Teaching Yoga Pregnant/Teaching Pregnant Yoga

In less than a week (actually, it's now TODAY!) I travel to Omaha to complete my final training module to become a prenatal yoga instructor and in two weeks (ONE!), I will step into that role in real time, holding my very first prenatal class at avani on Feb. 8. I have been reading and taking classes and observing classes and pinning away class ideas for months now and am so very darn excited to begin this amazing work. I am also humbled and honored by the auspicious timing of my fourth pregnancy that has aligned to allow me to grow right along with my prenatal students through the rest of the winter, spring and most of what will most likely be a really hot spent-inside-the-beautiful-AC summer. I honestly can't think of a better way to learn and grow as a new prenatal teacher than to be right there in the thick of it with my mamas-to-be, experiencing many of the same physical and emotional changes in, again, real time. Amazing.

As it stands, I have already been teaching yoga while pregnant for four weeks now. Actually, I was teaching yoga while pregnant before that, too, just unknowingly. Remember my Winter Solstice? How incredible it will be to tell this sweet babe one day that s/he once did 108 sun salutations inside my belly!

Teaching during this last month, though, has been interesting. Very few people knew about the pregnancy prior to my first OB appointment, so I can only imagine what my students thought of my unexplained windedness while cueing during class (oh.my.gosh! did that get bad and fast! within a week of discovering I was pregnant, I was already finding myself breathless at times during a class and that was when I was just walking around - not even demonstrating!) or my worse-than-when-I-started mix-ups of Left and Right. You trying mirroring your L/Rs with a fourth case of Mommy Brain. Trying stuff, I tell you! And then, of course, there are the demos. For my Basic class, especially, I tend to demonstrate much of what they do in their postures, but I've begun to (at least try to) show less, cue more, in part for the breathlessness but also because I don't want to do all of it. Some of that has to do with energy level, some with poses I want to begin avoiding because of my pregnancy (see? already putting my prenatal training to good use!). But since none of them knew my real reason for holding back, I can only guess what they might have been thinking.

In one case, I actually got called out during class by a jokingly asked question of, "Are you trying to tell us something, Jenni?" after having them do Rock the Baby and then Happy Baby poses back-to-back, and all I can say is, I am grateful they were on their backs and not looking at my face at the time because it totally would have given me away. Side note: it was eventually really great to share with the friend who asked the question because her reaction to finding out she was "right" was pretty funny.

Even though I am definitely starting to have moments/hours/days of constant queasiness, I am hoping that my yoga practice will sustain and carry me through the next six weeks especially. I have been doing more home practice as of late instead of at the studio, to avoid certain poses and questions about why I'm not doing them just yet, but when I've been teaching this last month, I actually tend to feel pretty good. Winded? Tired? Yes, at times. But the same joy I've always felt from my practice and from teaching are still there and it actually seems to make the nausea subside for a bit, either because I have something else to think about or because the practice just makes my body feel better. I have noticed, though, that while it feels great in the moment, I am starting to crash pretty hard after I get done - either hungry or nauseous (or both - how is that possible?) and tired for sure. So while it would be great to say, Yes! Add more classes!, in reality I need to remember to slow down and take care of myself, too.

Of course, as more people hear about the baby (and as my belly starts to grow!), it will be more easily apparent as to why I am teaching in a different manner in the coming months. And I am so grateful that my first foray into prenatal teaching will be such a meta experience, for I cannot think of a better way to learn than to be living, breathing, and doing it myself, too.

Now. Off to pack so I can hit the road, meet up with my Lotus lovelies, and embrace all that is to come in Module Three!!!

Like trees, we bend so we do not break. 

On Finding Out

Discovering that you are pregnant with Baby No.4 just 24 hours after suffering an awful, angry bout of the stomach flu is an interesting experience, mostly because of just how crazy my stomach felt at that point. 24-hrs-post-nasty-flu had me still feeling pretty weak and wiped, not to mention queasy, so although I was thrilled to see the word "pregnant" pop up on the test, I was slightly intimidated by my tummy, thinking Oh, No! I'm just finding out and I already feel this awful?!

