Mom's Timeout

Sometimes parenting is messy. I’m not talking about the sticky fingers and spilled juice boxes. To me, messy seems to be the best word to describe those moments when you find yourself praying no one is watching. The ones when you feel guilty for giving your kid the cookies for lunch, but you just couldn’t […]

I have a little boy. He’s two and a half and he’s amazing. I used to think I wanted a girl. Most of the time I was pregnant, I thought I was having a girl. When my son was born, like most moms, I was instantly in love. I dove head first into all that […]

I’ve started saying I have two beautiful kids instead of one. My husband keeps correcting me. “We don’t know what she looks like” he says of the child I’m still carrying. “She might look like an alien” he jokes.  I don’t care what she looks like, she’s beautiful. How could she not be? She’s an […]

Have you managed to survive the toddler years? Is your house still in tact? Are you smack in the middle of them right now? Think you’re going to live to tell about it? There are tons of totally annoying things that toddlers do, that’s for sure. They’re both adorable and obnoxious at the same time. […]

I’m a big fan of following the rules. Call me crazy, but I believe most rules are in place to keep us safe and help everyone have a great time. As moms, we often make the rules for our kiddos. We usually expect them to follow the rules. However, we tend to romanticize the “rebels” […]

We all want our kids to be independent eventually. It’s hard to imagine a day when my son won’t need me. We’re in the trenches of the toddler years and some days I feel like I can’t go 10 seconds without hearing “Mommy! I need you!” Far off as it may seem, the day will […]

I’m having a little girl in October. Suddenly, I find myself worrying about things I never thought about with my son. I’m starting to change the way I talk about my own body, in an effort to help my daughter establish a positive body image. That’s no small task in today’s airbrushed swimsuit model society. […]

In light of the recent “free range” parenting trend and the fact that June is National Safety Month, it’s important that we ensure our children know what to do if and when they get lost. A quick search of Pinterest can help you learn how to use a temporary tattoo to put your phone number […]

Have you ever considered what you’d be missing out on if you didn’t have kids? I’m sure you can think of at least a few things, right? Buying Cheerios every time you go to the grocery store. Doing a few extra loads of laundry each week because somehow kids manage to go through a half […]

I love my son’s daycare. I love the teachers and the activities. I love sneaking in at the end of the day and seeing him playing with his friends. For that matter, I love that he’s spending so much time with kids his own age. When I drop him off each morning, I know he’s […]

Watching your little ones grow up is so bittersweet. You’re amazed by them and oh-so-proud, but you also grieve each passing age and stage. I remember the first time it actually dawned on me that I had an almost one year old – almost one, I tell you – when did that happen? That’s what I mean. […]

Being a mom isn’t easy. In fact, it’s arguably the hardest job in the world! Thinking about parenting “the easy way” immediately sets off alarms in my brain. I’m thinking “Easy means lazy right?” It sounds totally negative. But there are some tricks we can use to make this parenting job easier! There are habits […]

These days we’re always looking for new ways to entertain the kids. There are hundreds of summer camps, community programs, and more to help you fill your summer calendar. Do you ever feel like you’re more like a taxi cab driver or a camp counselor than a mom? Do you ever wish you were having […]

What happened to that list of things your mom said? You know, the stuff you swore you’d never say to your own kids. It didn’t take long after my son’s second birthday for me to realize I was quickly chipping away at that list. If you’ve already realized you’re probably going to say everything your […]

We spend a lot of time worrying that we might be screwing up our kids. In truth, we know it’s sort of inevitable. I like to think that the point is just not to do it in the same way my parents did. You know, sort of to put my own spin on it. If […]

You wake up one morning and somewhere between the extra whining for no reason and the daily game of “get dressed freeze tag,” you realize you’re in the middle of the dreaded terrible twos. There’s a lot to love about this stage in childhood & parenting, but there’s also a lot you loathe. Like the […]

Go Ahead and confess – are you a lazy mom? Do you take a few shortcuts here and there? Have you done some things that you’re less than proud of to save time? I’m willing to bet there’s not a mom among us who hasn’t. I stripped my son one day and tossed his clothes […]

Do you remember the days before you had kids – you would be sitting in a restaurant having a peaceful dinner and all of sudden someone’s toddler would throw their body on the floor and start flailing their arms and legs and screaming at the top of their lungs? The parents would try to calm […]

I remember having a conversation with a few friends one day – all of whom have little boys. We were talking about whether or not it was socially acceptable for boys to play with dolls. Obviously, I use the term “socially acceptable” loosely because gender equality and double standards go hand in hand. Why is […]

When you’re a new mom, you start with a nice clean slate. You’re determined to get everything right. You think you’ll never make the mistakes you see other moms make. About the same time you start that list of “I’ll never” stuff, you start another similar list too. It’s a list of lies. You tell […]