Back when I only had one child, I was a wonderful mother. I could go anywhere with Princess, my well-mannered daughter, who would sit quietly and play appropriately with the toy I’d brought to occupy her as she snacked on whole grain crackers and fresh fruit. I accepted the compliments of strangers graciously. I beamed with pride at her nice manners, at her ability to wait her turn, and at my obvious mastery of modern parenting techniques. Although I knew (...Read More)

It’s 12:51 a.m. on a Sunday. Well, technically a Monday. Everyone else is asleep, and yet, here I am, at the computer. I should be asleep. I’m tired. But instead I’m up. I know I’ll pay for this tomorrow, but I’m still up. No one is on Facebook. I’ve answered all my email. I even cleaned the kitchen. I should go to bed. But it’s kind of nice to be able to do whatever I want without interruption. I like (...Read More)

Following the birth of Caveman, my cousin shared something with me that helped her through having her own little caveman. She said to remember that kids were “new” here. As such, treat them kind of like aliens. When they do things that make you think, “WTF??” just remember that they’re new here. They don’t know that’s not the way we do things on Earth. I keep that thought in mind, and it’s more helpful than you might think. Princess licks (...Read More)

Before we had kids, we had a dog. Before we had kids, I bought the dog clothes. I justified this by reasoning that we lived in Idaho at the time, and it was cold, and so obviously the dog was cold and “needed” to wear a sweater, or a yellow rain slicker, or once, in a moment that probably emasculated him more than being neutered, pink sparkly high-top tennis shoes. I also bought him Halloween costumes. One year he was (...Read More)

My husband is a really smart guy.  Seriously, he can read about something in a book and understand how to do it himself, no instruction required.  I consider myself fortunate because this ability means he can fix things around our house that would be far more expensive to have done professionally.  Sometimes, though, this blessing is a curse. No matter how simple the task, with hubby dear, it always becomes complicated. This weekend, as I was lugging both kids by (...Read More)