Monthly Review: Books I've Read, Preschool Plans & What We've Been Up To

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Hi Friend!

I deleted Instagram again! If you have no idea what I am talking about, this post talks about why I originally deleted Instagram and this post talks about why I redownloaded it. It didn't last long on my phone. I haven't really even checked in on my computer these last few weeks either. To be honest, this week I have been feeling a little more infertility grief. Honestly, the pregnancy announcement I saw first thing on my feed didn't help. I am also turning 33 years old this month and I thought we would be at the end of our having children journey, but we are still just getting started. 

Anyways, today's weekly review is actually from the past 4 weeks hence this being a monthly review and not a weekly review!

Four weeks ago not much happened other than going to Dakota's company work party (which was actually tons of fun!) and we had a huge brush wildfire not far from our house. I have never lived near a spot where wildfires happen, so that was a bit alarming for me. It actually lasted quite a while and on the Watch Duty app finally updated yesterday that it was completely out.

Three weeks ago we went down to visit my parents for the week. My husband had a work training an hour past where my parents live, so it made sense for us to go down with him and stay with my parents while he was at that training. We had a full, busy week! We spent a lot of time in the the neighborhood clubhouse pool that my parents live at. We also tried out an indoor play place and a park. And, probably my favorite adventure is when we went to Cabazon Dinosaurs. Mav's favorite part was probably the playground. He played with a couple of kids the 2 1/2 hours that we were there and had a blast. I also did some shopping and got Mav a ton of clothes.

Two weeks ago I enjoyed being back in my house again and I watched my parent's dog for the week. So no Rover dog for me last week/weekend! That's ok though. September I have 19 days booked already watching dogs! It's my busiest month yet and I can't wait! I also spent a lot of time putting together my homeschool preschool plans that I want to start in September. I will share more details about that later on in this post.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for Mav's friend which was a lot of fun! We stayed way longer than I expected, and then we got invited to hang out the next day after church and go swimming! I am naturally pretty introverted, so it was a lot of social people time, but it was a lot of fun.

Check out my post: How The Heck Do I Make Friends As An Adult

This last week my mom came over to pick up her dog and we ended up making a trip to the two local bakeries and got a few treats and loaves of bread! Today I took Mav to the bike park and he rode his bike with another boy his age there. Not to much went on this past week, but I am ok with that. 

What I've Been Enjoying

This one some people might say "eww gross" to, but I have really been enjoying corn dogs for some reason. Listen, they are cheap, alright protein, and easy to make. every once in a while they sound really good for lunch!

We have also discovered magnetic tiles this week specifically this dinosaur set! I will say, this set is a little small, and I ended up ordering some more magnetic tiles so that we can build more things, but my son loves these! And I think the dinosaurs are pretty cute!

I also have honestly really been enjoying being home. Not that spending a week at my mom's house and going on lots of adventures isn't fun, but nothing beats home. I really truly love where I live. I love my routines. I love that my house is fully childproofed for Mav. I missed being home! 

Also, speaking about childproofing, I once heard from someone on Instagram who said, "childproof your home so you never have to say no." And that stuck with me. Honestly, it is my favorite piece of parenting advice. I have been thinking about that these last couple weeks, and while this looks different to everyone, I feel like I have been able to childproof my home so I don't have to say no a whole lot.

One last thing I really have been enjoying is these wide leg palazzo pants! I got it in what they say is the red color, but it's more of a flower pattern with reds, greens, and yellows. They are so soft and comfy and flowy and fun. They make my heart really happy!

What I've Been Working On

Something I have been working on these past couple weeks is coming up with a homeschool preschool routine for my 3 year old, which I am pretty excited about! Since he’s still so little, I’m not looking for a formal preschool curriculum, but more of a low-pressure homeschool preschool routine with lots of hands-on learning activities. I was homeschooled in my high school years and loved it and have been wanting to possibly homeschool my children. And I figured we could give it a bit of a trial run before he actually has to start school.

So, my plan for this year is to keep it low pressure. The goal is to make learning fun and build routines that will help us later when I am hopefully doing IVF and pregnant and having a newborn. I am focusing on 5 buckets is what I am calling them: Literacy, Math & Logic, Fine Motor & Creativity, Science & Discovery, and People, Places & Life.