If you've been with me and this blog for a few years (and a couple pregnancies), you may remember that my first trimester is never a kind one. I've never gone so far as to take anything for my "morning" sickness (such a ridiculous name for it, given how inaccurate the term is), but I've been close to doing so and for good reason. Weeks 8-14? They tend to be nothing short of the zombie-mommy-zone for me. But then Week 14 comes and goes and so too does the constant nausea, lack of appetite, and resulting weight loss. The second trimester and I are friends, to say the least. And let me be clear - I'm not saying I feel sorry for myself here, because while I obviously wish I felt better during those six weeks, I know it could be so much worse, like some of my dear friends who go at least halfway or all the way through (bless her sweet heart) with constant, terrible sickness. So while it may not be fun, at this point in my mamahood, I pretty much know what I have in for me, which is also my saving grace because I know I can handle it. [Note: those read a lot like famous last words, don't they? So much so that I should probably delete them, but they're already out there, so I guess I'll leave it. If Lincoln taught me anything, it is that every pregnancy is different, so perhaps I've not just condemned myself to two-trimester sick-period but rather none at all? That'd be nice!]

Anyway - rambling mommy-brain redirect - to feel so crappy so quickly after finding out the pregnancy alarmed me. It also sent me into instant action mode. I decided, what can I do to possibly combat or at the very least prepare for this? My first answer? Food. I made a vow to myself that day, even post-flu, that I would do my best to eat and keep eating. I realize that might sound silly to some, but I'm not kidding when I say first trimester weight loss. It has happened every single time, so I'm taking the next few weeks, until the nausea really hits, to eat. Not whatever I want, but as varied and as healthy as I can manage, because I know I'll need those calories to keep going in February and early March. Does that mean my belly might stick out a little sooner than ever before? Hi, this is Baby No.4 we're talking about - isn't that a given?! [post script: wrote this over three weeks ago and yes, the belly is definitely here already, but whether that is food-driven or just that my belly knows where to go, well, I'm not sure. let's just say, if we hadn't announced this week, I am pretty sure everyone who sees me now would have known anyway!]

My other food-related solution/inspiration centered on Freezer Meals. Prior to both RL and LT's arrivals, I made a couple handfuls of meals to stock our deep freeze so that I wouldn't have to worry about cooking post-baby as much. But since my cooking usually gets as exhausted as the rest of me in the first trimester, I decided to try something totally different this time by stocking up pre-morning-sickness, too. And thanks to the beauty of social media, I had people sharing ideas with me like crazy and managed to get eight recipes (some made double batches) done within a week of discovering I was pregnant. Pretty awesome, eh? This way, even I don't feel like eating, my family will have food and I won't even have to get off the couch to prepare it. Sounds like a win/win to me and even better if I actually feel up to eating some of it.

One of the other realizations post-discovery of Baby No.4's presence involved yoga clothes. Ha! I only need an ounce of inspiration to want more of those, but this preparatory move, although it included shopping for one of my favorite things - really was meant to be pragmatic. I have a couple of maternity yoga pants, of course, but hi, this is my job now, so I hit up Old Navy and Destination Maternity to see what else I could find and managed to score a couple pairs of pants as well as two tops from ON that yogis will be seeing on me later this spring/summer a LOT. The funny thing was, when the first package arrived and I took the items out of their bags and held them up for inspection, my first thought (after wondering Oh.my.gosh. Are these pants from Old Navy transparent?!) was, these look too big. And then I full-on laughed at myself because no, I'm sure they are not. Or at least they won't be. How quickly one forgets just how much one's body must change and grow to produce another human, tiny as they may be when they first arrive. Those pants and tanks? I'm sure they'll fit just fine in due time because, as I said, thankfully my morning sickness does not last forever!

As it stands, three-plus weeks after first writing this, I am feeling ok-ish. Tired and queasy and cranky due to not sleeping (and other fun hormones)? Yes. Ask my kids and they'll tell you YES. But hanging in there as best I can. And my OB appointment last week showed that Baby is doing well, too. But you guys, look at this ultrasound! Anyone else think the OB was trying to play a trick on my husband who couldn't stay for the actual ultrasound?! I promise, in real time, there was one happy little peanut, not two!

What the Funk?

