil Cooke
11. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
12. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
13. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon
14. Becoming Sister Wives by Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown
15. Times Two by Kristen Henderson and Sarah Ellis
16. Pilgrim's Wilderness by Tom Kizzia
17. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
18. The Whole Brained Child by Daniel J. Seigel
19. Autism's False Prophets by Paul A. Offit
20. Half a Life by Darrin Strauss
21. Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein (Review Here)
22. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
23. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
24. Save Me by Lisa Scottoline (Review Here)
25. The Cat Whisperer by Mieshelle Nagelscheider
26. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Review Here)
27. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
28. Be Different by John Elder Robison
29. A Love That Multiplies by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar
30. You Are What You Wear by Jennifer Baumgartner
31. The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
32. A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen
33. The Interstitial Cystitis Survival Guide by Robert M. Moldwin
34. We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee
35. Health and Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by David G Wellock
36. Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel
37. Be the Pack Leader by Cesar Millan
38. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
39. Roland Wright, Future Knight by Tony Davis (Review Here)
40. Transition by Chaz Bono (Review Here)
41. A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen
42. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
43. Flowers of War by Geling Yan
44. The Time in Between by Maria Duenas
45. The Everything Car Care Book by Mike Florence and Robert Blumer (Review Here)
46. 7 Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
47. Living Well With Endometriosis by Kerry-Ann Morris (Review Here)
48. Maternity Rolls by Heather Kuttai (Review Here)
49. Choice by Karen E. Bender (Review Here)
50. My Antonia by Willa Cather
51. There's No Home by Alexander Baron (Review Here)
52. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
53. All That I Am by Margaret Mitchell
54. Gone With the Wind by Anna Funder
55. Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
56. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
57. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
58. Quiet by Susan Cain
59. Children of the New World by Assia Djebar
60. Animal Farm by George Orwell
61. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
62. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
63. KnitLit by Linda Roghaar
64. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
65. Jesus: A Theography by Leonard Sweet
66: Zenzele: A Letter for my Daughter by J. Nozipo Mairare
67. Othello by William Shakespeare
68. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
69. The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks by Stuart McLean
70. The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares
71. Unstrange Minds by Roy Richard Grinker
72. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
73. Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman

2013 Reading Challenges

Last year I read more than in 2011 but I didn't read as much as I'd like. And I was not nearly as organized about keeping track as I would have liked. This year I have a few goals and I'm going to do a few challenges.

First, my plan is to Read 73 books. That's only 1 every five days. There are a lot of books for me to read in the challenges but many of them overlap too.

6/73 books

We use our library quite a bit for books so it only makes sense for me to join the Library Books Challenge 2013. I'm starting for Level 1 "Board Book" (1-3 books).

2/3 books

Next I'm going to try for the 2013 A-Z Reading Challenge and try and read one book (at least) with a title starting with each level of the alphabet.

3/26 Letters

I'm always wanting to read more classic literature so this year I'm joining the 2013 Classics Catch-Up Challenge. I'm going to aim for the first level of 4 books "Freshman".

0/4 books

As a feminist woman I particularly enjoy books written by women. The 2013 Women Challenge is perfect for this. Aiming low to start with the first level "Baby Girl" (1-5 books by a woman author).

2/5 books

As an incentive to challenge myself outside of the usual categories I read it (which admittedly are fairly varied at this point already) I'm joining the Eclectic Reader Challenge 2013. There are eight categories of books to read.

1/12 books

The last adult reading challenge I've joined is the Literature and War Read Along 2013. 12 books from 12 different countries, written in 8 different languages and covering 6 different wars.

1/12 books

Now for the kids. Two challenges for all of the reading we do with them.

First we are joining the 2013 Pre-1960 Classic Children's Book Challenge. Going to aim to read at least 12 of these.

0/12 books

Also with Tobias blooming into wanting to be read chapter books on a regular basis I'm going to aim to read at least 6 novels with him that he chooses.

0/6 books

Let the reading begin!!!!

Grandpa

84 years ago today a 17 year old woman became a mother for the first time in Toronto, Ontario. She gave birth to a boy and named him Wesley Henry. He was the apple of her eye. She adored her son very much and he was her pride and joy and only child for almost 18 years until a sister was born.

That baby grew up into a man and got married... in a wonderful amazing story to a woman from a small rural area who moved to Toronto to try out the big city after falling in love with it after visiting to see a play with her father. The two married in February 1951 and at the end of the year a daughter was born and then in the six years following two sons arrived. Their daughter also grew up and gave them grandchildren and one of those grandchildren is me.

Me with Gramma and Grandpa at my wedding in 2008

All of the people in that room 84 years ago have now passed away, including that baby who became my grandfather. Last year was his first birthday that he wasn't alive for and I curled up in a ball and hid the whole day. My heart was raw and angry.

This year, this day was different. My heart is still raw and hurting and days like today bring so much crashing back like a wave. This year I was able to feel more than just pain though.

More than anything my grandfather loved the kids that were his. I remember him adoring my brothers and sisters and I and then once I had children I got to see that love renewed and multiplied. My oldest carries Wesley as one of his middle names, after his great grandfather who saw him as the apple of his eye.

Grandpa with Tobias at 4 days old

Grandpa loved Christmas. He especially loved watching us kids love Christmas. Today as we decorated our tree and sang Christmas songs and watched Charlie Brown Christmas Story and Rudolph in among my grief and pain was also love and gratefulness.

