The rewards of spending your early twenties as a child caregiver
The kids I work with are constantly teaching me love — their wordless dependence on me reminds me of a life I knew years ago. My relationship with each of them reminds me of the one I had with my oldest sister. Though the situation was certainly different, her yearning to fulfill me is much like the way I feel for these children whose lives are so intertwined with mine.
How I decided to become a mom
We’re starting our own photography business. Baby Fever had me in its crazy-making hold. I was one of those women… the women who linger in the infant section of any store. The women who read birth stories and mommy blogs every week. The women who stare at every baby and pregnant lady they see.
How do you manage the monthly highs and lows of trying to conceive?
I know the only way to get pregnant is to have sex, and I love boffing my husband, but making a baby is always in the back of my mind. It’s hard to hit the end of the month (begining of my cycle) without a week of hoping I’m pregnant followed by depression because I’m not.
My gay best friend is the greatest “Gunkle” you’ll ever meet
I am eternally grateful that at the time of my greatest need in life, the universe delivered me a red-haired, freckled, go-go dancing guy with fabulous hair and blue sparkly sneakers to love me and my boy.
My partner and I suffered from baby-name remorse
Apparently the need to rename your child is called “baby-name remorse.” Considerably more common than one suspects. I came upon a few stories on the internet about baby-name remorse and even a few personal stories by parents who went through with the out of the box renaming of their child.
The ups and downs of step-and-biological parenting in tandem
Eight years ago I became a stepmother to two kids. We share their care with their biological mother — they’re half with us, half with her. At the time, my step-son was eight and my step-daughter was four. Step-parenting has by turns been the most awesome and the hardest shit I’ve done in my life — it is second only to having my “own” child. Here are a few of my positive (and negative) experiences.
Cute ways to keep up with your family tree
I’ve been going through a bit of an embroidery kick lately, and started Googling different types of potential patterns. Since I’ve only been doing this for a few weeks I know next to nothing about embroidery, but I do know enough to recognize that this custom family tree embroidery pattern from the Etsy shop cozyblue is nothing less than cute, cute, OMG, SO CUTE.
Crap, it’s cancer: parenting during a health crisis
My husband was diagnosed with rectal cancer in February 2011. He turned 40 only one month before. I’m only 31. We have a six-year old daughter and a three-year old son.