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The Twelfth Fourth
Joe and I have now been married 12 years. That’s quite a chunk of time. We still like each other, we still laugh together, and we are still each other’s favorite. We’ve also now had kids for 75% of our marriage, so it’s no wonder the image of “us” gets overshadowed by the loudness of, struggle in parenting, and exhaustion from “them”. We love and enjoy our kids, but let’s face it — kids are constantly trying to be their own persons and dominate the environment (and people) around them, and parents when not saying “yes, sure, yes” are treated as a blockade to those goals. Some days I feel…
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Capable
I am capable. This is something I occasionally have to remind myself. Years ago during the baby-making months, I wasn’t allowed to do things like lift heavy weights, change the cat litter, eat lunch meats, float down a river in an inner-tub or stand on ladders. I also put pottery on hold during my pregnancies out of fear of the possible effects of the glaze and clay dust. Near the end of one pregnancy, I decided to install a shower hook in the bathroom using a power drill. I lost balance and smashed my thumbnail with the drill bit. I’m lucky I didn’t drill right through my finger! I decided at that…
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Books for boys
This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through my affiliate links give me a small commission to help run this blog, but don’t cost you any extra. This week my oldest boy turned eight, and the one thing that I caught myself surprised by was the gifts drastically changed. While previous years have brought Lego kits, this year brought books and gift cards for books. In fact, he and his second grade friends take pleasure reading to school every day. As soon as they finish their classwork, they whip out those books and dive back in. They lend out their favorites to each other, make recommendations and talk about them. I…
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Am I doing this right?
When I was a brand new mama, I spent the first six months seeking answers from google, online forums and a friend who was a couple months ahead of me and had read far more parenting books than myself. I struggled to have confidence in the job I was doing. The strength of opinions coming at me from all sides undermined what little confidence I had in my abilities to be a good mom. Other than other panicked mothers on baby forums posting pictures of odd rashes and five-minute play by plays of their baby’s fevers, I came across very few parents who would, in a place of vulnerability, offer…
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How a mother should feel on the first day of kindergarten
It was the first real day of kindergarten, and the rain was pouring down. Our original plan was to walk to school, and I’d escort my proud newbie to his class. But instead, I announced that they would be dropped off in carpool and walk in together. There were no tears, no waves over the shoulder, just an efficient evacuation out the back door and heads-down determination not to get too wet. When I pulled into the garage back home, I was hit by a twinge of mommy guilt and drove back to school to go in and give my baby boy a hug. He was sitting at the table…
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Morning Garden Walk with Cameras and Kids
It is the day before the first day of school, and we’ve had a summer full on sunshine, friends, light saber battles, and swimming. It also seems to be ending just in time. Earlier in the week, the boys followed me out to the garden and begged to take pictures, so I let them. The baby indiscriminately snapped shots of everything along his path. The big boy was more deliberate. They both wanted to take shots of me. I wondered if they even noticed my raggedy sweatpants, chubby belly and puffy morning eyes as I sat on the bricks and leaned my back on the place where the house foundation…
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