Part One: Booking   Suddenly realize that you wanted to get family photos done in time for holiday cards. Discover that photographer who did the photos you loooooved last year isn’t in the biz anymore.    Sigh deeply.  Google family photographers.  Google them forever and ever and ever and ever… Find a photographer whose style makes you gasp. She’s perfect. 

I remember back when I only had one kid (which wasn’t a very long period of time because Kids #1 and #2 are only 19 months apart) and probably for a while when I had only two kids that every time we left the house, I brought supplies for any possible situation.  I had diapers and wipes and changes of

I am a very organized person.  I am Type-A and I like things to be done a certain way.  I’m not a “neat freak” by any stretch of the imagination (although sometimes I wish that I were) but I like everything to have a place and I like everything to always be in that place so that I know where

Mother Nature is one clever lady. Prior to having my own, I had never seen a newborn baby that I really thought was cute. I mean, they’re not ugly necessarily but they all kind of look the same – kind of like a cross between a worm and an alien. They’re all red and wrinkled. They look a little like

Each of my babies has come later than the one before so I wasn’t surprised when the 40 week mark came and went with no sign of Baby #4.  At my 40 week appointment I decided to schedule an induction for the coming weekend.  My doctor was on call and at that point I would be 40 weeks 5 days

Baby #3 arrived on the scene two-and-a-half-years after Baby #2.  This is the largest space between our children.  I gained a stupid amount of weight during this pregnancy (seriously; like 70 pounds) and by the time my due date rolled around, the baby still wasn’t here and I was MISERABLE.   I had a doctor’s appointment on my due date (March 26).  Based

OK, before you read any further I just have to state for the record: I do not hate dinosaurs.   Really.   Just wanted to make that super clear.   Alrighty then.   In her book How to Celebrate Everything, Jenny Rosenstratch appeals to us to do just that: celebrate everything, create rituals, connect.  But as I paged through the

When I was just a little girl I asked my mother What will I be Will I be pretty Will I be rich Here’s what she said to me Que sera, sera Whatever will be, will be The future’s not ours to see Que sera, sera What will be, will be I saw the shirt and immediately, it flew into

19 short months after Baby #1 arrived, we were ready to welcome our second baby.  It was mid-August in the desert and I was HOT.  Baby #1 arrived 9 days early so I had it in my head that Baby #2 would be similarly early despite the fact that the doctor told me on numerous occasions that that’s not how

You’re busy. I’m busy. It’s hard to make time for chats with friends. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could share a cup of tea, just you and me, to talk about how mama life is going these days? So…why not right here, right now? Okay, we’ll have to each pop our own kettles on in our own kitchens.