This morning I made a slight parenting error by letting my children watch this viral video with me. I was hoping that since it was just the 3yo and the 1.5yo, they wouldn't pick up on any of the suspect lyrics and would instead just enjoy watching the kids dance in their school, which they totally did. But then, because it is a catchy song (I would know because I've found myself jamming out in the car to it more than once in recent weeks), the minute it was done and the computer was shut, Raegan was back to doodling on paper at the dining room table, but singing as she did so. No big deal, right? Well, sure, unless you take into consideration that her version of the word "funk" sounds nothing like how the word is actually pronounced, and it was the only word she was saying, in super-speed repetition, so it sounded like she was cussing a blue streak at record pace, just like that!

Honestly? I had to leave the room because I was having such a hard time not busting a gut over the whole thing and I knew if she saw me do that, she'd just keep saying it. So like any parent with wifi and funny kid anecdote, I took to Facebook to share, only to find out that kids really do say the darndest (and most innocently and wildly inappropriate) things! Again, always nice to know I'm not alone. So who is with me on complete nap debacles on top of botched song lyrics?

Remember when I said that my husband jinxed RL's naps a couple weeks ago? Well, it's gotten a lot more interesting this week as Raegan has taken to napping not in her bed, but her big brother's. It started over the weekend when we went to get the Littles up from nap and found her tucked in snug as a bug in HD's twin bed when she had clearly been put down in her very own toddler bed 2.5 hours prior.

Well, as long as she wasn't waking up LT, I didn't really care where she slept, so after finding her there again after Monday's nap, I decided yesterday and today to just put her to sleep there in hopes of cutting down on potential room wandering and noise while Linky was trying to get to sleep. Worked beautifully yesterday and seemed to be on target again today until an hour in to their nap when I heard definite ruckus coming from upstairs.

Side note: my pregnant lady hormones (more posts coming on all that soon, but I'm assuming that most of you have seen the photo announcement by now) are causing me all kinds of problems with my own sleep and it's been over a week, maybe closer to two, since I've slept all night. It seems that I keep waking sometime during the early-to-mid morning hours and then really struggle to get back to sleep (only to have crazy pregnant lady dreams if I do) before the day officially begins. It's been rough and I'm tired and cranky (and a wee bit constantly nauseous) as a result.

Today, of all days, I was told by one of my care providers that it would be really good if I took a nap this afternoon. I've been doing a bit of that anyway while the Littles nap and HD has his screen time, so when she said that, I thought (foolishly), no problem. But just as I was going to put myself down for nap, I heard what sounded like voices coming down the stairs, and this was after I was pretty sure I'd heard footsteps just a bit earlier. Cracking the door open to see if someone was sitting on the stairs, I noticed immediately that the freaking lights were on and could hear both kids talking/making noise. I flew up the stairs as fast as I could, barged into HD & RL's room, and found her just climbing back into her brother's bed with this in her hands:

An old college reader from the days when I had a full-time desk at which to keep such items. My first thought? What the (insert RL's pronunciation here) FUNK?! Seriously. I couldn't believe her.

I took the book, turned off all the lights (she'd gone into the bathroom to get the step stool so she could reach the hallway switch, naturally), and put her back in her bed, telling her that she had been very naughty to leave her room and wake Lincoln, etc. She started bawling, of course, wailing on and on because she wanted to be in Harrison's bed. Too bad, kid. You lost that privilege today with your shenanigans.

Then it was on to Lincoln's room to run through his lullaby and put-down routine again, and while he was fine while I was singing to him, he was very unhappy the minute I set him in the crib to go back to sleep. I realized as I reached in the dark to hand him his sleep friends that part of his discomfort was that his darling big sister had pitched four different books into his bed on her run around and I'd put him down on top of them. After fishing all of them out, I said goodnight and headed downstairs, where again, I wanted nothing more than to take my own little cat nap. Instead, I got to listen to both of them cry for over half an hour before they got quiet again at which point I was finally able to close my own eyes and pretend to sleep for a little bit before they were both awake again at their normal end-of-nap time.

*Oof* *Blergh* *Funk*

Mama just needs a little break in the afternoons, now more than ever. Here's hoping the children (Raegan. I totally mean Raegan) realize that for everyone's good, they should end these nap shenanigans immediately!

