Real Talk

The friendship between the young mom and the veteran mom; it happens accidentally. It is a slow start. At first, there is the Boyz II Men VS Jonas Brothers discussion. The generational gap is acknowledged. Then fashion advice is given. Only certain tennis shoes should be worn with jeans. This is a fact. At this point, a smooth give and take is established. The young mom will give all the fashion advice ever needed. Teach you what a loaded tea is and why it is needed to survive. Recommend the best drug store makeup dupes. Always know the best TV shows. Show you the right bloggers to follow. Teach you about LIKEtoKNOW.it The veteran mom will give you all the...

Navigating sibling squabbles is part of my daily life. Like many siblings, our three and six-year-old daughters are often playing happily and often fighting. And as often happens, the process of parenting our girls through hard moments reveals a lot of what is going on in my own heart as well. Learning what to say and when to say it feels like an unending journey as a mama, with plenty of opportunities to do it right and make mistakes.  The other day, we were in the backyard and our older neighbor came to say hi. This woman is precious and gentle and a bit dignified. As we chatted and caught up, the girls were playing nearby. Suddenly there was some...

The journey to parenthood looks different for everyone. For some it is an unexpected surprise for others it is the culmination of years of struggle.  No matter which side of the spectrum you’re on there are a lot of unexpected emotions. For those dealing with infertility, it’s up and down, positive and negative. Infertility steals joy, sparks fear, and stokes feelings of failure and resentment. It crushes self-esteem and makes you question yourself, it pushes you down. It also teaches you to fight, and compassion and empathy, and gratitude. You feel so isolated. You feel like you’re the only one when really you’re 1 in 8. This is how I felt. Hope to Hopeless If you look at birth control statistics...

On my daughter's birthday, yet another horrific act of violence was committed in our country. There was talk about it on social media and in the news, but I’ll be honest: I wanted a pass on caring. I wanted to take a minute to not care and to just focus on my baby’s birthday, not to mention navigating a personal health crisis. People say “I can’t care about everything” or “I can’t speak up about everything.” And while of course, that’s technically true, I find it’s often a cop-out when something feels too hard or overwhelming or controversial to engage in. Trust me, I get. I have three little kids at home full time, my husband runs a start-up that...

I’ve always been the type of person that had absolutely no idea what to do or say when a loved one was hurting. I’ve always felt absolutely useless in these situations and as if I needed to step aside and let an adult handle it. Here are some things that stuck with me during a time I needed help: Don’t try to fill the silence. My best friend once said, “There’s not anything you can say to make it better, but there’s a lot you can say to make it worse.” Just let her be sad, hurt, angry, etc. It’s kind of selfish to fill silence just because you’re uncomfortable anyway, right? Buy a houseplant. Even if a mom thinks she has...