In each bucket I have different activities, games, crafts, and books that we can pull out and work on for a few minutes. I spent a lot of time looking at different activities and budgeting for them and I am looking forward to starting in September! I am planning on making a post on activities to do with your 3 year old after I've used the supplies I've gotten and tested them out on my son. 

What I've Been Reading

I didn't read as much at my mom's house, but I have been able to finish quite a few books these last 3 weeks, so here they are:

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen: I actually just finished this book today, and I chose it because it fulfills my reading challenge category about infertility. It was a good short read. It pretty much followed Polly's life and was about family, loss, grief, relationships. It was a good read. And the parts about infertility and IVF were done really well. It definitely did a good job showing the emotions with infertility. 

A Curious Kind of Magic by Mara Rutherford: I finished this one a few weeks ago. It actually was a sweat, cozy fantasy about friendship. I was surprised by this one. Not my typical read but it was cute.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: I also finished this book. It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was still worth the read! And the end had a twist that nearly stopped my heart! If you haven't read my previous weekly reviews, this book has a really interesting format in that it is written entirely in chat rooms, emails, documents, journal entries, briefing notes and video transcripts. Such a fun, unique read!

The Beasts We Bury by D. L. Taylor: This one started off strong, but then went downhill and fell so flat for me. It reminded me of Vesselless and I feel like the things I was frustrated with in this bookish rant, I felt the same way about The Beasts We Bury. It really felt like the same plot just different settings. It was not for me.

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer: This one was alright. I didn't love it but also didn't dislike it. It was unique and it fulfilled my reading challenge a fairytale retelling. It had some good twists, but I also found my mind wandering a lot when reading it.

The Gravenwood by Kelly Andrew: This was another one that started off really strong and I was really enjoying the first 30% of it, and then it felt like not much happened. I was really bored most of it and it had a love triangle which I didn't enjoy. I will say this fulfilled my reading challenge the main character is deaf. I did like that perspective in this book a lot.

The last three books are also books that I got in the Owlcrate YA fantasy book box, and none of them were over 3 stars. And two of them were 2 stars. I had already canceled my subscription and am trying to read through my physical TBR. I think this subscription just wasn't for me. 

If you are curious what book subscription I like best, check out this post.

Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven: I really enjoyed this one. I felt like it ended too soon and I wished there was more. But I loved it. I loved how the characters had to travel together. I loved the bickering. I loved them learning to trust each other. It was a good book!

The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman: Just like all the other books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I loved it! It is so brain candy for me. Very enjoyable. And that ending! That stopped my heart for a second.

The Eye of The Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman: I just started this one and am 10% into it. It's a nother long one in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, but I am already pretty invested. 

A Bargain So Bloody by Vasilisa Drake: This one started out so good. I was so surprised and thought it would for sure be a 5 star read! Which was surprising in itself because this one was one that I saw circling on social media which is why I was so reluctant to read it. But the first half had everything I love. A strong, competent man. Travel/survival. Built trust and companionship. One horse. He saved the day. She wasn't a moody FMC. But then they got to where they were going in the second half and it lost momentum for me. It felt like they were moving past the enemies part and then the author wanted to keep them enemies for longer to draw out the slow burn and it just made them seem weak and moody. The relationship became the main source of conflict and plot instead of them traveling around to find what they needed to find. The FMC also feels really inconsistent where she reacts very differently to situations and it drives me nuts. This book is also very trope heavy, which isn't horrible, I really liked the one horse trope in it, but got to be too much.

A Magic So Deadly by Vasilisa Drake: I am 20% into it and if this was the first book in the series I would have probably DNFed it! It is continuing to go downhill in my opinion. How many times can she say she dislikes him and he is her enemy and yet her body craves him? It is a little predictable too. I don't know if I will continue on with this series after I finish it. 

Upcoming Things

I cannot think of to many upcoming things that are going on. My birthday is towards the end of this month and I don't have any plans for it. The fair is coming up which I am excited to go to. Beginning of September I plan to start homeschool preschool with Mav. And then September is the women's retreat with my church that I am going to. 

Anyways, that's my update! 

As always, thanks for reading!