Why I love the Kindle!

I got the Kindle Touch for my birthday and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts about it in case any of you were thinking about getting it!

Up until recently I thought I wouldn't like the Kindle. The main reason is that I don't like to spend money on books. Almost everything I read is from the library. The other reason is that I like to be able to lend books that I've enjoyed to friends. But, it turns out that both of these are non-issues. I'll explain.

Here's a few reasons why I love the Kindle:

• I read more often now. The Kindle is so small and lightweight that I always have it with me, just in case I get a free second to read!
• I think I also read more because when I'm done with a book, I can instantaneously start another one. No more waiting on a book to come in the mail or waiting until I get a chance to go by the library. 
• I haven't experienced this one yet, but I'm looking forward to it next week: easier travel! I usually load down my suitcase with my Bible, my devotional book, and a few books. Now, I will only have my Kindle, which weighs about the same as my phone! I downloaded the ESV Bible for free (and I can easily highlight while reading it), and I have every other book I could ever want on it!
• I don't like book "clutter." We read a lot of books, and sometimes I feel like they are taking over our house. I understand "building a library," but I really only want to keep around books that I fully intend to read again and/or loan out again and again. Otherwise, what's the point? And when you move a lot like we do (4 homes in 7 years) lugging all of your boxes of books with you each time is no fun!
• And the best part: you can EASILY read most any book you could want for free! You can also loan them out and borrow them from others! I'll explain below.

Ways to Read Kindle Books for Free:

• Did you know that Amazon has a list of thousands of books (including best sellers and new releases) that Prime members can read for free? You can only browse their Lending Library through your Kindle (not from Amazon's website). You can borrow 1 book a month and you can keep it as long as you like!
• You can borrow books from your library on your Kindle! This is a no-brainer. It takes virtually no effort - you can look up any book you want in their database on your computer (almost everything I've looked up so far has been available!) and download it to your Kindle within seconds. So easy! My library lets you borrow up to 5 at a time. 
• You can loan books that you like to your friends! Here is how to do it. You can loan them out for 2 weeks, and then they will automatically be returned to you. While they are loaned out you won't have access to them, just like you wouldn't with regular books.
• My new favorite website: Lendle! It works similarly to loaning and borrowing books with your friends except that you can do it with people you don't know. The database is huge with over 16k books currently available (I found a long list of books I've been wanting to read available for me to borrow immediately!) I can also loan out books I own. And you don't have to have a Kindle - the Kindle app on any other device will work fine. You also earn money for each book you loan, and after you have earned $10 they'll give you a $10 Amazon gift card (to buy more books!). The more I learn about this business, the more I like it - such a great idea!
• You can read any classic for free right from Amazon! Here is a link.
• Although not free, Amazon marks down one book a day to only .99! You can subscribe to their email so you are notified each day what the Kindle Daily Deal is.
• I find out about free or seriously cheap Christian books all the time (Tim Challies always seems to be the first to know about deals). You can currently download Randy Alcorn's Money, Possessions and Eternity for free (which I HIGHLY recommend!), and RC Sproul's The Holiness of God for free also. I've also downloaded What Did you Expect by Paul Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp, and Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey...all for under $2 each!

Can you tell I am somewhat of an enthusiast?! Do any of you have Kindles or Nooks? What do you think?

*If you decide to use Lendle (it's free), use referral code B1OAYGMG when you sign up...I'll get to borrow 2 extra books:)

St. Thomas and mom's birthday!

We are having a GREAT time in St. Thomas! Here are a few pictures from our trip so far...

Will liked watching the planes at the airport

The pier at the bottom of some steps

Our first night here Matt grilled us dinner - chicken, corn, zucchini, pineapple, and rice with pineapple mango salsa - yum!

Yesterday was my mom's 60th birthday and Matt made her bananas (and mango) foster french toast!

My sister and mom eating breakfast with the crazy sunglasses Mary Beth brought!

Will's first time at the beach! Even though we've been in St. Simons for a month, we had not yet taken him to the beach so this was his first time being in the ocean!

In front of the restaurant we went to for mom's birthday - Oceana

All of the food was amazing - this was Mary Beth's steak and shrimp

The view was unbelievable - we had such a great time!

After dinner we brought mom a chocolate (gluten free!) sheet cake that we'd made earlier that morning while mom got a massage! You absolutely couldn't tell it was gluten free (it was Pamela's brand) - it was delicious!

And then we gave mom her gift that we'd been working on for about the last 6 months. Last December Mary Beth and I took all of mom's photographs and shipped them to a company called Scan Cafe that scans them so you can have them digitally (mom had no idea we'd taken them). I highly recommend this company - they will take photos in any format, and they have high quality scanners that make the photos look great and will even correct them if there are tears or anything on them. We sorted them chronologically and made her a book starting with my birth in 1980 through 1984. We'll give her the subsequent books for later occasions. I made the book with Blurb and couldn't be happier with it! I researched to find the highest quality books and I think it looks really good!

We are really enjoying St. Thomas - it is off season right now, so there aren't any crowds. We are planning to visit St. John tomorrow, and I've heard it is really beautiful. More pictures to come!

Paranoid parents

Last night we decided to let Will sleep in his own room for the first time! He did a great job and slept 6 straight hours! I was worried to not have him right next to me (he's been sleeping in his bassinet in our room), so I wanted to make sure we had a good monitor.

We ended up exchanging the monitor for which we had originally registered for the Angel Care monitor from Graco. It has a sensor pad underneath the mattress that detects the baby's movements. It is so sensitive that it can even detect the baby breathing. It sounds an alarm if the baby doesn't move for 20 seconds. It also monitors sound, and even the temperature in the nursery to make sure it doesn't get too hot or cool (it is cool enough outside that we don't use the air conditioner).

Our first night went pretty well. The alarm went off once, around 5am, and Matt got up to check on him. He put his hand on Will's chest, but Will must have been in a deep sleep because Matt couldn't feel his chest going up and down, so he picked him up. After Will made a move to let him know he was ok, Matt put him back down to sleep. I'm not sure exactly what had happened, but it made us feel good to know that it is working, and it helps ease our mind a little bit about SIDS.

Baby picture

When Matt and I were about 6 months old, our parents got us together (our dads were fraternity brothers together in college) and for some reason snapped a picture of us sitting on a couch looking at each other. I don't think either one of our families thought another thing about that picture until Matt and I started dating our junior year of high school. We were pretty amazed to find out it existed!

I scanned the picture and then sent it to a company that will print your photograph on a canvas to hang on the wall. I thought it would be cute to hang this picture of Matt and I as babies in the nursery! I got it back this week and I am so happy with how it turned out!

Miller, a.k.a. 'Big Foot'

My new favorite pregnancy item: compression socks. I went yesterday to a medical supply store and a nice lady measured around my ankles and then said, "Wow. You are quite swollen." Yes, I know my feet look like big puffy sausages, thank you.

I was so excited to get home and try them on. They are like REALLY tight knee highs. I have no idea how a pregnant woman could get these on herself though...Matt had to help me, which was quite humorous! They aren't the prettiest things, but my feet have been feeling much better, which at the moment is all I care about!

A Purse for the Organized

I love anything that will help me to be better organized, and my newest find is the Butler Bag. It has compartments built in to the purse to help keep everything organized. What a great idea! I am constantly digging in my purse to find things. I would love to try one of these out, but can't justify spending the money right now (the Hybrid is $165), when what I really need is a diaper bag. The website does say that a diaper bag is in the works - hopefully it will be out soon! I'll keep checking!