Mom is NEVER enough
Mothering isn’t something that’s done on the margins of society, our choices some subversive act worthy of ridicule.
Category Archives: Life as a mom
Coming up for air
My life as a mama is shifting again. My baby is sleeping a little more and needing a little less, my toddler is potty trained, and both girls are finally getting used to each other. They still need me pretty much constantly, but I’m finally getting little patches of freedom. Most nights, I’m staying up after my baby. Some evenings, I’m going out with friends. On the weekends, I’m getting a little alone time.
This is a really, really good thing, I […]
Through the eyes of a mother
Once you become a mom, it’s crazy how quickly your viewpoint on everything changes. Suddenly, you see the world through mommy-vision.
I don’t just mean how this troubled world suddenly comes into sharp focus as you realize your little ones will have to live in it. Or even how you suddenly can relate more to all mothers, especially your own, and how you’re a little less sympathetic to anyone who isn’t one.
Pacing the floor at 2 in the morning, with no sleep […]
I need a sister wife!
Poor baby. She wakes up in the morning (be it 4 or 7 a.m…) cooing and crowing at the window, a giant grin spread across her little pink, cherubic face. Her feet are kicking, her arms are pumping, her heart is full of gladness and she turns to me with all of the richness of her angelic little being, eager to bask in the delight of the moment together, and who better to share it with then her mama, the […]
Saving it up for mommy
When Quinn was 22 months old, and I was 8 months pregnant, she had her first overnight stay with my parents. We figured doing it then would be better than having her first night away from us be the same night her baby sister arrived. We also thought we could get a romantic date night out of the deal (of course, I kind of ruined that by staying up all night gripping my phone as Todd talked me out of […]
Mommy is beautiful, not that it matters
A few days ago, we were getting ready to go out. Not anywhere special, really, just out with a few friends who also have kids, and we were all bringing our kids. Hubby was holding the girls at bay while I got ready. These days, that pretty much means just redoing my ponytail, putting on a clean shirt and brushing my teeth. I might smear on a little lipgloss and throw on some earrings if I can find them, but […]
So glad I’m here
My bosses and colleagues were amazing, but they couldn’t hold a candle to my cooing little being back at the ranch. Too-tight work clothes, pumping my milk in the bathroom, and the million other crazy things working mommies live through every day did not sweeten the deal.
It matters
The other day, I met a nice lady at the park and spent 10 minutes chatting with her about mothering while I pushed my toddler on the swing and held my sleeping infant and she chased the twins she was nannying. She had been a stay-at-home mom back when her three kids were little, so we did a little bit of the easy commiserating that moms often do, and talked about how much we loved being with our babies despite […]
Paging June Cleaver…
Though staying home with my kids is something I never, ever thought I would do, my new identity is mostly, and surprisingly, a great fit for me. Mostly.
Before I had kids, I spent hours wondering how motherhood would change my sense of self. The mothering part has actually been easy on my ego (relatively speaking). I am wholly a mom. I love being a mom. I don’t care if I have “mom hair” or wear “mom jeans” or any of […]
No rollover points in mommyland
Picture an average morning with your toddler: She wakes you up at 6 a.m. but you’re all grins and excitement anyway, she spills her morning milk on the ground in a move you sweetly call an accident but which definitely seems suspiciously deliberate, constructively parent through another “accident” five minutes later, keep your cool during a tantrum over having to wash hands after breakfast, then the milk is down again, play, play, play, draw a picture for grandma, constructively parent […]