I haven't been blogging or reading much of late. I'm too busy holding Atticus and snuggling away the day. Actually, I've had quite an eye opening week. Two things happened that made we ditch everything and just hold the baby. 1). Atticus is allergic to formula (and possibly dairy). Poor thing has been gassy and crying since Tuesday. It will take a couple of weeks for him to get everything out of his system and so I'm abstaining from dairy just in case that is the cause and we will never use formula again. NEVER. I'm back to nursing him 100% of the time and I'm happy with that. The other thing that happened is that I found some cute clothes for him and realized that they weren't in his size. My five-week old baby is out of newborn clothes, barely fits 0-3 month sizes, and is sporting slightly too large 3-6 month sizes.
All this to say -- I only have a short while with baby Atticus. Newborn Atticus has given way to baby Atticus and by this time next year he will be toddler Atticus. Dickens and Trollope and all the others will be on my shelves for years. Right now I need to focus on Atticus, Hope, Sam, and the holiday season.
I'm still reading a bit, but I've modified my reading goals. My goal for December is to finish my reread of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and to finish Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. My reading goal this year was to read 75 books OR 20,000 pages. Right now I've read only 46 books, but I've read just over 16,000 pages. Considering this year has been quite the year for events (married, moved to a new home, and a new baby) I say this is not too shabby.
In addition to my current reading goals, I am looking towards 2011. I believe book bloggers all over the world get excited about the upcoming reading year come December! I've already decided to keep the same yearly goal (75 books OR 20,000 pages), but I'm going to structure my reading a bit differently.
I have a tendency to get overwhelmed by all the reading I want to do. There are challenges and readalongs, GoodReads reading groups, LibraryThing early review copies, and then I must contend with my home bookshelves and the masses of wonderful library books I run across. To help quell this bookish anxiety, I'm - surprise - making up some book lists. I have a bunch of different categories (books on my shelves or authors I want to try, for example) and then I'm listing some books I really want to read to help me narrow my choices and not be overwhelmed.
I'm also applying this more structured approach to reading challenges. Typically, I join challenges and never really pursue them in a methodical way. For example, a may join a short story challenge, but I don't really think about it; I just count a book if I happen to read it. I've done this because I'm loathe to commit myself to a list of books for a challenge. However, if I view the list as a starting point I may be more inclined to consciously think about the challenge at hand.
Having said that, my plan is to work on these book lists. I may have trouble concentrating with reading, but I can jot down titles and surf the web via my Blackberry to discover new titles while I'm holding Mr. Crankypants. If all is well (i.e. if Atticus proves amenable) I might start posting some of these lists before the end of the year.
Before I sign off and feed Atticus, I wanted to apologize for my lack of commenting on other blogs. I've been reading everyone's blogs RELIGIOUSLY. Once again, via my Blackberry, I've been keeping up. I just haven't mastered the art and science of typing comments with one hand!
Happy Reading!
2 comments:
Babies grow amazingly fast. You need to put everything on as soon as you think it might fit or they will outgrow it before you get a chance to put it on!!! It is amazing what you can do with a baby carrier, the kind where they are in front of you. I did so much with my first in one of those. He wanted to be held 24/7. Enjoy he he sounds like a baby with a real personality.
Hi, Elisabeth! I've been trying the Moby wrap with Atticus and it works sometimes, but right now he is going through a growth spurt, so it is constant feedings.
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