Amanda's Books and More: baby

Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Romano Family Series Books 5 and 6

Kiss Me at Midnight

Purchase on Amazon

My Review:

Kiss Me at Midnight (Book 5) is a fabulous romance that isn't easy to put down. It has characters that will stir your heart and it will make you sigh happily with just enough suspense to keep the story moving.

Filipe Romano is the new owner of SoliMar beach resort, which comes with an aquarium that isn't making any money. He has plans to fix it up in order to sell, but when he finds an old childhood sweetheart that he left behind years ago working there, he begins questioning his plans.

Celeste Ferreira knew Filipe growing up, but hasn't seen him since her brother's funeral. She was a teenager then, but now she's a single mother and works at the SoliMar Aquarium. Life has been hard, but she keeps going with a positive smile for her son's sake. Becoming reacquainted with Filipe brings a whole gamut of emotions her way, which complicates her life further. She wonders why he left in the first place and he struggles with having to face the past.

This is a clean romance and another wonderful edition to the Romano Family series. Each story is a stand-alone, written in chronological order.

Marry Me at Dawn

Purchase on Amazon

My Review:

Marry Me at Dawn (Book 6) is my favorite book and the final one in the Romano Family series! The story is a page-turner, which gets so intense toward the end that my heart was pounding! It's a well-thought-out marriage of convenience that had me rooting for both Damian and Gabriela. The characters are memorable, even though I did want to hit Damian upside the head when things started going downhill. Gabriela and Claire are wonderfully written. Baby Claire is a good introduction for soon-to-be parents with all the sacrifice and joy that babies bring. Luke is an awesome friend and he needs his own romance story!

It was good that cultural differences and challenges were briefly noted. There were a couple of quick scene changes, but one was particularly abrupt when Damian's mom takes Gabriela shopping. I was hoping that Gabriela would be able to put some of her advertising expertise to good use in helping Damian, but things never went that direction. I would have liked to have seen more of the Romano cousins. The epilogue felt a bit rushed with naming off Romano family members.

Even though this is a clean romance, there is sexual tension between Damian and Gabriela. Those parts were fun to read, but I would suggest that it's better suited for older teenagers and up.

My Reviews of Books 1 - 3:
A Clean Romance Series

My Review of Book 4:
Keep Me at Christmas

About the Author:

Lucinda Whitney

Join the Readers Club at http://lucindawhitney.com/claim-your-free-book/ and receive a free ebook copy of Hold Me At Twilight! Lucinda Whitney was born and raised in Portugal, where she received a master's degree from the University of Minho in Braga in Portuguese/English teaching. She lives in northern Utah. When she's not reading and writing, she can be found with a pair of knitting needles in winter, or tending her herb garden in the summer. She also works part-time as a substitute teacher. Visit her website at www.lucindawhitney.com

Disclosure: I received ARCs of both books. These are my honest and voluntary reviews.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Saved by the Billionaire

Saved by the Billionaire

(Rich and Famous Romance Book 3)

by Michelle Pennington

Book Description:

Protecting her got complicated.
“Just remember I’ll come to you. That’s a promise.”

Kara had always loved her best friend's older brother, but Warren was an unattainable dream. She tried to move on, marrying a man she thought was the next best thing. She was wrong.

Frightened by her ex-husband’s “business” dealings, she kept her pregnancy a secret and hid. But some secrets are impossible to keep. Desperate to protect her son, she remembered Warren’s promise and made the call.

Warren realized he loved Kara too late to save her from a bad marriage. He can’t change the past, but he can protect her—and her baby—by marrying her. He sails away with them on his private yacht to buy them time before confronting her ex. She’s so vulnerable and afraid, he’s determined to keep his feelings locked inside, no matter how hard it is.

But a yacht is the worst place to try to keep your distance.

This suspenseful, swoony romance will make you breathless with anticipation. Get it now!