I'll always be Wes' granddaughter. I always be his girl. I will always miss him and I will always be grateful for all the time and memories we had.

Christmas 2007

Halloween Movies 2012

We love movies in this house. We also love holidays. We decided to combine the two in these weeks leading up to Halloween and watch a selection of both adult and kid movies (10 each) that were Halloween themed or scary/creepy. I don't normally do scary movies but my husband loves them so we compromised and decided to watch a couple of them when the kids were asleep.

With 12 days to go we've gotten a few in:

Adult Halloween Movies 2012
#1: The Shining
We unfortunately only made it an hour into this one before it gave out. We borrowed it from the library and it just would not work after that mark no matter what we did. The first half of the movie was good, I'd really like to finish it at some point.

#2: Silence of the Lambs
I made it all the way through this one for the first time! I'd tried before and not succeeded. Definitely creepy but overall I was OK. The worst part for me was actually the grossness of the blood on Lector's face in the escape seen.

Kids Halloween Movies 2012
#1: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
This was one of my younger brothers favourite movies when he was a kid. It was awesome to see the looks on my own kids faces as they watched it. A family favourite.

#2: It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
We've seen this before and loved it once again. Charlie Brown movies are always a hit in this house because we have our own Linus who loves seeing "himself" on screen.

#3: Igor
First time seeing this one for us. It lived up to the hype I'd heard. A fun movie we all enjoyed.

#4: Tigger and Pooh: Hundred Acre Haunt
Normally Tigger and Pooh movies go over well here but this one fell a little flat. The kids just couldn't get into it.

Still on the list (some are pending availability from the library so it's a list subject to change):

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Young Frankenstein
Ghost Busters
Coraline
Psycho
Hannibal
Haunted History of Halloween


Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Hocus Pocus
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie

We still need to pick 1 more movie for us adults to watch and 3 more for the whole family. Suggestions are welcome!

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

I don't need a special day to remember... I never forget.

I remember the times that the pregnancy tests turned positive... the joy, the elation, the fear, the disappointment, the ups and downs. 11 sets of pregnancy tests.

I remember how I felt when I looked down at that positive test the very first time. I was 17 years old. I was taking all precautions and we'd talked through how we felt. I was sure I knew how I would feel. I was wrong. That positive test changed everything for me. I sobbed and sobbed and threw up and sobbed some more. I had twelve roller coaster days of emotion. Twelve days. At the time it stretched out and each day seemed a lifetime. And then it was over. I was bleeding and losing something I had been sure before it all happened that I didn't even want. I felt empty and broken and alone in grief. I was not grateful. I was hurting. I was not relieved. I was broken. I was not comforted by those who told me I was young and it was for the best. I was angry.

Everything about my pregnancies has shaped who I am and how I react to situations. Three times I've carried beautiful babies to term. Eight more times I've had my body fail me. My babies lost.

I am lucky enough to be able to share my stories with some people in my life. I'm lucky enough when I see a positive test to be able to share it with some of those who love me. Sadly there are those people in my life who I am always hesitant to share the news with. When I've been pregnant I want to celebrate that for as long as I get to. When a woman has a miscarriage the last thing you should say is that it is for the best and yet  too many times that's exactly what I've heard. I've heard a variety of reasons why it's best that I not have that baby. It was never for the best. Two out of three of my living children came at so called bad times. I would not trade them for the world and they are WORTH it. Today in this day of remembrance I will talk about my babies with those who will listen. J and I will remember together. We will light candles with the kids later tonight again.

Today is a day of remembrance. I remember my babies and I remember the babies of my friends and family who didn't get to stay with us. I remember and I grieve with you all. I will never forget.

Tobias is SIX!

I can't believe it... My oldest baby is six.

He was born on August 30, 2006 weighing 8lbs 12oz... 23 days after his due date!

A year later he was a running ball of energy who only ever slowed down when he was sleeping:

At 2 he got his first trike and spent much of his birthday on the couch with Mama who was on bedrest thanks to his little brother:

By three he fully cultivated curls... oh the curls!

At 4 his one wish for his birthday was mini golf. I agreed, but only once it was evening time because I was 38w5d pregnant and OMG the heat!

Last year he was a 5 year old who was on his way to full day every day school for the first time.

And now I have a sweet, adorable 6 year old. Just days away from entering first grade. He loves his brothers and beyblades and Superman and his "Auntell" as he says it (Aunt El)

Mother's Day in Pictures

It is Mother's Day weekend, and Mother's Day for me always brings up about eleventy million emotions. Those emotions mirror all of the emotions I've ever felt as a daughter and mother. As I sat today thinking about my journey through daughterhood and into motherhood I decided to go reminisce with some pictures.

Tomorrow will be my sixth Mother's Day. Here is a look back at the kiddos that I am lucky enough to hold in my arms and parent every day over those six years...

My first Mother's Day: May, 2007 (Tobias: 8 months)

May, 2008 (Tobias: 20 months)

May, 2009 (Tobias: 2 years, 8 months; Linus: 3 months)

May, 2010 (Tobias: 3 years, 8 months; Linus: 15 months)

May, 2011 (Tobias: 4 years, 8 months; Linus: 2 years, 3 months; Malachi: 8 months)

Tomorrow I'll have to try and get all three of them in the same shot at the same time... no easy feat these days!