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Iris Amelia was born January 11, 2010 at 3:32 in the morning.  She weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 20.5 inches.  We are all doing well and resting at home.  I will write up her birth story here soon before I start forgetting parts!

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Well, 40 weeks is here, and we’re very excited to meet our daughter.  Now, for the waiting…

Really, we’re fine with waiting.  Some other people in our lives (Mom? Sound familiar?) are a little more impatient.  (Just teasing, Mom- we can’t wait for you to be a grandma either!)  I am working my last day of school today, and tomorrow I’ll be home on maternity leave.  I’m stocked up on good books to read and some recipes to try in case we’re waiting a while.  We’ll definitely update the blog when it happens, so stay tuned!

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Well, another good year of reading has passed, and I wanted to review the books I have read.  My goal was to read 50 books, and alas, I ended the year 4 books short.  I blame my iPhone which was purchased in November (and the Words with Friends app- argh, so addictive)!

Here’s a run-down of my most memorable books this year:  The Grapes of Wrath was one I’d wanted to read but never had… and while it was depressing and gloomy, it was great to read a classic.  People of the Book was intriguing- lots of fascinating stories from different corners of history as the narration follows a prayer book passed down through the centuries.  American Band- I identified with this book so much as it reminded me of the intense focus and determination of my high school band.  I cried when that book ended, and sorely missed it when it was over.  The House at Sugar Beach was an amazing and fascinating depiction of growing up in Liberia in the 70’s and 80’s.  Finally, The Help was my favorite book that I read all year- a tremendous story of courage in Jackson, Mississippi before the Civil Rights movement- an amazing book.

1. Running: Getting Started by Jeff Galloway
2. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
3. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
4. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
5. I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
6. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
7. Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
8. The 100: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own by Nina Garcia
9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
10. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
11. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
12. American Band by Kristen Laine
13. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
14. The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
15. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
16. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
17. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
18. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
19. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
20. It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong
21. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
22. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
23. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
24. Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
25. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
26. What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
27. The Year of Living Biblically by A J Jacobs
28. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
29. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
30. The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring
31. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
32. Lucky by Alice Sebold
33. Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake, Abby Epstein, and Jacques Moritz
34. When the Heart Cries by Cindy Woodsmall
35. When the Morning Comes by Cindy Woodsmall
36. When the Soul Mends by Cindy Woodsmall
37. Baby Bargains by Denise Folds
38. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
39. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
40. Husband Coached Childbirth by Robert Bradley
41. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
42. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
43. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
44. I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci
45. The Landry News by Andrew Clements
46. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League International

While I did not reach my goal for the 2nd year in a row, I realized tonight that I beat last year’s count by 8 books.  Woo-hoo!  I am ready to give this goal of 50 books another shot for 2010!

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