Ages & Stages

I swore I would never be that parent who gave their child a phone or a tablet in a restaurant, but here we are. Here we are also getting stares dragging my twins through a restaurant barefoot because they keep throwing their shoes. No one tells you just how tough the 2- to 4-year-old stage is, especially when you have three toddlers under four. Yes, I got told about the ‘terrible twos’, but I had no clue what it meant. Whether I would be a stay-at-home mom or doing what I am doing now, which is working multiple jobs, this current stage is hard… period. I have 2-year-old twin boys and an almost-four-year-old boy. A typical day for me is getting woken...

I’m in baby jail- four years and counting. What is baby jail? It’s this precious, exhausting, all-consuming, finite period of time when it is all about the babies. It has to be: they need to be fed, rocked to sleep, be bathed, be changed, be entertained, be soothed, all while Frozen plays in the background. Baby jail is 24/7; a chore-intensive existence without breaks. In baby jail, going to work is a vacation. When I go to work as a CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) counselor, I am busy breaking down clients’ issues into their thoughts, their feelings, and their behaviors to help improve their quality of life. At times, there are challenging sessions. However, while at work, I do not clean up...

My husband always tells me “We’re just working ourselves out of a job!” Even though, as a mom, those are not the words you want to hear, they are spot on! We are raising tiny humans to be able to live on their own in society. One of the things I do is include my kids in chores. Everyone from the six-year-old to the two-year-old helps with household chores. What’s even better? They love them, they think it’s fun and I’m not telling them the truth!!! Here are some easy chores to get your kids involved in and also take a little piece of your plate! Folding Wash Rags:: When I have a load of towels in the dryer, I round...

“Mommy?” Oh no. It hit me the second my 7-year-old’s voice drifted downstairs the other morning at 6:30 am. A sinking sense of dread filled me. I had failed as a parent. Failed to perform my sacred parental duty and keep the magic of childhood alive. I forgot to be the Tooth Fairy. How could I have forgotten?! My son’s second front tooth had fallen out during dinner for goodness sake. My husband and I had even reminded him to put his tooth under the pillow so the tooth fairy would come and get it. And we forgot. I raced up the stairs to find my son trying not to cry as he explained that the tooth fairy had failed to...

There are so many nights when I finally get to lay my head down that I’m covered in mom guilt. I run through my day and wonder if I made the right decision. I wish that I hadn’t yelled over something so silly. I wish I would not have been so quick to spank. I wish that I would’ve said yes more. I wish that I wouldn’t have let them have so much screen time. All these things play through my brain and I wonder “am I a good mom, and am I ruining my kids?” I’ve started to really pray about these thoughts just throughout my day. My heart kept telling me to stop worrying about the heavy stuff...