The first year as a stay at home mom was the hardest year of my life. And I’ve had some tough years. The most important and helpless person to come into my life relied on me for what felt like pretty much everything. Once Dad came home in the evening, that still didn’t stop. He […]
Parenting
Spring Wildflowers to the Rescue!
In Minnesota our spring season is a little (or a lot) later than almost every other spot in the country. That can leave us staring longingly at those bare branches, willing them to bud. As someone who grew up where spring started in well, spring, I definitely longed for leaves in early April those first […]
Perks of Being a Hipster Parent
Living in a neighborhood where you’re ten minutes from downtown but can still hear the neighborhood roosters crowing, I never thought of myself as a hipster. Being surrounded by an upper echelon of hipsters that can put Portlandia characters to shame, I usually feel pretty square. Sure, I do quite a bit of canning from […]
Pregnant During a Pandemic
Pregnant! I admit that in the couple of weeks between finding out that I was pregnant and the first case of COVID-19 in my state, I would actually forget that I was pregnant. Not because we weren’t over the moon excited. Our first took three years to grace us with her presence, so finding out […]
She Needs a Hat
You’re at the store/restaurant/park/cousin’s wedding. Your child melts down over (insert any reason here). You look up and see the faces of what feels like a hundred people judging every parenting decision you’ve made up to this point. You hear someone say, “uh oh” and it solidifies your suspicion. The meltdown you can handle, it’s […]
Terribly Terrific Twos
My daughter will have her second birthday this month. Every single day is something new and wonderful, and her dad and I are beyond excited for these next few years. Yes, we’ve heard of “terrible twos” and “threenagers,” but I’m not buying it. No, I don’t have the one child who keeps her cool constantly […]
The Santa Decision
There isn’t a single aspect of raising children that we get to take for granted. Even the most mundane, daily parenting decisions that have been made over and over by billions of people for thousands of years have to get re-made by every parent every time. What we feed them, when we bathe them, what […]
Is An Apartment “Enough”?
Our language is not very descriptive sometimes. You can know someone, as in you have heard their name before and could pick them out of a crowd. Or you can KNOW someone, as in you’ve held their hair while they’re sick and delivered a speech at their wedding that had even distant cousins in tears. […]
Hiking Minnesota Before and After Baby
As a Minnesota transplant, I have a lot of catching up to do if I want to cover this great state on foot. I’ve lived here for almost twelve years now and I’m still blown away by the magic of our trails and waterways. I found out I was pregnant in May 2017. Among plenty […]
My Daughter’s Dad’s Father’s Day
Since today is Friday and Father’s Day is Sunday, today was really my day to figure out what to do for my husband. Of course my mind automatically does what most minds do and thought, “What would I want? Do that!” Then hopefully most of the time we say no, silly brain, that’s not how […]