Books

I am the kind of person that likes to read EVERYTHING about every topic, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much. Especially when it comes to pregnancy and parenting and the gajillions of theories and opinions out there. (And, now look at me, adding my own!)

When I was pregnant I got my hands on lots of books quickly - What To Expect, A Girlfriend's Guide, etc. - and then quickly became overwhelmed and stopped reading all together.

I've tried to be a little more selective with this new parenting thing.

In the 3rd trimester I began reading about getting your baby to sleep (!) as this was one of my greatest concerns. The two best books I read were Babywise and Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. I found that Happiest Baby on the Block wasn't as helpful for sleep tips, but did have good soothing techniques (the 5 S's).

For new baby, I have liked Your Baby's First Year: Week by Week and Your Baby's First Year by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

And, if you are in search of the best baby book, here is my strategy: I am transferring our digital photos to http://www.blurb.com/ to make a book for the Girl each month. (Yes, this is ambitious). It allows you to customize it and add text and it is pretty inexpensive for the 7x7 inch book. This eliminates the need for scrapbooking or printing and transferring photos to albums. I will put all of the miscellaneous items (cards, artwork, etc.) into archival boxes for storage. Finally, my mom got me this cute little journal - Baby's Journal - that is perfect to jot down ALL of those cute things.