A PHOTOJOURNAL
My first weeks with L were blue skies and rainbows and sunshine. I loved everything about our life together under the roof of our little brick house--the midnight snuggles, wispy baby hair, long, lazy mornings all curled up in bed as a family. But there was a storm cloud looming on the horizon--I only had … Continue reading On Being a Working Mom
A couple of week ago I was driving to pick Jordan up from the university after he'd spent a long couple of days out in the field, and a thunderstorm broke right overtop me. In seconds, the highway had disappeared beneath a glistening sheath of water, and the windshield roared with rain. It was simultaneously … Continue reading June
[Written about two weeks after L was born. Warning: this post is kinda graphic. Like mucus-plug graphic. Read at your own discretion] I’m sitting here with a snoring baby on my chest. He is warm and soft and heavy—the sort of soft, warm, heavy that is meant to be snuggled close. It’s one of the … Continue reading On Giving Birth
As a culture, we're obsessed with how much (...or how little) babies sleep. Babies who sleep a lot are pronounced good babies. Babies who wake frequently are thought of as difficult. And the first question new parents are asked--after divulging the weight, length and name of their new arrival--is "Are you sleeping?" Depending on your … Continue reading On Sweet, Sweet, Sleep
May is drawing to a close, and as its last days near, temperatures soar. It feels like it's been weeks since our last rainfall, and every time I open my weather app, little suns stare back at me. The grass in our backyard is becoming crispy. My garden requires constant drenching with a hose. And … Continue reading On May shadows and sunshine
(Warning--this is an excessively long ramble about gardens). I have a thing for failed gardens. We go way back. Every spring a fever of desire comes over me: the desire to plant seeds in the ground and watch them grow. Every spring, I start a garden. And every summer, I still fail to have homegrown … Continue reading On Plants and Persistence
Being a parent is not what I expected. The word parent is so boring. So blasé. Commonplace, even. Before becoming one, I pictured ill fitting jeans, responsibility, and the exhaustion of serving up mundanity to my children day after live-long day. As far as words go, parent was the opposite of romance in my brain. It was … Continue reading On the Sweeping Emotions of Parenthood
The back of our house has big windows that face full east, so that we get a glorious view of the sunrise coming up from the trees behind our house, and then are treated to the slow progression of dull dawn light, to melty golden light that flows in our windows and sticks to the … Continue reading April
We woke to slate grey skies and helterskelter leaves flapping violently on their twigs in the trees. Jenna and I had been having a celebratory post-MCAT sleep over (complete with sticky buns, Oreos, Tarzan, and the Office) and as she rolled over to check her phone, her eyes got wide. "There's a tornado warning!" she … Continue reading On the business of survival
I'm not a very independent person. Ever since I was little, I remember feeling anxious when my parents dropped me off alone somewhere--whether it was at the barn for my weekly riding lesson, or at a friend's house. Little things gave me butterflies: ordering food at a restaurant, knocking on doors (even when the occupants … Continue reading On Independence
