My First Day of Kindergarten In many ways, I have been waiting for this day for a long time. During the long nights of teething, I thought about it. During the long days of potty training, I looked forward to it. And now, it’s here. My oldest child is going to Kindergarten. For us, Kindergarten means a full day of […]
Boppy Slipcover One of my favorite “new mom staples” is a nursing pillow. I remember how big of a difference it made for me (specifically my shoulders and wrists) when I was cluster feeding my first baby, and it continues to be integral to my comfort with my subsequent babies. In fact, we bought the Boppy almost […]
Broken Eggshells This week was rough. This was my first week as a stay-at-home parent to three kids under 5. We were all getting over a two-day travel getting back from the holidays. We were all getting over having the extra hands, arms, and ears of family members ready and willing to play, listen, hug, and look […]
Dyed Rice for Sensory Play, Art, and More Whether you’re looking for a fun playgroup or party activity for a group of youngsters or want to try something like this with your own special tyke, dyed rice is easy to make, fun to play with, and versatile for a number of activities and stages. I’ve used it for sensory bins, I-Spy jars, art […]
DIY Post-Partum Relief Pads After leaving the hospital following my first vaginal birth, I seriously missed the nurses and their seemingly never-ending supply of homeopathic pain-relieving techniques. After some significant research and trial-and-error, I fell in love with these post-partum relief pads!!! Now that I’m anticipating another (hopefully) vaginal delivery, I’ve reserved a drawer of our freezer for these […]
Post-Partum Recovery Kit (Vaginal & C-Section) After experiencing both a c-section and a vaginal delivery in the span of a few years, I wanted to feel “covered” coming home for my third delivery regardless of how my baby was delivered. As I was compiling my own “kit” for this third birth, it dawned on me that this might be good information […]
Constellation Craft Whether you’re trying to entertain dozens of toddlers at a celestial-themed birthday party, stimulate a lazy afternoon, or entertain kiddos for a late night like New Year’s Eve, this craft is educational, artistic, and yummy!!! It can also be modified for just about any age and stage. For instance, when catering to a large group, […]
Preschool Halloween Games and Food If you’re anything like me, the restrictions on bringing food to school can be frustrating. This frustration is especially poignant when the request is also to bring thematically appropriate food. If you’re feeling stymied by these seeming competing requests, I hope these ideas will help! I also included a fun game for preschool aged kids […]
Personalized Baby Book When I went to look for something quick and easy to compile memories, pictures, and stats for my first child, I became quickly annoyed with how different baby books are and how much I wanted to pick and choose different features. As a result, I went ahead and created my own that I have very […]
Cardboard Rocket Ships & Outerspace Tunnel When my daughter asked for an “Astronaut Princess” party for her fourth birthday, we were a little stumped. What does an astronaut princess do? What sort of party would she have? When the internet wasn’t helping me come up with a lot of princess-like astronauts (let alone “girly” ones), I went to the mastermind herself. […]
Easy and Lasting Play-Doh What I Used: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup salt 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 cup water 1 Tbsp vegetable oil Coloring (8-10 drops of liquid food coloring or gel coloring) Optional: glitter (1) Combine all of the ingredients (except the optional glitter) in a medium saucepan. (2) Stir over medium heat. When the ingredients […]
Busy Bags and Boxes Here is a round-up of my favorite busy bags and boxes. They were extremely easy to put together and very inexpensive (all hail, Dollar Store). They have also bought me countless hours of independent play from my toddler-preschooler. I’ve included links to tutorials and printables where applicable. Basically, I bought 90% of my materials at […]
In a word I was recently asked to describe myself in as simple terms as possible, namely one word. It was a table discussion topic at a Christian moms group, and the instructions encouraged us to avoid more obvious words such as labels or titles and to think of ourselves in our most basic sense. This proved difficult […]
Caught in the Logic Web of a Three-Year Old I like to think of myself as a decently logical person. All other barometers of assessment aside, I was a lawyer in my former life and relatively skilled at the art of logical persuasion. I knew that these genes might get passed down, but I never believed that they might be amplified and turned against […]
Traveling with Pre-School Children: An Overview There are few seemingly “routine” things more stressful in a parent’s life than staring down plane travel with pre-school aged children (by this, I mean ages 0-5).* In this series, I will explore various aspects of this daunting challenge from my own experiences and middling success. Whether you’re a seasoned pro looking for some extra […]
Call Me “Princess Mommy” It may sound far-fetched, but bear with me. My three-year-old, who is tiara-deep in her princess phase, informed me the other day that I was just like a princess. When pressed, she explained that I cook, clean, and take care of people just like Snow White and Cinderella. She also was quick to clarify that […]
Broken In: A Letter to My Firstborn It’s 3:30 in the morning and, once again, I find myself in the epic throws of compromise: my breasts are engorged and my nipples have the flow capacity (and deep cracks) of a defective dam, but my newborn is voraciously hungry and has early signs of reflux. I am the walking dead, hopped up on post-labor […]
Lovely Anne! You have a beautiful family, and completely agree with this perspective. All the best.
Thank you!!!! Good to hear from you, and I hope our paths cross soon!
I love reading your blog! Congratulations on getting your little girl off to kindergarten. She is beautiful! I loved your survival is success story. Made my day.
Thank you!!!