Parents, grandparents, anyone with little ones in their lives – have you heard of the Wonder Weeks? It’s an app, book and parenting philosophy that refers to babies from birth to about 18 months, saying that little ones go through 10 mental leaps in their first two years of life. If you have the app,…
I’ve been writing a book for 4 years. Here’s what that looks like: Year 1 – 2018-2019: Everything is new and exciting! I’m in the ideation phase and writing new chapters every week. I go to sleep at night excited to wake up and work on my book. Writing is the best! Year 2 –…
I met a 23-year-old college graduate this week who is anxious about how to get started in her career. My 19-year-old sister-in-law feels similar anxiety in what field to go into, what job to go for now. I want to be able to help these girls, but at 32, I feel the same anxiety about…
What. a. year! A year ago, Leo John made me a mother. We brought home this sweet, tiny little baby with dark hair and midnight blue eyes and a small peanut head. Kyle and I didn’t have a clue what we were in for, but we were so in love. Today Leo’s hair is lighter,…
If you’re a new mom like me and you love to learn everything by reading, you’ve probably felt some choice overload at the number of parenting books out there. I wanted to read all the expert books when little Leo entered our world and learn every element of parenting a newborn. But what I found…
Does anyone else have the lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song “All Too Well (10-minute version)” playing through their head on a constant loop? I hear it when I drink my morning coffee. I hear it while reviewing courses in Blackboard for work. I hear it when I go to sleep. I hear it when I…
I hoped Leo would “tell” me what he wanted to be for Halloween with his personality, and in September he solidified his costume idea when he bit Kyle in the neck in his fight against bedtime. The baby’s habit of biting along with his waking up throughout the night told me… My sweet little Leo…
When I first went back to work, my wise friend Ari gave me some advice: Once a month, take a vacation day for yourself. Take Leo to daycare, and give yourself a day off. Thankfully, I’ve had the luxury of vacation days to take, and for three months in a row, I planned to do just…
Sweet Leo is 8 months old! When he was only 2 or 3 months, I remember seeing older babies and couldn’t believe that he could possibly be that big one day. And here we are – he’s officially an old baby. Before Leo, I hadn’t spent much time around babies to see how they progress into big…
Five years ago, Kyle and I stood in the kitchen of our beloved Des Moines house chatting after dinner, still coming off the high of our incredible wedding weekend, and doing what we like to call “schemin’ and dreamin’.” His brother Nick had told us on our wedding night that he and his wife were…