[This post originally published a few days after my sixth child was born. Since she turned 4 yesterday I thought I would republish it.] Dear Baby V, This morning your Dad kissed me goodbye and you were snuggled on my left arm and your big sister Ruby was lying on my right arm, having climbed […]

  Inbetween using my phone to take dozens of selfies of her feet (feetsies?) and hiding in luggage, my 4 year old daughter speaks nuggets of wisdom. I call her Victoria the Sage. She randomly makes delightfully humorous and profound statements. A few examples follow. On beauty and femininity: “When people are mean, they’re not […]

(Note: this is a post about my experience using a Lact-Aid nursing system after my 27-weeker preemie was born. I mostly share my feelings here, but if you have any specific questions please leave them in comments or email me privately if you prefer and I will answer them.) Yesterday I got an email from the […]

Remember my complaint about the kids being lazy unproductive slothful bored this summer and getting on my last nerve? I have been working on that. The first plan of attack was to have the kids plan a menu and cook four nights a week. I placed them into two teams: Team A is the 18-year-old […]

For several years now, I’ve been taking a summer break from homeschooling. So, you’d think I would learn. The first couple of weeks, I let the kids enjoy some lazy downtime. They sleep late. They lay around on the couch reading, building with LEGO, watching movies. We go to the pool. They Kik and WhatsApp […]

Parenting is not something you “figure out”. I’m learning as I go. As my kids grow and change, I change with them – out of necessity for their needs, but also because I’m changing. Still, I’ve learned some things over the past 18 years with these seven children. Here are 18 parenting lessons. My oldest […]

  Here’s a recent photo of that baby the Neonatologist encouraged me to “terminate”. Guess I made the right call.