Practices of Parenting
A blogger I read regularly, Sarah Bessey, has been hosting a Practices of Parenting Carnival this week, where she invited readers to submit posts on their practices of parenting via a link-up. (You can find all of Sarah’s original practices of parenthood posts here.) The response was extraordinary – 117 posts and counting! I linked up my Peace Like A River post, and over the last couple of days I’ve looked at all of the other posts that bloggers linked to on Sarah’s site. They were heart-felt and moving and some were gorgeous. Here are seven that stood out to me. Making Mama...
Read More24 things that have surprised me about motherhood: I never thought I would…
Everyone says motherhood is full of surprises. They’re right. Here are 24 of mine. I never thought I would… Leak milk at the sight of a puppy. Wipe up baby spew with clothing that I am wearing. Consider 6 a.m. on a Sunday almost a sleep-in. Refer to my spouse as “daddy” more frequently than I call him by name. Still have my child sleeping right beside my bed 5 months after his birth. Still want my child to sleep right beside my bed 5 months after his birth. Catch poo with my bare hands. Find myself physically incapable of letting the baby cry for longer than 57 seconds without...
Read MoreMore than a brighter shade of happiness
“What have you been thinking about joy recently?” Mike asked me over lunch the other day. “I’ve been thinking about that research suggesting that people are happier before they have children,” I said. “And about how happiness and joy are different.” “Are you going to write the easy post about how you often feel less happy on a moment to moment basis since Dominic’s birth, but you have more joy in your life?” Mike asked. “No,” I said. “Because, although I would like to think that this is true, I’m not actually sure that it is.” Despite the fact that joy is the...
Read More30 great gifts for pregnant women and new parents
I get more referrals to my blog at present on the topic of gifts for pregnant women than anything else. So in the spirit of giving readers what they want, I thought I’d do a comprehensive post on presents for pregnant women and new parents. (Sidenote: This “giving readers what they want” will not extend to addressing certain other mystifying search terms that have recently led people to my blog, including “humans breastfeeding monkeys” and “koalas drinking beer”.) So without further ado, here are 30 great gifts for pregnant women or new parents. I’ll start with...
Read MoreLooking Like Love: A Letter To My Parents
It’s been five months since I stepped off the plane from Asia, roundly pregnant at 28 weeks, and saw you both there waiting for me and smiling. The hills here were green, the cool air smelled of wet eucalyptus and the pancakes that we stopped for on the way home were heaped with berries, tiny crimson waterfalls falling from the stack. As I unpacked in this bedroom later that morning I thought that five months seemed like an eternity. So many milestones in life had to come and go before I would depart – Mike’s arrival after ten weeks apart, the baby’s arrival, then...
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