The Moms And The City

“You might live to be 104 years old,” my mom said to me recently. “Please, no,” I joked, thinking of all the ailments and losses I would have to endure to get to that age. On the bright side, I suggested to her, if a one-hundred year life is the new normal, maybe we could […] http://bit.ly/19VpBMO

This post about cleaning up life’s messes was sponsored by Huggies. In 2005, I purchased a refillable tub of Huggies baby wipes that I still use. Last week, I intended to purchase the latest formulation of Huggies Wipes (the ones with NEW Triple Clean action) but instead, I bought EIGHT NEW TUBS! Holy cats, sometimes online […] http://bit.ly/19B0aQg

I just read a novel in which one of the characters was an economist who specialized in the study of Happiness. He had created some formula, which I won’t be able to document exactly right, but the jist of it was Happiness = Expectations – Reality. Maybe there was some more complicated math in there, […] http://bit.ly/YRiLby

I was separated from my first baby, Julian, for the first hour or two of his life. While I was incredibly curious to see him again — this person whose very existence I had invented and named now existed in the real world!  I guess I was also very patient. I don’t remember being overcome […] http://bit.ly/10qo4tB

We are at a conference for the rest of the weekend, so I am re-posting this one from a couple years ago. Heather and I both live in Berkeley where houses are small, and expensive nonetheless. Our neighboring city Oakland is pretty much the same.  If you’ve seen the show Parenthood, which is set here, […] http://bit.ly/1093SMP

On vacation! Please enjoy this post from 2010. Julian noticed that I have been sewing a few things for Scarlett and asked me to make something for him.  I had hidden two plain Old Navy ringer tshirts in my closet, intending to embellish them in some way for him, but had not yet decided how.  […] http://bit.ly/13U9a5N

My very first time with a babysitter, I was so choked up with emotion about leaving my five-month old in anyone else’s care that I had to excuse myself to another room and cry for a bit (while she was still there!). There was so much to communicate and I had no idea how to […] http://bit.ly/13Ryrha

If I were a lady at Downton Abbey, my wishes would be obeyed with great haste. Food and nurslings could be summoned with a tasteful ringing of a bell and sent away with the same simplicity. Instead, I live in the real world where I was a demanding and hormonal hot mess without the courage […] http://bit.ly/ZWDWpu

The jury is in and it turns out that I am a rookie at having three children but no longer a rookie baby mama. Not that I’m a pro with the baby, but this guy gets to deal with carpools instead of mommy and me swimming classes; he’s more at home asleep on me at […] http://bit.ly/13bASuH

Aside from childbirth — in which I got a lovely all-expenses paid trip to the hospital down the street for two nights with my husband — Alec and I haven’t been away from the kids together just us (Aww crap, I just realized that I have been telling that story for a while now, but […] http://bit.ly/13505Xo

Did you or do you keep a pregnancy journal? Unless you count this here blog, I did not. Geralyn Broder Murray created a diary with sweet illustrations and thought starters to help you remember the agony and — in dreams with Ryan Gosling — ecstasy of pregnancy. Because those memories fade (which is why some […] http://bit.ly/12SLzC6

If you want to know the accurate results of the very expensive stick you just peed on, wait the full three minutes. Maybe even longer. Both of my pregnancies were difficult to detect with store-bought pregnancy tests. I never did get a positive test with Julian, but since I was working with a fertility doctor, […] http://bit.ly/ZMxUL1

We had a lot of choices when thinking about our baby’s first birthday celebration. There’s the “do what you want to do” train of thought that would encourage Alec and I to high-five the conclusion of our first year however we wanted (maybe with a night out or a weekend away!) Then there’s the photo-tastic […] http://bit.ly/XCIFg0

My toddler came home from daycare yesterday covered in black and red paint such that he looked as though he had been in a street fight and lost. Yet I still didn’t bathe him til this morning, shrugging it off as “probably permanent and wouldn’t come off anyway”. Poor third child. ps It came right […] http://bit.ly/12SrNpu

Our good friend, Karen, always has the best taste in food, furnishings, and fun trips. We have been watching her rookie year of motherhood with great curiosity and interest. She agreed to share with us a few stories of how things are changing at their house in this guest post. Thanks, Karen (and ps your […] http://bit.ly/WGmnbN