Whooooooooa, I'm on Fwire

Since the Great Google seems to have all the answers, I have to admit, I'm a bit baffled that it didn't come through for me just now when I tried to look up a commercial I remember as a kid that had a young child saying, "My fwoat's on fwire!" Not that I really think the Internet should have such random and useless information, but since a girl can usually find answers to even the most obscure questions, it was strange to run into a wall with this one. Can anyone help me out? Do you remember it, too??

Either way, "My fwoat's on fwire!" is what popped into my brain this morning when I woke up well before my alarm with a seriously scratchy and painful throat. And from the moment I realized what was hurting and what that might mean for getting through the week to come, my mind was racing. And in case you're curious as to what a common thread looks like when I'm trying to will myself back to sleep but my mind is spinning circles, here is a sample of this morning's "playlist": Sleep! I need to sleep! Right now! I am going to be so tired when the kids get get up. Sleep! If I don't feel too bad in the morning, while HD is at school, I need to do the crap ton of dishes I left on the counter and in the sink this weekend. What will the littlest kids do while I do that? I should have done the dishes last night before we watched Downton Abbey. I wonder what Mary will do? Sleep! Sick?! I can't get sick! Who will cover my classes? How will I function with the kids? What if this is the start of Influenza?!?! NO!!!!!! SLEEP!  (no joke - DA was totally part of it!)

If you can't tell, I'm a little freaked out right now about illness. After nursing sick/feverish kids all of last week (HD the first three days of the week, RL the last two), I feel like I've been waiting for the other three shoes (i.e. Lincoln, Ben, and myself) to drop all weekend long. How could we not get it, right? Especially me since the brunt of the nose wiping and "cover your cough!"s were my job last week? Because you know you only tell a kid to cover a cough when they've just coughed directly in your face, right? Also, when you add illness to the house where I'm already in charge of covering so many diaper changes and bathroom assists, it is a damn miracle that my hands haven't fallen off due to excessive hand washing. Thank goodness it has been warmer the last few days, otherwise, my poor skin would be a dry and cracked mess. However excessive hand washing is my only real defense against this crud, so I've been doing it for a week straight, but obviously I missed some germ bugs based on my fwirey fwoat this morning.

The good news is, it has not gotten any worse and no other symptoms have popped up yet throughout the day. And yes, I did get the crap ton of dishes done, to boot, this morning, so now I'm going to do my best to catch a quick nap while the littlest littles are still down (which, by the way, my dear hubs totally jinxed this weekend when he told friends, "Yep, we've gone a lot longer with naps for Raegan [side note: that's true - like a freaking year past the age where HD gave them up], but I suppose at some point here she'll give up her nap." And sure enough, yesterday she got up and wandered around the upper level of the house to the point of waking up LT and today was crying when I left her in her bed, wailing, "I don't want to nap! I don't want to nap!" Husband owes me coffee for this. LOTS of coffee.)

My Brain Feels Fuzzy

Saturday afternoon, while Ben and the littlest Littles played on the trampoline/sunporch/awesomeness, HD came in to find me reading in the living room, reporting that, "Mama, my brain feels fuzzy." Let this be a lesson learned: when your kid cites a fuzzy brain, be prepared for all hell to break loose within 48 hours of such proclamation.

Yesterday, of course, was a warning, too. I got home from teaching shortly after 10:00 and within the hour, Harrison made his way to the couch and then proceeded to stay there for the next 5+ hours, spiking a fever over 102 and falling asleep for more than one restless, cough-filled nap. It's never a good sign when my uberactive kiddo takes to the couch to rest, much less crash out, so we knew for sure he would be home from school today to rest, recover, and hopefully not infect the rest of his class with whatever was bugging him.

This morning, I figured I was in for the typical hyperactivity of a kid who is kept home from school but is feeling so much better that they just bounce off the walls all day long. For the first few hours of the day, it looked like my prediction was right. There was no wall bouncing, per say, but there was breakfast and chatter and a snack and a general light in HD's eyes that made me think we were on the up and up. But then 10:00 came again - hmmmm....what's w/ the 10:00 fever stuff? aren't fevers supposed to strike later in the day?! - and shortly thereafter, he was back to the couch in the living room, burning up and literally leaking from his eyes because he felt so crappy. In plain English you might call that crying, but it wasn't like he was sobbing; it was really more like his body felt so awful that a slow steady stream of tears was the only way to express itself. Panicked by the swift return of his high fever, I called our doctor's office and left a voicemail with the nurse on-call.

