Tomorrow morning I hop a flight – all by myself! – to visit with my family in California for a week.  Tables will be turned as my husband (who travels A LOT for work) holds down the fort, or as I call it, “The Looney Bin.”  I’ve left him a detailed calendar of activities, lots [...]

 sponsored by ohamanda.com 10 THINGS I SAY TO MY 2YO BEFORE 10AM (an update to this post) Good Morning, Monkey Buns! Leave Lucy alone, Eli. (Lucy is the puppy.) Mmm, can mommy have a kiss, Eli? That’s not yours, Eli. Which show, this one? Which game, that one? Which book, the one over there? Pens [...]

I’ve been putting up to 150 miles a week on my car by repeatedly driving within the same limited radius: elementary school, jr high, high school, grocery store, daughter’s work, and church.  It’s put a lot of wear-and-tear on our 12yr old Suburban, and several months ago we decided to take advantage of a really great deal [...]

Hold up your hand at eye level, several inches away, palm towards your face.  Focus on your fingers.  Then slowly move your hand towards your face.  I dare you not to lose focus without your eyes crossing. That’s how motherhood has been feeling for me lately. Of the many things I feel I’ve maybe sorta botched in the [...]

Yesterday the New York Times ran a grossly misplaced article in their “Fashion” section about mommy bloggers called Honey, Don’t Bother Mommy.  I’m Too Busy Building My Brand.  It seems the author – a mommy blogger herself – came to a small regional blogging conference under the guise of shooting the breeze, and ended up producing [...]

There’s a lot more Mama Drama rolled into this story, but I’ll give you the short version:  16yo daughter screwed up, I gave her a 2nd chance – with very clear stipulations attached.  16yo daughter plowed through stipulations and blew it again, I grounded her for 2 weeks. Too bad, so sad.  The end.  Or was it? Now, if this [...]

Looking for a totally discouraging experience?  Follow these proven steps to motherhood angst, and you’ll be on your way! First:  observe your toddler throwing the most irrational tantrums – knocking down dining room chairs, biting his big brother, hitting the dog, violently pullings plugs out of the wall, and clearing the kitchen counters with huge [...]

On Friday my 8yo son had the opportunity to participate as a control subject in a research study by the Division of Pediatric Neurology and The Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas.  Located downtown at Houston’s world-famous Medical Center complex, we both thought the day-long series of tests, scans, and an MRI would [...]

It’s late, and I know what I want to say, but not how to say it. I’ve had some really ugly and really beautiful moments today – I can’t even wrap my head around the extremes I reached in motherhood over the past 24 hours. But if you follow these three steps, you’ll get an [...]

My apologies for this late post; I had meant to do a follow-up to my Managing Our Family Calendar with Cozi.com post by last Friday, but as often happens with busy families, we got very….busy! I did want to make sure and mention a few other things about the Cozi.com site, though – some tools [...]