MOM

If we would have been personally asked to cast a prediction for this study, about whether moms of twins or singleton babies live longer, we would have totally went with mothers of one. Come on. We've been hearing parents tell their clans of kiddos, "Y'all are gonna be the death of me" for ages, haven't you? Chasing after two toddlers at once (and worrying about them) must take a few years off a mom's life, right? Apparently not. New research shows moms of twins actually live longer than moms who just have one baby at a time. Women who birth two children at once are generally stronger from the start, so they tend to live longer.

I’m guessing that The Girl Who Let Me had been looking at the mountains, waiting for a boy, any boy, to come along. I wish I could remember her name. I said hello, and she said hello, and I said I lived up the road—not mentioning that I was one of the weird missionaries, though later she told me she knew who I was because her uncle disapproved of us Schaeffers and said so. Anyway, that first day she didn’t ask awkward questions. I asked her where she was from, and she answered Paris, and then, with a sudden flash of inspiration, I asked her if she’d like to go for a walk because the crocuses were still blooming only a fifteen-minute hike up the steep path. She said yes!

I've never been a big fan of Mother's Day. It's not the commercialization that fuels my dislike, though—it's that for 14 years, I haven't had a mother to celebrate.

I wanted to give all of you moms a gift. I wanted to tell you how special you are, and how grateful I am to you for loving and raising our future...your children. I decided the only gift I could give you is my gratitude. I made a video for you. Enjoy your day! Mjo (Tango Expert) http://on.fb.me/jOPFhY

Before I begin, let me preface this piece by saying that I take dog parenting very seriously. I don't just wake up, take the dogs out, make sure they're fed, leave for 10 hours and come back to do it all over again. I actually "parent" my pooches. Parenting these two furballs has been wonderful practice. I believe that, through them, my husband and I have established our roles as a parenting duo.

At home with two children, I’d learned a home could make you lonely and therefore unhappy. But could a home make you happy, and thereby improve your marriage? Or are you who you are, regardless of the space you inhabit?

I was invited to a mom’s book club who were (bless them) reviewing my book, Till Sex Do Us Part: Make Your Married Sex Irresistible. It was a range of moms who had babies up to 20 year-old kids. Inevitably the conversation went to girl’s sexuality.

When couples set out to create their family, very few of them give consideration to the changes that take place in the bedroom after the kids are born. For many of the couples I see, the joy of having children is diminished by the loss of their marital and sexual connection. Watch as I explain how you can re-create the eroticism in your marriage and connect with your partner on a deeper, more meaningful level.

Here at LoveMom, we bring you the love. Our weekly Baby Bytes bring you everything else. Here are this week's 5 must-click mom links:

How could I explain to my (childless) friend that taking a shower once a week was an exercise in time management gymnastics—and a much higher priority than sex?

We recently wrote about a study in which researchers found that divorce may run in the family. This study focused on the influence of siblings rather than parents, but that's probably because the parent-child connection is already so obvious. Of course children will model the relationships they've seen growing up. Relationship expert Andrea Syrtash, author of He's Just Not Your Type and That's a Good Thing, is writing a book about marriage, and this is one of the many areas she's doing research on. If you'd like to weigh in and be quoted in her latest book, tell us below: How is your marriage different from your mother's? And is that a good or a bad thing?

Here at LoveMom, we bring you the love. Our weekly Baby Bytes bring you everything else. Here are this week's 5 must-click mom links.

Our sister blog—Love Buzz—previously ran a number of Twitter Top 10 lists. Those lists told you who to follow for sex advice, dating advice and more. They cut out the riffraff and presented you with the awesome. Well. We thought it was about time that, here at LoveMom, we shared the goods on the coolest moms and dads on Twitter. Because—when it comes to parenting—we could all use someone to reach out to every once in awhile, even if it's only virtually.

I love my husband and two kids, enormously. But I love being alone, too, and for long stretches. It's what feels natural to me, a former happy loner. This was my biggest concern before getting married: could I live with someone, or several someones, for an extended time, no matter how much love was involved? To my relief, I discovered having a family, and living with them, is lovely... but only most of the time.