If you had showed me this Time Magazine cover, featuring a mother breastfeeding her toddler who is STANDING UP, one year ago, I would have laughed. "Not me! That won't be me! I will breastfeed until she's around one. 10 months maybe?" Yet there I was the other day, nursing an almost one-year-old who was...standing up.
Diana Stone was just shy of 19 weeks pregnant with her twin boys when her water broke. She went to the hospital where the doctor's recommended that she induce and terminate the pregnancy.
I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat animals and restaurant servers. Even if you aren’t an animal person, and honestly, I don’t think I am, there’s still a way to create creatures with respect and kindness. My husband and I had many early dinner dates, and I was always impressed with how he treated wait-staff. He was polite but not flirty with the pretty ones, and he always tipped well but not gratuitously. And he had a rescued greyhound that he took amazing care of, so I knew that he was a decent human being. But there was one event that happened early in our relationship that really helped me see the kind of man he was.
I’m not here to talk about the safety of bed sharing. There are experts and studies for that. Co-sleeping works for us. It might not work for you, maybe it didn’t work for your neighbor or your cousin in Indiana.
After our daughter was born, I realized I needed to give up some control in order to quit nagging my husband. I could no longer micro-manage trash day, toilet scrubbing and the proper placement of towels after a shower. I needed to begin to trust that even without my seemingly gentle reminders, things would get done.
For most of us, a new year is synonymous with a brand new you. But what happens if we resolve to simply quash the self-improvement urge? This new year, I resolve not to resolve. Don't confuse my promise not to improve as a refusal to grow or change. It's just that after seven-and-a-half months as a first time mother, I'm tired of feeling like I could be doing more. Doing better. Slowing down. Enjoying the moment. All while anticipating the next milestone and celebrating accomplishments. And then, wishing time would slow down; because after all, they're growing up too fast.
When I got married I knew we were combining two families, and I knew that blending holiday traditions would be challenging, but I completely underestimated how challenging.
The person who's the hardest for me to surprise isn't our kids, it's the studly 34-year-old who shares my bedroom. It isn’t because he snoops, though. He’s pretty cooperative like that. We’re just such a team and make a habit of being so transparent with each other, that any deviation creates a disturbance in the force.
The working mom vs. stay at home mom debate is one that has gone on for decades. As a work-at-home mom, or WAHM, I lie somewhere in the middle. And while I am very thankful for this, I also want it to be said: WAHMing ain't easy.
Buy, buy, buy. I cringed that the verb was dominating my Christmas to-do list, and it wasn't even December yet. Looking back on my childhood, I remember magical moments with my family more than I remember specific gifts. I want my kids to have these kinds of memories, too, and not just a solid lesson in materialism...
