My little Zoë, who is not so little anymore, turned five yesterday. FIVE! She’s still little—I know this—and I know I still have a few more little girl years left with her. Nonetheless, there is something about FIVE that seems so big, so kindergarten, so “I’m over you, Mom!” I can imagine the drama and…
Read MoreI obviously haven’t posted in a while, and I apologize, but I’ve barely been keeping my head above water. I’ve been involved in a job search, a final edit of Use Your Words before it moves to copyediting, prepping for and participating in the 2nd Annual Minnesota Blogger Conference (which was this past Saturday and…
Read MoreStella came into our room this morning and said, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mama.” “Thanks, sweetie,” I said and looked at the clock. It was 5:30 a.m. “I’ll just snuggle with you for a while,” she said, and she climbed into bed next to me. I fell back to sleep, but a few minutes later, she…
Read MoreI never set out to be a runner. Sure, I ran cross country in high school, but most of the time I hated it. I tried to trip myself during races when the exhaustion became unbearable, and my friends and I often took short cuts on long practice runs. We hid in the bushes or…
Read MoreI’ve been thinking a lot about the moments that I don’t want to forget—moments with my children and other family members, especially my grandpa, who defies the odds at 102, but who won’t be able to forever. (He would give a disgusted grunt at my lack of faith, I know.) Working from home is tricky—I…
Read MoreThank you to everyone who commented on my de-lurk for Japan post and also to those of you who linked to it from your blogs. What an amazing community! I feel so fortunate to be a part of it. I’ve been a little scattered lately. This weekend D turned 40! (Happy birthday, babe!) We had…
Read MoreIt’s hard to believe that on Saturday my little Zoë turned three. For weeks, whenever someone asked her how old she was, she smiled that huge Zoë smile and held up three fingers. And now it’s official—my baby is not a baby anymore. On Friday we took cupcakes to her preschool and her friends gathered in…
Read MoreMany of my favorite mother bloggers have been writing about the desire to get organized at the same time they’ve been lamenting the challenge that “getting organized” poses when you have a house full of small children. I get it. I spend so much of each day picking up toys that I’m often tempted to…
Read MoreNovember is Prematurity Awareness Month and today, November 17, is the March of Dimes’ Fight for Preemies. Over 300 bloggers are writing their preemie stories today. You can read them here. In honor of the Fight for Preemies, I am posting another short excerpt from Ready for Air. This section comes just after I have…
Read MoreThe weekend was a blur. I spent Saturday at the first Minnesota Blogger Conference, which was a tremendous success thanks to the countless hours that went into planning and executing the event. (A huge thanks to Missy Berggren of The Marketing Mama and Arik Hansen of Communications Conversations for all their work.) And yesterday, we…
Read More