Category Archives: Babyhood

Life without sleep

I always knew what I feared most about parenthood: sleep deprivation. No question. During pregnancy, when strangers and even dear friends insisted on peppering me with advice on all things baby, I always steered them to the topic that interested me most: How much were they sleeping? How much did their baby sleep? How could they LIVE like that? I was truly terrified, and it seemed like no amount of preparation could save me from the inevitable fog of exhaustion […]

Making space for me again

I will never forget the way it felt to finally let a little me back into my life. It took almost a year from the time my first baby was born.

Quinn was an all-consuming baby, from newborn colic and nursing struggles to restless nights and teething drama. I was bone tired and had been in survival mode for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t making deliberate choices so much as putting one foot in front of the other.

Some days that […]

Bye, bye, baby…

 “I kiss you and kiss you, with arms round my own,

Ah, how shall I miss you, when, dear, you have grown”

–William Butler Yeats

I lay in bed the other day, nurse-dreaming as Ruby suckled away at the breast. My hand cupped her head. As they often do, my thoughts rested on Ruby, too.

I remember the exact feel of her as she lay on my chest just after being born, her sweet healthy gurgle (she was born partway in her sac still), […]

The search for a lovey

For the past few months of Quinn’s life, I have been trying to get her to fall in love with something besides me.

Not that our love should dim in the slightest, but a lovey to cuddle when she wakes in the middle of the night might mean mommy could actually get more than three hours of sleep in a row.  That’s what the experts say, anyway.

I tried numerous soft blanket squares, a hybrid blankey/bear that we called Minty Bear, and […]

Want some parenting advice?

When you have a baby, everyone who has “been there” (and plenty of people who haven’t) feel obligated to overload you with advice. These are mostly well-meaning attempts to make your life easier, or at least make the bearer feel they have done their part to pass on all the knowledge they accrued.

The only problem with that knowledge is it tends to fall into the following categories: Super obvious, super crazy or super unlikely.

Some super obvious advice that most parents get is […]

Finding your mama soundtrack

When Quinn was about five weeks old, I was out walking around Greenlake with another new mama when she hit me with a revelation: She still listened to NPR all day long.

I know it might sound a little stupid, but it had not even occurred to me that I could still listen to the radio.

With the complete upheaval of my entire home and being, and the crush of total wall-to-wall sleep deprivation, I had completely forgotten that there were some […]

Just enjoying my baby

I was sitting in the locker room after a nice, long swim and a much longer and decidedly less nice de-swim. I survived the slippery, soapy baby in the shower, managed to find a dry spot amid dozens of soaking toddlers and successfully pulled Q’s tiny clothes over her cold, wet little body, and I was now wondering what to do next.

When you’re wet, the towels are wetter and the baby is dry and dressed, it’s a lot like that […]