Maeve was born four years ago today. Just as the world around us felt like it was crashing down amid a global pandemic. And yet her birth happened in a halo of safety and peace and she brought us overwhelming joy, she still does. For Maeve's fourth birthday I've finally finished writing her birth story. Birth stories, at least my three birth stories, are so much more than recounting a day. This one especially so. Each has been a culmination of anticipating, dreaming, and planning for so much longer than my pregnancies. When I think of the births of each... Read more →

It's been so helpful for me to reflect on the family routines that we are working to get more shipshape: screen time, chores, and, today I'm chatting about behavior. Your comments and suggestions have been so helpful and encouraging – thank you! For each of these aspects of family life I caught myself thinking, "How did we get here?" as the new year started. It seemed that all of a sudden I didn't love things that were happening in screen time, chores, and behavior in our family. So Chris and I had good conversations about how to address each of... Read more →

Let's keep talking about family routines! Over three posts I'm sharing details about three categories of family routines that we are working to get more ship-shape: screen time, chores, and behavior. As the new year started I was noticing habits and behavior in each of those areas that made me think, "Wait, how did we get here?" We chatted about screen time earlier this week and I so appreciate the suggestions, commiseration, and hearing from parents who are a few years ahead of me. Next up in family routines we are revisiting: chores. So let's get into it... Our philosophy... Read more →

Collaborative Minecraft game: a screen time use I feel pretty good about! Lately a parenting theme in our house has been “getting things ship shape.” The three areas we're working on, and what I'll share here over three posts, are screen time, chores, and behavior. For all three of these categories of parenting / kiddo management I had a realization of, "Wait a minute. How did we get here?" Because our day to day reality was not matching up to our parenting values nor to the routines that we have tried to instill. I was a bit down on myself... Read more →

More than halfway through January and I think I'm finally feeling the rhythm of the new year. We seem to be making progress on the parenting hard stuff I mentioned and will keep at it. Chris and I have been revisiting and tweaking some family routines like screen time, manners at the dinner table, and chores which has me feeling like we're righting a listing ship. And I'm finding everyday routines again for my work as well as laundry, dinner, and tidying which all felt quite out of sorts over the holidays. It feels like a good tidying of sorts... Read more →

Oh, for the love of toddlers! Surely they must take the cake for being at once the cutest and most exasperating creatures on the Earth. Our lives have been steeped in Maeve's toddlerness for the past year and a half which has brought so much sweetness, and put our patience to the test (often multiple times a day). Although it feels like we've had a toddler for a long time (and honestly we've had a toddler almost continually for about nine years so no wonder) I know that suddenly this season will be behind us. Lately, I've felt myself looking... Read more →

Reading stacks of seasonal books with my kids, mostly during fall and Christmas, is one of my favorite parenting things. In September, the return of fall books is one of the few signs of a change at our house in the Arizona desert. Even though it's still so hot, at least we can experience fall through the pages of a book. I add a seasonal book or two to our permanent collection each year but get many through the library as well. In my library account I'm able to create lists of books so I have one specifically for "fall"... Read more →

The boys finished school last Thursday so it's officially summer for us! Given that summer is my least favorite desert weather and I don't typically love the lack of routine, I'm feeling surprisingly excited and optimistic for this summer. Hey, I'll take it! Chris and I spent some time this spring brainstorming around "designing our summer" (a term from Gretchen Rubin that I fell in love with years ago) and then we had a summer planning coffee date to make concrete plans. We made plans for how we'll keep the kids busy, what family fun we can look forward to,... Read more →

Today I have three simple parenting recommendations to share. All are no-tech and require only pen, paper, and a sharpie marker. Here are three parenting things that I'd love to recommend: Write a chore checklist A while ago I shared that we were using an app called Chore Pad that lets you customize chore lists for different kids and accumulates star rewards when chores are checked off. This worked really well for a while and did accomplish our goal of nagging the boys less in the morning. Instead of asking, "Did you brush your teeth yet?" We could just say,... Read more →

Let's talk about potty training! About three weeks ago we took a weekend to transition Maeve from diapers to underwear and it's gone really well. With everything fresh on my mind I'd love to share what's been working for us plus some memories and perspective from our experiences potty training the boys. Comparing our three experiences I'll start with comparing the experiences of potty training my three kids. The predominant thing I remember about potty training Dash was that I felt overwhelmed. I had done a lot of reading during my pregnancy and even before about having a baby. All... Read more →