parenting

  • A day in the life: questions from a 4-year-old

    A day in the life: questions from a 4-year-old

    Layla’s been home with me while I worked for a solid 6 months this year due to the pandemic. I’m sure I will look back on this time fondly, but to be honest, it’s been exhausting! While she’s generally a bubbly, funny, sweet little girl, her curiosity and questions have narrowed my vocabulary basically to…

  • It’s been awhile…

    It’s been awhile…

    …Since I wrote about my daughters. This blog started out as a pregnancy blog with Skyler way back in 2007. It made the obvious transition to mom blog but I eventually got out of habit of updating it. Life got busy and crazy and then Layla came along and I just quit writing about this…

  • Anxiety attack

    Once it had subsided I tried to explain it But the words made no sense Failure Drowning Tightness Suffocating Tears Heavy Frozen “What triggered it?” I don’t know. Maybe that thing… But that doesn’t seem enough Maybe everything… But then I am ungrateful I have a good life And should not feel this way. The…

  • Humanity

    It was sunny and a humid 93 degrees as I was driving along Bannister Road and moving slowly through thick traffic. Stopped at a light, I observed the backyard of a townhouse where a middle-aged man was on his knees in the grass with a not-yet-inflates swimming pool spread before him. He was fiddling with…

  • Presence

    I miss you when I am away Your laugh Your smell Your touch The Golden hazy image of your smile and curls warm my soul I dream of our next moments together Envisioning the wild perfection that you are And then you are next to me The buzz of your breath and voice and body…

  • Reasons I suck as a mom lately

    The other night I got home and was having a pleasant conversation with Ronnie while he was preparing dinner and Skyler interjected “Yay! You’re in a good mood!” and I immediately felt embarrassed and ashamed that it was such a rarity lately that she was excited enough to call it out. To hammer the nail…

  • Spring fever

    It’s Saturday night and I’m already feeling a mixture of cabin fever, exhaustion, and just plain irritability about everything in sight. I’ve worked from home too many times to count this year with both girls (and sometimes Ronnie) stuck at home with me due to sicknesses and weather. As grateful as I am that’s it’s…

  • This moment in time

    My daughters – so alike and so different. And changing so fast. I see the Facebook Memories from 1 year ago to 5 years ago and I’m transported to another world. Even one year ago and I cannot believe how much has changed. So I need to document these things, before they are distant memories…

  • Grip Strength

    The days here at the hospital seem to follow a pretty consistent up and down roller coaster pattern, and today has been one of those days. It started out great, with an update from Layla’s nurse that she had made good progress eating from the bottle overnight with minimal puking. Poor girl is trying to learn to…

  • Can’t Have Nothin’ Nice

    Since Skyler joined our world a few years ago, we’ve basically given up on having a nice and well-decorated home. It’s just not practical. Between puke, pee, endless amounts of spilled food and drinks, and drawing utensils, most things we have in this house are ruined. The area rug in the living room is stained…