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
I’m writing this on the eve of the first official day of my kids’ spring break from school. The break hasn’t even started and we’ve already more spilled drinks and danced nude in the sprinklers more than any MTV trip to Cancun. We don’t have any huge plans for the week. We’re going to eat
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. March is my least-favorite month. If you were reading this with Mary Virginia, this is when she would pipe up, “Mommy said she wishes she had a baby in March because then she would have something to celebrate.” It’s true. It’s an off-hand
We’ve officially reached the phase of life when team loyalty means taking pictures of your kids wearing gear and posting it on the Internet. Actually, I guess I’ve been doing that for a while. For some reason getting everyone dressed before they head off to school feels like a new level of devotion. (Especially because
What’s a little girl’s favorite part of a father-daughter dance? Gloating to her brothers that she’s going to a dance and they aren’t Fighting with Mommy about what makeup is appropriate for a 5-year old (Answer: no makeup. Be glad that you’re getting lip gloss. ) Having a special night with your daddy. We’ll never
A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2019. The four of them / Here’s a quick photography tip: a well-composed photograph should be free of clutter. Remove items in the foreground and background that are busy and distracting. Unless your four children are playing (sort of) together. In that instance, run into
A photo of my children, once a week, every week in 2019. The older two / David is reading Amelia Bedelia aloud to Mary and I didn’t even ask him to. The younger two / “BE CAREFUL WITH ANNA!” is all I say, all day, every day. Thomas can’t wait until Anna is bigger. Anna
There’s a reeeeeeal bear problem in Richmond these days. I wriggle this bear outfit onto Anna on our coldest bus stop mornings. She bearly fits. (I cannot and will not stop with the bear puns, I’m sorry.) But this happens to be another one of the few things that all four of my babies have
To celebrate Anna’s birthday, I got one of those mylar number balloons that I see all over Instagram and blogs. They are completely unoriginal and #basic, but what the heck? They make for an excellent photo, everyone knows it. It was cloudy and rainy on Anna’s birthday, so I set up the balloon near a
This summer Anna blew through baby clothes sizes so fast I could barely keep up. 6-9 months, 9-12 months, 12-18 months. “Hmmm, this can’t be right,” I thought when shimmying a pair of 2T leggings on my 11-month old baby. I kept a very weather-inappropriate fleece sleeper in Anna’s drawer all summer because I wanted