March 2009

Words from the vault

• Why Am I Not Sleeping?

  Maybe if I still had a favorite stuffed animal (like B's good friend Theo, here) I would have the discipline to turn off the computer and go to sleep.

• Zen Update

  Here's the brief vacation update: Eleven children run around - in and out of bathing suits, rotating nap schedules and snack choices, amusing us and exhausting us - all at the same time. There are five little bodies sleeping in a tent on a small patch of grass just above the sandy beach of the la

• Sleeping Boys

  Exhaustion. Me. No words. Just thoughts. Of little boys. Sweet. and Quiet. When they sleep. Ahh, me. My boys. And sleep.

• Ten from Jen: Blog Posts of 2009

  We only started Momalom in March. But I liked Scary Mommy's idea of choosing a favorite post from each month. This was more difficult than I anticipated. Not because I'm so vain to think that I have many "bests," but because I read so many old posts and relived so many moments of introspection of th

• I'm at a terrible loss for answers of any kind and find myself just rambling again--and it's not wine talking, just pure and simple exhaustion, please pardon

  I want so much to sit here and write. Breathe poetry and magic and spin words that lay dormant in my heart. But the days are so long. And I am so drained. And my body longs for sleep. My mind beckons peace. So today a short quip. I packed the family for a trip to the pool this afternoon. Come

• "So You Had a Third."

  This statement came to me at B's b'day party, and I can't stop thinking about it. A mom of two, whom I don't know well, just walked right up and said it. What all those other folks seem to be thinking, although with more of a question mark/exclamation mark sound. "Yes," I said. "We did." Turns out

• Newly Mothering

  Yup, I'm on Facebook. Who isn't? It's kind of like Twitter...and sex...I go through phases. This week I am happy to announce that I've reconnected with an old high school friend. We've been Facebook "friends" for a little while but never really had much to say to one another. I don't think either of

• A very wealthy life

  This is the place where we admit it all. Where we say what we can't say to our friends at the playground. To our neighbors at a backyard barbecue. Where we coddle the voice that sits within. The one that whines in frustration at all the chores and the failures. The deeds undone. The lives we don't h

• The risks we take with kids - more kids, more risks? The risks less risky?

  I take so many risks. I'm not sure if the risks I take now as a parent of three are greater or more severe than the risks I took as a parent of one (or two) OR if it just appears that way because the things I thought were risky back then are part of my very very every day now. Some things just are n

• No is a complete sentence

  I heard this in the car the other day. No is a complete sentence. Ahh, brilliant. So I don't have to say "No, you can't have that and these are the fifteen reasons why and why not" ? Oh, good. I'll have to remember this. It is so much easier to say no, and walk away. But the little people,