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When Betsy Howie became pregnant, she realized a frightening truth: She was about to lose control. So, she itemized her concerns: Can I physically handle it? Do I have the patience for the job? Can I have my career and take care of a baby? Will I be able to sidestep my own neuroses and negativity enough to raise an at least slightly healthy human being? And, of course: Do I have enough money?
Only the last question seemed answerable. "How much does a baby really cost?" she wondered-and began saving receipts. The result was Callie's Tally, the real-life, day-by-day diary of her daughter's first year of debt.
In this deliciously engaging and irreverent memoir, Callie's expenses-Pampers, formula, York peppermint patties for Mom's postpartum blues-mount as Howie searches for a tiny corner of order in a world otherwise lost to sleepless, timeless mayhem. Part Bridget Jones's Diary (after Bridget snags the boy) and part Operating Instructions (for the fiscally obsessed), this is a wickedly funny and fresh story of shifting relationships within a modern American family.
| Introduction: Calculating Interest | 1 | |
| Start-Up Costs: Original Sum (The Debt You're Born With) | 9 | |
| The First Fiscal Quarter: Postpartum Recession | 43 | |
| The Second Fiscal Quarter: Parent Company | 135 | |
| The Third Fiscal Quarter: Deficit Spending | 191 | |
| The Fourth Fiscal Quarter: Speculating Futures | 255 | |
| Addendum: Total Cost of Baby's First Year | 321 | |
| A Conversation with Betsy Howie | 324 | |
| More Food for Thought: 12 Questions to Ask Yourself (and Your Book Club Friends) About Callie's Tally | 337 |
Anonymous
Posted March 17, 2003
One of my friends gave me this book after she read it and thought I could have written it. I can't tell you how FUNNY and brutally honest this book is, I want it to be a huge best seller...this is one of the best most true to life accounts on what life is like with a first baby. Betsy Howie tells the bitter sweet experience like it is, no sugar coating here. I buy copies for all my new mom friends. I Highly, Highly recommend this book!!!
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Posted January 2, 2003
Great, great book. I also have a March born baby daughter, so I was enjoying the timeline. I must say, these babies are expensive. All the expenses noted in the book were quite accurate. I would recommend this book to any mom, dad or someone that needs a good laugh. It was easy to read and so fun. I got a "Girlfriend's Guide" vibe. Read this book!
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Posted October 13, 2002
I just had my first daughter in August and my biggest complaint about motherhood is that no one told me how it was really going to be. Callie's Tally is a wonderfully humorous and brutally accurate account of what happens when a baby comes into the world. I have not read a page yet that I couldn't relate to. I'm definitely passing this on to my pregnant friends!
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Posted November 4, 2002
I read this book in a single sitting. Incredibly funny and fast reading, with the individual vignettes, it was impossible to put down. As the mother of five grown children, and the grandmother of 8, I found this book to be most entertaining and enlightening! How many of us have NOT wondered about the actual costs involved in bringing our kids into this world? It was refreshing to be able to look at Callie's "list" and know that those years are well behind me, thank goodness! Ah........ but I definitely could still relate. Betsy Howie has a special knack of making the reader feel a part of the unfolding drama of expecting and raising Callie through her first year. The book certainly brought back memories of my child-rearing years, and I once again found myself trying to find ways to "cut corners" with those expenses. :-) I found myself looking forward to the next party, the next "event", the next receipt... Another plus was Ms. Howie's reporting of the actual feelings she experienced with raising her daughter. Life isn't always a bed of roses when it comes to kids, and Ms. Howie honestly expressed her frustrations, her fears, her delights and her pride in her daughter. Such candor can often be lacking in works of non-fiction. And all of this is written with an underlying message that the dollars are not to be taken too seriously, that the expense is "worth it", and that in the end you get more than what you pay for. This is a definite "must have" for parents-to-be as well as grandparents, when the cycle actually begins anew. Which makes me wonder when "Bob" will publish HER accounting of grandmahood! It would be interesting to see which list tallies higher (been there, done that!).
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Posted October 6, 2002
this book was so funny and real! callie is lucky to have betsy as a mother and will have the best sense of humor as an adult. i highly recommend.
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Overview
When Betsy Howie became pregnant, she realized a frightening truth: She was about to lose control. So, she itemized her concerns: Can I physically handle it? Do I have the patience for the job? Can I have my career and take care of a baby? Will I be able to sidestep my own neuroses and negativity enough to raise an at least slightly healthy human being? And, of course: Do I have enough money?
Only the last question seemed answerable. "How much does a baby really cost?" she ...