When Did I Get Like This? by Amy Wilson

The Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget Buyer & Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be

5 stars
Memoir

Oh MY GOSH.  This is an awesome book.

From all the things no one tells you about pregnancy, to the sometimes rough waters of breastfeeding, to the terror of applying for preschools, this book is a testament to the fact that motherhood can suck, but it's good too.

In a world where opinions are so strong about what mothers should do-- breastfeed for a year, but NOT more than a year, for example-- we often end up mired in guilt.  And by often I mean always and by mired I mean completely drowning.  You know what I mean.

Now, I don't stress as much as Amy Wilson did with her first (birth plan?  People actually write those down?) I completely relate with the unending list of Things I Should Be Doing Better that really, when if you dwell on it, will KILL YOU.

While I don't buy dinosaur chicken nuggets (have you looked at those things? They're expensive!) I will admit that my children eat pizza at least once a week... same with mac-and-cheese and corndogs.  They probably have McDonalds at least once a week, too.  Hey, at least they're eating.

She also talks about the more intangible things-- the way people act like being "just a mom" isn't as good as having a "real" job; the way all moms talk about is mom stuff; the struggle to keep in touch with friends from your "former life" without kids who don't really get it and don't really want to hear about your kids.  The things that isolate us.  The insanity that inevitably ensues from being locked in a house with screaming children all day.  :)

THIS is the book that everyone should have as an expecting mother.  Amy Wilson tells it like it is-- the good, the bad, the ugly-- but she also declares that it gets better!

HIGHLY recommended!!!

Counts for the Support Your Local Library Challenge.

My Mommy Hung the Moon by Jamie Lee Curtis

5 stars
Picture book
Copy provided for review by the publisher

Okay, I'm not normally one for the sweet/sappy lovey-dovey books, but this one is really cute.  And pretty funny too. :)


The story is cute and sweet and silly and the illustrations (by Laura Cornell) are fabulous.  (The little picture of the aliens tucked in under the bandaid cracked me up!)

This book is the perfect gift for any mom, especially one who collects picture books, like, say, mine.  :)  (Shhhh, nobody say anything.)

PERFECT for Mother's Day, but that's forever far away, so I'd go with Christmas... or Thanksgiving.... or Happy October.  Or something.  :)

This is actually the first of Jamie Lee Curtis' picture books I've read, but I've heard great things about Big Words for Little People as well.