Sisters | Life | Three Kids

Words from the vault

• A Mother's Guilt

  It started yesterday morning when I dropped my kid off at school and suddenly took notice of his walk. Not his hips or his legs, but his feet. He has this light and bouncy step, and in the 10 seconds I waited for the crossing guard, and watched Jamis reach line-up, I mourned the fact that I hadn't n

• I think some kegels are in order

  I'm absolutely exhausted right now and there is no sane reason why I should even be attempting to post right now. (Lots of run-on sentences to follow). I have a compelling urge to give out a bit TOO MUCH INFORMATION: the Jumping Jacks required by Jillian Michaels in the 30-day Shred I attempted t

• The Threads of Sisterhood

  Pigtails. Aren't I cute? This is me, age 5, Kindergarten. I adored that sweater in every way that a little girl can adore an article of clothing. The buttons were white hearts hand-painted with some pinky, girly, swirly somethings. And I was as cute as those buttons for a day or two—until my

• Summer, here we come

  I'm happy for the sun-soaked, sunscreen-soaked days that lay ahead. I welcome them. And I'll even deal with whiney toddlers who yell at me to "Stop!" Because summer breathes on me calm and slow and patient thoughts. And I can always use more of those. So summer, here we come. The boys are a year

• October First

  Happy Birthday, Dad. We miss you every day, but today we miss you a little bit more.

• Another reason I love my sister...

  ...because she sends me notes like this in the mail. The real mail. The post-man-or-woman-walks-up-to-your-house mail. Not the virtual mail. Those count too. But these are extra special. Oh, and if you can't read the handwriting, too bad. Mine is virtually the same, so I have no trouble making it ou

• Keeping it Zen, Jen

  I'm a day early for such carelessness. Vacation is TWO days away, not one. Oh well. Too late. I've stolen the only fan in the house from the baby's room and it's swirling hot air around the kitchen right now, settling on my stickiness for much too short a moment before passing on to the kids, and

• Voila: C'est une gerbil triste

  Here it is. The sad gerbil. Heartbreaking, isn't it. The frown. Did the gerbil miss me while I was away at camp? Is the gerbil just a fill-in for Sarah? Did she miss me? I love this piece of notebook paper, so lovingly crafted into mixed-media artwork. The letters in bold marker and the atte

• Sometimes you have to just let them fend for themselves

  The kids, I mean. Your kids. The ones who are constantly underfoot. Asking for something. A snack. Help. A story. A solution to their everpresent boredom. But sometimes you just have to let them fend for themselves. You have to let them fight, keeping an ear out for bloodshed but otherwise staying

• Confusion

  Dan left for the city. I'm home again with the three boys. Another day and night and day of meals and snacks and naps - and questions, needs and threats. It seems there are so many of these days, where I am fighting the battle of parenthood alone and just trying to keep it all together. Telling m