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Covid and selfishness
Covid sucks. I think we can all agree on that. Masks aren’t a complete fix by themselves to lessen the spread of it, but when added to the social distancing and also getting vaccinated they can help. If you’re able to get vaccinated, please do. I know there are some who can’t for health reasons and I understand that, but those who aren’t vaccinated or refuse to be and could be, they’re being selfish. They think that either the vaccines aren’t tested enough, or they already had Covid, so they’ve got natural antibodies to keep them safe. Both are lies. They’re just cop-outs for the unvaccinated to remain selfish and…
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Growth spurts and stories
Now I get what you’re thinking; what do growth spurts and stories have in common. Ideally there is some growth in you because of them. When you first get pregnant, the multitude of pregnancy apps will strive to keep you updated about the size of the growing baby in your belly. The apps tend to use fruit as examples, because most of the time we know roughly how big that piece of fruit is. Baby blueberry, then eventually a kiwi, then even bigger to a cantelope all lead up to the last one of a giant watermelon right before birth. (ever hear birth being described as trying to push a…
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Parenting in the time of Covid-19
Covid-19 has been a pandemic now for almost six weeks. The Texas governor on Friday closed all schools, public, private and secondary education for the remainder of the current school year. Munchkin has been distance learning for three weeks and he’s got frequent Zoom meetings happening with his teacher and classmates each week and they will be continuing until the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Last week one of his classmates shared that they were sad they won’t be back at school this year for any field trips or fun activities that their teachers had planned for them. Hearing the sadness in the students voice made me sad and…
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It’s Just a Phase
How many times have you heard the phrase “it’s just a phase” or even said it yourself when dealing with a fussy baby or a toddler acting like a teenager? (threenagers are real and among us) Often we mutter it to ourselves or others when they’re going through a rough patch with the child, or children as a way to acknowledge their tough spot or more-often than not, as a way to minimize their struggle. I want to challenge you to consider that often quoted phrase as an encouragement to sink into your current phase and find the good in it. It may not be easy, in fact you may…
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A Birthday and a Hope
Tomorrow we celebrate our Little Miss turning 3. Not only do I feel old realizing this, but I’ve also seen some Mom Bloggers posting about their last baby being a lengthy list of last ‘firsts’ and how heartbroken they are to realize this is the last first they’ll experience. First steps, first tooth, first night sleeping all night, etc… but in all honesty I’m glad she is both my little girl, my only girl and my last. Pregnancy and the fourth trimester was tough for me. (see here) She is already a force to be reckoned with, for the good and the bad. She’s loving, creative and especially imaginative, which…
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Spoons and Parenting
My children have taken after me in how they eat their cereal in the mornings, dry with a side of milk. I’ve upgraded to coffee instead of milk, and since they’ve got enough energy already, they don’t need coffee to add to that. It would be like adding an extra battery pack to an already fast RC car. It would be really cool at first, then an amazing crash would occur, injuries might happen and all that energy would be lost. They’ve also started enjoying the handheld goodness of Pop-Tarts dipped in milk. Occasionally the piece of Pop-Tart would fall into the milk and they’d have to fish it out…
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It’s Your Birthday!
Well, not today, but on Sunday my family and I celebrated my arrival into this world 34 years ago. I’m thankful for another year on this earth, but disliked the fact that I’ve had a stubborn cold for over a week now. Summer colds are annoying and very bothersome. Thank goodness for Claritin D and Ricola throat lozenges. When I was a kid celebrating my birthday was a bit tricky; it’s after schools out for summer, close to Independence Day, and, lots of people tended to leave for vacation about that time as well. Which makes it tricky to plan a party, so often those celebrating with me I was…
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Making friends is easy… Unless you’re a Mom
Making friends when I was a child was really easy. I met someone new at the playground, I introduce myself to them, we both like to swing, we are in the same grade at school. Instant friends. I’m not sure where the disconnect happens between childhood and adulthood, but making friends now is hard. Not impossible, but quite difficult. It’s like once we hit adulthood and become parents; our friendships and social connections focus on our kids and what they’re doing or becoming. We need to remember that we as parents are in need of connections that aren’t attached to our children, because the idea is usually to raise the…
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Hugs can help
When I realized that April was almost over a week ago, Mister observed that we had been traveling for the first half of the month and all of us were sick in the last two weeks of it. Through all of the craziness that April offered, one thing was constant; the desire and request for hugs. Both of the kiddos are keen snugglers and to be honest, so are Mister and I. I thought back and realized that even if the day wasn’t going as smoothly as we had anticipated, a hug tended to help soften the grumpy attitudes we had developed. We had to make an unexpected trip up…
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Spring in Ohio
We are spending some time with the in-laws (Oma & Pa) in Ohio and I’ve realized a few things: When driving from Texas to Ohio, be prepared to spend most of Day One still in Texas. Don’t forget the heavy coats, gloves and hats. It snowed yesterday. It’s April. Bringing bits of home, like my coffee & coffee maker, helps stave off crankiness. Be willing to be flexible about kiddos nap times & what they eat for meals. Know that the memories being made now outweigh the exhaustion earned in the drive time here. Road trips with toddlers & preschool aged kids can be done well with flexibility and grace.…
