Lia Sophia on Hold for Now

Ok, so I've mentioned my interest in starting selling Lia Sophia.  I got the new catalog and while I like a lot of the new pieces, I'm not that excited about the current starter set.

There are a couple of smaller pieces that I like, but the bulk of it I can't see myself wearing.  I figure this matters in case I fail miserably and am left with the jewelry.  The starter set costs $149 for $1000 worth of jewelry but if I only want pieces totaling less than $149, not worth it.

Also if I really wanted to make a go of it, I'd need to be starting now to get my first five weeks off to a good start.  Since training for my half takes up most of my kidfree time right now, I think it's time to put the plan on pause.

Depending on how much I like the next  new catalog I may consider it come February, but next fall would be better when Little Man will be in Kindergarten.  I'll have a lot more kid free time and could even offer daytime parties in some cases.

Until then I will continue to follow a couple of advisors who seem successful selling online and will get one of them to include me in one of their Facebook parties so I can see how that really works.  I'm still skeptical that the online option actually works, but at the same time I can see how it work for people like me who can't always get out due to husband/kid schedules.

I did order a couple of new pieces from the new catalog and will hold off on the rest until I get some awesome offer.  

The Birth Order Book

I bought this book for my husband as he has always been fascinated by family dynamics.  He's an only child and his parents aren't very close to their siblings for various reasons and I think that is why.

He doesn't read often but really enjoyed this book.  He spent most of the time reading it psychoanalyzing the rest of us and after quoting and summarizing large sections insisted that I should read it too. Before I even started reading it, I knew our kids fit the stereotypes for their birth order.  While this book is not meant as a parenting book, it can certainly be read as one.  The author encourages you to find out the birth order of the people you are close with (either professionally or personally) arguing that knowing their birth order will help you understand why they are the way the are, and then can help you relate to them.  Obviously that works with parenting as well.

His tips for our little family of 5
1.  It's ok to treat each child differently.  What works for one may not work for the others.  Also just because one child gets something (in terms of material stuff or privileges doesn't all need to get the same)
2.  Make as much time as possible for one on one time with your children.
3.  The middle child often feels squeezed or neglected between the oldest (who is often an ambitious conscientious child) and the baby of the family (who gets attention due to probably needing more help.  The middle child often feels they can't measure up to older sibling but also gets frustrated that the younger sibling gets away with things they can't.  Tip number 2 is especially true of child #2.  They really crave they attention that the other siblings get, and I have been trying to do more for my Little Hugger.  She's a sweet loving little girl, and I know when she acts out it's because she feels ignored.
4. Treat the baby of the family the same way you treated the firstborn at that age.  Meaning, don't let them get away with things just because they are the baby.  Give them responsibilities that are age appropriate so the older ones don't feel they are doing all the work, but also to teach the youngest that he needs to help out too.
5.  Make sure to take time to read to the youngest.  Story time at bedtime was a nightly occurence with our firstborn, and fairly regular with our second.  Unfortunately nighttime routines take longer and we often skip bedtime stories to try to get everyone to bed on time.  When that happens I do make more of an effort to read to him in the daytime when his sisters are at school, and to their credit they often read to him in the car.

None of the above tips are earthshattering and I could probably have come up with them all myself, but sometimes it helps to get a reminder

It was an interesting read although I have to say that while most of the people I know fit their birth order type right on, I don't feel that there is a very accurate portrayal of the second born of a two child family - me.  I don't fit the regular baby mold, and am in many ways (but not all) a first born type even though I'm only 2 1/2 years younger than my sister.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

I never made it through Devil in the White City so didn't have high hopes for this one.  Still since the book takes place in pre WWII Germany I figured I'd give it a try.  I've always been fascinated with that time frame, specifically Germany and wondered how Hitler was allowed to rise to power and while this book stops in 1937, it does help explain it.

This is a non-fiction book but reads like fiction.  Larson weaves the story based largely on accounts of the people who lived during this time - his main sources seemingly their personal diaries.  William Dodd is a history professor at the University of Chicago when he is offered the position of US ambassador to Germany in 1933.  He is an unlikely choice for many reasons and initially reluctant to go, as he sees the tension building in Germany with Hitler gaining power.  At the time Hitler is the Chancellor of Germany and there is still a President - Hindenburg - in power.  However, Hindenburg is elderly and ill, and is recuperating for much of the Hitler's early rise.  Jewish leaders and rabbis in the US had already received accounts of discrimination against the Jews, and some Jews were emigrating from Germany even in the early 1930s.

Despite all the tension, and hoping for an easy pre-retirement to work on his book Dodd decides to accept the offer.  He moves to Berlin with his wife, Mattie, and two grown children - Bill and Martha.  One funny thing about this book is that Dodd's wife is hardly ever mentioned.  I guess she was for the most part busy playing the non-interfering role of an ambassador's wife.  She plans dinner parties and occasionally they travel together but for the most part the book focuses on Dodd and Martha's experiences in Berlin.  Martha was a young recent divorcee and certainly enjoyed a fresh start in a new city.  While she knew the behavior that was expected of an ambassador's daughter, she ignored the rules and lived life on her own terms.  At first she sided with the Nazis being a young idealist not seeming to understand what all the fuss was about.  She was seduced by their uniforms and in some cases the men in the higher ranks.  She played the international field - along with the Germans, she also had a long lasting relationship with a young married Soviet diplomat and others.  While the State Department was certainly aware of her actions no one ever managed to rein her in.  I think both sides were hoping to gain information through her relationships.

The surprising part of this account to me was what was portrayed as the "Jewish problem" in the book.  Of course we all know the gruesome details of the Holocaust, but what surprised me was how long the Americans allowed the Germans to discriminate against the Jews as the US was also anti-Semitic.  Obviously the US did not go to the extremes that the Nazis eventually did, but Washington certainly was dominated by WASPs at the time, and Jews were not welcome in most circles.  During Dodd's first meeting with Hitler Dodd sympathizes with Hitler on the Jewish problem, but quickly learned that the problem was being dealt with in very different ways on opposite sides of the Atlantic.  To his credit, Dodd does his best to keep the State Department and FDR apprised of developments within Germany hoping to spur a US reaction, but much of it falls upon deaf ears for a variety of reasons.

I'm not sure that I can say that I enjoyed the book, given all I learned, but I do enjoy learning by reading.  Two different things.  Again, this read like a fictional work, and while I glossed over Martha's parts in the book, her experiences definitely made this book that much more real and enjoyable to me. There were times when I read of precursors to Hitler's rise to absolute power that I wanted to cry and needed to throw the book down and walk away, but I appreciate the details that were included in the hopes that they are not repeated.

About 6 months ago my 9 year old daughter started hearing bits and pieces about the Holocaust and ordered the Diary of Anne Frank through Scholastic Books.  I paid for it, but advised her that she should probably read it with us.  At the same time, her siblings are way too young to be having this read aloud to them.  I think I need to reread it, and then let her read it.  At the end of each night she could mark how far she got, so I can keep up with where she is and answer any questions she may have along the way.