Dear Devin, You told me over dinner that Grandma has taken you to Chuck E. Cheese like a million times. You lamented the fact that I have never taken you to Chuck E. Cheese’s since we’ve lived in Florida. “Yes, well, Grandma is clearly a better parent than me,” I told you. “Can I move [...]

The first night we got home, I forgot to feed my kids dinner. I haven’t cooked a meal in over a month.  Jared and I ate out or ate string cheese and beer or, in most cases, just didn’t eat at all.  I’m always amazed by single people who go through the effort of cooking [...]

Friday night, there was this: And this is Heather drinking absinthe in a fancy cafe in Atlanta. And because she did it, I figured I would do it.  But do it cooler.  So I ordered an Absinthe Frappé. Because, I thought, an absinthe smoothie sounds awesome.  And if a frappuccino is a cappuccino frozen, then [...]

I get my kids back tomorrow. I’m heading towards them today. Yes, I won’t see them until Saturday and I’ll be spending Friday night in Atlanta and not in Nashville – the drop off point that is halfway between here and there. But at least, finally, I’m heading towards them. Knowing that makes the ache [...]

My kid is smarter than your kid. I mean, probably. But to be fair, he’s smarter than most kids.  This is not news to us.  (Nor is it the same as saying he is better than your kid.  I mean, clearly, I think so.  But I understand if we would have to agree to disagree [...]

I don’t know if other mothers do this, but I’m constantly thinking about how my children will remember their childhoods. We’ll be in the middle of our lives, and suddenly I see it all as a snapshot.  I look at the people and the surroundings, the faces and the details of what we’re wearing, and [...]

.!. It was early Saturday morning and no one in the house had really started moving yet.  I was in my pajamas, enjoying my morning coffee and making shopping plans on the phone with Hilly and Faiqa. Emma came bursting out of the sliding glass door onto the back patio.  She was wearing nothing but [...]

Her: Knock, knock Me: Who’s there? Her: uh… TREE! Me: Tree who? Her: I’M A TREE WEARING A HAT!! And she laughs that one laugh she does when she is being weird.  It’s the four year old girl version of that noise from Revenge of the Nerds, I swear. Her: Knock, knock Me: Who’s there? [...]

I hate spring break. It’s not that I don’t love my children.  I do.  But the fact remains that while Devin is off school for a week, I have a full time job to tend to. Luckily, I was able to work from home all week.  Or at least I thought that would be a [...]

He doesn’t usually crawl into bed with me. That should have been a sign. “Devin, what are you doing?” I asked as the alarm blared again and I realized my nine year old son was snuggled into his father’s side of the bed. “I’m tired.  My leg hurts.” “It’s time to get up, buddy.” He [...]

“Mom, is it going to be hot today?” “It’s April in Florida.  Yes, son, it’s going to be hot today.” He stood there looking at me, as if he hadn’t comprehended my response. “Devin, go get dressed,” I prodded.  It was 6 in the morning and far too early for the blank stare. “Umm… I [...]

“Mama, you wanna battle?” We were packing away the markers and the BIG GIANT DIEGO COLORING BOOK so that we could all sit down and have dinner.  Together.  As a family. I’d just spent 20 minutes coloring Diego and a baby jaguar and was high on the quality kid time I’ve been missing lately.  That’s [...]

“Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!” -Dr. Seuss Now that Hilly has had a chance to tell you herself, it’s OK for me to talk about it here. Hilly hasn’t been here for the last week just visiting.  She’s been checking out the area to decide if [...]

Emma, Some day I will write down your very own Story of The Day You Were Born and you will carry on a tradition started by my own mom. Some day you will sit long enough to listen to me talk about the greatest day of my life (and you will likely use that against [...]

free boat trip Hello, Internet. You know how, sometimes, you come out of the woodwork with your words of wisdom and your well meaning suggestions for how I should fix this and handle that and basically live my life so much better than I am doing it now? And you know how, sometimes, I like [...]