#my baby girl carries me through getting achievements in sim universe

[towomey19]

He sure is

[snickerl]

The Birds and the Bees Through the Years

Alternative X-Files universe where Scully is allowed to raise both of her children, telling them how babies are made at different stages in their lives.

This could turn into a series of some length, if anyone is interested. Just let me know if you’re up for more.

tagging @today-in-fic

Chapter 2/? - BREASTFEEDING

Emily watches intensely how her little baby brother is latched onto her mother's breast, sucking eagerly and emitting a satisfied grunt every now and then.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"How come there's enough milk in them? He's been drinking from them so many weeks now and they are so small," the curious 6-year old asks in her thirst for understanding the world. Scully, on her part, thinks her breasts are huge compared to their normal size. They had already grown during her pregnancy but nursing does a whole different thing to them. Now that William is sleeping through the night occasionally, they almost explode in the morning, and latching him on is a great relief.

"The amount of milk produced has nothing to do with the size of the breast, Em. A mother's body produces as much as the baby needs which means the more a baby drinks, the more milk is produced. It's called a demand-and-supply process. When the baby is done drinking, the breast refills for when the baby is hungry again."

"Is it just boring regular milk or does it come in different flavors? Cocoa maybe?"

Scully can't keep herself from chuckling at the droll question. "No, sweetheart, it doesn't taste like cocoa, but some of what the mother eats or drinks pass into the breast milk. That's why I didn't have any of the peanut butter cookies yesterday at grandma's."

"But you love grandma's peanut butter cookies!"

"I do, but peanuts have allergenic compounds that can be transmitted through breast milk. William might have a peanut allergy we don't know anything of yet, so I rather not expose him to it before I'm certain he tolerates it. There is other food which is said to give a baby colics or nappy rashes because their immature digestive tract isn't used to it, like citrus fruit for example. I can either try it out at the risk of having a fussy or whiny baby or I stay away from it as long as I'm nursing."

"Hmmm."  Emily tilts her head to the side, processing the information and assessing it. A moment later, she asks, "is that why you don't have wine at dinner when daddy has some?"

"Exactly. William would share the wine in the breast milk and he's much too young to have alcohol."

"Sure," Emily confirms. "Children mustn't have alcohol, neither do babies."

"You're absolutely right."

"Nursing is tough," Emily concludes, "mommies have to keep a lot in mind and they have to get up every night to feed the baby."

Scully is overwhelmed by her daughter's compassion. She smiles and cups Emily's cheek with her free hand, stroking it gently with her thumb. "It also is a great joy, sweetheart. To be able to nurture your baby is a wonderful experience for a mother and it strengthens the bond between mother and child." She could tell Emily about the hormones which are involved, oxytocin and prolactin, but she's still too young to understand the biochemistry behind breastfeeding. But the girl understands something else, something that feels like a stab into Scully's heart.

"You never had that with me. I didn’t grow in your belly and you never nursed me. We don't have that bond," she says, her sad face betraying her steady voice. "Being adopted sucks. Why couldn't I have been in your belly too? Like William? Why can't I be your real child just like he is?"

Scully's heart skips a beat. She looks at Emily and can't help cursing for the thousand's time whoever is responsible for the injustice done to her. The girl is right, Scully thinks, it sucks. She should've been the woman to carry her. That ova had belonged to her and she should've conceived Emily in an act of love just like she had conceived William. She should've carried her in her womb for nine months, should've felt her fluttery movements inside her, should've brought her to life, and should've nursed her. Should've, should've, should've. There are so many subjunctives in this train of thought, it makes her sick. But she can't have Emily share her issues, the girl has suffered enough already in her short life. The most important thing is the here and now, and here and now Scully couldn't be any happier with both her children.

William has fallen asleep sucking on her nipple like he often does while feeding. Scully pulls him away from her breast, settles him on her shoulder and gently pats his back to make him burp. She buttons herself up with one hand, then holds it out to invite Emily into an embrace. The girl scoots close and nestles against her mother's side.

"You are my real child, sweetie. Daddy and I love you very much. You're our small bean." She hugs her tight and kisses her hair.

"As much as you love William?"

