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    Instant Mom
    Instant Mom
    Instant Mom
    Audiobook7 hours

    Instant Mom

    Written by Nia Vardalos

    Narrated by Nia Vardalos

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Some families are created in different ways but are still, in every way, a family.

    Writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos firmly believed she was supposed to be a mom, but Mother Nature and modern medicine had put her in a headlock. So she made a choice that shocked friends, family, and even herself: with only fourteen hours' notice, she adopted a preschooler.

    Instant Mom is Vardalos's hilarious and poignant true chronicle of trying to become a mother while fielding nosy "frenemies" and Hollywood reporters asking, "Any baby news?" With her signature wit and candor, she describes her and husband Ian Gomez's bumpy road to parenting, how they found their daughter, and what happened next. Vardalos includes a comprehensive how-to-adopt section and explores innovative ways to conquer the challenges all new moms face, from sleep to personal grooming. She learns that whether via biology, relationship, or adoption—motherhood comes in many forms.

    In Instant Mom, Vardalos shares the terrifying joys of parenthood and for the first time reveals her stubborn optimism and perseverance on her trek to finally becoming a mom, instantly.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9780062265074
    Author

    Nia Vardalos

    Nia Vardalos is the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated writer and actress of such films as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Connie and Carla, My Life in Ruins, and I Hate Valentine's Day, and co-writer with Tom Hanks of Larry Crowne. She lives in Los Angeles with her family, and donates Instant Mom proceeds to adoption charities.

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    Reviews for Instant Mom

    4/5

    52 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      If you are a mom of a foster child, have ever contemplated adoption, or have friends that have adopted, then YOU need to read this book!! If you are a mom, want to be a mom, are a woman…then you will want to read this book, too! This book is hilarious, and is filled with moments where you will cry, and you will be highlighting and taking notes, and wanting to try some of the zany things she does for her daughter.Nia adopted her little girl at 3 years old and brings up great points: how can we love an abused and abandoned animal that we adopt, but feel that a child is less of value and is damaged goods??? Granted, not every person is called to adopt, but every child deserves a forever home. Nia shares her journey with unsuccessful fertility treatments and how emotionally overwhelming it all was. After so many years of trying to have a biological child, she decided to venture into the world of adoption. She chronicles her journey of looking at the various types of adoption: international, private, and foster care adoption. She gives a staggering number of children available in the U.S., who are available for adoption and who are in foster homes waiting for their forever homes.Nia describes the bonding process, developing attachment with her little girl, and describes the way she and her husband became a family the day her daughter entered their lives. I loved some of the funny moments Nia shares, too!! I also loved that she shared her personal experiences with creating a bedtime ritual, having family time when out and about the community (paparazzi stories), and adjusting to preschool. Nia creates this funny game to develop bonding (baking, anyone?), and just their crazy, fun way of playing at home. I also loved the story Nia tells her daughter about how she prayed and wanted a little girl and how they became a family.I love the very easy, simple to use ideas that she did and shares with her readers, and I love the resources she gives at the end of the book. Overall, this was an excellent read and I hope that Nia will consider writing more!!
    • 5/5
      Funny, heartfelt, and real. Doesn't shy away from the painful parts of the adoption journey while still fully delving into the joyfullness.
    • 3/5
      This book is sweet and tender, many parts about her journey through adoption made tear up a little. But at times it felt a little too long, there were some parts were she talks about her career that bored me. Or parts were she didn’t seem genuine or a little too perfect.
    • 4/5
      This was raw and real without being sordid, funny without making light of a difficult situation, and informative and reminded you of the issues in the world (foster care, adoption, exploitation of children) without being preachy. Fun to read.
    • 4/5
      I'm not really a big memoir person, unless there is something extremely specific about the author that I am particularly obsessed with (like I read all the Mitford memoirs), but I enjoyed this in large part because it was a memoir with some purpose -- as she told the story of adopting her daughter, there was a lot of solid information about the adoption process in general. I remember when I was investigating adoption, it was overwhelmingly confusing and mostly discouraging. In addition to being entertaining, I think this would be genuinely helpful to people in her situation.Although she's a comedic writer and actress, she mentions that she could never do stand-up, which I thought was odd, because several times, the book felt too MUCH like stand-up to me, too many stories and anecdotes ended on a "zinger" that made me roll my eyes. I really do find her funny, but that particular style felt like it was reaching. As Lucy is about the same age as her daughter (at the time of adoption), I was especially interested in the details related to the little girl and her adjustment and development. A lot of it was fascinating. I was sometimes a bit confused as to Vardalos and her husband's parenting choices ... I mean, the choices themselves were fine, it was the presentation in the book that confused me. Often things were brought up in relation to certain incidents or reactions, and, I don't know, I didn't really see how one related to the other, like "this thing happened, so obviously we did this" but the link wasn't obvious to me at all. I think this is always the challenge of memoirs, the author is very close to the events and I'm sure all this seems obvious to HER. I also cringed when she wrote "toddlers need a lot of stuff." Living in a New York City apartment, the most important thing I've learned about parenting is that toddlers don't actually need a lot of stuff at all.
    • 4/5
      As a parent who also created a family through adoption, I was curious to read about Ms. Vardalos' experiences. I loved that she took such a positive and warm approach to the process of adopting. I think her descriptions of how they helped their daughter make the transition to being part of their family are the most valuable part of the book. Because attachment is such a tricky thing, how you handle those first months can be so vital, and the way they were slow to introduce others and how they spent so much time with their daughter (even sleeping in the room with her) and didn't let the difficult behaviors get to them are all great examples for anyone contemplating adoption. And Ms. Vardalos is pretty funny, which made the book a pleasure to read.