Encouragement

Recently a wise friend told me that I had to be brave.  We were having a conversation about feeling pulled in multiple directions, and she said that “Brave” was my word.  She then asked me what that meant in my life.  After some thought, I replied, “To write and call myself a writer.” Quite simple really, or it looks that way when typed out in front of me, but truthfully it is much harder.  Writing has been a simmering passion in me since I was ten years old.  Repeatedly though, I have turned down the flame only for it to bubble back up to the surface.  Whether it is fear that turns the knob or doubt or busyness or procrastination, one...

van.i.ty noun excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements the quality of being worthless or futile My conversation with a local professional photographer: Me - “I can’t believe women aren’t knocking down your door to have their portraits done!” Photographer  – “Many women don’t want to seem vain.” VAIN?!? That was the last thought on my mind as my sister and I experienced a wonderful bonding afternoon having our makeup and hair done. We posed for “beauty” portraits and left giddy and feeling great about ourselves. This was a birthday present for my sister. Of course, everything is more fun with a friend, so I had to suffer through it. My mother was the one who encouraged us to buy the prints from...

Oh, the things we say before we have kids. We stroll past kids throwing tantrums or baby-sit our neighbor’s bratty children and say to ourselves, “When I have kids, I’ll never do ” So easy to say those things before we actually have a screaming child melting down in the grocery store or one who won’t sleep more than two hours in a row or who has a weird-looking number two diaper. Here are a few things that I swore I’d never do as a mom, before I had a child: 1. Let my child sleep in our bed I haven’t totally gone off the deep end here, meaning that my husband and I don’t spend every night with our son...

There is no denying that we live in a digital age. We are always "plugged in" connecting with friends, shopping, and watching the latest news. Just take a quick glance around any public establishment and it's obvious that technology has taken over our lives. As we raise our children in this fast-paced, all-access world of technology, it is inevitable that social media has an impact on our role as parents. Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter...social media affects every minute of every day and inflicts a constant pressure for us to put our best virtual foot forward. As a mom, I rely on social media more often than I'd like to admit for recipes, parenting tips, and on the really tough...

My son is almost 14 months old, and he's finally sleeping through the night (11 hours) and taking 2 one-hour naps a day! Our road was a long one, fraught with uncertainty, guilt and exhaustion but looking back on it I don't have any regrets and I really don't think I made too many mistakes. Maybe that's just my optimistic predesposition, but I know my son and through it all I did what was best for him. Here's our sleep story. I hope my personal experience can encourage someone else because I believe the biggest mistake I made was to second guess myself. Before he was born, I read Babywise and I knew that's what I wanted for my child. I wholeheartedly agreed...