My step-daughter called me a witch. Technically, I wasn't called a witch to my face, it was in a notebook that was a makeshift journal. I didn't mean to read it. It was an honest mistake.
I walked into my step-child's room and saw a spiral notebook on the desk. I thought it was for school. I flipped it open to see which class and if I should bring it to the school or if the class had already passed. "She is such a witch," jumped out at me. It went on, but I garnered all the self control I could muster and closed the notebook. She had never spoken to me like this, and she definitely doesn't use the...
I believe the virtue of patience was gifted to me when my daughter was born.
While I have patience in parenting, I am not a patient person by nature though.
Put me in a traffic or in a long shopping line and I am a maniac. Put me in crowded Target though with a toddler throwing a temper tantrum and I’m cool, calm, and collected. I recently found the limit of my patience, though, in the phrase "my socks hurt.”
I hear this statement every. single. morning. Sometimes through tears and other times gently. But without fail and no matter the tone, I hear about the extreme pain caused by the soft, plush cotton wrapping her sweet little feet.
Fuzzy socks, ankle socks, knee...
From the moment we found out we were pregnant with our first, my husband and I were elated! We couldn't wait to share our exciting news. I even remember complaining that I wasn't showing yet -- I wanted the world to know and share in our excitement. Nine months felt like an eternity. I was so ready! What I wasn't prepared for were all the Negative Nancies (and Normans) who would inundate us with ominous prophecies about what parenting would bring.
It didn't matter how happy we were. It was as if they wanted to bring us back down to earth from the cloud we were floating on. And every statement seemed to begin the same way:
"Just wait ... "
When...
I lead a double life.
I am the sister to twins, the wife of a twin, and now mother of twins. Things have come in twos all my life.
I like to think that being a sister of twins and then marrying one prepared me for the role of raising twins. I’m not sure anything can really prepare you though. It’s double the trouble and twice the diapers. Double the tears and twice the tantrums.
It’s double the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thankfully, I have a mom and mother-in-law to compare notes to. Their experience and perspectives from raising twins have been helpful for advice, a shoulder to cry on, or just an encouraging word or two.
So yes, sometimes it’s double...
You know what's annoying? When your kids don't know how to fix their own food. You'd think they'd adapt more quickly given that they need it to survive. Nope. Over time and motivated purely by a selfish desire for more sleep, my husband and I started showing them how to crack eggs and flip pancakes.
But we never assumed that they come out of the womb knowing how to fix Pop-Tarts. Even when motivated by their hunger, kids still need to be taught. They require modeling and inductive lessons. They need positive reinforcement and even negative consequences about every. single. part. of life. Even the simple ones. It took work. Intentional, exhausting, repetitive work.
Yet parents often assume that gratitude comes embedded...
Around Baton Rouge
Following The Pink and Gold Sparkly Road : How Joining a...
The Pink and Gold Sparkly Road : How Joining a Local Dance Krewe Enhanced my Life
Three years ago, I was recovering from a devastating...
