Today is National Daughter Day, which just happens to fall after a full weekend where all four of our daughters were together. As I have walked this journey of mothering daughters, every season and stage has led me to understand that it is extremely difficult to grow up in a female body. From preschool princess …
When we were in the hospital as we welcomed our daughter into the world, I was reminded of those who work and keep watch over night. We had the same night nurse both nights and she explained that she had always worked nights. She found it to be peaceful and fulfilling to help patients through …
Bessel van der Kolk in his seminal text The Body Keeps Score explains that any trauma we have been through gets stored in our bodies. This could be abuse and neglect from our childhood or from a relationship. This could be a traumatic event like a car wreck, losing someone we love too soon, a …
Monday marked 22 years since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers. After that time, there was a united purpose throughout our country. There was a commitment to acknowledge the loss and fear that had entered our world. There was a resolve to collectively heal from what we had witnessed. And yet when …
As I find myself in the midst of postpartum again, I keep thinking to myself I’m getting too old for this. It’s a lighthearted sentiment recognizing the energy and time it takes to heal after carrying a baby and nourishing that new life once they are here. In the midst of all this, you, the …
One of the greatest joys of parenting five mini-humans is to watch as they transform into older siblings. Even if they spent years being an older sibling, the new life brings out a different part of their being. Our four-year-old is getting to be a big sister for the first time and there is certainly …
An oft quoted Robert Frost poem says: “Two roads diverged in a woods – and I took the one less traveled.” I’ve always took this to tout the importance of making your own way in the world and not following the crowd, but I have to admit that there are not many times in my …
As we waited to welcome our daughter into the world, I was surprised at how much of the pre-op I didn’t remember from my older daughter’s birth. Then I realized it was because we didn’t spend much time in that curtained room. As we waited and waited and waited, I remember thinking, “This isn’t what …
This school year we have a high schooler, a middle schooler, an elementary schooler, a preschooler, and an infant. We are parenting every division of school and development. While it may seem overwhelming (I mean five is a lot of mini-humans), there is a lot of joy in being able to see the breadth and …
Tuesday marked one month of time together with our newborn. One month…one moon cycle…one calendar page…four weeks. How can time go so quickly and so slowly all at once? A month seemed like such a long time while I was pregnant, but with her in my arms it seems like a short time. Even though …
