Layers

Doesn't this shirt look comfy?  I know it would take me at least a year to be able to fit into it once this fetus comes out of my vag, but I would definitely look forward to having something soft and beautiful to wear.  Besides, one can never have enough shirts to change into with an infant around; I am reminded that I got rid of an unkown number of shirts after Simon was past the barfing everywhere phase.

Enter to win a gift certificate to Layers Clothing here.  Good Luck!

Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos

Publisher Comments:

When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the caf, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.

Love Walked In, the first novel by award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos, is bursting with keen insight and beautifully rendered prose. Invoking classic movies to illuminate the mystery and wonder of love in all its permutations, Love Walked In is an uplifting debut that marks the entrance of an enchanting literary voice.

What can I say about this novel other than, "I adored it"?   It really isn't your typical love story.  Every review I read before actually sitting down to this book said that and I have to back it up.

The chapters alternate between the two main characters, Cornelia and Clare.  Cornelia's chapters are in first-person and Clare's are in third, which may make it confusing, but I found it refreshing.  Cornelia is witty and I love how she frequently apologized for mixing metaphors and doing other nerdly English-language-type things.  While her frequent references to literature might be annoying to some, she does it in a way that added a lot of humor to what could have been a really depressing story.

I think my jaw dropped about five times throughout the book as the plot took some rather unexpected turns.  In the end, though, it did come out the way I wanted it to.  And it into a love story after all.

Have you reviewed this book?  Let me know in your comment so I can link it here.

Flaunt it!

I do believe this would be the perfect shirt for me.  My Organized Chaos is giving away a t-shirt from Flaunt It Maternity!  You can bet I want in on this.  Not only can I never have enough maternity shirts, but if you read this post, you can bet I would wear this proudly.

Mother of Eden Hanging Diaper Pail

With only a few months left of this pregnancy, I'm starting to examine our cloth diaper stash and all of its accessories.  For the most part, we're all set with prefolds and a few fitteds for the non-prefold-loving family members/church nursery/lazies.  I have to knit a few newborn and small woolens, but there's still time for that.  One item in particular that we received when Simon was born is still going strong and I am anticipating will last well into this baby's potty-learning days: The Hanging Diaper Pail.

The Mother of Eden Hanging Diaper Pail is a magical bag that contains the smells of the worst diapers and is leak-proof.  It can be hung from a door knob, or like we used to do, the corner of our changing table. And it holds a LOT of diapers.  When the bag is full, you just dump the dipes into the washer along with the bag and wash it all at once!  Oh, and there is also a nifty little sachet sewn into the bag so that you can add a few drops of essential oil for extra odor control.  BRILLIANT.

We still use our hanging diaper pail even though Simon wears only a nighttime diaper...and those are RANK.  For a while, we just tossed his nighttime dipes into the laundry room with the underpants, but the smell gets overwhelming after a day.  I suggested we just use the diaper pail for them and save the planet from excess toxins in the atmosphere.  Problem solved!  We hang it from the back door knob in the laundry room since Simon has significantly outgrown the changing table.

My only regret with the Mother of Eden Hanging Diaper Pail?  I wish we had an extra one to use while the other one is in the wash!  I do believe another one will be going on our new baby's wishlist.  :)