Toddlers

I’ve never in my life been without a dog. I grew up rescuing dogs. For a good bit of my childhood, I lived right next to a “puppy drop-off” in Pride, Louisiana. Basically, my house was near a stop sign in the middle of nowhere, so it was a great place for assholes to dump a box of puppies they didn’t want. I rescued a dog on my own to take with me to college before I even graduated high school. In college, I stopped anytime I saw an animal wandering on the side of the road. I loved getting pets back home to their owners. I loved doing my part to open South Louisiana’s eyes to the world of...

Right now you’re in the trenches. The days are so long, and if a genie popped out of your coffee cup, your only wish would be more sleep. Blessed uninterrupted sleep. It feels like that day will never come. Whether it’s a colicky infant or a toddler who climbs in your bed at 5 am every morning (doesn’t he know it’s Sunday?!), there’s always a reason that you’re forced to face the day before you’re ready. You read about people who wake up at 4:30 in the morning each day to exercise – on purpose – and you wonder how anyone is ever well rested after they become parents. When Will It End? When many finally emerge depleted from the toddler stage...

Kids really are amazing. They are so observant of the world around them and, of course, are excellent mimics. We’ve all heard tales of little ones repeating stories or words that they shouldn’t be saying. They are also great at mimicking our behavior. I’ve read the best way to teach a child to eat with utensils is to have her sit with you at the table and observe you. The same thing goes for chores, cleaning and other household tasks. Our kids really are watching what we do and are mirroring our behavior back to us. Organic Chores The first task my son ever did was to pick up the dog bowls. He watched us pick up the dog bowls every...

In February 2018 I just landed an amazing job, bought my own house, just turned 23, felt the most comfortable I ever had in my own skin, and recently retired from competing for Miss Louisiana. I felt like things had fallen into place until I found out I was pregnant. I was scared, but not for the typical reasons someone young and not married would be scared about having a baby. I had supportive family and friends. That was no issue. It felt like a death sentence. I was scared because of everyone telling me “just wait”. Everything I was told and read made being pregnant feel like a death sentence. I was generally advised to hurry up and get married, quit...

As we prepared our now three year old for her first days in pre-K3, I would play Daniel Tiger’s song “Grown-Ups Come Back” on repeat. We hadn’t spent enough time in church nurseries or MDO programs for her to really grasp the concept of getting dropped off anywhere without us.  It goes like this: Even when we go away Grown-ups come back Will you pick me up when I go to school? Yep, at the end of day because that's the rule Grown-ups come back Grown-ups come back to you Grown-ups come back they do Grown-ups come back I’ll never forget her first day and how incredibly bizarre it felt to join a carpool line for my own child. We played the song over and over as I made...