Today is a day that has a lot of personal meaning to me and my little family.  It is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day.

I’ve shared a tiny bit about why I started  my other blog, So You Think You’re Crafty, in the about page over there and in interviews and conversations I’ve had.  But I’ve never shared what lead to that discussion I had with my sister and BIL about blog stalking and starting my own.

At the time Abbi was just over a year old and sleeping all but 6 hours a day (she was a FANTASTIC napper) and I had just found out we were expecting our 2nd baby.  We were so excited and I loved having all that extra time while she slept!  I could read and sew and cook and craft and keep my house clean and get ready for the new little one.

Then my world came crashing down.  I miscarried that baby.  We were heart broken.  All of the sudden, that wonderful free time became crushing to me.  I no longer had the motivation to do anything but dwell.  Dwell on the fact that little one we wanted so much wasn’t coming.  All I could bring myself to do was blog stalk when I was alone and pretend everything was ok when people were around.

A month or so later I visited my sister and her family for a week and we started talking about all the blogs that I had discovered.  That conversation and brain storming session about what SYTYC could be like was a turning point for me.  All the sudden I had a plan and the motivation to actually DO something to work my way out of my depression.  I got right to work getting So You Think You’re Crafty up and going.

We hadn’t given up on adding to our family, but with the 3rd miscarriage came a diagnosis of “unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.”  We realized that maybe God had another plan for blessing us with a sibling for Abbi so we started the adoption process and paperwork.  For the past 3+ years, and through two more miscarriages, we’ve been waiting.

But good news!  At this very moment my husband and I are waiting for the call to head out to Las Vegas, Nevada.  And when we come home it will be with a little sister for Abigail.

God is Good.

After I finish a good book I think about it for days and wish that there were someone else I could talk to about it.  Then I saw a monthly post that Centsational Girl does on her blog called “On the Nightstand.”  What a fantastic way for me to share what I’ve been reading!  So, once a month-ish (it may be more, it may be less) I’ll update you on what I’ve read and would love for you to give me your reading suggestions. How does that sound?  I call the “column”…

From January until the September of this year I have read 45 books.  I’m totally floored by that number. When did I find the time to do that?!  Here are the latest 4 that got me to that total.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen (ebook on phone) – I’m a sucker for a Roaring ’20s novel and this one didn’t disappoint.  Speakeasies, mob families and nightly parties.  It had it all.  And since it’s a YA fiction it was clean too!  I got this one as a free book of the day as an ebook.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James – I picked this book up while I was at BlogHer in NYC a month or so ago. Someone left it in the Swag Swap room so I snagged it up.  I’m always a little hesitant about classic novel sequels, but this one was pretty good.  I think that’s because it didn’t try to further relationships and mess everything up.  It focuses on a murder that happens on the grounds of Pemberley the night before a big ball and somehow Wickham is involved.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I also got this book while I was at BlogHer.  It was in the Scholastic Swag Bag after their brunch party.  I had never read anything by this author before, but had heard good things.  It was good.  It has a lot of the supernatural stuff in it (ghosts, psychics, ancient magical kings buried for hundreds of years), which usually isn’t really my thing, but I was pleasantly surprised.  There was a little bit of unnecessary language though so watch out for that.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – At the Scholastic party last month I meet a fantastic lady that runs a blog called Teen Lit Rocks that reviews YA books.  She highly recommended this one to me.  I really liked it!  It takes the Celtic myth of the Water Horses and gives it a modern spin.  And the leading character is a girl that can hold her own, which always makes a book better in my opinion .

How about you?  What are you reading right now?

There is one thing I’m sure of.  I could not live without books in my life.  I can get lost in a good story and I love it.  I will start a book, forget about life, and just read until it’s over.  This creates a major problem though.

When I say I forget about life I really mean that.  I forget that I have a husband and child that need loving attention and food.  I forget that I have a home that needs to be cleaned and look presentable.  I forget that I have other responsibilities and obligations on my time.  Basically I forget about EVERYTHING until I close the back cover. The sad thing is…that’s not an exaggeration.  The only upside is that I’m a pretty fast reader (I studied Literature in college – Medieval Literature to be exact.  That sort of forced me to learn to read a lot in a short amount of time)  so I’m not lost to the world for more than a day or two at most

After I finish a good book I think about it for days and wish that there were someone else I could talk to about it.  Then I saw a monthly post that Centsational Girl does on her blog called “On the Nightstand.”  What a fantastic way for me to share what I’ve been reading!

So, once a month-ish (it may be more, it may be less) I will update you on what I’ve read and would love for you to give me your reading suggestions. How does that sound?

Here are the two books I’ve got going right now.  One’s a re-read and one I’ve had on my list a long time. 

The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin.  I’m sure some of you have heard of this one.  I used to have an etsy shop that actually did pretty well.  Then our family started our trek of cross country moves (3 states in less than a year) so I had to close up shop and put it all on hold for a while. I bought this book right after I closed the shop so I could read up on how to do it probably and maybe get into some shows and boutiques when I re-opened.  Well, I’ve re-opened under a new shop and name, MissyDear, but I sure haven’t done it the right way (I knew that if I didn’t just do it, it would never get done).  I’m only a short way into the book, but I’ve already learned a TON of stuff on how to run a handmade business.  I can’t wait to finish.

Frederica by Georgette Heyer.  Are you a fan of Jane Austen?  Then you’re a fan of Georgette Heyer.  Believe me.  This woman is a genius.  Her novels are charming and witty and so much fun.  In this story Frederica, how considers herself an old maid, takes her younger sister to London in the hopes of securing a good husband for her.  She coerces a distant cousin into sponsoring them into society and it’s just one mishap after another.  Such a fun read.

How about you?  What are you reading right now?

You guys.  I discovered a new TV series on Netflix the other night.  The BBC series called Sherlock.

It’s a modern take on the classic novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels (which Read more

A while ago Design Mom started a column on her blog about loving where you live.  I decided that’s a good idea.  In the past 4 years we have lived in 5 states and visited a few others.  We figured we would be in each place for a while and would have plenty of time to see things.  But we never got around to seeing more than the one or two main touristy things in the area.  So I’m going to join Design Mom in the quest of loving and learning about where I live and visit.

When I found out that my husband was being transferred for work causing us to move again just 5 days after I unpacked the final box from our last move you think I would be more upset than I was.  Well, I was pretty livid until I found out where we were headed – Boston Massachusetts.

You see, I’m a huge history buff.  Especially for Revolutionary history.  We even named our daughter Abigail after Abigail Adams.  I have wanted to visit her my entire life and now I was moving there!  I was pretty dang excited about it.

One of our first excursions we took when we had a free weekend was to hit up the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston.  We decided to start at the end of the trail at Bunker Hill in Charlestown (they have free street parking there) then walked the trail backwards toward the city center.  Here’s the Instagram pictures I took of our trip.

Our 1st stop:  Bunker Hill Monument

2nd stop: USS Constitution

3rd stop: Copp’s Hill Burying Ground – That headstone is from 1661.

4th stop: Old North Church – There were two lanterns in case you forgot.

5th stop: Paul Revere’s house.

And here is where Abbi lost it.  It was SOOO hot and humid and we had been walking for ever so I don’t blame her.  We were going to turn around and head back to the car when we noticed the splash pads on the Greenway.  So we decided to let Abbi run around in them for a while first – clothes and all.

We finally dragged her away (she wasn’t very happy about it – as you can see on the right ).  She fell asleep in the stroller on the walk back to the car.  Poor kid.  We plan on getting to the rest of the trail before summer is out.  So be watching for part 2 soon .

Are any of you Revolutionary history buffs?