There Is No “Only” in Pregnancy Loss
When women discover that I lost a baby during the 20th week of pregnancy, they will often open up to me about their own loss, but reduce its significance by saying they were “only” six weeks, eight weeks, or fill-in-the-blank weeks pregnant when their loss occurred. They…
Thump. Slam. Smack. And a voice that could be mistaken for that of a songbird. These are the sounds of morning. The thump of my daughter’s feet hitting the floor. The slam of the bathroom door and the smack of the toilet lid hitting the back of the…
Judging the Failures of Another Before Recognizing My Own
No matter who you are, it’s easy to judge the behavior of other parents, especially when their behavior is just plain bad. I’m not talking about the ones who feed their kids too many chicken nuggets, or the ones who allow their kids to leave the…
The Lies Satan Told Me After My Baby Died
Losing my baby was without question the most difficult experience of my life. For months, my life consisted of nothing more than overwhelming grief, heartache and emptiness. Day after day, I nearly drowned in a pool of my own tears and barely escaped being suffocated by the bone crushing sorrow…
No one told me that the best parts of motherhood are found in the most ordinary moments. And that it’s the ordinary moments that I miss most as the seasons change and so do my kids. It’s been another humdrum week around here. A week that…
So You Cried and I Held You
You were a colicky one Baby Boy and oh, how I wished for those days to pass. Those days that were full of nothing but crying and I could do nothing but hold you. Those days when you cried and I cried right along with you. We were both so…
A Mom’s Mantra When Motherhood Is Overwhelming
Remember what you have. It’s my mantra when I am about to lose it; a phrase I repeat to myself throughout the day. As I wade through piles of both clean and dirty laundry. As the dirty dishes continue to multiply. As I clean up another cup of…
My daughter had today off from school and I had planned to do nothing more than go through the motions of cooking, cleaning, errands, and laundry. As soon as she woke up this morning, she asked if we could go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. While my brain said…
My daughter sat on my bed the other day with a notebook in hand and about 60 markers scattered before her. She was fully prepared to draw the heartfelt pictures that she is so good at drawing while waiting for me to finish up some work on the computer. As…