Ages & Stages

I have seen a Facebook post circulating, asking “When did you first experience racism?” Due to #BlackoutTuesday I will be sharing my experience. Here is my story. Junior year prom. I had all the plans made and was ready — pictures at my parents' house with my date/high school boyfriend, then pictures before dinner with a large group of friends, dinner with that same group of friends, prom, after party, then stay at a friend's house with a large group. The night went perfectly until my mother received a call that I and my two black friends could not come over because there was no room for us to sleep. At the time, my mom made it seem like she just...

February 3rd of this year, we welcomed our sweet baby girl. She’s our third baby and, as of now, completes our biological family. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I began to worry about taking care of three kids. Even though we always said we wanted three kids, and it took a year to conceive her, the reality of three children ages five and under didn’t hit until the positive test. Throughout the months leading up to her birth, I’d try to picture what life would be like with a tiny baby. How would she fit into our everyday lives? Would she enjoy car rides or abhor them like her oldest brother did as an infant? Our oldest two are...

I can't stand when people say their kids "don't see color" ... that is a privilege my children will never have. My oldest daughter has noticed and been voicing her observations since she was 2 ... Mommy is pink, daddy is brown, she is light brown, and her sister is a little darker than her. The list goes on and on. She started noticing these things at preschool when they started learning about differences and similarities. So even though skin color was always an easy conversation to have, racism was not. I was so scared to talk to my daughters about racism. They are almost 5 and 3.5 years old; I wasn't sure how much they were going to...

Remember that post I wrote about our family being board game fiends? Well, my eight year old decided to take that obsession a step further. Blame quarantine, or all those "summer vibes" but she took it upon herself to create her very own board game--from scratch! She even found an old Amazon box to store the board & pieces in. She was fully dedicated, collecting her colored pencils, blank paper, scissors, and of course our collection of Gogo SqueeZ lids the kids are always collecting to "make something". I offered to help in any capacity she may need, which was met with a look of, "Nah, but thanks. I got this!" I wish I had had the foresight to sneak...

My son, Parker, is six years old and has never had a true “boy haircut.” As I write this, I find myself turning to the internet in search of the typical “boy haircut.” These hairstyles range from various fades, undercut, a pompadour, slicked back, buzz cut, crewcut, side part, and short and spiky. My son’s hairstyle does not fall into any of these categories. Parker was a beautiful baby with bright, clear/hazel colored eyes, chubby thighs, and the most pinchable cheeks! My husband and I heard all that time that he was just too pretty to be a boy. He was constantly mistaken for a girl, and as his hair grew, it only got worse. I would brush it off...