Purchase on Amazon

My Review:

This is a wonderful story with a refreshing new twist on the marriage-of-convenience trope. There's danger with some action, wonderful romance, and real-life situations. The characters include an evil ex-husband, a devoted billionaire, a stressed-out mom, a cute baby, and two wonderful bodyguards. The baby is the catalyst and the glue to the storyline. Well done, Michelle Pennington, for writing a story that all moms can relate to while escaping reality at the same time!

More by Michelle Pennington:

The Trust of a Billionaire

The Lovely Deep

The Unwanted Suitor

About the Author:

Michelle Pennington

Michelle Pennington spends her days quoting movies with her husband and making messes faster than her four kids. She loves to make magic by stringing words together, but she also creates designer sugar cookies, sings loud in church, and kills too many house plants.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Disclosure: I received an eARC of this book. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Make My Saturday Sweet - Blog Hop #52

Welcome to my weekend blog hop! Here you get to link your favorite post of the week and share it with other bloggers. Just remember to visit the last two links before yours and leave a comment and make their Saturday sweet!

Again I'm joining two great hops today and I've taken the challenge of answering their writing prompts for this Friday. My own hop doesn't have a theme, so you are welcome to link your family friendly blog below.

It's Create With Joy's 4th Blogaversary

and the theme for this week's

Friendship Friday is on blogging!

This is what she says about her 4 years of blogging and I totally agree with her, "Blogging keeps my life fresh. It opens doors to amazing opportunities, people, and friendships. It gives me the confidence to try new things. It widens my perspective. It gives me something to look forward to each day!"

Here are her questions for the rest of us:

•How long have you been blogging?

•What was your first blog post about?

•How many posts have you written?

•What is your favorite topic to blog about?

•How has blogging changed your life?

I've been blogging for a year-and-a-half now. I began in February 2012, a few weeks before Amanda's 4th birthday. My first posts were very short and posted on the same day. They were meant to be linked together, but I was new to blogging and didn't really know what I was doing. I've put them in order below. Just click on the title and it will take you to that page.

Thinking About Having Another Child?

Surprise, I'm Pregnant!

Choosing a Name for This Blog

Amanda's Favorite Things

I've written nearly 230 posts. My favorite topic to write about is my youngest daughter, Amanda, and the rest of our family is a close second. Blogging has allowed me to share the wonder of being a mother to Amanda and my other 3 kids. I also made many friends and have enjoyed their blogs too. For me, taking photos and writing about my kids on blog posts is like scrapbooking. Interestingly, I'm sharing one of my scrapbook pages with you today for the other writing prompt that I'm participating in.

Here's my latest answer to Finish the Sentence Friday.

The hardest choice I ever made was…
…deciding to stop breastfeeding my first baby, Jeremiah, after 4 months. I had high hopes of being a wonderful mom and giving him a good start in life. I read all the reasons why breast is best and endured endless painful breastfeeding sessions. He had colic and the first time I breastfed it felt like fire was coursing through my breast. No one had ever told me that it could be painful. Also, my nipples became raw and bled from the constant sucking from my fussy baby. I bought nipple shields made of silicon from the pharmacist, which I didn’t even know existed until I had the problem.

In my ideal world, I was going to breastfeed until he reached the age of one. However, I couldn’t take it anymore and finally quit. I was too hard on myself, at the time, but I didn’t have a support group. The only women I knew who were “supportive” were the ones promoting purely breastfeeding without the use of bottles and formulas in between.

Did you see my Karoo Gardens at Dusk - Part 1?

Here's Karoo Gardens at Dusk - Part 2.

I'm sharing one of my favorite photos from

Part 2, so make sure you check it out.

*********************

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!

Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.

All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to
link them on my Blog Hops page!

I would love for you to follow me on

Google+

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook

Leave me a comment with your link and I will follow back!

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) @ Amanda's Books and More.
Link up your family friendly blog.
Please try to add my hop button on your most recent post or on your side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Visit at least the last two blogs before your link and leave a comment.
Follow any new blogs that you like.

Blog Button Code:

This is a blog hop!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Make My Saturday Sweet - Blog Hop #46

It's time again for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop. How can you make someone's Saturday sweet? By linking up your blog and visiting other bloggers who linked up before you! It's easy and fun.

