In June and July I have part-time childcare so both boys are home a few days each week. It's my first time doing significant and consistent solo parenting! Heading into it I felt both excited and a little bit intimidated wondering how much squabbling or other challenging behavior there might be. But so far it's been really great! For days at home with the boys I need some routine and predictability. So I consulted my schedule-loving mama friend Sarah Powers who shared a blog post with me that she wrote years ago about a "just structured enough" summer schedule. I... Read more →

I don't remember how I heard of I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam but as soon as I started reading it I loved it. A few chapters in and I started texting my working mom friends telling them they should read it. This book has a message that resonates with my own experience of being a working mom and being able to spend significant time with my kids and family, finding time for myself and finding success in my career. It takes a lot of planning with a healthy dose of flexibility but doesn't all parenting? Doesn't... Read more →

So many things are happening and the boys are changing so fast! Currently Dashiell is two and a half years old and Cedric is just about to turn ten months old and this is what I want to remember: + The baby-soft feel of Cedric's skin and the way it feels springy and new even as it slides around over his little body when I pick him up and rub his back. I don't know when babies lose this but I'm trying to appreciate it every time I hold him. + Dashiell's language: adding -eeyah to words like Daddeeyah, Deeyah... Read more →

A few weeks ago, Elise announced on Instagram that she and Kal had supplies left over after a script workshop and Kal would be doing custom scripts for $30. I emailed Elise immediately because I knew just the phrase that I wanted for our walls: Everything is awesome Chris and I loved The Lego Movie when we saw it last year and the theme song of Everything is Awesome is perfectly silly, catchy and optimistic. How can you not smile at lyrics like this: Trees, frogs, clogs They're awesome! Rocks, clocks, and socks They're awesome! Figs, and jigs, and twigs... Read more →

During my pregnancy with Dashiell I prepared as much as I could for breastfeeding although in hindsight I realize there's only so much that you can prepare. You can't anticipate how your body will respond, what your milk supply will be like and how your baby will breastfeed. Right now nursing and pumping and frankly just my boobs in general are such a big part of my life, for better or for worse! I feel so fortunate that I have been able to breastfeed both of my boys but sometimes I forget how much time and effort it takes up... Read more →

I'm trying to get into the habit of telling Dashiell about my day when I ask about his. I keep things pretty simple and might explain that I was working on writing many words for an article or that I helped someone figure something out or that I talked with a friend and we decided to work on something together. Or that I was frustrated and had to solve a problem. I've found that I really like telling Dashiell about my day; with young children you spend so much time talking about what they want and what they will do... Read more →

A few Friday afternoons ago, with our boys in tow, we headed to Trader Joe's to do our weekly grocery shopping. My favorite weekly chore with my favorite people. Cedric sat in the front of the cart of the first time, intently looking around and then to me for reassurance, and smiled at strangers who stopped to talk to him. Dash pushed his own small cart (with close supervision from Chris) and loaded it up with oatmeal, crackers and coffee creamer. He made sure to detour to the sample station behind the coffee grinder where they always give him a... Read more →

One of my mama superpowers is that I can head-off a toddler tantrum by coming up with a baking activity with no planning. This is usually how I deploy my superpower: Dash realizes that Chris is about to leave the house and is suddenly in toddler meltdown mode. Me (with no plan whatsoever or any idea of what ingredients we have): Dash, want to bake something with mama? Dash (not convinced yet that my offer outweighs his sadness): Yeah... Me: Great! We'll make....(quickly looking in the pantry and fridge)...muffins! Dash (with a big smile and not a thought to Daddy's... Read more →

Oh, toddlers. In the span of an hour Dashiell can sweetly offer to take my empty plate to the sink when he sees that I am finished eating and also melt into a screaming tantrum. It tests our patience for sure but we try to respond consistently and respectfully. Sometimes I feel that we are doing a great job. Other times it's hard to know what the best response to a behavior is (usually after we have redirected or corrected but Dashiell is still acting out). I wanted to share some of the practices we are using with Dashiell (and... Read more →

I've had a draft post about all the different things each of my boys is doing right now. But before I can finish it and hit "publish" they've changed and it's out of date. So I'm going to eschew capturing everything for capturing something. I hope that each volume of "what I want to remember" will be an easy way to write about the particular age of each of my boys and what it's like to be their mama. Currently Dashiell is two years and 3 months old and Cedric is six months and a half months old and this... Read more →