The Ups, The Downs, and Everything in Between
I survived Freshman year! Well, not mine but my daughter Maddi’s High School Freshman year. Honestly, this is no joke. It was one of the hardest most challenging years of my life. As a parent Maddi’s first year and this past year were undoubtedly the absolute hardest. At least her new born year, there were books to reference, mom groups to join and a flood of family stopping by to help. Do you remember What to Expect When You’re Expecting and all the editions following …
How did this happen? Summer is here! It seems like yesterday morning that I was walking the girls to their first day of school this year. They skipped their way down the sidewalk so excited to meet new friends and teachers! The energy around the school was contagious. My girls soaked it all up and gave me hugs and smiles and were on their way! Of course they had some new school nerves and jitters, but we spent weeks talking about how much fun …
I’m sure most of you can relate to holidays being more stressful than relaxing. Carting tired kids around to multiple stops. Making sure you see everyone and that nobody feels left out. I am very grateful and blessed that we have family nearby. I wouldn’t want it any other way. But there’s good and bad to everything, right? Running around on special occasions often means I sacrifice what I’d really like to do with my limited time. This year on Mother’s Day I was chaperoning …
When my four and a half year old Mikey woke up this morning, he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t walk because his legs didn’t work. His legs didn’t work because he was a ghost. He was a ghost because he was starving all day. He was starving because his tummy was rumbling. His tummy was rumbling because he was a ghost. This is the encounter I listened to, between my husband and Mikey this morning as I was dressing Scarlett in her room across the hall. …
Breathe Momma! Just breathe! The roller coaster of these days is enough to truly give a Mom whiplash! I’m up, up, up! I’m down, down, down! It’s go, go, go. It’s run, run, run! One minute I am flying high because of a win one of my kids had or a wonderful feeling of accomplishment at work. The next I am sinking in the quicksand of these schedules, mom mode and being the law in this house. Two teenagers, hormones, emotions, my own daily challenges …
It’s fun to joke that with time we all become our mothers, but as time passes for me I am looking forward to the transition. I have a little over a year’s worth of my own momming under my belt and in that time my admiration for everything my mother has done has swelled to new heights. Sure there are the obvious ways I’m already her – trying to overfeed everyone at parties and in general, panicking last minute and adding another side to the …
My parents divorced when my brother and I were very young, and after my dad left we never had a close relationship with him. We had the obligatory dinner together once a week, but he eventually moved out of state and we didn’t really keep in touch. But don’t feel bad for me – my mom is amazing and more than filled both pairs of shoes! I never felt that I missed out on anything not having a dad around and my mom taught my …
I’ve been writing and rewriting this blog because this does not do justice to how influential and blessed I was to have Kristine as my mother-in-law. So here it goes … Daughter-In-Love You were like a daughter coming into my life When my son married you and you became his wife. Your gift of love to me makes me think of you always As my daughter-in-love to cherish and to praise. But poetry can’t convey affection deep and real; Some things there are in …
As a hustling mom, I’m constantly trying to be at least three things at once. J’s mama, C’s wife and what you might consider a mama bear to over 400 employees at the office. All said, maybe it’s more like 460 things? Some weeks it feels like a million. This was one of those weeks. For those that hustle and work hard, you know what I mean. Things crashing in on all sides, treading fast and furious to keep your head above water and all …
Today is Earth Day! It is important that we all take responsibility and do our part today and everyday. It’s also a good reason to get the kids to clean-up the yard! I have been active in organizing recycling efforts and educating our school community for the past seven years. It’s gratifying to organize efforts that help our environment, and I’m always up to working with other parents and making new friends. It’s amazing what we can accomplish coming together and sharing our time, treasures …