Week 32 update - Of books there is no end!

I look pretty melancholic in the pictures cos I was so sleep-deprived!

So we are down to 8 weeks now!

And while I think we still have time, I do find myself getting a bit panicky that I haven't read enough books yet.

I'm currently waiting for 4 books from Amazon -  Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy child, The Sleepeasy solution, What to expect the first year,  and last but not least - Happiest Baby on the block, after being recommended it by two other mother friends of mine. 

As you can see from my book selection, sleep is one of my top priorities. I need at least 9-10 hrs daily of sleep so only God knows how I would be able to handle sleep deprivation if baby doesn't sleep. Thank God that hubby is going to be around for the 1st month.

I'm not an avid reader. My mother used to compare myself to my older sister who would devour every book she could get her hands on and lament that I don't enjoy reading.

I like reading. Just not necessarily books. I enjoy reading other peoples' journals / blogs / magazines .... you get the idea. Short, easy articles that doesn't require you to invest hours into a plot. Oh I happen to enjoy the Reader's Digest too. Anyway, I'm just hoping that my 6 weeks of maternity leave before baby's arrival would give me ample time to complete those books that I have ordered.

To encourage myself, these are the books which I have already finished! Supernatural childbirth, What to expect when you're expecting and Praying for your unborn child. Hubby has also finished the one book I ordered for him, The New Father - A Father's guide to the first year. This was surprisingly funny, candid and offers a very fresh and honest take on a father's perspective with a little one in the house. Highly-recommendable.

Yup, so here you have it. All the books that we have read and that we're going to read. I guess its quite ironic when one thinks of the fact that our grandparents' generation had proportionally more children than our generation without reading any of these parenting books.

But in this day and age where there's information overload, there's no harm in figuring out what's available on the market and customizing it to suit one's needs. At the end of the day, it boils down to your baby's individual personality such that parenting would be more of an art than a skill that one can master.

I liken parenting to cooking. Before I learnt how to cook, I would refer to lots of recipes and follow them to the T. But now that I have developed my style and am more experienced, I prefer to customize recipes to suit my taste. And combining both methods work out just well. Why re-invent a wheel that already works? If any of these parenting techniques work, Hallelujah! If not, I'll just have to keep trying what works best for myself and my baby.

And of course, I know that prayer would be the most important thing in bringing up a baby. Only God knows the baby perfectly and I would have to completely rely on His help for this new season of my life. May I continue to grow in my relationship with God so that I do not walk this journey alone and will always be conscious of God's hand guiding me. 

Ok, this was a beyond long post. It helps me to sort out my spider thoughts especially when I find it hard to focus these days, considering that I'm waking up 5/6 times a night either to go to the toilet or just to find a comfortable position to sleep because my arms get too sore from lying on my sides.