This weekend my family drove five hours down to Ashland, Oregon to visit me. My daughters are six and nine right now, so this is an event (the visit, the month without their mom) they will likely remember for life. It was an immense blessing to be able to see them, to hug and holdRead more
You’re in fourth grade now. You’re more than half arms and gangly legs. You are remarkably independent and take-your-breath-away self-sufficient. It’s silly that your dad and I would expect anything else, knowing us. You’ve gotten yourself out the door and walked to school alone since you were six. You mother your little sister more thanRead more
Basically the goal of me writing this post it to get you to read this blog post. Please read it. It’s that necessary. It’s stuck with me for weeks now. Dear Laura, Do you ever/did you ever look at friends’ Facebook posts, or hear good news about their lives, and be filled with a combinationRead more
Picture this. It’s Mother’s Day. And I’m sad. Like, really sad. And kind of mad. But I don’t know why. I mean, yes, I’m freaking ravenous (slightly long story) so maybe it’s that but it’s not really. That doesn’t build the tears behind my eyes or the scream in my chest. That didn’t create theRead more
I’m not a fan. Because, working mom now. Maybe stay at home moms aren’t fans either. But in my experience there’s some level of relief, of a return to normalcy, at least a chance to tackle the laundry. Not anymore. But we get by. And Sunday evenings become next to sacred. Often we are borderlineRead more
When my first daughter was born, I pretty firmly identified as a stay-at-home mom. It was somewhat lucky I could reproduce my way into an occupation, because I was a full-on twenty-two year old mess before that. For the first two years of my girl’s life I was with her basically day-in and day-out. YouRead more
Have you ever, ever seen anything as adorable as the newest member of our little clan? This is Mabel Cutie (middle name picked by the five-year-old, obviously). Mabel is a Maltese-Shih tzu blend (both parents are full breeds) that came to us one week ago, as an eight week old. We got a puppy? Um,Read more
I took the slow and gradual route toward working momhood. First I was an exclusive stay-at-home mom. Then, I did online schoolwork in my “spare” time. When Dot was a year I took one on-campus class–one night per week. Then, class two nights per week. I began volunteering an evening or two as well. WhenRead more
We’re in-between seasons. And it’s the most beautiful mix of the best of the two. The days aren’t too short yet. The afternoons are sunny, warm–even hot! The mornings are crisp and cool. The leaves are so barely changing that a mostly orange tree is cause to stop and stare. And it’s harvest season (we’veRead more
Five years of motherhood. And a five year old girl. Straddling the line between big and little. In the world we move in, filled with babyhood and preschoolers, five (and tall for that!) towers. Yet headed for baby status [kindergarten] in the fall. Dot is as much herself as she has ever been. She’s quickRead more