Encouragement

By trade, I'm a teacher. But my real job is "momma" to three amazing, stinky boys. I absolutely love teaching, but by the time May rolls around I'm craving those long, lazy summer days that I so look forward to every year. I find as my children get older these long, lazy summer days aren't so long or lazy anymore.  What is the deal? What is going on? Why? By June 1st I am quickly reminded about 8 definite things with my kids on summer break every year...... 1.  My grocery bill doubles. Okay, scratch that...TRIPLES. My three little guys don't look like they eat a lot, but obviously my grocery bill and the look on the familiar cashier's face at Winn Dixie tells...

When I was pregnant, one of the best pieces of advice I received went something like: Come to terms with the fact that every parenting decision you ever make will be the wrong one. I have come back to that idea over and over again in my six months as a mom.  There is not one right way to do anything, much less how to raise a child.  And I remind myself that people have been birthing kids and raising kids, since, say, the beginning of time.  Since before we knew about SIDS.  Before formula.  Before car seats. Here are two ways that I am trying to combat fear (and fear of failure): 1. Stop surrounding myself with information and advice that is not...

Have you ever been that mom? The one that is wandering the aisles of the grocery store, using every last bit of the week’s energy to fill the pantry…infant fussy for a bottle, toddler tugging at your shirt for every toy on the shelf? The mom that finally makes it out the store, just to realize the amount of laundry to be done, the dinner to be cooked, the bathrooms to clean? I’m sure we have all been that mom at some point in time….I also know that we all have heard about the selflessness that comes along with motherhood, but what we don’t hear too much about is the selfish side of it all. I’m not talking about...

True life: I’m not even a stay at home mom yet, and I’m already wrestling with SAHM guilt. Initially when my husband and I found out we were pregnant, the plan was for me to go back to work in a part-time capacity. I have a very flexible job and an amazing boss, so we started looking at how to make two to three days a week work. But the more we crunched numbers and made plans for baby while I would be at work, the more we realized maybe this wasn’t our best option. We just couldn’t get all the factors to line up, and quickly found that what I would be bringing home per month just wasn’t justifiable....

My husband took our 5-month-old son to the grocery store for the first time. And it went great.  He wrapped Sam up in the Moby wrap with confidence (although it took 3 tries to get it right) and strolled down the aisles with a head full of hair and curious little eyes peeking out of the papoose. All the ladies smiled at the approach of a baby-wearing dad, making comments like, “Looks like you’ve got a helper today.” My husband would respond with chuckle, “Yep, I sure do,” as he placed a can of spaghetti sauce (the Hunt’s cans are $1!) into the cart.  Husband and Sam whirred around the store together and left coming out under budget. I’ll be...