Book Review: Shanghai Girls

I recently finished reading the book Shanghai Girls by Lisa See this summer while I was pregnant. I have enjoyed reading her previous books that also take place in China. Every since I spent a summer teaching English in China while in college I find myself drawn to reading books that take place in China. This is great piece of historical fiction that begins in Shanghai. It follows two sisters, Pearl and May, and what happens to them during the Japanese invasion of China. The sisters are being sent to the United States to be with their husbands that their father has basically sold them to in order to pay some debts. The sisters eventually end up in the United States, but first are detained in the US at Angel’s Island. One can only imagine the hardships these two sisters have to endure during all of this. One of them is pregnant and has a baby during all of this. Being pregnant while reading this story really makes me appreciate how good women have it today when giving birth. The only negative to the book is the abrupt ending to the story. It basically ends in a cliffhanger, which leads many to believe there will be a sequel to the book. If that is the case then the ending is not so bad because we have a continuation of the story to look forward to reading.

Blessed Arrival

My little Daniel finally decided it was time to come into the world. He did take his sweet time to come, but he knew his mom wasn’t going to make it much longer. I kept waiting for something to happen on my “due” date, but of course nothing happened. Then I went through most of the next day without anything happening. Finally my water broke at 11:20 that evening. That was not the end of the waiting though. It wasn’t until almost 7:00 pm the next evening before our bundle of joy arrived. Thank goodness for my great labor and delivery nurse Terry and my husband Nathan to get me through all of that. I have nothing to complain about really. My labor and delivery went just fine and we have a beautiful and healthy baby boy. That is all one can ask for. I hope you enjoy the pictures of our cute little boy.

Waiting for baby

I am pregnant and officially past my “due” date as of today. While waiting for the baby to arrive I have had some time on my hands. I have recently been motivated to start a blog. While most women use that last spurt of energy before they go into labor by going into cleaning overdrive (we have all heard the story of the pregnant woman cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush), I think my energy is taking the form of getting motivated to start a blog. I have been debating starting a blog for many reasons. I like to go and look at other people’s scrapbooking and card making blogs. They are great to get ideas and to help get one motivated to work on their own projects. Hopefully I can do the same for you by sharing my projects, and we can all exchange ideas and motivate each other. One of the most important reasons to start this blog is so family and friends can keep up to date on the new baby once he arrives. Having a baby is going to be a life changing event, and I am sure there will be many stories to share. I have other “hobbies” that I am sure I will also share with you about in this blog including cross-stitching, cooking, gardening, reading, and college football (in particular my alma mater the Florida Gators). Of course there is never enough time to devote to all the things I would like to work on, and that time will be even less once that baby arrives. If only we could all be like Martha Stewart and have numerous hobbies, and get everything accomplished that she does (I just have to keep telling myself she has lots of people to help her). Soon I will begin the journey of being a mother and you can all follow this journey here with me.