Dog Ears

Finding a book you can't put down is one of the best things. I go through phases of reading and not reading, and when I am on reading, I can't imagine why I would stop. This is particularly true when I am reading something I love. The last couple (new) books I read we're on my Kindle or iPad. There are obvious benefits of E-readers and I really enjoy reading on them. I feel like on the E-readers I chose books that have been recommended either by friends or strangers on Amazon. However, last week (was it really just last week that I was in Arizona?) when I was at the airport in Phoenix, I picked up a random book along with my candy bar and bottle of water bottle before boarding the plane for our 6+ hour flight home. This is something I used to do often, and it is always a gamble. I tend to pick out these random books like I choose new wines- by the cover/label. I often don't pick the most exciting or beautiful one, but I choose something that resonates with me. I also love to read the back and am always disappointed when the back of a book or bottle of wine doesn't provide much information about what's inside. The book I chose was "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson. What instantly attracted me to the book was the cover- it is so clever. It is split down the center and the two sides are different in every way: the colors, fonts, graphics, and most interestingly to me, the paper texture. This set up the whole story for me, which did not disappoint. It was the most interesting book I have read in a while, in part because it is investigative journalism, but it reads as insane, if you will, as many fiction books. One of my favorite parts about paper books, is what is lost on E-readers. In this book's case, I would have never properly looked at the cover or been able to feel the detail of the paper difference of the cover. I also enjoy being able to dog ear the top corner of the page where I leave off, or the bottom corner of a page that I may want to refer back to. One of the pages I marked in this book was page 105 where Ronson introduces a new psychopath with an awesome name. I'm not going to lie, I was a little taken aback when I read about a Jack Henry Abbott, but I am just going to attribute it to his parents having great taste when it comes to naming children, not a lesson to Google potential names for my future offspring. If you are looking for a book to read, I highly recommend this one, especially if you are interested in mental disorders. There is interesting information about childhood psychiatric issues at the end. Oddly enough, just after I read that part last night, Nate turned on a special called "Born Schizophrenic" on TLC and it was interesting how well the show tied in with what I had just read.

A perfect fit

I've always known I wanted to be a mom, but I never knew how much I could ever love someone. I honestly love Jack more and more every day. People always talk about how having a child changes you. I know this is true, but in some ways I feel more like myself than I have in years. Here are a few things I have learned in the past 12+ weeks: -Take the important things such as health and safety more seriously, and don't worry so much about the rest. -Six hours of uninterrupted sleep is the greatest gift your child and/or husband can give. -It takes approximately one second of a well written commercial containing a baby to get my attention, and about three seconds to get the waterworks flowing. They are tears of joy and love, and I was surprised the first few times it happened, but now the tears can pretty much be expected. This also applies to tv shows and movies. -My husband is a fantastic father and partner. We created life out of love and what is greater than that? -I'm a kid at heart. Okay, I already knew that, but I can not wait until Jack is a little older and the real fun can begin! -The importance of "me" time. Whether it is 15 minutes in the evening for a bath, two hours to go to Bikram, or Nate taking Jack downstairs on a weekend morning so I can sleep in. I desire some nearly every day. Going to work does not count. You may be wondering why my blog is Snapshots by Tamara if there are no pictures. We already sent a load of our belongings to New York, including our computer. I have been posting from my iPad and I haven't had a chance to figure out how to upload pictures on it yet. Love.

And so it is...

I've decided I want to start blogging again. We have so much going on in our little Laird family, and I often find myself with pictures and ideas I want to share. I decided long ago that I don't want to be one of those people that constantly posts pictures of my child on Facebook, but Jack is so darn cute I find it nearly impossible not to.  Also, with so many (exciting) events coming up, I think this will be a good way to organize my thoughts and ideas.  Without further ado, here is a list of some of the things on my mind:

-I'm pretty sure Jack is teething. I know he is young, but he is doing a bunch of things that seem to indicate that this is the case.  Nate and I made a bet on which tooth we think will poke through first. I think it will be his lower front on the right side and Nate thinks it will be farther back.  I hope for the sake of breastfeeding that he is correct.

-The movers come to pack our belongings in exactly 3 weeks. It was scheduled to take 3 days, but an inspector came by today and estimated that they will only need one day. So I guess that means that in less than three weeks we will be sleeping in our bed, at this house for the last time.  It's bittersweet.

-On a related note, our bed (along with the rest of our belongings) will be shipped out on or around July 10th. We arrive in Syracuse on July 16th and are funded up to ten days to stay in a hotel.  By that point we must have found a house or apartment to move into. Our household belongings are estimated to arrive 50 or 60 days after they are packed.  It's times like these I wish I didn't love math so much.  That puts us bed less for over a month.  We already have two queen size beds, so there is no way we are buying a new bed when we get there.  I think we will invest in a good air bed, which wouldn't be bad to have.  The one we own now is fine until it starts losing air, which is as soon as you turn off the motor.

-Nate received our flight itinerary for the big move.  The military books it for us, and we are not yet assigned seats. I hope we are able to get two together as we will be flying with Jack and Duke.  Eek!  And the first flight is all the way from Honolulu to Chicago, which is pretty awesome, but may be a little extra stressful if our family is separated.

-I bought my plane ticket to Arizona for September to attend Hillary's bridal shower and bachelorette party. I am so excited to see everybody again!  I just returned from Arizona five days ago, but I miss them already!

-Hillary's wedding in July!  I really hope Nate can come, he's never been able to make it to any of my friends' weddings, and I can only imagine how much fun it will be. Thats's all I have time for now, Jack is no longer content in his vibrating chair. I'm going to leave you with this final quote that I recently stumbled upon, which I think adequately fits my life.

"A journey is like marriage.  The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." -John Steinbeck

Love.