My reading resolution

Before Jack was born I received a gift from one of my mom's friends: a bunch of wonderful children's books along with The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  I started reading the handbook right away, mostly because the woman who gifted it to me spoke so highly of the book and the concepts in it, so I was intrigued.  I found the book fascinating and I was inspired to start reading more fiction.  I read relatively frequently, but the books I read are mostly non fiction or sort of self-help type books.  

I really want to read aloud to Jack, but in order to do that, I want to have books I've read and am familiar with to read to him.  I have plenty that I remember reading in grade school, but there were also lots that I remember not reading.  Classics and such.  Books that I was *supposed* to read for class but ended up procrastinating to the last minute and relying on spark notes to do my essays/assignments.  I read for pleasure, I guess, when I read self-help books (I mean, I like the content) but having the goal of self improvement doesn't really mean I'm reading for pure enjoyment.  

So, since it's the beginning of a new year, I decided to make a resolution to read more fiction for pure enjoyment.  We have a local used bookstore that is being sold soon and my mom has a ton of credit there from selling books to them, so I've been putting together a list of great books to buy there to use up her credit!  It's perfectly serendipitous that right when I decide to get a bunch of books to read, she's got this crazy huge credit she needs to use up in the next couple months!  

So far on my list I've got:

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Hatchet by Gary Paulson
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Dogsong by Gary Paulson
The Raven's Gift by Don J. Rearden
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Dream of Night by Heather Hensen
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
Scorpions by Walter Dean Meyers
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques

I plowed through Wonder in about 2.5 days, so my next one to read is Where the Red Fern Grows.  A lot of these are young adult and children's books so they're pretty quick reads, but I want to read them so I can at least be familiar with the stories when Jack is old enough for me to read them to him.  

If you're curious about the effects of reading aloud on children's reading ability and education, I definitely suggest checking out The Read Aloud Handbook. The research is fascinating and I'm really inspired by the anecdotal evidence and Jim's passion as well.  Super super interesting stuff.

If you guys have great book suggestions (fiction only!), share your favorites with me in the comments!  I'm trying to read a lot of books that are more kid friendly just because I want to find some really awesome books to read to Jack when he's older, but I'll probably also want some books with more adult themes/complexity sprinkled in there too.  Let me know what your all time favorite fiction books are, or what you're reading now and loving!

Meet Jack!

It's been almost a month since our little dude joined us, and since the holidays happened right after he arrived and tons of family and friends were in town visiting (not to mention postpartum healing and getting used to newborn life), I haven't had the energy to post an announcement here until now!

I haven't written out his birth story yet, and I'll probably share that eventually, though nothing crazy happened so it's not the most thrilling of birth stories.  For the best birth stories, I will direct you to Indiana Adams who has the best and funniest birth stories of all time and makes us all look bad in the birth stories realm.  Thanks a lot, Indiana.  I jest.  Indiana is hilarious and her birth stories really are the best.  Enough about Indiana, though, this post is about Jack!

Jack Polaris Morrow made his entrance on the morning of December 18th after a pretty quick and relatively easy labor.  He was about a week past his due date, which I thought was going to be the case.  He was always so chill and cozy in the womb, I figured he would want to hang out in there as long as possible.  I tried many a thing to get him to shimmy out.  We went to a hockey game.  We sang karaoke.  We did zumba.  We had a full moon (a supermoon, no less!).  Eventually after a couple membrane sweeps and some castor oil (holy shit, that stuff is no joke.  Talk. About. Cleansed.) I went into labor.  It took some convincing for him to make his way out and I don't blame him, it's cold out here!

Dusty and him are already best buds and if he ever complains that his birthday is too close to Christmas I will take him to a Zumba class and show him how hard I tried to get him to come out sooner.  And if he's still not convinced, I'll feed him some castor oil and see how long it takes before he has to run to the bathroom.  

Maternity Style // Week 38

Dress + Jacket : c/o Lulu's | Boots : c/o Seychelles | Necklace : Free People
Hat : c/o Moorea Seal | Photos by Dan

Maternity Style // Week 37

Final stretch!  My due date is one week from today, so I've cleared my schedule, am almost finished with all my client work, and am on the lookout for signs of labor.   I've always felt like this kid will hang out in there as long as possible.  So comfy and cozy in there, why come out into the cold world before you have to, right?  And cold it is.  This weekend our highs are in the single digits and lows are below zero.  So if I was an infant, I'd most definitely stay in a warm cocoon with an ambient temp of 98.5°F too.  Although next weeks highs in the teens isn't much better.  That's what happens when you decide to be born in December.  

It's been weird thinking I'll have a different body very soon.  Not necessarily my "old" body, but definitely something more what I'm used to dressing.  I got away with only getting three maternity specific items, but left most of my non-pregnancy-friendly clothing back in Washington in storage.  Anything with a defined waist is down in storage, so maybe in a couple months I'll be able to snag some of that and infuse some different silhouettes back into my wardrobe.  It's been sort of nice, though, having a fresh start sartorially.  

Top : Motherhood Maternity | Scarf : Pashmina
Cardigan : c/o Modcloth | Coat : Coldwater Creek
Leggings : Jessica Simpson via Motherhood Maternity | Boots : c/o Cat Footwear

Maternity Style // Week 36

Falling behind on this maternity outfit thing, or rather, the posting of said outfits.  But I figure as I approach the end of this pregnancy and am busy focusing on a.) finishing up all my client work so I don't have to worry about it when baby comes and b.) preparing for the actual having of a baby thing, I'm allowed to fall behind a bit.  

These photos were taken while I was in Tacoma earlier this month to shoot my final wedding of 2016.  My BFF (and doula!), Kristina, took these outfit photos for me during a coffee outing to one of my favorite Tacoma coffee shops, Bluebeard.  The lovely folks at Bluebeard gifted me a bag of coffee beans as a baby shower gift and it felt a little like things coming full circle.  Back when Dan and I got married we had Bluebeard coffee beans as our wedding favors, and now we have a little taste of Tacoma back home in Anchorage.

Kristina comes up to Anchorage this Thursday, actually, and will be my birth doula, so I'm hoping this kid holds off on the arrival until at least Thursday, ideally Saturday, when my other friend from Tacoma, Amy, comes up and will be my birth photographer!  It's weird to think that now I'm getting so close that it's a possibility that I could go into labor before the end of the week!  Ah!  I've been keeping busy making padsicles (for postpartum lady-bits relief), calming and nausea tinctures (for during labor), labor massage lotion, and DIY bum spray for the babe.  Hopefully I finish all my apothecary-ing before labor, but at least the bebe den is nearly complete!  If you follow on snapchat (@liz.morrow) or my instagram story, you've been getting some peeks at the room so far!  

Top : Thrifted | Jeans : Jessica Simpson via Motherhood Maternity
Boots : c/o Cat Footwear | Jacket : c/o Moorea Seal | Photos by Kristina