Making friends as a mom is tough. You don’t have the kind of free time you once had. Plus, many of your existing friends may not have kids (yet or at all). I love all my friends—and some of my dearest friends have no children. But when you’re knee-deep in diapers, teething, and sleep deprivation,…
I love reading aloud picture books with my kids for so many reasons. I know how important it is to promote literacy, especially while your kids are young. Students who learn to love reading early enjoy huge advantages over their peers in school. Aside from creating a loving and healthy home, fostering strong reading skills…
To My Last Baby, We’re in the final weeks before we’ll finally meet face-to-face. For most of this rough pregnancy, it seemed like this point would never get here, yet here it is. These last weeks look a lot different than they did with your older siblings. With them, there was still a great deal…
Self-care is a super popular buzzword. You can’t mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Pinterest without seeing it pop up again and again. I’m not knocking self-care — I think it’s great. On the other hand, what I am suggesting is that you take a self-assessment, an inventory of sorts, instead. How are you doing? Are you in…
How to Survive Exclusively Pumping (Because You Can!) Very few people go into a pregnancy expecting to be an exclusive pumper (although some do), but exclusively pumping is exactly the situation I found myself in three times. I’m pregnant with my fourth and I have a feeling we’ll be going down this road yet again….
When I was a kid, summer was the absolute best! Now that I’m a parent, I have decidedly mixed feelings about the season and much of the dilemma centers around the pool. In fact, going to the pool with kids seems like its own special kind of hell. I really want to love taking my kids to…
Today, I will be unemployed for the first time since… well, since I-don’t-know-when. My only job title will read: Stay At Home Mom. I taught my last class three weeks ago, finalized my grades two weeks ago, and this afternoon, I’ll show up to collect a few signatures and officially be done. I will no…
As a kid, I always thought Mother’s Day was kind of stupid. I mean sure, I made you a card or craft and said, “Happy Mother’s Day!” but I can tell you right now that, growing up, I would never have written this Mother’s Day letter. After all, you have a birthday. Why did we…
Hello Friend (or Family, or Coworker, or….)! These days, you may have noticed I’m not responding to your text messages in a very timely manner. Is it rude not to reply to a text message quickly? Possibly. Am I ignoring your texts on purpose? Not exactly… Here’s just a few reasons why I, or anyone…
My grandmother had seven kids in six years (no twins), and as a colonel’s wife, she spent large periods of time raising them alone. Growing up, and even in my early adult years, we would always joke, “Man, I don’t know how Nana did it!” Then all the aunts, uncles, cousins –and even Nana herself–…
