What I’m reading/watching during maternity leave

So I’ve spent the majority of my first four weeks of maternity leave on the couch. It’s impossible not to. Breastfeeding is time consuming, and when they hit those first two growth spurts — somewhere around 10 days and again at 3 weeks, you are literally attached to your kid by the boobs every 45 minutes or so (just me?). My doctor and lactation consultant actually said they are always interested to know what people do to entertain themselves during the first few weeks, so I thought I’d share what I’m reading and watching.

Movies

We mostly seem to be watching movies in the evening as we wind down, or rather relax before Kaitlan begins her long night. I really didn’t realize just how many major movies I have missed until now. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and really haven’t since high school, so…I’ve missed a lot of stuff. A few notables:

• 300: Rise of an Empire: Don’t even waste your time, this movie was awful.
• The Italian Job: Classic movie, can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.
• World War Z: This film was really well done, but a huge departure from the book in my opinion. I prefer the slow ambling zombies myself, the quick moving ones were absolutely terrifying.
• God Bless America: Believe it or not, this flick was done by Bobcat Goldwaith. I can sum it up as basically a personal rant about society that he managed to create a story around. The dialogue is excellent, but it’s more than a little dark, so proceed at your own risk.
• Bachelorette: This felt like a low-budget Bridesmaids. Kirsten Dunst was awful and they wasted money on some good people they didn’t really use as well as they could of (Rebel Wilson and James Marsden).
• Airheads: Another classic I can’t believe I hadn’t seen. I miss the ’90s…

TV Shows

I mostly have NetFlix on for noise during the day. I have been watching a pretty interesting variety…

• Bojack Horseman: NetFlix kept pushing this show on me until I finally watched it. It looked so strange in the preview, but I actually really like it. It’s dry and quirky and I love Will Arnett.
• Say Yes to the Dress: I don’t even like weddings, but I think it’s just the deductive process of finding the right dress that has me hooked on this series. That and it doesn’t require my complete attention.
• An Idiot Abroad: Neil and I are both huge Ricky Gervais fans, so this show is just perfect. His naive commentary as he gets dropped into the most ridiculous travel circumstances is priceless.
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: How can you not love Anthony Bourdain, and his new show on CNN is phenomenal. I think I’ve watched the ‘Canada‘ episode about a dozen times.
• Criminal Minds: My cousin is actually a cameraman for this show, and I kinda dig how dark it is. Episodes are definitely complex, so it’s not something I can just zone out to.
• Stephen Fry in America: A one season series of Stephen Fry travelling all 50 states. Loved this purely because it’s an outsider’s view of our country. I did feel Missouri drew a short straw, as he only talked to a group of homeless people about their choice to be homeless.

YouTube

Because I don’t have cable, I watch YouTube like most people watch cable. I subscribe to dozens of channels that I watch daily. A few of my favorites:

• iJustine: I’ve watched her for years. She now has her central channel, as well as iJustineGaming and OtheriJustine. I prefer the latter two because they are a little lower-key and follow her life in areas I’m more interested in.
• CrossFit (HQ): It’s official HQ, and they upload videos constantly.
• California Strength: Weightlifting porn. And Donnie Shankle…
• The Attitude Nation: How can you not love Jon North?
• Jenna Marbles: Another vlogger I’ve been following for years. I just can’t quit her.
• Pearl Jam: Lots of videos from their latest tour, etc. Because I’m just a tad obsessed and tried to convince Neil to let me give Kaitlan the middle name of “Vedder.” No, I’m not kidding.
• Дмитрий Клоков (Dmitry Klokov): I’ve been watching his channel since his first video appeared on Reddit. He makes super long vids that contain very little English, but I think I’m actually learning Russian…
• Zuzka Light: I’ve watched since she was just starting out with BodyRockTV (whatever happened there?), but I love her workouts and she seems super sweet.
• SaraFit: I don’t know if I like her, but I just keep watching her campy videos…
• Kelly Starrett: Of MobilityWOD and San Francisco CrossFit. If you are at all active (not just at CrossFit either), you need to be watching his stuff weekly, if not daily.
• Lirik: Lirik is actually a Twitch channel I watch, but he also has a YouTube channel. So entertaining, I literally watch for hours at a time. He’s been playing a lot of ARMA lately, which has been so entertaining.

Books

The Shogun’s Daughter: For some reason I always end up picking books I think are stand-alone but end up being part of series. This is apparently #17 in the Sano Ichiro series. Fortunately, it doesn’t affect the experience and I am LOVING this book.
True Brews: I’m about to start brewing Kombucha again after my pregnancy hiatus and got this book for Christmas last year (right before we found out) so I’m excited to finally put it to use!
The Curriculum: Random find at the library, excited to see if it lives up to the hype.
Sammy’s Hill: My mom buys book specials at Sam’s often and I randomly came across this one while over at her house. It’s a fun read and of course, it’s part of a series. Are all books

Have any book/TV suggestions for my last two weeks of maternity leave?