I’m staring at a box of maternity clothes tonight, wishing it would release me. It’s just pants and shirts made of polyester and cotton, but somehow their grip on me is tighter than iron. I don’t even like these clothes. By the end of both of my pregnancies, I hated them. That huge red T-shirt that was the only thing that would fit around my belly by the … Continue reading
Like most of you, I watched in horror as the story about three kidnapped teens in Cleveland unfolded on television. Every piece of new information that comes out about what those girls went through locked in that house for 10 years makes me sick allover again. As a mother, I can’t imagine finding out the depraved things that have happened to your precious child while you searched for … Continue reading
I had a doctor tell me recently that I was becoming quite the “Doctor Mom.” Although he said this to be funny, I knew at that moment I had landed squarely in the camp of moms who think they know everything because they have access to Google. I admit it. I am that mom. My husband loves to browse through my search history, which usually goes something like … Continue reading
First Lady Michelle Obama’s referred to herself as a “busy single mother” during an interview last week. She quickly corrected herself, saying she only feels like a single mom sometimes, but her slip of the tongue sparked a bit of an outcry from actual single moms who don’t have a husband — let alone an entire staff of White House helpers — to ease their burden. I agree … Continue reading
Well, it’s happening. The beginning of the end. The end of the beginning. Whichever way I look at it, a new era is slowly creeping in—the era of humiliating my children. I realized things were changing last week when I walked my daughter to her school after spring break. As usual, I was making up a silly song about her life. This particular rendition was something along the … Continue reading
I am not a yeller. Oh, I have it in me to be one, but thanks to my soft-spoken husband, I have avoided becoming a yelling mom. I have never heard my husband yell. Ever. His impeccable control over his emotions has taught me a lot about self-mastery and about how truly silly yelling is—especially when it comes to raising children. That doesn’t mean I haven’t snapped a … Continue reading
Dinner time is a stressful time for most families. Kids are tired. Mom is tired. Dad just got home (if you’re lucky), and everyone is hungry and cranky. So I thought it was interesting that in this weekend’s LDS General Conference, Elder L. Whitney Clayton said how precious this dinner hour should be. He said that for couples in happy marriages, “Their dinner hour and the family time … Continue reading
Choosing to stay home to raise my children is the most empowering choice I’ve ever made. It wasn’t something I fell into or felt forced into by my husband, my church or my guilt. I wanted to stay home to be a full-time mother to my children. I did not want someone else raising them for me. So, I walked away from a career I loved as a … Continue reading
I can’t shake the feeling that I am aging by leaps and bounds lately. That has nothing to do with the fact that I totally lost bladder control while on a trampoline with my daughters today. But yea, that happened, too. What makes me feel old is that I am more and more appalled by the younger generations. I seriously have to restrain myself from smacking certain teenie-boppers … Continue reading
I crave validation. I was the kid in school who loved report cards and tests. The inner me screams out for approval. Evaluate me! Rank me! Grade me! Sadly, motherhood is basically void of any such validation. There are no report cards detailing suggested areas for improvement and applauding my success. No employee-of-the-month plaque hangs on the wall, and no grading system buoys my confidence. Of course there … Continue reading