Scully knows this goes beyond the usual insecurity of a child having to cope with the arrival of a new sibling. They've never kept it a secret from her that she was an adopted child. Emily was only three when she came to live with Mulder and her, the memories of the Sims, her adoptive parents before them, might have been faded at some point, but Scully didn't want that to happen. Overwhelming her with information about secret government programs, stolen ova, and artificial insemination hasn't been contemplated so far because of her still young age, but Emily knows she'd been a daughter to another set of parents before she came to them.

"Of course as much as we love William. You are our child just like he is. We're the Mulder family, all four of us. Don't ever doubt that, Em!"

Scully managed to conjure a smile on the girl's face, exactly what she hoped to achieve. Three years of parenting, of showering her with love and care, have given the girl a sense of basic trust every child should have in their parents. And Mulder and she are her parents in the truest sense of the word, although official authorities had long put a spoke in their wheel.

"But you are a Scully, mommy."

"Only to daddy. For the rest of the world, I'm a Mulder just like the three of you. In my heart anyway."

It had started out as a marriage on paper for Scully to be able to get custody of Emily. She would've never been allowed to be her legal guardian as a single woman, notwithstanding the fact that the DNA proved she was her biological mother. When all administrative aspects had been taken care of and Mrs. Fox Mulder had been officially declared Emily's mother, Mulder suggested adopting Emily also, just so she would have a complete set of parents to rely on. Their connection had turned into a real marriage eventually, William being a living proof. The life Scully had always dreamt of when she was a little girl, has become a reality. She's married to a man she loves from the bottom of her heart and has two wonderful children.

"I love you, mommy," Emily declares with sparkling eyes, letting Scully's heart swell.

"I love you too, Em. To the moon and back."

"Love you too, little brother," the girl says and kisses the sleeping baby's bald head in a sentiment of sisterly love.

Scully's heart spills over with emotion, and not just because of the hormones released by breastfeeding.

[inloveandwords]

The Buzzword Readathon starts on Monday and I’m SO ready.

OK, maybe not SO ready, but kind of ready and also nervous because I have a lot of physical books on my list and only one audio. Finding time to sit down and read a physical book is always a challenge for me, but that’s the whole point right?

If you’d rather watch this TBR and rec, check out my video here:

Otherwise, keep reading!

Buzzword Readathon TBR

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule–but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her–even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.

What if it’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

Anywhere but Here by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

Seven years ago, I left Conway, South Carolina swearing I would never go back. I put that town in my rearview and didn’t stop until there were several hundred miles between me and the memories I wanted to leave behind. But you can’t outrun your own heart. The past always comes back, and it didn’t matter how far I went, I couldn’t erase the mark he left. I’d never met anyone like Kellen Nash before. He made me feel so . . . alive. Until I made the mistake of falling in love with him. I spent seven years trying to forget only to be forced to come face to face with him again. I wasn’t prepared for old wounds to be reopened or for him to still have this effect on me. He nearly broke me once. I won’t give him the chance to do it again, even if he does still look at me like he can see everything I keep hidden inside. There’s too much history between us, like the North and the South, to forgive and forget so easily, but the longer I’m back, the more I start to question what really happened then, and the more I worry about what will happen if he discovers my biggest secret.

At seventeen she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and not at all what I expected. A girl like her didn’t belong with a guy like me, but that didn’t stop me from wanting her, or breaking her heart. I never thought I’d see her again, but she’s back. Only she isn’t the girl I knew. In her place is an angry spitfire even more gorgeous than I remember, and she’s determined to take all that anger out on me. I’ve spent seven years missing her, living with the regret of letting her go, and when I start to catch glimpses of the girl I loved, I realize it’s never too late. Or is it?

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

Roar by Stacy Sims

Women are not small men. Stop eating and training like one.

Because most nutrition products and training plans are designed for men, it’s no wonder that so many female athletes struggle to reach their full potential. ROAR is a comprehensive, physiology-based nutrition and training guide specifically designed for active women. This book teaches you everything you need to know to adapt your nutrition, hydration, and training to your unique physiology so you can work with, rather than against, your female physiology. Exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist Stacy T. Sims, PhD, shows you how to be your own biohacker to achieve optimum athletic performance.

