My step-mom stepped in after my mom died and helped me find my life again
I never expected to call anyone my step-mom. To have a step-mom means your dad got divorced and he remarried or his wife died. In my case, it was the latter. My mom died when I was nineteen, meaning that my dad would likely remarry at some point. About two years after my mom’s death he met a woman who would become my step-mom. Two years may sound like a long time, but in “grief time” it might as well have been two months. Is anybody truly ever ready to accept the person who might try to replace her mom?
My experience using Fertility Awareness Method to conceive a child
For the past eight years I have been battling severe endometriosis. Three surgeries, two rounds of medical menopause, and four doctors later: I am pregnant. But getting here wasn’t easy. Because of my endometriosis it was automatically assumed that I would have a difficult time getting pregnant and therefore my doctor wanted to put me on Clomid. Given that I had just gotten over another round of menopause-inducing hormones, I wasn’t about to add more synthetic hormones to the mix. So I refused the prescription and decided to try to conceive for at least six months before taking a serious fertility drug.
Safety concerns on playground apparatus
Children have broken bones and injured themselves since time began. It used to be a sort of rite of passage for children. But, as playground equipment has become more sanitized because of so-called safety (read: liability) issues, I hear about injuries less and less. On the face of it, less injury sounds like a good thing, right? But less injury actually might mean less meaningful play and comprehensive exercise.
How can I talk about death with my young child?
Before my daughter was born, two of my sisters had stillborn sons at full term. We still routinely mention the boys, and there are pictures of them in my sisters’ houses. At some point my daughter is going to start asking about who they were and what happened to them, and I’m completely at a loss for how to answer her questions.
Cycling with contractions — would you ride your bike to the hospital while in labor?
So, you thought labor was hard when you had to DRIVE to the hospital during contractions, right? What if you were RIDING YOUR BIKE?
A thrift store play kitchen makeover for a little kid’s room
I started the makeover by deciding what I wanted the kitchen to look like. I had already used apple red spray paint when I created Jax’s chalkboard, so I chose that for the main body. His table and chairs are aqua and lime (as well as the shelves I recently put in), so those became the accent colors. I had some leftover glitter paint from a Christmas ornament project, and I knew that would be perfect for hiding any water damage I couldn’t sand out.
Why sperm donors deserve recognition and honor
It is time to change the conversation around the term “sperm donor.” “Donor” does not equate “deadbeat dad.” A donor, whether a dear friend or a random person who grabs a magazine, a cup and heads for a small room at a sperm bank, is a wonderful person. He is the person who gives us our families, and no matter who he is, gay and lesbian families are grateful.
Greeting a returning Marine — in photos
This session was shot recently by New Jersey-based Megan Gray Photography. Three members of the Caballero family were getting ready to greet their fourth, who was returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, at the airport. The father had never met his recently-born-son, and this was his first major deployment away from his three-year-old daughter. As you can imagine, much happiness and tears ensued.