When Celebration and Grief Collide
My daughter’s birthday is in November. As any mom, I get excited as her birthday gets near. But for me, her birthday is a time when celebration and grief collide.…
My daughter’s birthday is in November. As any mom, I get excited as her birthday gets near. But for me, her birthday is a time when celebration and grief collide.…
It is hard to know where to begin with what I have learned about formula feeding since April 2021. See that was the month that I launched a local nonprofit…
We hear moms say it all the time… “I had children and I lost myself”. I get it. I’ve seen so many women in therapy who feel this exact same…
The milestones of being a girl mom and raising daughters is priceless. Parenting comes with surprises every turn. Imagine my new delight at the engagement of my daughter. A feeling…
Boredom: the state of feeling wearied by dullness, tedious repetition, and apathy. Synonyms include apathy, indifference, disgust, lethargy, and monotony. Thanks, dictionary people. What a downer. How can any of…
It's been two years since my twins moved into college dorms and began "adulting" as they describe it. These years of empty-nesting were supposed to be relaxing and stress-free. I…
"When we look at our big kids, we still see our babies, too. This double vision is one of the most profound privileges of parenthood. We gratefully turn to fresh…
To the mom parenting without a village, I see you. I want you to know, I long for that close circle of support too. My husband and I are raising…
I’ve been counting down the years, watching them turn into months. Always keeping my eye on the proverbial clock that’s been ticking away since she was born. And now, according…
Were you one of those kids that couldn't wait to get the school supply list? Run to the store and gather all those clean crisp notebooks and markers? Well, I…
As things are opening up and people are beginning to reconnect, why not start a new women's book club? Meet with your current circle of friends. Create new connections virtually…
Dear Mama, You are in such an intense season of your life with these precious babies. Diapers, sleepless nights, napless days, every bodily fluid imaginable. Juggling more than 1 person's…
The day that all older women told me about arrived recently...my fourth and last baby has graduated from high school and will quickly be out on his own. While endlessly…
Admittedly, I’m lacking confidence as a parent at the end of this school year. Yes, school during a pandemic has been more than just confidence-shaking. But for me it has…
Everyone you will ever come in contact with knows something you don’t. You can learn from all of them, even if it’s only that they don’t belong in your life.
What does maternal exhaustion mean? Well, I knew that I needed to face this topic for the last six months. Instead of writing, maternal exhaustion has been where I’ve lived.…
"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain." Viviane Greene Today on April 2nd, 2021 World Autism Awareness Day,…
Our dog died and I had no idea I’d feel so sad. I knew my kids would be sad to lose our pet, but I really didn’t expect to be.…
Two of my husband's children are acting like a**holes. Sure, they're my kids too and right now I am shifting parental ownership to their father. I am sick of the…
Something happened this year at school with my daughter that got me thinking about respect among women and girls. The simple concept of respect is the admiration for someone’s abilities,…
I have been a divorced single mom now for 18 years. My three daughters are adults now. My former husband and father to my children lives out of state. Basically,…
Warning: traumatic birth story detailed below. Please read on with caution as the material or descriptions may be triggering. Every January, as his birthday draws near, I have a tightness…
I was 26 years old when I birthed my daughter, the final child we were to have...the icing on our cake. She was, like her older brothers, a joy to…
I am tired. There, I said it. It’s not like me to publicly admit such a thing. I am strong and independent and I do my best to soldier on…
I am once again reminded that there is beauty in the every day moments as I watch the sunrise while holding our 8 week old. It is the ordinary, every…
In one week we will move my only child into her college freshman dorm room. We will unpack, joke, arrange, laugh, bicker and organize. We will make sure she is…
When I was in college I got pregnant with my daughter. I gave birth to her at the beginning of my senior year of undergrad. From that moment on my…
One of the biggest obstacles my clients face is what to do when they send their little ones to daycare. They are often found wondering how they are going to…
"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might…
I do have to brag that my kiddos have been great sleepers from a very young age! But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have setbacks and tired nights here and…
Early in the lock-down, I realized that I had no area in my house to "take" my yoga class. Work was from home, college was from home, high school was…
Having recently spent a week in the hospital with my daughter, I started thinking about a parent's unending love and support. Even now, as a grown woman and parent myself. …
“When you parent, it’s critical you realize you aren’t raising a “mini me,” but a spirit throbbing with its own signature. For this reason, it’s important to separate who you…
Raising kids is a high-stakes responsibility and in this age of social media and easy access to information about anything and everything, parents are easily overwhelmed with feelings of guilt…
One mom’s two cents to get you through those last few tumultuous adult teen years. Parenting is hard. Parenting adult teens is hella hardest. And those last few years will…
I was fourteen years old as I stepped off the school bus. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I had just experienced deep rejection. Behind me, the voices of former…
Ahh, sleep deprivation. A sleepless state of existence that is near and not-so-dear to my heart. As a matter of fact, I don’t know that I’ve met many individuals who…
Let’s talk about how to keep your marriage thriving, and some tips for special needs parents. Let's face it, having a good marriage does not come easily. Add to that…
In a New Year’s quest to declutter, my husband and I decided to sell our piano that had been sitting in our house collecting dust for more than a decade.…
“One day you’ll tell your story of how you’ve overcome what you’re going through now and it will become part of someone else’s survival guide.” -Unknown This quote resonated with…
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.Ram Dass Losing My Voice; Literally Last week, I lost my voice. And I mean that in the literal sense. I went…
Our children are miracles. They make us proud, frustrate and challenge us and they teach us a lot about ourselves. However, they are not ours to keep. We don't own…
It is the most magical time of the year and notably the most stressful for many. If you are raising an autistic child then you have some added stress that…
I wrestle with the best way to make Christmas magical while not going overboard. Every year I struggle: To give or not to give.
Dear Mama, I see you. Talking with your mama friends about your kiddos starting school this year. Them telling you how much they cried and didn’t know what to do…
My daughter started Kindergarten this year and it really caught this Kindergarten Mama off guard. Not the typical feeling of how much I will miss her or how hard it…
People often ask me how I “do it all” or how I “keep it all together," and I’m just going to be honest from the start and tell you my…
We are coming up on five years since having a baby at twenty-three weeks gestation. Every year, my processing takes off another layer from the pain of that situation. My…
No doubt, traveling with young children can be stressful and even overwhelming. However, over the last few times we have traveled, I have found a few tips that truly helped…
On one hand I’m the helicopter mom, full of anxiety that something horrible will happen to my children. On the other hand, I encourage my daughter’s to travel the world and…
Admittedly, I don’t do this enough with my own kids, but I am still a huge proponent of getting out into nature and experiencing our beautiful state of Colorado! And…
I have a vivd memory from my childhood of going to a birthday party with my parents for someone who was turning 40. There were black balloons and black signs…
Teenagers! For me, it's an experience beyond anything I could have ever imagined summed up into one word. I have a rebellious teenager that likes to push boundaries. If something…
I've made a list of my ten confessions as a boy mom, but I think it is important to note that I grew up in a family of all boys,…
Hello! It started innocently enough. We were two 19-year-old college freshman, and we only had eyes for each other. And, we had it badly. We could talk for hours about…
My dad was an Air Force colonel, a fighter pilot and a Vietnam veteran. In addition to being a proud (and dutiful) daughter, my upbringing in a military household shaped…
I’ve been formulating an article in my head about self-love and was planning to give you a lovely little list of fairly expected things you could do to start loving…