parenting, sacrifice, love, lessons learned, lessons to learn, the feels
Let me paint you a picture. It’s 4:15pm. The biggest of the kids just walked in the door, dropped their backpack directly in the middle of the doorway like a tiny passive-aggressive landmine, and announced they have a project due tomorrow. A big one. Full Disclosure, I probably got emails Read more…
Summer break sounds magical in April, even May, until you realize all of your local Summer Camps were filled by the third week of March. In Mid-June, three days into Summer Vacation, when your kid has already told you they’re bored seventeen times before 10am, the rose-colored glasses fall off Read more…
Pre-kid me was an absolute delight. So full of opinions, so many options. I didn’t want kids, per se, but decidedly, I was going to be an excellent mother, should I ever end up with kids. “My children will eat what I cook.” “Screen time will be limited and educational.” Read more…
Parenting a kid with ADHD means you’ve probably spent way too much money on stuff that promises to help and delivers exactly nothing. I’ve been there. The fidget spinners that became projectiles. The books that had some helpful knowledge but just not enough… The planner that lasted four days. The Read more…
Your children are loved in school. Regardless of ability, personality, someone in your child’s school cares deeply about seeing them thrive and become someone who does their best. The problem is that that person may now be with ten students that have greater needs than your child. I worked in Read more…
Oh, snap! What a year we just had. We began the year blissfully unaware of what was happening in our children’s school. We dropped them off, we picked them up. Largely the end of the story. That’s how it was for a while until I realized our oldest son’s outbursts Read more…
Our seven-year-old has had behavioral and learning issues since around 18 months of age. He hit his physical milestones early, but his speech was behind, he started to head bang around 18 months as well. My MIL was a headbanger, so we just made sure we could keep him as Read more…
I’m old. It’s true, as moms of young kiddos go, I’m on the old side and I get stuck in this place sometimes where I romanticize about providing my children with the same wholesome upbringing I had (even though I didn’t ACTUALLY have that). In my vision, they have an Read more…
Our 20 month old it pretty open-minded as TV goes, he doesn’t really watch it, but will come to dance. He’ll dance to the Forensic Files intro if that’s what’s on. Our Three-year-old is a different story altogether. His tastes are strong but short-lived. Here is a list of shows Read more…
I found myself cooking dinner the other night, and my three-year-old desperately wanted my attention. My 20-month old ALSO wanted my attention, and they made what seemed like countless laps between their toys and the baby gate barring them from our kitchen to see what I was doing, but moreover, Read more…
Cole had his 13th day of school on Wednesday. It would be his sixtenth, but he had the flu by the end of week 2, so we kept him out a few extra days. On Wednesday, he came home with a shiner, and small cuts under his eye. He also Read more…
It had been my understanding that it didn’t make sense to teach very young children to apologize, because, until they understand empathy, it wouldn’t mean anything. As the daughter of a Canadian, I apologize constantly… egregiously to Americans. I actually mean it when I apologize, too. I feel bad for Read more…
Its back to school season and time for all of the first day of schools photos. I love seeing them, they’re always adorable. I posted a bluefish photo of our three-year-old a day after the photo was taken, and said I was posting even though I don’t like to post Read more…
I want my kids to aim for the sky in life, but I don’t want them to aim for perfection. Perfection isn’t real, its an illusion. Maybe it drives some people, but I feel like it will always amount to disappointment. Instead, I want to be encouraging and promote improving. Read more…
My apartment was always clean…. Like ALWAYS. I used to enjoy pulling everything from where it was, cleaning everything, and then putting it back. Sometimes I would change my entire organization methods. THAT was my spare time fun. If I wanted a craft beer, I’d call a friend and I’d Read more…
After we delivered our first baby, I was only 15-20 lbs more than my pre-pregnancy weight right after I had him. I had a lot of trauma at delivery and was restricted with TONS of physical therapy for the five months following, and ended up putting back on the weight Read more…
First, a little tiny bit of back-story I think of myself as a pretty motivated person. I have some lazy attributes, but I try and put my best foot forward consistently. I am someone in the middle of a ten-kid family, and was raised in a home with three Read more…
So, anyone who follows this blog knows that not yelling has become our primary objective as parents. I felt like I was breaking our toddlers will and joy every time my volume went up, and I didn’t like it when he screamed in response. I’ve always said nice things to Read more…
I’ve never been an asshole to our two-year on….. on purpose… that’s not to say I never asked him what the hell he was doing? It’s called Pottymouth Parents for a reason, our kids will be fine… chill. I found, however, that I was hurting my child’s feelings. Not Read more…