If I may be permitted to post about my birthday one last time (for this year, anyhow)… 34 was a hard age. In fact, it was my toughest year ever. It actually had very little to do with the number or the midthirtiness of it all, and more to do with the fact that 34 was the year which kinda shook the ground beneath my feet. The day I turned 34, I was the mother of a 4 year-old, 2 {Read More}
Time Travel And No Take-Backs.
February 16, 2015 By 4 Comments
So, last night P.J. and I decided to watch a movie while folding Mount St. Laundry and eating the copious amount of candy he had procured by running down our alley to Walgreens- because a) we live entirely too close to easily runnable locales and b) I will forever and ever Amen be married to a teenaged boy. I’m a hard sell on most movies; in fact, I have a tough time committing to anything with a run time of {Read More}
That “Hang In There, Kitten” Poster Was On To Something.
November 6, 2014 By 6 Comments
There’s this idea that mothers- and, especially, mothers to many- are (or aspire to be) multitasking, Martha Stewart-esque, model citizens. Sometimes it’s true. And sometimes, as with any job, it’s just not true. Not even a little bit. At all. Lately, I’ve been hearing from strangers a lot of (earnest? Politely conversational?) how do you DO it all? (Disclaimer: This is not a humblebrag, nor is it a self-congratulatory pat on the back at my daily successes. What’s the opposite {Read More}
A Case Of The Mondays.
November 3, 2014 By 6 Comments
Due to Birthday Month, Halloween week, classroom parties galore, a snowstorm on Trick or Treat, a few minor cases of the sniffles, Daylight Savings Time, and the hotly argued arrival of the Halloween Witch*(?!) who came and took the rest of the household candy, this is the atmosphere ’round my home this fine Monday morning. Happy Monday morning, everyone. *P.J. completely made up the concept of the Halloween Witch**, who removes candy from the homes of smallish children who repeatedly {Read More}
Why Parenting Is The Least Rational Job Ever.
August 25, 2014 By 6 Comments
Today Nora rode a bike. It wasn’t without training wheels and it wasn’t even the first time she had done so…but this time I really looked and saw and got it. In two short months she’ll be five years old. And in that short/long time, she’s figured out how to hold a spoon. Stand upright and move forward. Use a potty. Comb her hair. Clear a table. Talk like a semi-normal person on the phone. And- apparently- work the mechanics of {Read More}
5 Ways Blogging Ruins Your Children.
June 26, 2014 By 18 Comments
(Total disclaimer: The kids are all right. Pop culture has told me so.) 1) You’ve put on a movie so that you can write a killer post on how great it is to be a parent. (“Please let Mary Poppins do her job- Mother is waxing nostalgic.”) 2) Your children have begun to pause in the middle of an game and say “You’re gonna need a picture of this.” (Bonus points if they inform their little sister that she needs {Read More}
The Girls’ Bedroom Is Done! (For Now!)
May 22, 2014 By 8 Comments
The girls’ bedroom has had many incarnations. Before its (thankfully) clean, bright, pretty, and deathly material-free current self, it was a nursery with oddly placed acoustic ceiling tiles. (Nowhere else on the third floor had these bedroom ceiling tiles.) And prior to that, it was a cross between a blank slate and a crack den in a fixer-upper home. And we were either blinded by our own idealism or constrained by the available properties in our price range- it’s so {Read More}
How To Scar Your Child: Cemetery Edition.
April 10, 2014 By 10 Comments
It’s probably a tad too early in my parenting career to feel like a complete failure…but regardless, here we are. The other morning, as we drove to gymnastics, Nora and Susannah spotted a cemetery which we’d passed nearly a billion times. However, on this particular introspective a.m., Zu pointed out her window and piped up- “What’s that, Mom?” “That’s a cemetery, sweets.” “What’s a cemetery?” (Hmm. How to explain, how to explain.) Disclaimer- my kids have (sadly) had way too much {Read More}
