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To my husband on his big mid-thirty’s birthday little fingers– inside your heart all sunshine long —- sleepy eyes perk up before dawn snuggles —- big brain hold small hands inside his arms —- laugh tender growing squiggles our family of five —- You would never know my thesis was a poetry manuscript. This is all I got, people. If you too love this Janod firefighter set, I cannot recommend anything from that company highly enough. Brilliant design. The box is part of the toy. Costco pjs? Don’t mind if he does. And yes, note the Scythian sticker on the kids’ learning tower. They love their adopted uncles. If you don’t own Cake for Dinner, the kid album of the world’s bestest band, your life is incomplete. I have a copy or two for a giveaway I’ll run later this month! Our now weekly visits to his work that include AA getting me a very large hot cocoa & the kids croissants from the Starbucks in his building, meeting us at the car, having a visit in the don’t-park-here-just-load-here spot, and then being recharged enough to survive the next 8 hours without him. It’s like drive-through love. Pictured here the kids actually got to get out and go in with him–because it was above 30 degrees finally.
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So we’re all living within some budget, right. And we all compare the generic brand to the fancy and think Really? That much more? And then we grab the lotion that’s on sale, and away our cart zooms down the aisle. That’s how we’ve always done skin care. It seemed like a real luxury to buy anything organic or high end, even, and frankly, a potential waste of moolah. I didn’t care about the vitamin-A saturated wrinkle eye cream (maybe I should have started to earlier?), nor did I really care about what kind of lotion I put on, if any, in the harsh winters after my (infrequent) shower. Two things changed this perspective: SuperBoy’s eczema and my sister becoming an herbalist. I’ll start with the herbalist part. Many of you know about the sister right above me, Molly, who lives out in New York with her two sweet girls. She’s the one I’m always face timing or blabbing to on the phone. Or days like today when we spent an hour on the phone, much of which was spent talking to our children or putzing around our houses. Just hanging out. On speaker (which drives our brother nuts). She is a graphic designer by trade and worked in the field almost a decade before turning her sights to . . . herbs. I’ve blogged about her momma line before, remember? She joined up with her girlfriend Emma at Brooklyn Herborium and does everything that you can visually see (still a…
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— 1 — It’s Friday. You know the drill. Share what you’ve done & learned & endured during the week with Jen and her lovelies. I wish I had something very profound to share insofar as life revelations, but really it’s been a stay-alive-kind-of-week. My to-do list with baby coming in a matter of weeks (whoa, I’m only 34 weeks pregnant–am I jinxing myself?) keeps growing. I mean, I do things on it, and then find other things that also desperately quickly nowly must be done. I wrote this week about how I came to terms with pausing my lawyerly jig and staying at home. I blah lablah personal for a while but include my list of questions to ask if you’re in the boat of contemplation, either on staying home, or going back to work. No easy answers, and I really believe that mostly people just gotta do what they gotta do and the devil take the hindmost (or the judgers). — 2 — Did you see that Jen in including a wonderful e-book about how she operates her family as a bonus for pre-ordering her book, Something Other Than God? Don’t think I didn’t order it yesterday. Because I did. Happy birthday in a few weeks to me. And me! (does anyone else remember the “very merry unbirthday” song from Alice in Wonderland? I am always tempted to shout an additional “and ME!” Narcissism lives on here.) Part of why I want to buy (and did) is because she’s a very…
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Me, fat & happy at 34 weeks with BabyLoves. Yes, this is a St. Joan of Arc tee I got at Zara in Vegas years and years ago. Big fatty disclaimer: this is not a treatise on how staying home is morally superior to working outside the home. Not a jot. I do not believe that to be the case. I support moms coming up with what’s best for their children at different times of life. And that they have the right to chance that opinion, modify it, and not be judged any/either way. This is just about how I have paused my lawyerly career to be a stay at home mom. Something that spurned on these reflections were an article in the Atlantic I read last year that a friend brought up again by Anne-Marie Slaughter called “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” The dichotomy of either working or mothering. The lack of space for a good dose of both in our society? Read it–it’s more interesting than my little essay here! I’m not a lawyer for right now. It’s a weird thing, to feel that my career is on long-term hold. I still am a lawyer, technically. I’m still admitted to the Bar. I’m inactive, but that’s still the field I worked in for years and the diploma in my closet. It’s weird. Having a career-defining job title “lawyer” and stepping away from it. And when people ask what I do, I say, “I’m a lawyer who…
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Oh, did your kid scream her head off during the large-scale playdate you hosted? First off, don’t be embarrassed. I’ve had this exact same experience, as has any mother of a 2+ year old. All the other moms have either had this experience, or if their child is extremely unusual and they’ve never hosted anything, maybe they were horrified. Truly, though, this is totally normal and to be expected. Why? Because your kid is 2+ and is developing at lightening speed internally and behavior can’t keep up! When I last had this happen and we had about 7 other little monsters over, and SuperBoy was completely ballistic out of his mind, luckily, my mom was home that day. She took him upstairs so I could continue to host and he could reclaim his brain particles. But what about when it’s just you & the monster & maybe a baby in arms and a room full of other mothers? A few things that have helped me: 1) Prep prep prep. Prep the kids ahead of time: “Children are coming. they’re going to touch all your toys. If there is a toy you don’t want to share, let’s put it in your room. We want our friends to be happy, so we’re going to share.” I often have to remind them mid-date (if they’re acting up) that “We’re going to have a wonderful snack. Little children who share nicely get a really nice treat!” I’m not above bribery, or attempts thereof. 2)…
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I’m no pro, having only had my little shop for two years, but I’ve picked up a thing or three along the way. While my children unhappily have succumbed to sleep, I thought I’d share my small semi-precious (costume jewelry?) stones with you. My shop, Whole Parenting Goods, is a source of fun, creativity, and sometimes a little side of stress for me. My shop has a number of sections: Bandit Bibs, Contour Cloths, Very Large Blankets, Large Blankets, Lightweight Blankets, Knits & Crochets, Little Girl Skirts, and my girlfriend Cynthia’s beautiful work under her label, Interior Castles. 1) Why Should I Start an Etsy Shop? If you are an artisan and love creating, do it. Whether or not anything sells, if the process is enjoyable for you, it’s worth it. You have to love making what you’re making, and feel compelled to share it with others. 2) Why Shouldn’t I Start an Etsy Shop? If you’re expecting to make a lot of money. There is no steady stream of income. People order 10 things one month, and 1 the next. There’s no predicting it. Also, often people want custom items so they like that blanket you made, but they want it in a different fabric, bigger, smaller, oh, and then after you’ve corresponded for weeks on the specifics, they don’t actually want to buy it from you. It’s a bizarre blend of custom work and then the quick outright purchaser. 3) Who Buys From You? I get asked this…
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