This shouldn’t be so weird and scary: thoughts on miscarriage
Imaginary woman, you are part of a long line of women who have been through this. You are not alone. I hope you have friends who will talk to you about even the ickiest parts. But even if you don’t, or even if they’re all asleep right now, you’re not alone.
Dyeing baby clothes (not so successfully)
I’m pregnant, and recently discovered that looking for offbeat baby clothes isn’t exactly an inexpensive hobby. Since I’ve been DIYing up a storm lately (did you see this recovered baby jumper?), I decided to try my hand at dying clothing! I contemplated using machine dye, but was worried it might stain our new washing machine… so I went with warm water hand dye. All of the items I dyed came from a consignment sale, so were cheap but not exactly to my style taste.
Open thread: do you ever catch yourself turning into one of your parents and like it?
I spent a lot of time as a teenager wondering if my mom was really happy. How could she be, I wondered, working a thankless job as a teacher, married to a man who worked incessantly, and dealing with two kids who were hell? She never stopped moving — she would wake up at 4AM to work out before her day began, and then go through her daily motions. How could anyone be happy with that?
Roll around on the bed with your partner for an immediate mood boost
A while ago I was feeling overwhelmed, as I often do. That particular time, it was about wedding planning and how much stuff we had left to do. My now-husband looked at me very seriously and said, “I just changed the bedsheets and they feel awesome. Would you like to roll on the bed with me?”
Why I’m not letting tragedies stop me from having kids
My thoughts turned to my friend at work who had given birth that day, and her baby who would always share a birthday with this tragedy. I thought of my other friend who is planning on welcoming twins into this world in October and taking the rest of the school year off to be with them. I thought of my childhood best friend whose daughter is almost a year old. And I thought, I am so lucky to be childfree. How do you deal with questions from a young child about why and what happened when these tragedies inevitably take place? I wasn’t even sure what I would tell my high school students in class the next day.
What are your family plans for summer? (And will I see any of you at the Beloved Festival?)
May is when my family and I start really solidifying our summer plans, starting to block out chunks for camping and visiting out-of-state family. To get a little inspiration, I spent some time doodling through Offbeat Families archives looking for great ideas for things to do this summer. Join me in some schemes, and then tell me… what are YOUR family plans for this summer?
My son told me I’m his “second mom”
We had waited until our son Ben turned four to talk about adoption. We wanted him to be old enough to begin to “get it”, knowing we’d build on it more and more as he was able to understand everything it meant. And like the “Where do babies come from?” conversation with our oldest son, the “What does adoption mean?” conversation was brief and age-appropriate, with most of the grownup details left out.
Mission Accomplished: my home birth story
“You want to do what?!” “Will there be doctors there?” “Why would you want to do that?” “What about what happened to (insert an unknown to me name here)”? These are just some of the questions and reactions I got when I decided to do a home birth. Some people just could NOT grasp the fact that for me, there was no need to be lying up on a hospital bed, in an unflattering hospital gown, being poked and prodded. I know because I have had that type of experience with my first born.