How can we celebrate our non-blood family with our daughter?
I come from a fairly abusive background, and am perfectly happy with most of my biological family not being in our life. However, I’m finding it increasingly hard to find ways to celebrate the friends that we have made family. I want my daughter to know that she is surrounded by love — even though we don’t have what you would call a conventional family unit.
Golden Girls cross-stitch
I LOVE seeing new stuff when it pops up in the Offbeat Home Flickr pool. (Ahem, have YOU been submitting?) And our latest photo addition is one of the best things I’ve ever seen to come out of the crafting world: Viva la Frida’s Golden Girls cross stitch.
My friend just had an abortion — how do I tell her I’m pregnant without re-opening fresh wounds?
Last month, one of my best friends shared with our group of friends that she had an abortion. I was one of the few who supported her choice outright and stood up for her. During this same time, my husband and I started trying to conceive. We’ve just found out that we are already pregnant! How do I tell my best friend I’m pregnant, while still affirming that I support her and her decision to end her pregnancy?
My husband and I are big-time introverts: will having kids and losing our personal space be crazy for us?
I fear that the lack of privacy, personal space, quiet and time for us to recharge, could bring out a bad side of us and we’d slowly slide the horrible steep slope in becoming horrible parents that scar their children for life.
It takes a village to raise a tween
As my baby grows into this new, beautiful, moody, long-legged creature, I know she will have questions I can’t answer, problems I can’t solve, fears I can’t comfort. I know our friends won’t be able to solve all these problems either, but I’m enormously grateful that I’m not alone in this new stage of our lives, and neither is Alice.
My parent friend has a baby and can’t really hang with us — should we keep inviting her?
y apartment is not baby proof-able (think huge bookshelves with breakables on uneven flooring) and I have a friend whose child is starting to pull herself up and toddle around. There’s no space for a Pack ‘N Play or similar item. We see each other a lot outside of my apartment, but I feel bad that I’ve stopped inviting her over for meals or parties because a baby sitter isn’t a financial option.
If you’re struggling to conceive, talking to friends in the same boat may help you cope
I wrote about our struggle on my blog, and the reception was incredible. People shared that they’d been trying, personal struggles of their own, that they’d be thinking of me. No one gave me well-meaning but awful advice. Some people who now have tiny children shared that it took them years of trying to get to that point and they sympathised with my struggle. All up, it has been a positive experience and I’m glad I put myself out there.
A ton of gift ideas for your expecting friends
The problem with baby showers and registries is that you don’t know your baby yet and as novice parents you really don’t know what you are going to need. And you aren’t going to know whether or not your child will hate the really expensive bouncer that their grandparents purchase them off of the registry.