I missed it—the first basket my son ever scored in an actual basketball game. And for weeks I have felt like a failure. It would be one thing if I had missed the game for a good reason. You know, I was absent because I was stranded on the side of the highway, trapped in my crushed vehicle which was …
Wipe Your Own Butt, Kid! Love, Mama Bear
If there were a prime candidate for the least likely woman ever to be a butt wiping, snot sucking, poop inspecting mama bear, not to mention keeper and protector of small children, it would most definitely be ME. I never babysat. Like ever as a teenager. And I can only distinctly remember babysitting a grand total of two times when …
5 Ways Shape Mags Is Developing Children’s Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills
Thank you Shape Mags for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are mine alone. Kids amaze me because what their tiny minds are capable of is astounding. One of my children in particular is quite the inventor. He can take the most random odds-and-ends from around our house or yard and deconstruct, build, and ultimately wield them into newfangled, …
4 Common Mistakes Parents With Young Children Make
Defeat. Never has the impact of this word struck me as forcefully as it did when I found myself recently staring into the mirror… or maybe it wasn’t exactly a mirror…more like a miniature version of myself… one of my children to be 100% accurate. But it might as well have been a mirror. The words, “Are you kidding me?!” …
That Time My Kids Hurt My Feelings
“We don’t want you. We want Daddy! Why can’t YOU go to work and Daddy stay here with us all day?!” And just like that, my entire day was ruined. I suddenly felt like I was that awkward junior high kid picked last in dodgeball… who then gets pegged square in the face by the first ball hurled in her …
What Mom Really Wants for Her Birthday
Thank you to the various shops for the complimentary items. As always all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. There comes a time when birthdays just aren’t the same as they once were… and that time is called motherhood. Let’s face it. Nobody else is scouring Pinterest to plan the perfect birthday bash for us. Oh no. We sure …
To the Mama Who Can’t Fix It All
I am a “fixer,” as are you, Mama. We are the booboo-bandagers, the household organizers, the finders of the lost pacis, baby dolls, keys, basically EVERYTHING under the sun. They lose it, and we find it. Isn’t that how the world turns? We were made to fix it all… or at least that’s how it feels most days. And when …
How to Survive Post-Vacation Blues
There’s no place like home. Maybe you get the warm fuzzies when hearing, reading, or experiencing these five words. Most people do. But right now, that quote isn’t exactly my motto of the day. I am undeniably suffering from the post-mom-vacation hangover. I feel guilt and sadness—guilt because, quite frankly, being home stinks at the moment… literally and figuratively (there …
How Pinterest Ruined My Life
That’s it. I’m breaking up with Pinterest. In the beginning, it was all new and exciting and filled with hopeful promises of high class 3-course meals using just 4 easy ingredients and tutorials on how to transform my trailer into a mobile mansion with a countryside cottage feel and educational tips that guaranteed my children to be Beethoven-playing prodigies before …
4 Ways to Make Time for God When You’re a Full-Time Mom
Lately, I’ve been feeling guilty and have poured my energy into inward reflection and searching. Although this can be detrimental if the focus remains mainly on the negative, this time of speculation has drawn my insecurities and shortcomings to the surface, enabling them to be plucked from my overly-clenched palms. The biggest flaw that has seeped out into the open …