This year, this mother of two aims to do less. My kids don’t really appreciate what I do anyway, so why not save myself the trouble? Less time on THEM means more time on ME. (Hey, maybe I’ll finally find time to use that Wii Fit all the [...]

I love artwork. I come from two sets of parents who essentially wallpaper their homes with art. They are lovers of every genre. They’ve got rooms filled with abstract paintings, rooms with both expressionist and impressionist art. Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Renoir, Seurat, Warhol,  Vermeer, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Monet, [...]

A couple years ago, over the Christmas holiday, the silent invasion began.   One turned into two, two turned into four, four turned six, then nine, twelve, and so on, and so forth.   Sure the invasion was innocent enough, at first, but soon we were taken over by the [...]

I can’t quite remember where we were going, but I remember that Davey was napping and the kids were having some reading time. I think we were going to co-op. Yeah, that’s it; we were going to co-op, but I digress.
The kids were all on the couches, reading, [...]

When I was pregnant with my second child, I wondered how having two children would shake up the relationship I had with my son. Other parents expressed their concerns, the worry they’d felt while pregnant. But I rarely felt particularly worried for long. (This is unusual for me.)

This month, their personalities have really divulged. They’re starting to acknowledge each other. They interact without me in the equation. And when either of them needs me, they need me in wildly different ways. A come do a puzzle with me or a bumped chin and an empty belly. A short conversation about planets or ten minutes at the breast.

So this weekend I took each boy on a Mama-date. (Actually, Chipmunk got two of them.)

“Are you serious?” is sooo much nicer to say to your 3 year old than, “Are you freaking kidding me?” “Are you trying to drive me absolutely batballs crazy?’
Those phrases are on the tip of my tongue on a daily basis because my 3 year old climbs [...]

Looking to get kicked in the nuts while simultaneously realizing you are the worst parent ever?
Send your kids to preschool.
You potty train(ish) them.  You tell them not to hit or bite.  You go over counting to ten and pointing out shapes and colors.   You make them promise not [...]

I was actually getting some decent sleep Monday morning when I heard the baby cooing in his crib. He sounded content just chattering to himself so I went back to sleep, at least I tried. Two minutes later my husband came in with the baby and plopped him [...]

My mother to me, 8-and-a-half years ago, while I was gigantenormously pregnant with my first baby:
“I hope you have a child who is just like you.”
At first I thought this was so wonderful – and so unusual – my mother being all rainbows and unicorns and all things [...]

Let me set the stage for one of my best Aiming Low Parenting moments of all time:
We have Me, the Mom, 4 year old Princess and the Eighteen Month Old Monkey.
We hit our local children’s re-sale store’s parking lot and as I released Monkey from his car seat, [...]