The Yummy Mummy Manifesto: Baby, Beauty, Balance, and Bliss

I love this book! I've just ordered three more copies for my pregnant and soon to be pregnant friends. I'll probably end up keeping a few on the shelf to hand out as well. What we need when we are pregnant is support. And Anna Johnson provides a unique, warm and loving perspective on pregnancy that just makes you feel empowered. I'm so tired of hearing about all the negative stuff that happens to a pregnant woman. I want to walk proud, because I am proud to have accomplished such an incredibly mystifying feat. I especially love the chapter on sexuality. Miss Johnson couldn't be more right about how pregnant women are totally ignored on the sexual front. The fashion advice is to die for. I used her tips just yesterday to find some great basics, and some wow pieces.

Ideally, every woman should read this book--or at least start reading it, before giving birth. Far from your typical 'What to Expect When You're Expecting', this book shares deep and honest insights that I wish I'd had before going through the many joys and trials of new-motherhood. Had I only known how many of the things I was going through were normal! Amazingly, though most women concede that those first months are 'hard'--very few are absolutely honest about HOW hard they can be--in many different ways. Further, the book gives very practical advice on a number of related topics including: how to embrace balance in your new role, inevitable marital/relational challenges, body-acceptance, health, finding one's genuine self amidst pressure and social norms, This isn't just shallow, cliquéd advice. Much to my surprise-it's actually wisdom. This would be a fantastic baby shower gift for any first-time mom.

I'm not a mother but I was waiting for this book to be published. I loved Anna Johnson's first book, 'Three Black Skirts'. I refer to it when I'm feeling low or in need of reassurance or sisterly common sense. I'm trying to decide whether or not to try for a baby and I knew she'd tell it like it is with 'The Yummy Mummy Manifesto'. This book makes me feel like it's possible to have a child and not lose your sense of joi de vivre and spontaneity. She has a delicious, off-centre sensibility and an approach to child-raising that I love. She preaches colour (in clothing, decor, baby names...) and joy and how to not let yourself get herded into some kind of beige, virtuous, tightly-wound mother stereotype. Beautiful, sassy illlustrations. A ton of practical and imaginative tips on baby wrangling and how not to go bonkers when you're home alone all day. I hope she writes at least a dozen more books.

When it comes to mothering, at least in this culture, there's a lot of pressure to do it all. Be a combination of Martha Stewart, Marmee from Little Women, June Cleaver, and - oh yeah - make sure you're still dynamic and sexually attractive. For god's sake don't lose your style!! Because, you know, we aren't under enough stress as it is, juggling the kid(s) and the career(s) and the relationships and the housework and all. So when I see the term "yummy mummy" it tends to set my teeth on edge - I associate it with a very judgmental perspective on being a mama. But I have to say, Anna Johnson's The Yummy Mummy Manifesto does a really nice job of reclaiming the term for what it really should be all about: loving yourself and finding a way to be a whole, passionate, vibrant personality, even while you're caring for a small person who regularly coats you in their bodily fluids. Johnson's free-ranging tome covers everything from pregnancy style (key message: embrace the flamboyant), to sex, to fighting fair, to throwing a yummy birthday party. It's not a radical book - the underlying assumption is that the reader is a heterosexual woman who finds makeup and fashion at least a little bit fun - but Johnson has a fundamentally kind and caring approach. This is not a book that will harangue you into exercising and getting that baby weight off (thank god). This is a book that will encourage you to find a way to move your body with joy, and eat things you love, and wear clothes that are both comfortable and beautiful, and damn the torpedoes. There are lots of handy links to web resources for SAHMs and WAHMs (stay-at-home and work-away from-home moms), along with recipes, craft projects, and ideas on how to be more of an eco-mom. But I have to be honest - I think my favorite part of the book is the design. The pages are lushly illustrated, in rich colors with botanical motifs - the whole visual experience of the book exactly reflects the "yumminess" the author is promoting. Does The Yummy Mummy Manifesto offer any amazing new insights into modern motherhood? Nah. But it's a loving reminder that life is more fun when you approach it with humor and zaniness and passion, and that - as Martha would say - is A Good Thing.