Day 4 - Book

Day Four of the best of 2009 blog challenge is the book that impacted me the most in 2009. I didn't read a whole lot in 2009 (see last post), but the book that affected me the most was "What to Expect In the First Year". Lame, I know. It's a book about how to care for your baby throughout the first year. It tells you what milestones to expect when, ect... When my baby was newborn, I devoured it to make sure that we were doing everything "right" and that our baby was normal. I really like that this book is sure to reassure parents that just because their child hasn't reached a milestone when other babies around did or when it's the "average" time, that it doesn't mean there's something wrong with your baby. This book helped me keep my cool and my confidence.

Day 3 - Article

Okay, so today's post is supposed to be about the article that I read in 2009 that changed me the most. But, to be honest, I had my baby in February of 2009, so I spent most of this year with a newborn for the first time. Hence, I didn't read hardly any articles. About the only things I read had to do with either pregnancy, birth or babies. But, I could say that these articles changed me. I didn't know anything about babies when I got pregnant. I never liked babies. I didn't have any younger siblings. I was pretty much in the dark. So, these articles gave me so much information and advice in how to deal with all things baby. I certainly don't do everything to the letter concerning my son, but I feel so much more secure having the knowledge to make an educated decision on how I'm going to do things. So, all the articles I read, in everything in Parents, American Baby, Cookie, and the zillion other magazines, books and websites I devoured while pregnant (honestly, there hasn't been much reading since he was born) have changed me in that they took me from being super-insecure about this whole motherhood thing, to be pretty confident about it. :-) And that's a great feeling!

Restaurant Moment

Today's post for the Best of 2009 Challenge is the most memorable restaurant moment in 2009. The one that keeps coming back to me is when we went to Nashville, TN in May. They have a big mall there called Opry Mills and in this mall is the Aquarium Restaurant. We (me, Sam & J) went with our friends Debra & Jonathan & their kids (Brooklyn, Abygail, and Ceira). Deb is one of my best friends from back in the day, but now she lives in TN, and has 3 kids, and I lived in Wisconsin at the time with a baby, so we never get to see each other anymore. So, it was great to be able to spend some time together, catching up. The restaurant is very cool, with a tunnel under an aquarium when you first walk in, so the fish are all around you. Then, in the dining area, there is a HUGE floor to ceiling aquarium with all kinds of fish, sharks, and I don't know what all sea creatures in it. So, you get to watch it while eating. Neat-o! Too bad that the food wasn't as good as the decor. The food was pretty much awful and extremely overpriced. That was the only drawback of the whole experience. But, mostly, it was a great experience.