The Romance Bookie

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least.  I know many of us are not able to have Thanksgiving with our families, so I hope you are all able to make the best of it, and still at least enjoy some delicious food.   2020 has had its up and downs.  Maybe more downs than ups, for some people unfortunately. But it's Thanksgiving, and while I really do try to count my blessings throughout the year, this is the time of year that I really take the time to think about everything that is special in my life, things that I may sometimes take for granted, but should be extra thankful for. My list might have some very obvious things, but here goes: My Family:  First and foremost, always, I am SO unbelievably thankful for my family.  I have an amazing husband who is doing an absolutely amazing job being a daddy to our little guy; while also still paying his needy wife attention.  I remind myself everyday how lucky I am.   I am a...

 So I am a HUGE Taylor Swift fan!  The second a new album is announced I've either preordered it or run to the store first thing in the morning to pick up my Exclusive Target copy. When Taylor announced Folklore  in July, it was the biggest and best surprise!  She had just released Lover  last year, and usually only released an album every two years; so Folklore  was so unexpected for all Taylor fans!  But it truly was an amazing gift for us fans. I had just started my third trimester a couple weeks before the album came out, and babies in the womb start hearing voices in the second trimester, so my son listened to this album along with me and my husband for the months up until he was born.  It was playing in our car, we listened to it while we had our Friday night date nights at home BBQing in our backyard.  So my baby heard this album a lot. It is such a relaxing album too, very different from Taylor's other music.  Each album has had ...

Hey Everyone!  So when my son was born, he was a bit smaller than my husband and I anticipated.  Given, he was two weeks early; however, he ended up weighing at 38 weeks, when he was born, what he weighed at my 36 week ultrasound.  Now keep in mind, doctors warn you ultrasound weigh-ins are a super rough estimate and can be off by a couple of POUNDS (which is a crazy amount when it comes to the weight of a newborn!).   Anyway, my husband was born a month early and weighed over 7 lbs, so we kind of thought our son would be born similar.   Wrong! He came in at 6 lbs 13 oz, at 38 weeks gestation.   Now, before he was born I bought A LOT of clothes.  And I mean a lot!  I even bought in all different sizes, so I had a little bit of everything.   Unfortunately, I ran into two problems once he was born... 1. I bought all his clothes in the late Spring and Summer, when Carter's  and The Children's Place were having sales, and so everything I got...

 When you have a child, you will do everything to make sure your baby is happy and healthy.  Along the way, you'll also do everything to make sure you don't go insane from all of the crying.   While my husband and I are still trying to figure those things out, especially since they change almost daily, and depend on how our little guy is feeling.   One thing that seems to be working is playing him music when he starts getting fussy from being too tired. The current song that really helps? How Far I'll Go sung by Auli'i Cravalho from Disney's Moana ! He really seems to like it, and calms down almost every time I play it for him.  We've even started playing the movie for him, while he is in his swing (his swing is by the living room TV), or living room play pen, and he's even fallen asleep "watching" the movie! It might be coincidence, but it's exciting that he might already have a favorite thing! Happy Monday, Everyone!  Stay safe! The Romance B...

You Guys! My baby is two months old today!! 😭 My little 6 lbs 13 oz, 19 inch baby boy has turned into a 11 lbs, 21 inch baby boy right before my eyes! Time is flying by!  Everyday is a new adventure with him. He went from being this...   To this... Before I know it he'll be graduating high school. via GIPHY He's growing up so fast! He went from being a cute little potato (as my husband likes to call all newborns 😂) to a full blown infant! My husband and I see changes daily.  Not only appearance (because holy moly he almost doesn't look like the same baby!) but also in his development! There are certain milestones parents look for as their baby gets older.   Each time Alex hits one of those milestones, my husband and I are over the moon!  We call each others names, to rush over, and swoon over our baby boy as he impresses us more and more. As a parent, you will find that your child is the best child in the entire world, and that they are a genius every time t...

 So who loves food? No one? via GIPHY I thought I could share some of my favorite foods from my week.   This week, some of my favorite dishes were: 1. Scrambles Making breakfast can be very difficult, when you have a baby.  But once in a while I do get the chance to run to the kitchen and whip myself something quick together, while my little man is sleeping.   One of my new favorite things to make it egg scrambles.  They may not be picture pretty, but goodness are they delicious.  And what's great about them is that there are so many different options on what can be put into them.  And you don't have to worry about making it look pretty like a omelet; you just sauté some veggies, and whatever you want, add some mixed up eggs and mix it all together in the pan as it cooks, and bam!  Done! The two pictured contain: Left Picture: Sautéed yellow bell pepper, spinach, red onion, and prosciutto and then 2 eggs. Spinach is a great source of fiber, iron...

