Share For Mother’s Day this year, I asked for deep cleansing breaths of fresh air, for uninterrupted skies of blue, and for a day of walking wild. We live in an amazing suburb of Chicago, one I just wrote about for the May issue of Chicago Parent. The public schools are top notch. We’re close…
Share Sometimes you just have to say yes… to dancing in the rain, to jumping in puddles, to being a kid: wild, free, and full of joy. The mud splatters will wash away, a hot chocolate will warm her up, but the memories of taking a walk on the wild side will linger for years….
Share Motherhood is full of mysteries, but being the mother of a boy is the greatest mystery. Raising girls has its challenges, but their issues, their drama is familiar. There’s a been there/done that to the mean girls, the wardrobe disasters, and the other bumps in the road to becoming a woman. In many ways,…
Share Do you remember the first time you saw a bubble? Magical, floating, rainbow-hued balls that disappear into thin air, just when you get close. Of course you don’t, but somehow the magic of bubbles never grows old, especially seen on a sunny afternoon, especially when they’re blown by a proud 5-year old to her…
Share These days I’m walking around in a daze, forgetting to finish my sentences, losing my keys and my train of thought. I’m bone tired. I crave sleep like a lover. Seven months of interrupted sleep will do that to you. But the thing is, it’s not a forever thing. This is the last time….
Share I quit a job today. One of the many little jobs that total up to a small amount on the spouse income line on our tax return. I could not live off of that total, but it does allow me to feel like I contribute to our family beyond the dinners, the homework help,…
Share When we decided to try for a fourth (and last) baby, my husband surprised me by saying that he thought a baby would keep us young. “Young?” I thought, “tired, fat, and cranky is more like it.” But although I am still looking at the world through a haze of sleep deprivation, I do…
Share For the last month, we’ve been taking the Listerine Oral Challenge, trying to brush, floss and rinse twice a day. We all started with the best intentions, excited by the new mouthwashes, toothbrushes, and floss we received, and the majority of the family has adopted some new habits that should make a real difference…
Share Have your children ever had a cavity? My mouth is filled with lead fillings, but my children’s mouths were untouched until recently. Ten years of dentist check ups with no cavities. Ten years of going home with new toothbrushes and a see you in six months appointment card. Ten years of brushing the kids’…
Share Some people are just not meant to work with children. The lab worker who drew blood from my daughter today was definitely one of them. When we walked into his dark basement office, Juju’s face was already blotchy with fear and tear marks. Instead of acknowledging her with a smile, he scowled and barked,…
Share Since the furor over the Chinese Tiger Mother parenting tactics has died down, it was only a matter of time until another parenting stereotype come under scrutiny. Thanks to Pamela Druckerman’s book Bringing Up Bebe, it turns out the new target is to be the French mother. The French, after all, are fun to…
Share When my first child was born, we were living in New York City and eating out almost as often as we stayed in. Although I loved to cook, there were just so many restaurants out there that were too appealing to ignore. Bella’s birth did not slow us down in the least. We had…
Share Sleep is everything. Yesterday I almost quit everything: deleted the blog, quit the freelance, and threw away the dreams of cooking school and small businesses. The world had been painted a drab gray and filled with an incomprehensible babble of children’s voices, crying baby, and the distant rumble of passing trains. My muscles were…
Share I love the holidays but sometimes get overwhelmed with how materialistic they can become. My kids get very into making their Santa letters and to counterbalance that, I strive to find ways to give back, to include charity in our holiday planning. This year, in addition to combing through the dozens of catalogs that…
Share My sister has an amazing eye when it comes to taking pictures of children. She catches them in the most expressive poses, with one click of a shutter capturing the essence of their forming personalities. Whenever I grab my camera, I breathe deep and channel her vision, resisting the urge to ask for “Cheese”…
Share I had no idea when I married my husband that he’d make such an amazing father. I knew he was romantic, prone to big gestures, and had a giant heart, but I didn’t know how big. So big, in fact, that when his little girl asked him to be her Halloween accessory and walk…
Share I remember the first time I realized I would never sleep again, at least never in that true, deep, shut the world out, wake up whenever, no alarms, no phone, no care in the world way. I had been a mom for about six weeks, and we decided to celebrate with our first date…
Share I used to be jealous, angry, a real mess. Any little comment would send me running to my room in distress. I thought my little sister had ruined my life, taken away all my parents’ love and caused me great strife. But now I’ve seen the light, and I’m done wanting to fight. I…
Share I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not to blog about breastfeeding. After all, this is a food blog, a foodie mom blog, and it seems a bit off-topic and potentially off-putting. But you could argue that producing breast milk is producing food at its most primal, and as I have been spending…
Share We’ve been navigating the waters of tweenhood for a few years now, but they still feel like uncharted territory, where vicious bouts of eye rolling await at every turn. What was cool and acceptable last week becomes horribly embarrassing the next. From peace signs to fluffy puppies, nothing is safe. While I enjoy getting…
Share Six weeks. 52 days. That’s how long it too us to get our act together to finish our birth announcements. Sophie’s matchstick chicken legs now have some kissable folds of baby fat and her cheeks are rounded. Baby Sophie is looking less like a delicate preemie and seems to be on the verge of…