Three-and-a-half hours later, she was able to call me back and thankfully they had one spot left open to see someone today, and even more thankfully, it was at 4:00 so I could wait for Ben to get home and take HD instead of me having to drag all three kids (which would include the so far, knock on wood, perfectly healthy ones) there and back. While we waited for Ben to get home to actually take him to the appointment, Harrison stayed like this on the couch and I did my best to keep his brother and sister away from his germ bubble:

No surprise, but the doctor's visit confirmed Influenza A and when they first took his temp, he was at a terrifying 104 degrees (at least, to me, that is a terrifying temp). So while there isn't much we can do besides give him some Tamaflu and keep him home (for, who knows, the rest of the week?), at least we know what we're up against and that it is likely he'll be feeling cruddy for another 3-4 days. And of course we'll be keeping a super close eye on everyone else in the family, with fingers crossed that no one else gets it, because holy crap, it is scary to watch your baby hurt like this and I will hit full-on freak out mode if RL or LT spike similar temps.

While I know logically that I too need to respect the germ bubble, I can't help but want to hold Harrison while he's sick and have been doing so while he naps on the couch as much as I can. Ben echoed my feelings exactly tonight over dinner when he said, "You just wish you could have the 104 temp, and never your kid." -- every time I hug HD or put my hand on his head or neck, I wish so badly that I could take away the fever and the pain of the flu. And I gladly would be sick if it meant none of my babies had to be, but such is parenthood. We know we cannot keep our Littles from every hurt or germ in this world, so try as we may to prevent, in the end all we can do is love on them and do our best to ease the aches in whatever little ways possible, over and over again. In this case, easing   through tomorrow will mean a lot of blue Gatoraid, footy pajamas, as well as endless rounds of napping/Curious George marathons. Here's hoping it all works.

The 5 Ws Epidemic

Growing up, I believe it is safe to say that my brother and I were inquisitive little buggers. Like pretty much every kid under the sun, we asked questions all day long, day in and day out until we (and by we I totally mean my brother) broke the proverbial camel's back, causing my dad to put strict limitations on the number of "What's" that could be uttered in a day. No joke. I have no idea how old I was when this family law came into place, and again, to be honest totally-throw-my-brother-under-the-bus, I'm pretty sure it was mostly directed at him and not me, but it was Moore Family Law for sure.

Now, the limit, in case you are curious, was three. My dad also has a rule that there are no more stops than three on an errand run, and you best believe that in either case, the man means what he says; these rules are like a lyric to the Jim Croce song, "You Don't Mess around with Jim" - simple but true. No, you should not tug on Superman's cape and no, you should not ask my dear father to hit more than three stores in one go. So, back to the questions...you were allotted your three "Whats???" a day, and once you used them up, my dad was done dealing. No more answers, my friends. No dice. To help us learn how to craft the best questions (and as a fair warning that your limit was drawing near - and perhaps because he maybe just didn't want to answer that particular question) my dad had a catchphrase he would throw out if he thought the current question that had just been lobbed his way seemed subpar; he would calmly ask (with a sly grin on his face), "Are you sure you want to use that 'what'?" Guaranteed we actually heard this phrase more than "You're out of 'whats'" and decades later it is still a family joke whenever someone gets quizzical during a conversation - they start to get asked about just how sure they are in the asking. Perhaps this is what made my brother so interested later in life in debate and politics? As for me, well, now that I am a parent myself, I think it is flat-out frickin' genius and I have got to figure out how to implement it with the 5 and Under Crowd because holy moly cow, we have a 5 Ws epidemic in our house right now.

Main abuser of questions? This girl:

Don't let her pint-sized cuteness and adorable pattern mixing confuse you. She is a question-asking-beast! And we're not even talking about a million unique questions a day - that I would actually welcome. Oh, no. Miss Raegan has taken to asking the same question at least 20x in a row before she takes a breath and then asks it another 20x, just for *ahem* fun. And this is not because I am ignoring or limiting her questions. I answer if not after the first inquiry, then the second for sure. But even if I respond in her favor, ("Why, yes dear, you can have animal crackers!" "Sure! Let's watch Curious George.") she just. KEEPS. ASKING! What is that (beyond incredibly frustrating)?! Is this just a Three thing that I blocked from when HD was this age? I get it that if I tell her "no" about something she might think that I might change my mind if she just keeps asking (ha! the logic of a Little!), but when I agree or give consent and she just keeps going? Is she trying to drive her poor mother batty?!

