Real Talk

Disclosure :: World Breastfeeding Week is recognized August 1 – 7, 2016. This year, the World Breastfeeding Week theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the start of life, how to respect each other and care for the world we share. Our World Breastfeeding Week is sponsored by Woman’s Hospital. Congratulations to all expectant parents! This is such an exciting time in your life. There is so much to do while you await your baby’s arrival. There are also so many decisions to make. Have you thought about how you will feed your child? Breastfeeding is the optimal nutrition for newborns. August 1-7  is World Breastfeeding Week, and we celebrate your...

Disclosure :: World Breastfeeding Week is recognized August 1 – 7, 2016. This year, the World Breastfeeding Week theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the start of life, how to respect each other and care for the world we share. Our World Breastfeeding Week is sponsored by Woman’s Hospital.   One lazy day when my oldest daughter was about four months old, my husband and I decided to go to town (what we folks outside of city limits say when we venture into the Red Stick). I filled two bottles with breastmilk and packed up the diapers. I fed our daughter the first bottle during one of the many...

  It never fails: During the week I will go pick up lunch somewhere or get on social media and see moms with their kids, enjoying summer. I start feeling down on myself because my kids are at camp and I am stuck behind a desk. Are those kids having a better summer than mine? I work 40-50 hrs a week. Throw in gymnastics practice and renovating a house and I am one tired mama. My husband works, as well, so not much changes between winter and summer around our place. Not much in terms of lazy summer can be found in our house. Growing up my mom stayed home and our summers were spent reading, playing outside, riding bikes with neighbors...

  "My children don't notice color." This sentiment is repeated time and again, boldly and proudly. It's touted as a great parenting goal, especially when racial tensions heat up. We don't want our children to see the color of another person's skin. We want them to see everyone as the same. It's a good goal. Admirable. It comes from a place of wanting our children to be inclusive and friendly to all people. And we certainly all want our children to treat others with respect and kindness. But this particular sentiment is counter-intuitive. Seeing everyone as the same is different than seeing everyone as equal. Everyone is not the same. And what a boring world it would be if everyone were the same....

  So much negative has happened recently in the world. There has been so much death and tragedy. The news and Internet is full of loss and fear-provoking heartache. With all of that, the judgment, ridicule, and finger-pointing begin. I have read the most horrendous, judgmental things in the last few weeks and not only is it unnecessary, it is pointless and uncalled for. Instead, let's just be grateful. When I say "be grateful," I am not talking about feeling blessed by your house or your car. Those are nice things and we should be proud to own them, but we should be grateful for more than our possessions. Let's be grateful for our marriages. Let's be grateful for our families. Maybe...