Co-sleeping: Safe, Healthy, and Right for My Family
Of all the things that moms struggle with, sleeping seems to be pretty high up on the list. It seems that barely a day goes by when I don’t hear or read about a mom lamenting her lack of sleep or asking for sleep advice. We have strategies, and terms for our strategies: CIO (Cry it out), Ferber Method, The Comfort Cycle, Babywise, and many more.
Compounding the confusion is a litany of conflicting advice. Babies need to sleep in their own cribs. Babies should sleep through the night. Babies need to eat every three hours at night. Co-sleeping is biologically natural. Co-sleeping causes SIDs. Lay babies on their backs to sleep. Your...
At dinner most nights, we play "The Question Game," where everyone takes turns asking a question that the entire table has to answer.
One night, I asked, "What is one thing you would like for Mommy and Daddy to do more?"
My four year old paused and then responded, "I want Daddy to read more books to me. And play more board games with me, too." Then she looked at me and said, "I want my mommy to get her haircut more."
I laughed, because I had just gotten my hair cut the weekend before on my birthday, for the first time in probably a year (and a half? 2 years? who knows). Clearly, it was just a recent activity. Then she made...
Unusual but not weird.
This was my standard for determining whether a potential baby name made the cut (aka: the iPhone note created years before I met my husband).
If it was on the Social Security Administration top 1000 list in the last 10 years, it was out. If it was on the Social Security Administration top 1000 list in the 1920's, it was probably in.
Before you question my methods, you must understand my madness. My maiden name was Ashley Anderson. As you can probably guess, I was born in the 80's. More than once, I was one of four Ashley's in my class. And heaven forbid, the teacher used the word 'actually' lest we all turn around at once. While...
I was recently watching one of my Friday guilty pleasures, "What Would You Do?" when John Quinones presented a conundrum that was near to my heart: should parents decide what sports their children play?
Here was the scenario: a kid would plead with his parent, begging to play football. The parent wouldn't allow it, citing safety reasons. The social scenario, then, was whether strangers would intervene, and, if so, whose side they would support. Although the show presents its scenes somewhat objectively, there is usually a response they're hoping to solicit. The shocker for me, though, was that they seemed to be in support of the pleading child, no matter how scientific or well-founded the parent's logic was.
I was frustrated...
Author's Note :: The below is what has worked for me & my family. They are suggestions, but as always, please follow the instructions of your child's pediatrician for managing food allergies.
We found out about our son's severe food allergies to peanuts and eggs at the doctor's office 9 years ago. We were confused and overwhelmed but after a few months, living with food allergies became our new normal. I learned how common food allergies are and that countless other families were navigating the same road.
Here are some things I learned over the years that have made our lives easier ::
Have snacks on hand wherever you go.
I stash a few of his favorite snacks in my purse in case we...
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