#50BookPledge Books 43 & 44 - Bringing Up Bebe & Beautiful Ruins

I'm reviewing books 43 and 44 in the same post because I can and not because there is a common theme.

Book 43 was Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman from Penguin Press 2012.

As you may or may not know I like to read parenting books especially those about different styles as we try to mold Miss R into a well rounded individual. In a lot of ways I found that Bringing Up Bebe reflected a lot of the techniques that my parents used raising me and could really relate to them.  While I don't necessarily agree with everything in Druckerman's book there are definitely ideas that I can use in my own home.  The book moves along at a fairly quick pace and does a lot of compare and contrast between what the author sees living in France and what she sees when visiting family in the United States. She also makes it clear that neither style is necessarily right or wrong but there are good attributes in both. What I really see is that France uses more of the Village approach while North Americans tend to be much more insular.  Worth the read and I know it is making an impact in our home.


Book 44 was Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter from Harper Collins 2012.

I loved this book, actually wasn't able to put it down.  All of the characters, the scenery and the flow of the story just made it that much more wonderful. My apologies to the author but I originally thought Beautiful Ruins was written by a woman and was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a man.  The novel spans a large period of time, but is done in such a manner that you don't get lost but are drawn in.  My rating for this book is 5 out of 5.

#50BookPledge Book 16 The Winter Palace

I'm still moving forward in the 50 Book Pledge and surprisingly just complete my sixteenth book.  Here is my latest bit of feedback about that book.

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak from DoubleDay Canada, 2012.

While this novel is billed as A Novel of Catherine the Great, but I really didn't see it that way.  Instead I found this to be a story of Empress Elizabeth who was a very conniving individual.  The Winter Palace is a tale of intrigue, lying, spying and finding the balance between what is best for an individual, a family and ultimately the country.  The storyline is filled with tales of friends and lovers who spy on each other for personal reasons that are occasionally revealed but not always.  I don't have a lot of experience with Russian History and many of the names in the novel were known in passing, but now I have a much better understanding of their roles in history!  The Winter Palace is worth the read if you have an interest in history or mystery.  The author interweaves these two genres very well.

Pictures - Preserving Memories

This is where the old saying, "A picture says a thousand words," really holds true. I am not a huge picture person and think my husband's aunt is a bit crazy when she tries to get 75+ people between the ages of 0 and 80 together for the annual family photo.

Pictures are a very important part of who we are and do a great job of telling our stories.  We regularly print pictures we've taken from vacations and special events or just a part of everyday life. We find these pictures helpful when our daughter asks a question about something that happened in the passed.

We regularly display pictures around our house, changing them to keep current.  My daughter has photo albums she looks at regularly along with the photos on our computers.  This encourages me to want to take me more pictures just because.  Of course this is becoming more fun as our daughter is starting to take her ourn photos, often of her feet.

Two of the biggest photo events for our family, however, are the slide shows my husband put together for a couple big events.   The first was for my dad's 65th birthday and we had a difficult time locating enough pictures to fill five minutes plus nothing from his childhood.  Luckily with the help of his coworkers and friends we were able to pull it off.  The second slide show was to celebrate our daughter's adoption and baptism.  This time the problem was limiting the number of photos.

So enjoy your photos.  Share them often, download them and see how they can brighten someone's day.

Pet Names/Nick Names

As I mentioned in my introductory post the name MomMom is from my daughter. She uses it when she is trying to be extra loving or trying to work something out using four year old logic.  I don't know where she cam up with it, but I hope it will stick for while yet.

I find it interesting that my daughter has a special name for me and I have a special name for my mom. The origins of my mom's nickname of MiniMom has to do with the fact that she is shorter than I am and I was a typical teenager.  One day when the two of us were in the kitchen and I saw MINIMUM on the stove when I went to give my mom a hug.  I tried out my new version of MiniMom and it stuck to the point I still use it today.

Until I went away to school I only used MiniMom with family, definitely not in public.   I remember a friend of mine at school questioning me about it after my parents when home one weekend.  I explained it was my pet name for her and have used it for a number of years.  Of course the next time I talked to my mom I asked her when I had used it, but she couldn't recall.  She told me not to worry about it as it was just another way of saying I love you.  It was kind of fun though because after that my friends started calling her MiniMom instead of Lee-Ann's Mom.

These name seem to be a two way street.  MiniMom has called me Skees as long as I can remember.  I have started to incorporate this into my online identities. I've tried a few nicknames on for my daughter and  there is one that is a combination of her first name plus middle name that appears to be working for now.

Look for part two of this post in two weeks when I share the male side of nicknames in my family.

What Is MomMom's Daily 15?

Hi Everyone!  My name is Lee-Ann and I am a stay at home mother of a beautiful little girl.  I am married and like most children my daughter has my husband wrapped around her little finger. 

MomMom's Daily 15 is a weekly blog about those quality moments you spend each day doing something special (even though minor) with those that mean the most to you. There will be suggestions for connecting with your children, significant other, family and friends. We're always hearing that it isn't the amount of time you spend doing special activities with these people but rather the quality of that time. I take this to mean that you need to be really engaged in connecting with the person you are spending the time with. Some of the things I write about will be a mere 5 minutes in length, while others could cover more than one day.  So come join me as I take this journey and add some side notes along the way.

The name MomMom is what my 4 year old daughter calls me when we are doing something special. I find it really cute and decided to use it in my blog title to honour her creativity.  More about this in an upcoming post on pet names.