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…
Eat, sleep, play goes the life of the baby. No matter the day or week, baby life goes in this blissful cycle. Their goals come naturally – keep practicing tummy time until I can lift my head, keep practicing my twisting until I can roll over, keep practicing my balance until I can sit up unassisted….
I had my third meeting with Karma Blackburn this week, the therapist that Kyle says has to be a stripper’s name. The truth is, she’s a sweet 60-some-year-old woman who gets me way more than the sassy, 40-some-year-old therapist I was referred to through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) the last go around. Karma verified for…
Sweet Leo is already 6 months old! I remember when he was a little sweet potato bundled in my arms for long naps while I juggled a cup of coffee and a book on my kindle during maternity leave, thinking my boy will one day be 6 months?! That sounds so old! He’ll be so…
What a year, am I right? For all of us. It’s not an exaggeration to say everyone on the planet has had quite the year, a life-altering one for most. For me, it has been quite the year to be pregnant. When quarantine started, I kept thinking how fortunate I was that these unique…
If you and I hung around last year at this time, you might remember how excited I was to turn 30. Not because I had checked off all the proverbial boxes before the milestone age (I hadn’t), but because I assumed that people who are 30 or older have life all figured out. Mostly, I…
Kyle and I did a thing yesterday. Three years ago this January, he and I were talking on one of our usual road trips from our Illinois hometown to our then home in Iowa, and we landed on the topic of tattoos. Our dating anniversary was around the corner so maybe we were feeling sentimental, but we decided one day…
On Halloween, a batch of cookies taught me a lesson. This isn’t a new concept to me – I’ve learned several things from baked goods over the years. There’s truly no difference in taste for gluten-free sweets, so just bake what you can eat and no one else will care. Bringing homemade treats to an occasion…
