To my child: The months after you were born were tough ones. You cried a lot and slept little. Your assessment of this bright, new world was decidedly unsatisfactory. In between fussing though, you offered just enough syrupy, middle-of-the-night smiles to melt away the challenges and make me want to buy you a pony, or anything […]
Hi there, I’ve neglected to update my blog lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing up a storm. A storm, I say! I’m super excited to be on this new website, The Mid. It’s aimed at people who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and are now wading through parenthood, careers, aging […]
I’m super excited to have a new venue for some of my parenting writing to land. I’ll be over at mom.me.com sharing some stories. My first two pieces are already up. In the first piece, How to Know When Your Family is Complete, is about the often ambiguous process of deciding when to stop having babies. […]
If you’d asked me what the hardest part of becoming a parent was in those first months, I’d have said, “Yes.” It all felt the hardest: the shattered sleep, the crying (his and mine), the anxiety about everything, the constant nursing. The only thing that didn’t feel hard was the love that dripped down on […]
Before children, I had bad days. Don’t we all? Maybe it’s the blues that descend in the waning Sunday afternoon light as you realize you have to go back to work the next day, and your life is not your own. Or maybe someone you love is sick or your computer just shut down before […]
On the bus to Boston, I feel free. It’s just me, a book of essays, and my iPhone. No diaper bags. No little feet trailing me into the narrow, dark bus bathroom. I sit and listen to the breathing meditation from the mindfulness class I just started. I breathe in. I breathe out. In […]
When I was expecting my son, I expected postpartum depression, too. With a history of mild but chronic depression and anxiety, I knew I was at a high risk. I had a plan: I could go up on the anti-depressants I took. I could attend postpartum support groups and get a therapist. I was prepared. […]
I was born in Juneau, Alaska, a rainforest named for a gold prospector. Among the perks of living there was having a glacier in our town. It was normal to me, the way that everything is normal when you’re a kid, like your sketchy Drunkle John or your mom’s nicknames for privates. Only as an […]
This is me: doing the best I can. With my head in my hands. With my voice rising, higher and higher, like I swore I’d never do. So much gets left out of the parenting books. So much doesn’t get posted on Facebook. The nuances of child-rearing, the flickers and darts, the quirks and […]