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My children and I are on vacation. It’s the vacation I have longed for since last fall — almost a full month away from home, away from our routines, away from my war-torn house and all my obligations. We have almost a whole month to be Away, something we all desperately needed. Of course, vacations…

I’m at Scary Mommy today giving parenting advice. I try never to do that, so you know it has to be something I believe in strongly!   Battles NOT to Pick with Your Children

This week, a post by Grown and Flown’s Lisa Endlich Heffernan enumerating why she regrets staying home with her children has caused quite a stir on my personal Facebook page (and beyond). I read the post when it first showed up on HuffPost Parents, but I refrained from sharing it myself because it seemed to…

Eleven years ago today, everything changed. I bit the apple. I saw behind the curtain. After that day, I spoke in terms of Before and After. I became a mother. If five is the apex of the rollercoaster of parenting a child, eleven is when you get on a whole new ride, fear and anticipation…

Last month, my third child graduated from kindergarten. This means that, among other things, I am now a three-time veteran of the Kindergarten Halloween Parade. Three times, I have hurried to the elementary school to watch from the sidewalk as a tiny boy I love marched beside his classmates — one boy as Batman, one…

What I would like to tell my son’s fifth grade teacher at his graduation: For weeks now, my friends have asked me, “Are you sad? Are you sad the year is over?” and I have said, emphatically, “No! I’m ready. I can’t wait for summer.” My head has been filled with thoughts of mornings gloriously…

“We’re just covering our bases,” we said when we decided to make the appointment. “Just a formality, just in case. Probably nothing.” But we knew it wouldn’t be just a formality or just in case. When my second child was about three months shy of 3 years old, I took him to a private speech…

I don’t need a greeting card holiday to celebrate the mothers in my life. Except I kind of do, just because normal, everyday life sort of swallows me whole a lot of the time, and I barely have time to wash my hair and give each of the little people in my life love before…

I’m not a very good liar, especially when it comes to motherhood and parenting. Early on in this parenthood gig, I couldn’t understand why anyone would lie about mothering. Don’t we want everyone to know exactly how freaking hard this is? I wondered. If I hadn’t slept in months, if I was wearing the same…

Dear Baby Girl, You are my very last baby, and a few weeks ago, you turned one year old. Since you are still just crawling and standing, not yet brave enough to raise your foot and project forward into toddlerhood (thank goodness), I still get to call you a baby. FYI, I also get to…