Mom's Timeout

I don’t have Irish twins. I’m grateful that my babies are nearly three years apart. Some days, three years seems like a pretty wide chasm. Other days, I’m kicking myself for not waiting until our oldest was at least 4 to get pregnant. Two babies at the same time is an emotional roller coaster that […]

Head lice is one of those things that I’m sure every parent could live without. We’ve been blessed enough not to have to deal with it yet, but I’ve heard it’s a nightmare. Buying the treatment, missing school and/or work, and the inevitable hours spent nit-picking. From what this article is saying, the AAP revised […]

You know, we joke around about toddlers being like teenagers. I’m sure everyone’s heard the expression “threenager,” but is the reverse true as well? Do teenagers act a lot like toddlers? Toddlers do their very best to act “all grown up” long before they should. And then there are teenagers… They seem to (at least […]

When your kids come home with a stomach bug -it’s absolutely the worst! They start off the with the fever and feeling so uncomfortable. And then that horrible stomach ache creeps in and you feel so bad that you can’t take their pain away. Then…the dreadful diarrhea and vomiting kicks in…Not only is your little […]

We are outgrowing our home. We are running out of square footage. I’m not sure how I would add all the storage we need. Besides, we only have one bathroom and that won’t work for very much longer. We will probably have to buy a new home. But, as we come to the conclusion that […]

You know, being female and having other interests is, for the most part, socially-acceptable. Being male? Yea, not so much. I was and still am incredibly uncoordinated. And not at all athletic. Not surprisingly, I spent my high school years reading and writing and making art. Yep, that’s me. I never played sports and I […]

Oh, the joys of little boys! My son keeps me on my toes. He might be a hand full, but he fills my heart more than I can say.  There’s nothing quite like the bond between a mom and her son. Still, there are some things you’ve got to worry about with boys that you’ll […]

I think there’s a fine line to be walked between the Tiger moms and the Gentle parents.  There’s a place between the consequences/life lessons and the coddling/hand-holding.  I’m trying to carefully walk that line every day. It’s not always easy to know when to be firm and when to give in. It’s something I struggle […]

We’re all guilty of saying things we don’t mean. As a sensitive person, I am often fond of saying that words have consequences and I often feel deeply hurt by the things people say. The truth is, words do hurt like sticks and stones sometimes. My mom was fond of saying “because I said so” […]

We nixed the bottle as soon as we possibly could, but the pacifier stayed right where it was at. And I assure you, I really wasn’t okay with the idea to begin with. At that point, it wasn’t worth the fight… Sometime soon, though, it’ll probably be about time to tell the pacifier goodbye once and […]

I’m one of those mamas who are totally okay with co-sleeping. At least for now though, my son hasn’t figured it out from a logistical standpoint. He’s still sleeping in his crib and apparently hasn’t realized he can escape, which means no toddler bed and no co-sleeping. He goes to bed in his room and […]

I thought I wanted a daughter until the moment the ultrasound tech told us we were having a boy. I cried tears of joy and quickly adjusted to thoughts of a baby boy rather than a girl.  Still, I was a little afraid about raising a son. Fast forward three years later, I can’t imagine […]

When you’re the mother of only one child, you do things a lot differently. I didn’t realize how differently until I had my second. That’s when the whole world changes. Suddenly you realize that if you’re going to maintain any sanity at all you’ll have to let go of some control and learn to be […]

I love my husband’s parents. Really I do, but they drive me insane. Your in-laws will never quite “get you” like your own parents do. I’m not sure if it’s because I grew up with basically the same rules and we definitely see eye-to-eye on things when it comes to parenting, but I have absolutely […]

No one on this planet can drive me to the brink of insanity like my own precious children.  At this point, I have said “You’re driving me up the wall!” so many times that when I start to lose it my son says “Are you crazy up the wall, Mommy?” Yes, sometimes I am. There […]

My son is a toddler. It’s been interesting, to say the least. He’s like a tiny tornado that leaves all these little disasters. I walked into the studio one evening and seriously did a double-take as I surveyed the mess. For the life of me, I can’t wrap my head around how he can do […]

Some people think I’m strict. A few might even think I’m a little too strict. What constitutes strict in their eyes? Schedules and structure. Although, side note: that’s all gone out the window since I switched to a part-time, afternoon position. We’re still working on figuring out exactly what our schedule is supposed to be […]

OMG! I totally miss the itty-bitty baby days and all of the fun stuff we just had to have. I seriously still have just about everything. Time to have a second baby, maybe? Every mom has a different list of what her first year favorites are, but there are a few things that seem to […]

Aww… I wish I still had grandparents. I totally remember sitting with my grandma, drinking Carnation Instant Breakfast and chatting about anything and everything. I definitely miss those days. If my grandma were still alive, I’m willing to bet that we’d spend a lot of time hanging out – just her, my son, and I. […]

Disciplining our children isn’t something we like to think about. At my house, we both hatebeing “the bad guy,” even though we believe discipline is important. In the south, where we live, there’s a lot of focus on disciplining children in order to mold them into the adults we hope they will one day become. […]