My Name

I know I have a different name. It's not very common, and it gets mispronounced a lot, and it's not spelled the way everyone else expects it to be spelled (though if you ask me, the way I spell it is correct and everyone else is wrong).
So I am used to my name being butchered. But sometimes, I really just have to scratch my head at what people come up with.

Deljanette?
This is a new one.

Merry Christmas

Just a few days late.
We are busy hanging out with family.

Stay tuned for more exciting posts later.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Isaac and Wayne!

So we've been busy hanging out with you in person and having a fabulous time.
Which is why this blog post might not be so fabulous...
But rest assured that we love you and we hope you had (and have) a great birthday.
(Isaac on the 22nd and Wayne on the 24th).

This is an old picture. But it's the only one I have of the two of you together.
Happy Birthdays to our brother (in-law) and father (in-law)!

Life with a 5-month old.

This morning:
I made 2 kinds of cookies and my kitchen is a disaster.
I let T suck on all my serving spoons so she would be happy while I made cookies and now I have to wash all of them.

T dumped my bowl of cereal all over the carpet.
I spilled Dr. Pepper all over the stove.
I let T play with a colored advertisement so I could eat lunch and this happened:

So now I have to say that her first food was ink.
T broke a mason jar and got glass everywhere.
And she refused to take her morning nap and instead cried all morning.


Is it bedtime yet?

Books: 2011

I read 39 books this year.
I have a goodreads account, but I am not very good about using it.
So since I am always looking for new book recommendations, I thought I would do the same for others. So here is my year of books in review.
Fantastic:
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
3-9. The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
11. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
12. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
13-15. The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien
16. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Great:
17. Emma by Jane Austen
18. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
19. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
20. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
21. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
22. The Firm by John Grisham
23. The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
24. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
25. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
26. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Good:
27. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
28. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
29. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
30. You Belong to Me by Mary Higgins Clark
31. Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
32. All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark
33. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Fine:
34. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
35. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
36. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
Meh:
37. Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
38. Big Fish by Daniel Wallace


I didn't include Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley since I figured that's a book almost no one will want to read unless you are A. Female B. Pregnant C. Wanting to deliver naturally. If you are interested though, I highly recommend it. It got me through my first 24 hours of labor.
There were also a bunch of books that I started but didn't bother to finish. I didn't write those down this year and don't remember any of them (except Moby Dick) so no "Stay Away From" column. Maybe next year.

Any book recommendations for me?