Why hello there, old friends. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’m still alive, and doing really great, but blogging has fallen on the back-burner for a while. Round-the-clock care of our sweet baby Juniper has been my main activity for the past few months. I’ve been making the best of my forced slowdown, with a lot of reading, thinking, and watching. I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the good stuff I’ve been consuming while feeding a baby.

Totally worth taking a break from everything else. Sorry for the gratuitous baby photo, but like all moms, I’m pretty sure my baby is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

(In the 14 weeks she’s been alive, everyone is continually amazed by how much hair she has. Yesterday we overheard a woman who had just walked by us say, “Did you see the hair on that baby?!” to her friend, ha.)

She’s pretty good at sleeping at night, and happy and mellow during the day, but she hasn’t been much of a napper. Aka zero naps a day. I don’t want to jinx it, but today is her third day in a row of actually napping for multiple hours, so there may be an end in sight to my blogging drought.

Reading

Growing up, I was a voracious reader, but fell out of the habit in adulthood. There’s a library branch a 12 minute walk from my house, yet I had hardly visited before I got pregnant. My love of reading has been rekindled, though. Now I walk to the library every week to pick up new books, and get a bit of exercise, too. They even have a weekly “Book Babies” story time for babies, and I’m hoping they’ll repeat the “Drag Queen Story Hour” when Juniper is old enough to go. Here are some of the books I’ve been reading.

Mindful Birthing – My good friend Megan, who is a doula (but living across the country from me, unfortunately), sent me a copy of this book before Juniper was born. It has given me a new perspective on appreciating moments as they happen. I’m not sure if it helped me appreciate childbirth itself, but combined with an epidural five hours in, it helped make it bearable.

So although it’s sometimes frustrating not being able to get much done while breastfeeding a baby, I remind myself daily that she’ll only be this tiny and dependent (and so adorable!) for a short time. Every moment being her mom is incredibly precious. And I know that when it comes to round-the-clock baby care, “This too shall pass.” It will be bittersweet when it does.

Stray City – Set in the Portland of my youth, this story of finding family and belonging in the ’90s was kind of the perfect thing to read as a new mom in Portland. Although you probably won’t get all of the subtle local references if you don’t live here, it’s such as heartfelt, lovely book that I’m sure it would be a great summer read no matter where you live.

The Secret History – I loved the other book I’ve read by Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch, so I had high hopes for this one, and while I didn’t think it was quite as good, I was still sucked in to the rich world she created. I just checked out her other book, The Little Friend, to read next. Have you read any of her books?

The Winter Soldier – Set during World War I, this book follows a young, untrained doctor as he experiences the best and worst of humanity during wartime in eastern Europe.

Becoming – Michelle Obama’s memoir gave me a new appreciation for her and her husband’s intelligence, dedication, and compassion. I missed them more than ever while reading this.

A Woman of No Importance – I checked this out from the library on a whim, having never heard of it before I picked it up and read the cover. Telling the forgotten story of American debutante Virginia Hall, who went undercover and helped organize the French Resistance during World War II, it was hard to put down. It would be surprising if this wasn’t turned into a movie someday.

Her Body and Other Parties – These otherworldly, inventive short stories are haunting and wildly original.

Circe – As a fan of Greek and Roman mythology since childhood, this engrossing, feminist retelling of the story of the witch Circe really resonated with me. Turns out Circe has been misunderstood and misrepresented all this time.

Watching

Queer Eye – The only other reality tv show I’m a fan of is The Great British Baking Show, so it took hearing a lot of extremely enthusiastic reviews to convince me that this was worth watching. But it is, it really, really is. If you want to escape to an alternate reality where funny, kind people help each other in spite of their differences, this is the show to watch. It’s the tv show version of comfort food.

Call The Midwife – I started watching this show about mid-century British midwives years ago, and now that I’ve given birth myself, watching it is much more emotional for me. But even if you’re not a parent, it’s worth watching for the memorable stories, characters, sets and costumes. Plus there are like, eight seasons now, so you can definitely go to town binge-watching for a while.

Fleabag – I’m convinced that the creator of this show, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is a genius. Both seasons are included on Amazon Prime, and they’re so human and funny and good. Her other show, Killing Eve, is also great, though in totally different ways.

Bon Appétit – The Gourmet Makes videos, where pastry chef Claire Saffitz attempts to make gourmet versions of junk food like Gushers, Cheetos, and Twinkies, are my favorite. But videos featuring lovable goof Brad Leone fermenting foods, or Priya Krishna making her family’s Americanized versions of Indian dishes, are close runner-ups.

I’ve watched tons of other stuff, too, but those are the shows that stood out. Have you watched or read anything good lately? Please clue me in!