September was a real struggle. Between distance learning, taking care of a toddler, finding time to read and blog, and just generally living and keeping 4 people alive and well, I’ve been on the verge of going nuts. It pains me because this blog is a huge source of escape, especially since it’s something that’s just for me, but I really need to step back a little. With our school district looking to try to reopen in November, I’m getting ready to pull my son out and homeschool him instead, while also attempting homeschool preschool with my 3 year old, so I anticipate I’ll be making some fairly long-term temporary…
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Mom Message: To the Schools (revisited)
I repost this now, a little less than a year after it originally posted, because there’s some irony here. Now that our school district is online only, parents are now more involved than ever before. Schools, teachers, administrators are now communicating with parents like crazy. It’s amazing how things can change in a year. Originally posted September 30, 2019 I never intended to write anything like this here now that I’ve changed my blog up to supporting stories, but sometimes I need this to be my platform. My oldest child started Kindergarten at the end of last month. It’s been a big month of changes, from having to get up…
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First Grade, Here We Come!
Summer has come to an end. Tomorrow my little boy starts First Grade. First of all, how dare he grow up, turn 6, and go off into the numbered years of school? It’s sometimes hard to reconcile the tiny little 34 week preterm baby he was to the long-limbed getting-too-tall-on-mommy sophisticated 6 year old he now is, but I know he’s one and the same because the only time I’ve spent time away from him is when his sister was born, but his dad and Nana ensured he remained one and the same. I hope. Our school district was the first in the country to shut down back in March.…
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Book Review: What You Wish For by Katherine Center
Title: What You Wish For Author: Katherine Center Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: July 14, 2020 Genre: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction Summary: Samantha Casey is the librarian at the Kempner School where the founder and principal Max Kempner believes in making school joyful. It’s an incredible, warm, colorful school that’s really focused on the students’ needs. Until Max dies and the board installs a new principal, someone from Sam’s past. She remembers Duncan Carpenter as being fun, silly, and colorful, but the man she comes face to face with is anything but. War between him and the teachers ensue, but Max’s widow has a card up her sleeve and, maybe, Duncan isn’t quite the stick…
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Looking Forward to Having Both Kids Home All Summer (revisited)
Since another summer has come along, I thought I’d go back to this post from last summer. Even though both of my kids have been home with me due to COVID-19 since mid-March, I’m still happy to have them with me all day every day because at least I know they’re safe and healthy and won’t be able to spread anything to my husband and me. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a lazy summer! As you read, you’ll learn how I spent my summers and how my kids will spend their summers, but this year will be a little different as I don’t intend on simply maintaining…
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How to Pass the Time When You’re Stuck Inside
I find it funny that, when it’s not always socially acceptable, I’d rather stay home, but, when it is socially expected, I’d rather go out. As an introvert who’d rather stick to sliding along the walls to avoid as many people as possible, staying home makes me happy. But now that I’ve been ordered to stay home, well, I don’t like being told what to do. Initially, I was going to write about how to combat isolation when you live in an apartment and have no outdoor space except a small balcony because that’s our life right now. But, other than opening up the door to the balcony and snuggling…
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5 Reasons Why Our First Year of Regular School Has Sucked
My husband and I have tossed around homeschooling for years, since well before we even conceived our first child. Ultimately, we decided to go with a regular school, primarily for the socialization. And to see how he would fare in a regular school. As a stay at home mom, it’s well within my abilities to homeschool, at least for a few years. But we really wanted him to be with his peers. At first, things went swimmingly. He seemed to like his classmates and always came home saying how much he liked his teacher. He was always eager to go to school and would sometimes have his shoes on before…
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Finding Magic in Motherhood, Part 12: The Relief That Came From Telling My Secret
I was always afraid that, because I’m skinny and petite, I would start showing early on. I was lucky winter went on and on into March that year since my warmer, winter specific dresses tended to be looser than my summer dresses. My closet was also full of colorful scarves my mom had made me over the years, which made it easier to shift attention to my neck. Between them and my coat, no one who didn’t already know knew. Originally, I had intended on telling my classmates once I passed the 12 week mark, but, having miscarried, I was afraid I would lose this, too, if I shared my…
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Sending My Child Back to School Makes Me Sad
This post is publishing today, which must mean my sweet little boy has gone back to Kindergarten after 3 weeks off for the winter holidays. I know many parents count down to this day, and there’s even a Christmas song that mentions parents looking forward to their kids going back to school. But I’m not one of them. Before my son started Kindergarten, I was looking at my calendar, thinking he would be off for the winter holidays for 2 weeks, which is what I had grown up with. I remember thinking 2 weeks wasn’t a long time. They would go by in the blink of an eye. I was…
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Finding Magic in Motherhood, Part 11: I Don’t Believe in Stress
When I learned I was pregnant with my son, I was also somewhere in the middle of my seventh year of formal study in psychology (third year of graduate school). I knew the effects of a mother’s stress on a developing child. Knowing I’m generally an anxious Type A person, it was important to me that I minimize the risk of anxiety in my child. Neither my husband nor I have any known relatives who have ever been diagnosed with anxiety, so I was just keen on minimizing the risk of him developing even a normal level of anxiety. In order to keep my cortisol levels as low as possible…
