Encouragement

Baby's First Plane Trip {Tips on Traveling with a Toddler} My son is active. I think he was born wanting to walk, and I firmly believe he was a difficult baby simply because he was frustrated that he couldn't get anywhere on his own. As soon as he got the hang of the walking/running/climbing thing he's been a different child. He finally sleeps at night, he entertains himself, usually by running or climbing, and he is just all together MUCH happier than he ever was as a baby. When the opportunity came for us to go visit my sister in New York I was both excited and terrified by the prospect. My level of worry was in direct correlation to his...

Motherhood is a beast. I'm giving a big side-eye to the mom who always looks perfectly put together and only talks about how fulfilling and perfect motherhood is ... I suspect you are not even human. There are so many pressures we encounter as women and as moms. There are pressures to do all of the things and do them perfectly - the right school, the right extracurriculars, the right values/politics/religion. We encounter pressures to look amazingly good while doing it al l- be fit, be sexy, be fashionable. To top it off, there seems to be an unspoken pressure to genuinely enjoy motherhood all of the time. It feels taboo to say out loud "I'm exhausted and it's hard," but I'm so done...

Whether it’s at the grocery store, driving in traffic or a Facebook message board, you’ve all encountered her. You may have even been ‘her’ a few times ( I know I have ). I’m talking about The Rude Mom. The Angry Mom. The all around Bad Attitude, Negative Nancy Mom. She’s always quick to roll her eyes, scoff at what your saying or shoot a glance that could kill any unfortunate soul who rubbed her the wrong way. Sure we all have our bad days. Sometimes when the kids are screaming in my ear, I don’t quite have the patience to deal with a well meaning stranger in the checkout lane. Or if I’m feeling particularly irritable I might not...

When I was expecting my daughter in March of 2011, I began scouring the internet for information. I discovered the What to Expect When You're Expecting site and the forums you could be part of based on your due date. Next thing I know, I am part of an online group for moms with babies due in March 2011. The big group was a little overwhelming for me. Over the next few months, we broke off into smaller groups of moms, and from that something wonderful happened! One mom created a small group of around 40 mamas and named us My BFF Mommies. This was over five years ago. I know many moms have opinions on online mom groups or forums, but these...

It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it feels like to live with major depression. Exhausting is definitely one word to describe it. I am constantly tired, both physically and mentally. I can barely get out of bed every morning, despite my husband urging me to get up and take care of our boys. "Mama, wake up it's 7:30am," he'll say. Then before I know it, it's, "Mama, it's 7:45am, time to get up." It's as if his voice is an alarm ring tone that I'm constantly hitting snooze on. In addition to being exhausted all the time, I'm also easily defeated. Things that are probably little annoyances for most people, like arguing with my son about putting his pants on,...