I'm also linking up with two Friday blog hops and answering their writing prompts. Today's Finish the Sentence Friday is "I wasn't really myself when I..."

I wasn't really myself when I fell pregnant with Amanda, my fourth child. It's not that I didn't want more kids, but my three older kids had grown up to a large extent and I was enjoying having my life back. Not only was I emotionally not ready, but I also became physically ill with morning sickness. I lost 8 kilos during my pregnancy. My kids (and Hubby) rallied behind me and gave me lots of support. They were excited to be getting a new brother or sister.

When Amanda was born, she was the center of our family. We drew closer together and the kids learned how to help care for a little one. Their job was usually to take turns playing with her. This was a huge help. However, the first year was the hardest, as Amanda had terrible colic and couldn't sleep at all in the day. She slept at night, but not that well.

All my babies were born with colic. I don't know why I had to go through it four times around. My son's colic lasted till around 4 months, but the girls all had it for longer. Jessica had it the longest. She didn't settle until two weeks after turning two years old.

I always carried my babies around, because I knew they were uncomfortable and not crying for nothing. This put a huge strain on me every time. I suppose that's another reason why I dreaded having another kid, but Amanda has been the biggest blessing. She has thoroughly enriched our lives.

Amanda's foot prints made into a butterfly
Preschool Art 2013

Today's Friendship Friday's theme is "Back to School."

As many of you already know, we live in South Africa and our kids are on a different school system. Their school year begins in January and ends in December. Even their summer break, which is from Dec. - Jan. is not as long as in the States. I think that makes getting back into the swing of things not so hard, as there isn't such a big gap from the year end until the new school year begins.

My kids are now in their third school term. Jeremiah is in the 11th grade, Jessica in the 9th, Samantha in the 7th, and Amanda is in preschool. She will begin grade R (grade K) in January and is now preparing for that. Even though there is no perfect school system, all my kids are happy at their schools. We're really blessed.

*********************

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!

Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.

All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to
link them on my Blog Hops page!

I would love for you to follow me on

Google+

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook

Leave me a comment with your link and I will follow back!

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) @ Amanda's Books and More.
Link up your family friendly blog.
Please try to add my hop button on your most recent post or on your side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Visit at least the last two blogs before your link and leave a comment.
Follow any new blogs that you like.

Blog Button Code:

This is a blog hop!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Precious Baby

As a baby, Amanda loved teething on corn cobs. I took this picture of her in 2009. Isn’t she just adorable? Many people are born out of unplanned pregnancies and Amanda is one of them. Does that make them less precious? Do they have less purpose? As you can see, we have been immensely blessed to have this child in our lives.

Below I have added previous stories related to the challenges and blessings of having another child. They are listed in order from top to bottom:

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Measuring Up – 1

Jessica walking Amanda to school.

As I was working on my last post “Some Things Take Time,” I began to ponder these next two posts on measuring up. It’s such an important topic that I took my time writing this, wanting to make sure that I communicate it as clearly as possible.

Does Your Child Measure Up?

Most of us have seen charts that measure a child’s developmental stages from infant to toddler. These charts help us as parents to know when our baby should be rolling over, sitting up on his or her own, crawling and the like. We need to be informed, because we spend more time with our children than the medical professionals do and we might notice something out of the ordinary that they never saw.

It’s important that our children get the professional care that they need, but that is not what these posts are about. They are about addressing the kind that parents do with one healthy, normal kid against another. Pride, not the interest of the child, drives this kind of comparing.

Let me use a short scenario. Dad takes his son Jimmy at age 2 ½ to his very first day at playgroup. While there, Dad meets the father of another boy named Johnny who he finds out is the same age and has a birthday in the same month as Jimmy. Both dads are standing proudly by watching their boys at play. The boys run up to their dads, telling them excitedly about something they had been playing. Johnny is speaking in full sentences, but Jimmy is not yet able to. Up until that moment, Jimmy’s dad had thought his son was a bright spark, but now he begins to wonder.

