Lovely Little Shelf

The Book: Callie’s Tally: An Accounting of Baby’s First Year or What My Daughter Owes Me!, by Betsy Howie

The Story: Betsy Howie is in her late 30’s when she finds out she is pregnant.  She’s pretty thrilled.  She reads somewhere that it’s like 190,000 bucks to raise a kid from birth to 18 and she decides to test it out and bill her daughter, Callie, for all the expenses that can be attributed to her.  Betsy gets pretty creative with this.  Losing post-baby weight? Weight Watcher’s fees are going to the kid.  Invited to a kid birthday party?  Alright, Callie’s name is going on the package, Callie is paying. Of course, all of the “normal” stuff is listed too: diapers, formula, bottles, unpass-upable, cute clothes, vitamins, additional insurance that Betsy has to carry  now…. everything is listed.

Betsy takes off of work for a few months after Callie is born, and just to be fair, Callie also gets credited back any money that Betsy has at the end of the week, figuring if she could have left she would have spent it.  Callie also gets credited the chunk of change in income tax that Betsy and her husband saved because of Callie.  Just makes sense, right?

This isn’t just a list of expenses and credits.  It really is just the diary of a mother’s first year.  She talks a lot about her relationship with her mother and how having a baby has effected that.  To help her with her baby,  Betsy’s mom moves from across the country.  Because of that, this really turns into the telling of 3 generations of women and how they relate to each other and how they effect each other’s life.

All of this- the accounting, the story telling- is done with a lot of humor and the author is totally candid.  The blurb on the front cover compares this book to Bridget Jone’s Diary, and I think that that is an absolutely fair comparison.

What I Thought: I got this book in the mail from my mom on a day that I needed a surprise in the mail.  That has nothing to do with my review, but shout out to my always thoughtful Mama.  Perfect present on a perfect day. Three cheers.

Anyway, I thought that this book was adorable.  I know that you get tired of reading my reviews of pregnancy books and hearing me gripe about how much they gripe.  You’re not going to find that here.  Shocking, right?  Betsy Howie achieved the thing that I’ve been looking for: balance.  She lets you know that her pregnancy wasn’t perfect and easy, raising a baby isn’t perfect and easy.  She tells you about those crappy parts.  She also talks about the really beautiful parts, the really fun parts.  That’s what I needed to hear and I just devoured this.

Maybe part of my appreciation came from the fact that this is the first book I’ve read about being a mom.  I’ve read a lot about pregnancy, and am just starting to think about what comes next. Eek.  Maybe after I’ve read a handful of parenting books, I’ll think that this one was shallow and lame, but it was exactly what I needed to hear when I read it.

I thought that Betsy Howie’s sense of humor was kind of self-depriciating, which I totally get and really love.  I laughed out loud several times, especially when her husband was being this level-headed guy and rolling his eyes at her for keeping this big accounting project going.  This is exactly how Shaun and I are with each other.  He rolls his eyes at me and lets me do pretty much whatever I want while he goes along behind me and does the normal, level-headed thing.  I totally “got” this part of their life.

Conclusion: A cute, fun little book.  I would say that this would be a fun read for where ever you are in life, although I can see liking it more if you are a parent or are about to be a parent.  It is refreshing to read something that is light hearted, funny AND encouraging.  Read this one.