Holidays with kids, man!  What a trip. I wish I’d known so many things.  Like, so. many. things. When you don’t have kids of your own, it looks like one big holly jolly onslaught of merriment.  The truth is…messier. For example… I wish I’d known that a gingerbread house making afternoon might actually only take like, thirty minutes and not

If I were a nursing mama this holiday season (or maybe a mother-in-law shopping for her daughter-in-law about to have a baby, or a cousin searching for that special something for your cousin about to have a wee one, etc), I know for sure I’d have these things on my wishlist.  And while I may not be in the market

Dear creative new-mama self of the past, Do not despair.  You have an infant, and you feel like your whole ability to get a single task done is shattered beyond repair.  You thought you wouldn’t change after having children. You were wrong. But how amazing to be wrong! Let me back up.  Your whole life, you struggled to get writing

If we were grabbing tea together, I’d have so much to share with you about motherhood and life these days.  Grab a seat, let’s chat! Also, did I mention that your hair looks really nice today? So let’s see.  First up, happy fall, it’s the season of never-ending preschool sickness!  Sharing is caring! But also, aughhhhhhhh. Second on the teatime

Last year, my daughter was sick on Halloween.  Like, pale as an actual ghost lying on the couch and falling asleep in her costume sick, poor thing.  And while she was three years old and therefore pretty oblivious to everything she was missing out on, I was as crushed as a Kit-Kat on the sidewalk the day after Halloween.  

Ahh, Halloween.  The smell of crisp apples and leaves in the air; pumpkin spice everything; and children refusing my fantastical family Halloween costume ideas left and right.  I say we should all go as the characters from Mary Poppins, but noooo, the children want to be Dalmatians and I have to be Cruella de Vil. But, because I’m a super

Being a professional librarian means I’ve read my fair share of children’s books that are delightful, and plenty that aren’t.  And being a mama who has both breastfed and bottle-fed babies (being a foster mama means you have to be flexible with what you’d do with your biological child versus a child who’s someone else’s baby), I’m always on the

Dear New Mama, I know.  It’s so hard right now.  And the world is telling you the most important thing is your baby.  This is true in a way, but I’m also here to tell you that your experience is important too, and sacrificing your comfort and mental health is both part of parenthood (alas) and also something that you

Oof, where to even begin?  Becoming a foster mother has taught me so many things.  So many folks ask me all the time what it’s really like, as though there’s the answer, and then there’s the real answer lurking behind somewhere.  And that’s true in the sense that we all have our “I’m great, fine, how are you!” moments when

It’s the moooooooost wonderful tiiiiiiiime of the year! If by “most wonderful” we all mean “time for the child in preschool to bring back every snotty cold, gross stomach bug, and case of the Yucks from preschool to share with the rest of the family, especially the baby, most DEFINITELY the baby because *of course*.”  We all meant that, right?