Friday Faves: Two Books, a Bear, and a Boppy

I know that it's Saturday, but if I promise to usually post my reviews on Fridays can I get away with calling these Friday Faves today?  It has a much better ring to it than Saturday Faves.  My goal - we'll see how it works out - is to post a few reviews of my favorite things on Fridays.  I'll tell you what works right now and why I think it's working.  I'll try to intermix the mommy stuff with the tutor stuff.  This week I review two books, a bear, and a Boppy.

Two Books

The first book, Baby Loves Peekaboo, is a Maisy must-have right now.  The pages are filled with babies (and babies love looking at babies) and stuffed animals, so there are plenty of fun pictures to point out and have Maisy shake her little fist at.  Each page has a "touch-and-feel" picture, so my 6-month-old enjoys rubbing her fingers over the different textures.

By far the best part of this book, though, are the big flaps that open to the right.  They're sturdy enough that they won't get torn too easily and big enough that Maisy can wrap her right hand around the flap and flip it open and closed, open and closed, open and closed, just listening for my "peekaboo!"  Maisy loves it because of all the colors, textures, and flaps; I love it because it seems like she really gets it (and that's so cool).


The next book, KAPLAN ACT: Strategies, Practice, and Review, is one of the guides I refer to most when preparing students for the ACT.  One of the top reasons I like this particular guide is because of the KAPLAN strategies.  They make so much sense!  From how to use a triage approach to how to fill in the answer grid, this book is filled with practical strategies for the test as a whole and for specific subjects.  The subject-specific strategies give students a structured way to approach each test question to maximize their chances of getting a higher score.

Aside from the strategies that make this guide stand out, the KAPLAN book includes skill refreshers, practice tests with detailed explanations, and a section that outlines what to do on the nights leading up to Test Day.  It's not perfect.  I have stumbled on a couple of errors.  Yet, as a whole, this is a good book to use when preparing students for the ACT.


A Bear
Meet Pancake Bear - at least that's what we call him.  My brother is responsible for the silly name, but it has stuck.  This is Maisy's little sleep buddy right now.  She holds the soft little bear in the crook of her left arm, pops her right thumb into her mouth, and she's off to dreamland.  It seems like the perfect size for Maisy's six-month self.  Big enough to clutch, but little enough for a good baby grip.  It's soft, it's cute, and it has the tags, because babies like tags, right?  


Of course, the irony is that Maisy doesn't really care much about the cute blue textured tags.  She goes straight for the real deal.  No one's going to trick her into going after any fake tags!  What do I care? She likes her Pancake Bear and it helps her (and us!) get some sleep.




A Boppy
A Boppy is a mom's best friend, especially in the first few months of breastfeeding fun.    What I've discovered, though, is that the Boppy has actually become more useful as Maisy has gotten a little older.  I still frequently use it for nursing.  It's comfortable and it's supportive.  


My favorite use for it now, though, is as a baby-catcher.  Maisy's been sitting up since she was five months old.  She loves sitting up because she can interact with her toys so easily.  The Boppy fits right around her, so if she tips right, left, or backwards, this pillow cushions her fall.  It's easily portable and has a washable slipcover, so it really does make the ideal baby-catcher while Maisy's learning to support herself and explore her world sitting up.

Stay-at-Home Mommy Guilt

I hear that it's not uncommon for moms to feel guilty now and then. I don't claim to be riddled with guilt. Other than occasionally startling awake at 2 am and mistaking my husband's shoulder for my baby's head and panicking that Maisy is lost in our bed (though she has never slept in bed with us), I sleep very well at night. I never had an inkling of postpartum depression. In fact, I consider myself to be a happy person. Yet still, there's the mommy guilt.

I feel guilty that I spent $6.48 on a clearance baby dress today when I know the budget's tight so that I can be at home with Maisy.

I feel guilty for buying baby food in convenient plastic containers when certainly I'm capable of making my own!

I feel guilty that my bathroom is not sparkling clean at all times.

I feel guilty for not vacuuming daily to prevent the dog hair that inevitably is found clinging to my baby's drool-covered chin when we're at the grocery store.

I feel guilty when I take a little time out of my day to read while Maisy plays happily on the floor nearby. Why am I not cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming??? I blame my dog for the little black hairs that cling to socks and drooly fists, but isn't it my fault too for not being a better housekeeper?

I feel guilty that my daughter just woke up from her nap and she's now hanging out in my lap while I peck one-handed at the keyboard instead of playing pat-a-cake. Never mind, she just drifted off again, much too sleepy for pat-a-cake. Guilt-be-gone.

I feel guilty that I just finished my Master's degree and yet I only tutor four times a week, which barely covers the monthly student loan payments.

I know I'm blessed to stay at home with my little girl when many women balance full-time jobs and kids and have sparklier bathrooms too. For that, I feel guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Surely I'm not the only stay-at-home mom who feels this way. Yet I know I'd torture myself with guilt just as much if I worked outside the home. So why do I let myself do it? How do I stop?

Trust me, these are rhetorical questions. I have no answers. I think I just keep on doing what I want to do while I'm able to do it, which is stay at home with my baby girl, tutor a few students who need the help, and feel good that at least I tend to be pretty caught up on the laundry.

For the record, I know there are plenty of things I do right as Maisy's full-time mommy aside from keeping up with the laundry.  We read.  (Our favorite book right now is "Baby Loves Peekaboo.")  We sing.  ("Hokey Pokey" is the best song EVER according to Maisy.)  We play.  (Little blocks with bells inside of them are awesome, and Maisy is turning out to be quite the prodigy on her Baby Einstein piano.)  We smile at each other all day long, and we talk A LOT.  Maisy's "ba's" and "ga's" and "ma's" have been temporarily outshone by her new favorite sound, "AAAUULLLGGHHHAAAUUUGH!"  And I love it.  I love her.  Guilt or no guilt, I'm convinced there's no better job than being Maisy's mommy.