Last night, at dinner, Ben tried to explain to RL that she needs to say, "Excuse me," before she interrupts a conversation or what a grownup is doing to ask a question. All very well and good and sweet and cute sounding until, again, you've heard the phrase "Excuse me," followed by the same damn question 20x in a row. And then you start to recall the wisdom of your own father and the Magical Limit of Three and you wonder, hope, and plot for ways to make it a capital-L Law in your own house. And then you realize, good luck. The child is Three with a capital Th which means if you try to enforce this now, you'll just have to repeat it 20x, take a breath, and then say it 20x (ad nauseam) and she still won't hear you.

Please, I beg of you. If you see me any time soon, ask no more than three questions in the course of our conversation!

Books 2015

A new year and a new goal - 52 books in 52 weeks, all picked because they fit one of the categories in the below-posted list. A friend shared this link with me on New Year's and I was instantly excited, not to mention hooked. I spent some time filling in ideas for many of the categories and figure the rest will fall into place throughout the year. Will I really accomplish this? Well, I have yet to hit a book a week since I started keeping track of titles two years ago, but I love the category prompts and am greatly anticipating many of these titles, so maybe there is hope? 

Beyond the category list, I'm going to keep track of the books in the order I read them along with brief notes; this is how I remember which ones I want to recommend to others and is what I typically post at the end of each December. Beyond that is yet another list of titles that I've found or have been recommended to me. Will they make the cut this year? Perhaps; but if not, I want to hang on to them for 2016. As for this present calendar year, well, three cheers for many happy hours of reading contained within it! 

Stack of nine books to get me started - either from the L.I.B. or our
own shelves. A couple I've read before, but remember next to
nothing about, but at least half are totally new. 

Categories for Book Selection 
• A book with more than 500 pages  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 
• A classic romance  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 
• A book that became a movie The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
• A book published this year The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• A book with a number in the title  Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
• A book written by someone under 30
• A book with nonhuman characters  The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 2) by Rick Riordan 
• A funny book  Yes Please by Amy Poehler
• A book by a female author Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline 
• A mystery or thriller  The Expats (a novel) by Chris Pavone 
• A book with a one-word title Lila by Marilynne Robinson
• A book of short stories One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak 
• A book set in a different country  The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• A nonfiction book Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful by Gurmukh
• A popular author’s first book Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
• A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet   Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
• A book a friend recommended The Northern Lights by Jennifer Donnely 
• A Pulitzer Prize-winning book  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• A book based on a true story  Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
• A book at the bottom of your to-read list 50 Shades of Grey by EL James
• A book your mom loves Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington
• A book that scares you The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 
• A book more than 100 years old
• A book based entirely on its cover
• A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t  Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins (not that I have ever not read an assigned book - this was one that was taught at Doane in a class I did not have to take, but I have always felt like I should read it as I took plenty of other classes from the same professor who adores TR - end rant!)
• A memoir The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
• A book you can finish in a day The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
• A book with antonyms in the title  All Days are Night by Peter Staam 
• A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit  The House Girl by Tara Conklin
• A book that came out the year you were born  The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• A book with bad reviews
• A trilogy The Giver series (technically four books, see below Gathering Blue, Messenger, Son)
• A book from your childhood The Giver by Lois Lowry 
• A book with a love triangle Landline by Rainbow Rowell
• A book set in the future  Delirium by Lauren Oliver
• A book set in high school I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
• A book with a color in the title  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 
• A book that made you cry
• A book with magic
• A graphic novel Copycat Crook
• A book by an author you’ve never read before Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
• A book you own but have never read  Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• A book that takes place in your home town The Homecoming by m.c. merrill
• A book that was originally written in a different language The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• A book set during Christmas The Christmas Train by David Baldacci 
• A book written by an author with your same initials by Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
• A play Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein 
• A banned book  American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
• A book based on or turned into a TV show Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
• A book you started but never finished  Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe
Find category: Go Find a Watchman by Harper Lee (!)