Complete with goal-specific meal plans and nutrient-packed recipes to optimize body composition, ROAR contains personalized nutrition advice for all stages of training and recovery. Customizable meal plans and strengthening exercises come together in a comprehensive plan to build a rock-solid fitness foundation as you build lean muscle where you need it most, strengthen bone, and boost power and endurance. Because women’s physiology changes over time, entire chapters are devoted to staying strong and active through pregnancy and menopause. No matter what your sport is—running, cycling, field sports, triathlons—this book will empower you with the nutrition and fitness knowledge you need to be in the healthiest, fittest, strongest shape of your life.

♥ ♥ ♥

Buzzword Readathon Recs from my Bookshelf

Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill

An all-consuming love affair.

A family torn apart by scandal.

A young author on the brink of greatness.

Hideous Love is the fascinating story of Gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.

Mary wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen, but inspiration for the monster came from her life-the atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest minds of the period, like her close friend, Lord Byron.

This luminous verse novel from award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill reveals how Mary Shelley became one of the most celebrated authors in history.

What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Gwen Castle has never so badly wanted to say good-bye to her island home till now: the summer her Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, takes a job there as the local yard boy. He’s a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island’s summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she’ll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen’s dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry

The enchanting story of a bookshop, its grieving owner, a supportive literary community, and the extraordinary power of books to heal the heart

Nightingale Books, nestled on the main street in an idyllic little village, is a dream come true for book lovers–a cozy haven and welcoming getaway for the literary-minded locals. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open after her beloved father’s death, and the temptation to sell is getting stronger. The property developers are circling, yet Emilia’s loyal customers have become like family, and she can’t imagine breaking the promise she made to her father to keep the store alive.

There’s Sarah, owner of the stately Peasebrook Manor, who has used the bookshop as an escape in the past few years, but it now seems there’s a very specific reason for all those frequent visits. Next is roguish Jackson, who, after making a complete mess of his marriage, now looks to Emilia for advice on books for the son he misses so much. And the forever shy Thomasina, who runs a pop-up restaurant for two in her tiny cottage–she has a crush on a man she met in the cookbook section, but can hardly dream of working up the courage to admit her true feelings.

Enter the world of Nightingale Books for a serving of romance, long-held secrets, and unexpected hopes for the future–and not just within the pages on the shelves. How to Find Love in a Bookshop is the delightful story of Emilia, the unforgettable cast of customers whose lives she has touched, and the books they all cherish.

♥ ♥ ♥

Buzzword Readathon Recs I’ve Read

Atheists Who Kneel and Pray by Tarryn Fisher

Yara Phillips is a wandering muse.

She dates men who need her, but always moves on to something new, never staying in one place for very long.

David Lisey is in need of a muse.

A talented musician lacking lyrical inspiration. When he first sees her, he knows he’s found what he’s been looking for.

Yara believes she can give David exactly what he needs to reach his full potential: A broken heart.

David’s religion is love.

Yara’s religion is heartache.

Neither is willing to surrender, but religion always requires sacrifice.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Adrift after her sister Bailey’s sudden death, Lennie finds herself torn between quiet, seductive Toby—Bailey’s boyfriend who shares her grief—and Joe, the new boy in town who bursts with life and musical genius. Each offers Lennie something she desperately needs… though she knows if the two of them collide her whole world will explode.

Join Lennie on this heartbreaking and hilarious journey of profound sorrow and mad love, as she makes colossal mistakes and colossal discoveries, as she traipses through band rooms and forest bedrooms and ultimately right into your heart.

As much a celebration of love as a poignant portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often uproarious, and absolutely unforgettable.

Where the Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton

In this companion novel to the critically acclaimed Some Quiet Place, Alex must choose between Revenge and Forgiveness.

For as long as she can remember, Alexandra Tate has been able to see personified Emotions, and she’s found a best friend in Revenge. He’s her constant companion as she waits outside Nate Foster’s house, clutching a gun. Every night since Nate’s release from prison, Alex has tried to work up the courage to exact her own justice on him for the drunk driving accident that killed her family.

But there’s one problem: Forgiveness. When he appears, Alex is faced with a choice—moving on or getting even. It’s impossible to decide with Forgiveness whispering in one ear . . . and Revenge whispering in the other.

Buzzword Readathon TBR & Recs! + {New Video} The Buzzword Readathon starts on Monday and I'm SO ready. OK, maybe not SO ready, but kind of ready and also nervous because I have a lot of physical books on my list and only one audio.