What would you say to Jimmy’s dad? I’d love to hear from you, but I might not respond to comments on this post as there is more that I want to say on this topic in “Measuring Up – Part 2.”

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Some Things Just Take Time

Purple Play-Dough in Her Hair (18 months old)

My previous post was about how parents can help children overcome their fears. I mentioned that using games was a key in helping Amanda overcome her fear of shadows. Today’s post is about a fear that Amanda had that took her two years to finally outgrow. That was the fear of getting water on her head or in her eyes. It started with her very first head-to-toe bath.

Amanda was not my first child. I was very used to the routine of checking the temperature of the bath water. I was also used to the task of supporting the baby’s head with one hand while washing it with the other. Despite all my best efforts, she would scream and carry on as if she was being mishandled. Sometimes the other members of my family wanted to know what I was doing to her.

Bath-Time (about 1 month old)

I would try to calm her fears by singing to her or making a game out of bath-time, but nothing worked. By the way, I didn’t wash her hair every time she took a bath. I only washed her hair whenever it was necessary. As soon as she was old enough to hold a facecloth over her eyes, I let her do that to try and help her feel more in control of the situation.

I still remember the first time she didn’t cry. She was two years old. She and I both verbally celebrated her achievement. After that, she began to out-grow her fear and the crying happened less and less often.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Yikes! Pinworms!

The other day I mentioned that Amanda had a nosebleed episode at night just before she went to sleep. Nosebleeds can be quite common in children, so we didn’t let it worry us. We just kept an eye on her. The day after, she had another nosebleed incident and she also complained about a swollen lower lip.

She had been to the doctor about a week prior to the nosebleeds. We had her checked because she had been complaining about her stomach and discomfort in her private areas. We had noticed inconstancy with her urine and constipation. It seemed to the doctor that the constipation was the only thing causing the other problems and so we had nothing further to go on.

With these latest developments, I had a feeling that she was in fact showing signs of having an illness, but what it was I did not know. I went on to Google and typed in her symptoms and came across this fantastic website called (PBC) Pregnancy and Baby Care. I went on to their "Toddler" page. The sore lower lip helped narrow down my search and what I discovered is that Amanda most probably had pinworms. One of the symptoms mentioned on the site was that toddler’s infected with pinworms can have behavior changes. Amanda was particularly stroppy these past few days and she got into trouble for her bad attitude a few times. Now we just blame it on the worms! (If only we could always blame our negative behavior on something/someone else!)

My husband went to the pharmacist and now we are all on de-worming medication. I know it’s not the nicest of topics, but these things happen even to parents like us who insist that everyone wash their hands regularly, especially after going to the bathroom and before eating.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Living with a Colicky Baby

Living with a colicky baby. This is a photo of baby Amanda.

I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on the topic of colic. I would, however, consider myself a veteran on living with a colicky baby. Out of my four kids, all of them came with colic. I tried different things like changing my diet and over the counter remedies, but nothing really helped. All four of my babies were often unhappy when they were awake, and sometimes even when they slept. I’ve looked at other people’s babies that lie with their eyes open, smiling up at the ceiling and I envy them.

The first step we took with Amanda’s colic was to introduce probiotics (good bacteria) into her stomach. She didn’t get better, so I switched from breast milk to soya milk for two days. When that didn’t make a difference, we took her to see the doctor, hoping that prescription drugs would do the trick. The doctor gave her something for her cramps, but the medicine caused her to stop having bowl movements. That was worse, so we had to stop giving it.

Infants are meant to sleep several times in the day, but Amanda went through several months during her infancy where she battled to sleep at all during the day. If she fell asleep for 10 minutes, that was something.

If you have a colicky baby, find someone who can take him/her for an hour or two so that you can have a much needed break. Make sure that someone will love your baby even if he/she cries a lot. And, by all means, try the safe remedies and see the doctor if you feel it’s necessary. Just remember, when you think it will never end, “this too shall pass.”

I couldn’t beat the colic in my babies’ lives; only their growth over time could do that. I don’t miss their colicky days, but I enjoy all of my kids so much that it was worth it.