Books in Order - 2015
1) The Expats (a novel) by Chris Pavone -- this one had my head swimming and my hands turning pages quickly as I raced through it trying to get all the loose ends pieced together.
2) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery -- so much about this had I forgotten! Most embarrassingly, that it is set in Canada and that it is the book that gives us the beautiful (and with which I heartedly agree) quote, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." Wonderful re-read!
3) The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick -- could have easily put this in the "made me laugh" and "read in a day" categories because it was so good that I couldn't go to bed last night until I finished. Loved the slightly unreliable and mentally unstable narrator and am looking forward to watching the movie this weekend (finally!) w/ the hubs.
4) The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick -- can't help but make a comment about my quick Quick kick - two of his books in back-to-back days. They are that devourable and interesting.
5) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr -- this book certainly took a lot longer to get through than my first few offerings of the year, but it was well worth the time and the read. Beautifully and intricately woven narrative and characters. Beyond good.
6) Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty -- patting myself on the back for figuring out one major twist in the novel, but was still left turning pages frantically at the end, waiting to put all the pieces together. Love her characters and the way this one unfolded narratively.
7) Lila by Marilynne Robinson -- had no idea I was stumbling into a series of sorts when I read this book (and it's number 3 - whoops!) but I greatly enjoyed it and look forward to reading others (and adding them to this year's list)!
8) The Giver by Lois Lowry -- always interesting to go back to a book from when you were younger. Now I am so intrigued to read the rest of the series for the first time!
9) Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner -- thought this was going to be an easy/breezy read but there was way more depth and content (in such a good way) here than anticipated, so instead it allowed me to slow down and really enjoy the characters and their stories.
10) Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful by Gurmukh -- I can't believe it took me until my fourth pregnancy to discover the "Gurmukh book" but OH. MY. Now that it's in my life, it will forever by my recommendation to all the mamas, new or repeat. So empowering. So wonderful.
11) Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little -- Randomly plucked from the New Fiction shelves at the LIB and brought home primarily b/c the setting of the novel takes place, mostly, in SoDak. Was an entertaining mystery read that left me guessing through most of it. (completed Feb.7 - productive start to my reading year!)
12) The House Girl by Tara Conklin -- Another random grab from the New Fiction shelf - turned out to be a page turner that I enjoyed. Love intertwining characters and story lines that cross boundaries of time and location. Put this as the "place I'd like to visit" pick because I really would like to see more places in The South.
13) Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline -- joining a new book club this year and this was my first read for that group. Another cross/generation cross/narrator book which is right up my alley! Honestly had no idea about orphan trains, so this fictional read was both entertaining and eye opening.
14) Landline by Rainbow Rowell -- aeieieee, I love RR's books and this one was no exception. A quick read, with a little bit of magic and mystery and I just loved it. I have a copy, if you'd like to borrow it.
15) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson -- part one of the accidental trilogy I discovered in reading Lila, and I must say, I am very curious to read part two as well. Each book features a different narrator/protagonist, but all are connected, so the whole story is coming together in a fascinating way.
16) The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 2) by Rick Riordan -- have to say, I read the first of this series last year and I really do enjoy them - but since I can, I need to read them closer together from here on out so I don't forget so much. A great YA series! 
17) Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry -- book two in the Giver Series which I did not know was a series until a year or so ago. Loving it but have huge desire to re-watch M. Night Shyamalan's The Village now. 
18) Messenger by Lois Lowry -- flying through these books b/c 1) they are SO good 2) they are written for young adults 3) can't wait to see what happens in Book Four
19) Son by Lois Lowry -- the last book in the series took me a wee bit longer than the first three but totally worth it. Loved how much the story stood on its own as well as tied in everything from the entire series and gave the quartet a feeling of finality. SO good. Still can't believe I didn't know this was a series until recently! (finished March 2) 
20) Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan -- took me longer than anticipated to get into this book, but once I did, I was very much in and enjoyed the variety of narrative voice/style and the story itself. 
21) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arther Golden -- pretty sure this book has been on my shelves since before I was married and yet I've never read it because I didn't think I could get into it. Wrong! So good, I couldn't put it down. So I'm 15ish years late to the party (it was originally published in 97. Crazy.), but if you are too, read it!!
