good monday morning readers…  i interrupt your regularly scheduled quirky, insane, occasionally inebriated posts and magoo updates for a book review that will take place this entire week.

get stoked!  cuz i am!

your’s truly, as well as 5 other incredibly fantastic blogging moms were asked to collaborate on a book review. the book itself is a  collaboration (written and compiled by two friends), and thus the reason why i said “yes” to this project.

i dig group-efforts… multiple minds…  the sharing of insight… and insanity.  kinda makes me feel like i’m not alone in this crazy hood that is motherhood.

the brilliance behind this cooperative effort comes from none other than heather eigler and you can find more of her creative genius at her website, maternalspark.com

and yes, there is a giveaway in this co-op of our’s…  THE BOOK!

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NOW ON WITH THE SHOW….

authors sara ellington and stephanie triplett (sorry, i giggle when i hear her last name, even though she does not have triplets) compiled stories, perspectives, and share their brutal honesty in this (their second) book, The Must-Have Mom Manual.

i’m not big on mom-manuals, and i feel like i need to let that be known from the get-go.  in the 15+ months that i have been a mother, i have learned that there is no thing and no child who is “normal.”  i have also learned that one should never, ever, under any circumstances use the phrase “supposed to” when discussing motherhood or parenting.

(should you use this phrase in my presence, expect a quick swift junk-punch, if you’re a dude… and a purple nurple, if you’re a chick.)

with that being said, i found TMHMM to be surprisingly refreshing.  perhaps this is due to the fact that both stephanie and sara wrote this purposely from their two very different perspectives, offering insight from both the nursing mother who went back to work, and the bottle-feeding mother who stayed at home.  different women, different moms, different views… no preaching, and more importantly (to me) no judgment.

opening with a small guide on “how to use” the book, sara and stephanie introduce themselves and then take the time to talk about each other, which as a woman, i can appreciate…  cuz we all talk about each other (admit it bitches.)  this instantly made me feel as though i could hang with these two women and share a bottle of wine with them.

the tone is immediately hysterical, entirely honest, and both stephanie and sara gained my trust and respect within minutes of reading the intro… me personally, i relate more to sara (reason to be revealed this week, stay tuned) but totally dig both chicks.

for example, on page 14 (hardly into the meat of the book) in reference to having a c-section, “Stephanie always says, ‘They don’t hand out trophies in the delivery room.’”  my response to that, as a c-section mom…  word!  your baby is your trophy.

instinctually i took a peak at this book, that sat on my desk for 2 weeks before i picked it up, and did not like the word “manual” on the front cover.  it turned me off.  just that word.  so far, that’s my only gripe.

but… this is a Must-Have… that is for sure.  just wish i had it about a year and a half ago… if not two years ago.

stay tuned this week…  there’s plenty that i will be discussing regarding this book (tomorrow it’s all about the bewbies…)  and of course, make sure you check in with the mother-ship of this project…

so with that, i encourage you to click on over to AJ and check out her nutty input at her site.