Mom's Timeout

What are mommy manners? Is there a special set of manners we’re supposed to acquire and practice upon becoming a mom? Considering that there are days when I’m grateful to make it out of the house having brushed my hair rather than just wrangling it into a “messy bun” … Let’s just say that a […]

You open your mouth and you’re pretty sure that words came out.  In fact, you can hear yourself. They ignore you.  Then you hear yourself repeating what you just said, again, but louder this time. And repeating again, raising the decibel level even more.  Finally, you are yelling and you start to feel like a […]

It’s a full-full-time job with no days off.  You get no sick leave and no vacation days. You will have to care for tiny, monstrous dictators whose demands are ridiculous and repetitive.  They will yell, scream, cry and generally disturb your peace of mind. Sound good?  Oh, did I mention that it is a volunteer […]

When my daughter was growing up, up until she was about 8 years old, she called me “Mama”.  I mourned the day that morphed into just plain, old “Mom”.  Do I answer to Mom?  Absolutely.  Otherwise, I’d probably be hauled in by CPS for neglecting my child. On the flip side, I love being called […]

At times, this gig called “Motherhood” is incredibly taxing. We, as Moms, are expected to be Superwomen while channeling June Cleaver. We’re not allowed sick days or vacation days. Some of us are employed outside of the household, others maintain the household; some of us are flying solo, while others have partners to shoulder the […]

If you have ever experienced colic, you know how incredibly exhausting it can be.  When my daughter was an infant, her colic began at 2 weeks, escalated for another 4 weeks, and ended when she was about 3 months. I was supposed to stay with my parents for the first 2 weeks of her life, […]

What is a MBFF? She’s your mom best friend forever.  I’m lucky enough to have a few of these awesome women in my life. I don’t know what I’d do without them. If you’re like me, your best friend is someone you’ve known for years. She was around long before you earned a mom title. She’ll […]

Is parenthood stressing you out? No worries. It has that effect on all of us. After a while, our days become a blur. We spend so much of our time trying to do it all – trying to be everything to everyone and, sometimes, it’s easy to forget what’s actually important. We don’t have to […]

I know, at least to some degree, I was guilty of this before I had my son. I guess I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how much of a balancing act it really was to work and raise a family. Who would’ve thought? To this day, I’ll never forget […]

Here’s the thing about housework – it multiplies while your sleeping. Regardless of how good your intentions are, you can’t keep up with it. Keeping things cleaned up becomes difficult after the first baby and practically impossible after the second one. You try, though. Every day, you do the dishes, throw a load of laundry […]

Whether or not being a mom is a job seems to be a source of contention among women everywhere – some say it is and some say it isn’t. As far as I’m concerned, it’s what you want it to be. If you want to call it a job, have at it. If it pains […]

I come from a long line of teachers and nurses. These women valued education and caring for others. These were smart women, often ahead of their time. These women were also excellent homemakers. They very often managed careers when it wasn’t popular for mothers and wives to do so. These brave, strong women who paved […]

This has been one of those weeks. You know the ones I’m talking about. Nothing goes right and everything seems somehow difficult and overwhelming. Everyone’s been sick for two weeks now and a certain little someone is teething to top everything off. As if one isn’t bad enough, the combination of the two makes an […]

Are you constantly setting goals and always trying to better yourself? Do you sometimes get frustrated along the way? Sometimes I think that something is going to be so simple and yet I find myself almost dreading the process. Other times, I can’t seem to motivate myself to get started and when I finally do, […]

Ever had those weeks where you can’t seem to get anything done?  Okay, let’s be honest – months and sometimes even years go by without some tasks getting checked off.  Instead of feeling like a failure, let’s explore some options. Here are the top 10 solutions for me, by me: 1. Cloning.  This tops the […]

After I became a mom, I started going natural.  I started getting nervous about all the chemicals around our home that my baby might come into contact with. Gradually, I started changing things. We have chosen a natural or “green” method or replacement for most things in our home at this point. However, I have […]

Over the course of the last year or so, I’ve definitely realized just how important time management is to successfully balancing work and family. The better you are at managing your time, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to fit everything into your already hectic, over-scheduled days. You can read five of […]

As far as I’m concerned at this point, I seriously need to stay away from Pinterest. There are few things worse for a creative/DIY-type than a website with millions of ideas that result in even more unfinished projects. There’s no doubt in my mind that things like that tend to get people like me into […]

How many of the ten million things that are on my to-do list are actually going to get done today? Not enough of them, I can tell you that much. I’m starting to notice a shocking trend in life now that I have both a full-time job and a little one – a woman’s work […]

I stumbled across your blog and I couldn’t help but click on your story. I read your words in their entirety and I tried to put myself in your shoes. It sounds to me as though you felt that your children didn’t appreciate what they did have. You packed up every single thing – all […]