22) One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by BJ Novak -- I may have laughed harder at the acknowledgements and "Discussion Questions" than the stories, but that doesn't mean they weren't enjoyable. I loved the way characters and bits from one story would subtly appear in another later on in the book. A great collection!
23) Attachments by Rainbow Rowell -- it's official! I have now read all of RR's books (ending w/ her first) and loved every one, too. I should have known better to start this right after supper last night because then I had to stay up until I finished it. Can't wait for what she does next! 
24) Delirium by Lauren Oliver -- aaaaaaand I am officially over the whole YA doomsday genre. (completed 3.30.15)
25) The Homecoming by M.C. Merrill -- Whoa. I was only 10 at the time of Tammy Haas' murder so honestly, I remember very little of this in real time. Based on true events but fictionalized, this book was a mind game to read because of knowing/remembering very little from what was in the news/talked about at the time or in the years after, so I had a hard time knowing what might be real and what might be speculation within the text. All told, the book paints a much different picture of the Yankton I knew as a kid, or even how I know it now, but it certainly made me think. 
26) I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson -- Thanks to the beauty of social media, I'm now helping start another book club and this was selected as the first read for that group and Oh. My. I adored it. Flat out, adored. The narrators, the imagery, the descriptions of real life in such a dramatic and teen ager sort of way without being overdone or annoying....SO GOOD! And squeeeeeeeeee! I'm HALF-WAY!!! (4.8.15)
27) Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman -- back-to-back book club reads this week and I was super excited to read this one because I've been wanting to read it ever since B & I started watching the Netflix version of it last year. Love the show and still do, but (spoiler alert) this book is really not like the over-the-top drama you get with the show. It is such a fascinating memoir, though, and really makes a person think about not only the prison system but also the justice system at large and how we could be doing SO much better as a society to approach reform and corrections in a better way. Bonus for my book list? This totally fits a category I had left to fill! 
28) 50 Shades of Grey by EL James -- when this came out a few years ago, I did want to read it, but since then my interest dwindled hence the category selected for this book now that I have finally read it. My response? There's not much, beyond the obvious, that happens in 500 pages, and I could get super snotty about the language/word choices used, but instead I'll just say this book is what it is: not complete garbage but not literary amazingness either. 
29) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins -- Bummer. Sometimes you request and wait for a book, super excited because it is super popular and everyone wants to read it, and then you finally get your hands on a copy only to have it turn out to be meh. It's OK and some things surprise you, but others do not and by the end, you're left wondering what all the hype was about. In other words, this is not one I'd highly recommend. I liked the compelling narrative style of different voices/times, but I kept waiting for more Oomph. 
30) The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova -- OK, so not Stephen-King-Scary (I haven't read anything like that since high school and don't care to again b/c my imagination is overly active and I don't sleep enough as it is, thank you very much!), but focused on Dracula and super creepy in places, so I'm counting it as the scary book of the bunch. Also terrifying? It was 909 (909!) pages long! I liked the book a lot, though, and found it entertaining in its multi-layeredness, even if some of the historical bits got a bit dense. Side note: Brilliant Husband suggested I also do a count of pages read for all of these books. Totally going to do that! (Date completed 4.23.15)
31) The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe -- Written by a man who stays connected to his dying mother (pancreatic cancer) through the shared love for books, this is another book club read for the year. Some poignant lines about connections and life and, obviously, the importance of reading, that I greatly enjoyed in the book. Some of the discussion of the books read and even the lifestyle of the family over the years was a bit out of touch for me, but the relationship between the two of them and how he found a way to support and listen to his mother through their book talks was touching. 
32) 


Want to Read List
Home by Marilynne Robinson
The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister 
The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood (not at lib)
This One is Mine by Maria Semple (not at lib)
Serena by Ron Rash (not at lib)
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

What Came from the Stars by Gary Schmidt

The Girl with the Pearl Earing by Tracy Chevalier

The Birth House by Ami McKay

Hidden Wives by Claire Avery (not at lib) 

Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley

Abide with Me by Sabin Willett

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Give Me Everything You Have by James Lasdun
Her by Christa Parravani
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
The Night Gwen Stacy Died 
Goldfinch
Law Man
Loving Frank
Higher Calling (true story)
Cutting for Stone
A Reliable Wife 
We Are Not Ourselves
The Meaning of Names by Karen Shoemaker