I feel like I’m in a weird in-between stage of parenting. I’ve got two big kids who are in full-day elementary school, and I’ve got two little ones at home with me. This one-foot-in-each-world is not unique to me, I know. But it’s tough on the sentimental side of me that wants to mark
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Back in his natural habitat, swimming and splashing. I love this picture because he’s playing with a toy boat, just like he did the first summer we moved here and he was still four. Mary / Everyone who knows Mary is amazed
Suburban gardening is almost exactly like urban gardening. The only differences are that we don’t keep up with new music and we pay lower taxes. After nearly two years of barely doing anything to take care of our yard, Tom and I devoted several weekends to mulching, weeding, and getting our garden started. We removed
This is Thomas’s birthday week. He turns four on Sunday, and we’ve been building up to his birthday in small, special ways — a happy birthday banner on the mantel, a special “T” balloon on his chair. Almost every day we gently explain to Thomas’s siblings that the reason we have different expectations for him
Anytime an entire week goes by without a new blog post you can assume one of two things: One or all of our kids has a fever, ear infection, an orthopedic injury, is throwing up, or all of the above. I’m fumbling through some sort of craft that requires skills that I’m teaching myself with
One day after I put Anna down for her nap, she did that absolutely unacceptable thing that babies do sometimes — instead of laying her head down and taking a nap, she started fussing. I, rhetorically, wondered what was happening, “UGH. WHY is Anna fussing?” Thomas answered, “Well, Mommy, you did put her in hot
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David and Mary / This week was Teacher Appreciation Week. I sent these two off to school with irises, roses and one peony each, paltry gestures of my overwhelming gratitude for the teachers that care for my kids every day. I read once that
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. David / Last week I promised myself that I wouldn’t post another picture of him with his head down reading or doing a workbook. But besides sleeping, reading is the only thing he does. And the lighting’s not nearly this great when he’s sleeping.
A few weeks ago, before spring break, I got an email from Mary’s teacher. Whenever Mary’s teacher writes us emails she does this thing where the subject line of the email is just the kid’s name. So every now and then I get an email, subject “Mary” and every single time I panic. My blood
Last week my mom asked me if there were any pictures of the week. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You know, on the blog,” she explained. “Are you done with that?” Come on! I’d only missed ONE week, I thought. But then I checked and actually I’d missed two weeks. And now that I