Infertility to Adoption :: A Fight for a Family
After three years of infertility treatments that included IVF and surgery to help them conceive, the final answer was unbearable. No. No, they would not have a child together.
Love Yourself, for Your Daughter’s Sake
“Because, friends, our daughters are watching, and we get the privilege of being their first model of what it looks like to be strong, beautiful, capable women. Women who like themselves, speak kindly to themselves and others, and don’t stagnate but actively pursue growth.”
Congrats on Your New Baby! But I’m Not Coming to Visit…
Everyone gets so excited when family members or friends have a new baby, and we immediately want to see them. I have done the same. Each friend who has had a baby, the first question I used to ask is, “When can I come meet him/her? What can I bring you? I’ll watch the baby while you sleep!” But, things have changed. My son got meningitis at 4 weeks old.
An Open Letter to My Second Marriage
I’m well aware of the statistics on you, second marriage. We are even more likely to fail than a first marriage because, to summarize the hundreds of internet articles on the subject, we have even more complexities than does a first marriage, with even less of the ‘glue’ that can hold together a shaky union.
Traveling with Toddlers :: Can We Talk About the Good Stuff Too?
I know our son won’t remember our travels from these early days of his life. I do hope that maybe these experiences in some way help him internalize that the world is so much more than our street here in Boston. Even if it doesn’t do that for him quite yet, it is good for me to remember that there is life outside nap schedules and ‘Daniel Tiger.’
What I Learned From Having a NICU Baby
“Looking at my son today, you’d never think he’d been a preemie. When he gets hangry and downs a bottle like he’s been in the Sahara desert dying of thirst for three days, it’s hard to believe he was on a feeding tube for the first few weeks of his life. As he achieves all the standard milestones like a pro and is on an average growth track, I know we are lucky that he is healthy — and I am thankful for that.”
An Ode to My Local Library
This week we celebrate National Library Week. As a voracious reader and former teacher, I have long appreciated my local library. Once I became a mom, this appreciation reached a whole new level. Love? Devotion? I’m not quite sure the word… all I know is I owe a debt of gratitude to that charming little building around the corner that I will never be able to repay.
Afraid to Garden? Do It Anyway!
We grew together as a family as we learned from our failures and wrestled with waiting to see if Mother Nature would come through. We brainstormed and problem-solved, we raked and we watered, and we got to see cucumbers grow from seed into an almost overwhelming amount of produce. The look of pride on my daughter’s face when she walked in with her haul of ruby red tomatoes folded up in her shirt was priceless.
Autism :: More Than Awareness, It’s Time to Accept and Appreciate
“Over the years I have had mixed feelings about ‘autism awareness.’ It has never sat quite right with me, and being a completely burned out mom with three kids, I’ve never had the energy or time to really think about what I want to say. But the past year has hit us hard at home and at school. Now that my son is getting older, his behavior and quirkiness are more obvious to others, including his peers and his younger sister. It is making me realize awareness is not enough. What I need, as a parent, is autism acceptance and autism appreciation.”
