I often get flack from my oldest girls, saying I make things so easy on the youngest. There are a lot of, “You NEVER would have said that to ME”s, and an equal amount of, “You would have SO made me do that”s. They don’t see as I see: That she is the...
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to realize that my dad’s favorite mantra, “Sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission” really is true. I find this particularly applies well to my Facebook Marketplace finds. Though they have made...
When you ask your kids “So, How was school?” these days, you had better be prepared for the answer. My daughter, Tessa, went today already knowing that this morning would be Part 2 of a rally her high school was calling “Every 15 Minutes,” which is...
It’s that time of year again: The time of my husband, Justin’s, annual trip to watch Spring Training for baseball in Arizona while I stay home with the kids on a supposed “Staycation,” managing things, doling out warmly welcomed life-lessons, as is...
For weeks I’ve caught her wiggling that tooth out of the corner of my eye. My daughter Paige, now 12 years old, is nearing the end of her gap-toothed smiles. But this one tooth seems hesitant to go, and I’ve been telling her I’ll pull it for her, as...
Yesterday my husband couldn’t find something in the refrigerator. Shocker: It was right up front, almost touching his corneas. I don’t understand why this is a thing that seems to span class and education level. Nearly every wife I have talked to...
She had been having a hard time for days; Frustrated face, tears constantly threatening to brim her eyes. After several times of her answering “Nothing’s wrong! I’m just having a bad day for some reason,” I made a plan with her to take her ball and...
I often envy the parenting style of the 80’s and 90’s. Helicoptering was never a thing I intended, and yet, sometimes, I feel like here I am. I’m not sure how I got to the point of thinking I had to micromanage all of my teenager’s plans...
When it comes to the most intense parenting years, I would say I am in the thick of them. This is, of course, not including parenting age 3, which is in its own “war crime” category. Like the Voldemort of ages: We try not to speak of it. Right now I...
The words have hung inside me since you casually said them the other day. You, smiling over your shoulder at me, pleased. Me, struck in the gut by the realization of the weight of what you had just said. Things land differently on a mother’s than...