Motherhood has been surprisingly wonderful. I don’t know why– maybe it’s mass media’s depiction of harried, mini van-driving women in Mom Jeans or something– but I always expected motherhood to be exhausting. And frustrating. And thankless. Well, exhausting it is– but it’s an exhilirating, satisfying exhaustion. Frustrations have, thankfully, been minimal. And the smile on […] Continue reading →

Does anyone have any good advice on how to talk to a contractor? We have an extremely competent, very affable guy working on our house right now. We hired him in the spring to do 2.5 projects that became four (often the way when you start getting work done – I accept that some of […] Continue reading →

Fellow Mters…do you toot your own horn?  Do you shy away from compliments or thoughts of your own value?  Do you think of what can I do next, not what have I just done?  My thoughts are many regarding the ways in which we are taught to turn away from compliments regarding a plethora of […] Continue reading →

So yesterday, I was driving back from the super-big, extra-special park with my son down a busy rural(ish) highway, two lanes, 50mph.  It was dinner time. On the shoulder stood a young (13?) boy, with a pile of things and a duffle bag next to him. He was thumbing for a ride. I hesitated for […] Continue reading →

I had some morning sickness up to 16 weeks but this pregnancy is a breeze, or so I thought. Nothing prepared me for the sudden onset of illness a week last Saturday that ended up with me in hospital with a suspected blood clot on the lungs.I had a shower and suddenly felt hot and […] Continue reading →

Thursday, August 24th, 2006 was a great day. We celebrated big that night. We went to one of our favorite restaurants and splurged. We had planned to take the next day off of work anyway so we stayed out a little late and really enjoyed ourselves. The long battle wasn’t officially over, but really all […] Continue reading →

I was the nervous one. Ari was excited to start school, even jumping out of bed to get dressed. But these were my fears in no particular order: that I would oversleep — I rely on my internal clock to get up — that he would poop in his pants at school (he is not […] Continue reading →

Editor’s Note: I actually wrote this post yesterday. So it is only pure coincidence that it is compatible with our discussion today about the physical risks we would — or would not — take as parents. Also, something that has been lost in all of this tragedy: How do children best cope with the absence […] Continue reading →

Let’s discuss Markos’ comment on dailykos about the death of Steve Irwin. I’ll never understand parents who put themselves in such positions of danger knowing that a misstep can leave their children without a parent. I am not a parent, yet I can very much identify with his comment.  I lost my father over twenty-three […] Continue reading →

This is so sad: Steve Irwin, who turned his childhood passion for reptiles into the popular Crocodile Hunter show on the Discovery Channel, died when his heart was pierced by a stingray. He was 44. The Houston Chronicle ran a decent obituary on him, including the details surrounding his death. Apparently, it was a freak […] Continue reading →