Last Sunday, just before his first birthday, Thomas was baptized. Baptism is a practice in which the pastors of a church increase the faith of parents by asking them to stand on stage with their young children. (Picture Tom reading this, looking up at me and saying in a stern voice, “Amanda. Do not make
One thing I didn’t know about before having kids was the social aspect of the kid birthday parties. We go to kid birthday parties all the time, and they’re all super fun. Adult birthdays are different — unless it’s a milestone birthday you celebrate with a few friends or family with dinner or drinks. Sometimes
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016 David / David and Brigham, hanging on the couch like bros. I used to write about David and Brigham’s relationship a lot, back when David loved to lay on Brigham and Brigham used to beg me to put him in the Witness Protection Program.
Today was Thomas’s due date, which means at this time last year I was eating an entire bag of Cheetos every day and coming to terms with the fact that I was going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. I signed up to be pregnant for 40 weeks. Forty weeks and one day means I’ll probably
When I took Mary Virginia to get her hair cut a few weeks ago, she sidled up to me and asked, “Mommy? Can you ask him to make my hair yellow and flat?” YELLOW AND FLAT?? Of course, two-year old daughter! That’s what I was going to ask for anyway! But we have to hurry because we don’t
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2016. David / Our blackberries and strawberries are blooming in the backyard. For the past three summers, David has checked the blossoms daily to see if berries are ready to eat. He asked me if he could take off the petals to speed the
I get a lot of comments about how similar my kids look. “There’s a Krieger prototype,” I always respond. The truth is, though, I see my kids’ personalities so clearly that I really don’t think David and Mary Virginia look alike at all. And I used to joke that I could interchange the boys’ baby
My niece Psalm turned one a few weeks ago, and I made this countdown calendar for her. I got the pattern from The Sugar House Shop — it works like an Advent calendar, but you countdown to a birthday. I wanted to share it here because I am oh-so-very happy with how it turned out. I at all wasn’t confident when I
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016. Three kids in a tub. Tom took the older two camping this weekend. When they got home, they were tired, excited, and so dirty. As soon as they walked in the door I started drawing a bubble bath. Thomas was so, so happy
A few days ago a good friend asked me for tips on how to baby proof a house. I told her, you have to prioritize. Stop what you’re doing right now and put your Cheetos out of reach. After that it all sort of falls into place. For us, baby proofing has happened naturally. They sort