 Hey Everyone, Recently I randomly decided to watch 7th Heaven.   Does anyone remember that show? So the show is actually even a little older than before my time...in that I was five years old when it premiered...and still living in Germany, where I'm not sure the show played? I used to watch reruns of this show once in a while after school when I was in middle school.  It played on ABC Family (now Freeform), along with other 90s sitcoms and shows.   If you don't know what the show is about:  It is about the Camden family, a family of originally 7 (hence the name 7th Heaven.   It is about a mom and dad raising their five children (later on they have twins, so it turns into seven children).  The father is a pastor, and the mom is a stay-at-home taking care of all the day-to-day things needed to raise 5, later 7 children.  The shows lasted for eleven seasons and showed the children growing up.   Image from IMDB Honestly, it wasn't one of my fav...

 Hey! So I don't think I've actually mentioned my son's name yet, have I? Given the scary universe that the internet has become, I will only be sharing his first name; and only because it goes with a part of this post. Alexander. Or as I call him and my husband does not (😂), Alex. Why did we pick that name? Well, first off, my husband and I have had our baby names picked out for years.  I've actually known my names for a boy and girl longer, but unfortunately, my husband did not like the name I had picked out for a boy.   In case your wondering what name that was, it was Oliver.  My husband thinks it sounds like a dogs name.  I love the name Ollie and Oliver though!  However, I was not going to win that battle. I did win him over with the name Charlotte, which is what we would have named our child if we had had a girl. "Charlie" for short (at least for me, to my husband she would have been Charlotte).   But we did agree on our boy name still way befor...

 Hey Everyone! Has anyone else noticed that it seems like everyone and their sister are having babies in 2020? Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Ed Sheeran and his wife, Rupert Grint and his girlfriend, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden (!!!)...the list is freaking endless! So a new term has been penned for 2020...Covid Babies... via GIPHY They even have these onesies, for parents to announce they're expecting... From Etsy   😂😂 Now my husband and I found out we were pregnant in January, so technically our little guy is not a CoVid baby, but unfortunately it did mean I was pregnant during a very difficult time, when it comes to the medical field (along with a lot of other things, of course).   My husband was only able to come to appointments with me, up until I hit my second trimester about.  After that, he would drive with me, wait in the parking lot in our car, and we would video chat so he was able ...

 I want to bring Music Tuesday back!  Except on Monday's now...because "music Tuesday"?  What is that?  What was I even thinking? Music Monday just makes more sense.  Anyway, when I can I want to share a song, that is relevant at that moment in my life. For my first Music Monday, I choose... Scarborough Fair  by Simon & Garfunkel. Scarborough Fair , is actually a traditional English folk song from the Middle Ages; but it also happens to be a song that my son relaxes to.  My mother-in-law sang him Simon and Garfunkel and he instantly relaxed into her arms and fell asleep to the soothing sound. Scarborough Fair holds a special place in my heart, because it was a song that I got to learn and sing in my middle school choir class.  It was my favorite songs we got to sing; so whenever I hear it, I immediately think to that time. As I'm writing this, my son is sleeping in his bassinet next to me, as Simon & Garfunkel is playing on my phone. ...

 What has my life become? My husband and I used to have our freedom. We could sleep in the same bed together...at the same time! We could have a date anytime we wanted. We could watch a movie in the comfort of our own home any time we felt like it.  And we could watch it in one sitting. We could go to Disneyland on the whim. (when it was open of course.) We just needed to worry about our own, individual, bowel movements. 😂 We didn't have this helpless little fragile being relying on us 24/7. What has my life become? It's become days filled with crying and screaming in our ears. Spit up on our shoulders. Explosive, smelly poops that run up the back. Sucking snot out of a nose. The never-ending laundry. Getting peed on...and even pooped on.  Frustration, because you've done all the things (diaper, feed, burp) and he's still crying; and you don't know what to do at that point anymore. Sleep deprivation. Oh the sleep deprivation.  Sleep?  What does it feel like? ...

 Hey Everyone! I wanted to talk about a topic that, I feel, starts coming up as you reach adulthood, more and more.  A topic that is often thrown out there willy-nilly, and people don't really think as they tell you to do this extreme "life-changing event"... The topic of "Wanting" a Baby. So as some of you may know, my husband and I just welcomed our son into this crazy world on September 21st, 2020.   Having a baby during the pandemic was pretty surreal at times.  We found out we were pregnant in January, so before this all started.   Luckily, my husband was able to go to my initial appointments with me (which I am so utterly thankful for, because that first trimester was the most nerve-wracking for us!); but at about the week 14 mark he was no longer allowed to come in with me; even to ultrasounds.   As you can imagine, that was extremely hard.   I was very fortunate that this time around, everything was pretty picture perfect during my pregnancy (t...