I drove to an apartment on the west side of Chicago to be photographed in a nursing dress by Leche Libre. My 2 sons and I poured in with our usual chaos. Andrea, the owner and designer, and I chatted while our kids played. She took out her camera and I got into her sample dress. I expected to smile and pose, but when I put the dress on and looked in the mirror, I realized I had found my badass uniform. It was like finding a piece of me that had fallen away.
It’s hard living in my skin. Not in a melodramatic way, but literally. My skin is sensitive and is a recurring source of discomfort. A few weeks ago I got a cold that swept through the toddlers at the local park district building. You know the moment when you realize you have gotten the cold that your toddler and baby have. “Oh what misery we are in for,” I thought. The first time I blew my nose I was reminded of the painful dry, flaky, cracked, bloody skin that will develop from the repeated blowing. Not only will Man Cold surely set in, but Cold Nose will too. [Read more…]
After a recent hot shower I was overcome with a familiar feeling that could only mean one thing, it was December in Chicago. I had a tight, dry and itchy feeling to my skin that totally erased any comfort I had gained from a few minutes to myself in a steamy shower. I associate this feeling with the disappearance of any moisture in the air, shoveling the car out, chapped lips, gobs of lotion, static cling and getting shocked when touching my kids. The heat (and air conditioning for that matter) coming on exacerbates all of these things. It’s right at this time that I take out our Crane humidifier and ask it nicely to please work overtime for the next 6 months.
I attended ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. My headache from flashing lights, loud music and the dinging of slot machines has finally gone away. I can now think back to what I saw and share some of it with you. You have to understand that there were thousands of products being displayed and I cannot possibly tell you about them all. I can’t even swear I am going to remember everything I saw. I had a 16-month-old baby with me after all! But here we go. A few of my favorite things from ABC. [Read more…]
I love watching my kids grow up. I learn something new about them every day. But it also gives me pangs of sadness when I realize that each passing moment is history. I will never get this time back with them. I look at photos of my 4-year-old as a baby and I feel like I barely remember those days! My 16-month-old is toddling around and I will never hold his newborn body in my arms again, I will never feel that new-mom vulnerability, never feel the intensity of having a new baby completely dependent on me every moment. [Read more…]
Deodorant is controversial stuff. Well, maybe not the deodorant itself, it might just be the spread of new information that gets touchy. I posted on Facebook about how some of the ingredients in big brand name deodorants were being linked to breast cancer. Instead of people saying, “Oh wow, that’s disturbing, I want to read more about that,” they said, “That’s ridiculous! I need my deodorant! I would never go without deodorant. Gross!” [Read more…]
By Abby Theuring, MSW
I would love to have a suitcase designated just for hygiene products. I’d bring my various face creams, body washes, lotions, hair serums, coconut oil, olive oil and exfoliates every time I went out of town. Which is often. I’d bring my Motherlove products for the kids; the diaper rash and thrush and the birth and baby oil that I use to rub up the baby. By the time everything is packed I have no room for diapers and I’m only going on a weekender to the grandparent’s house an hour away. Something’s gotta give. [Read more…]
Author: Rachel Rainbolt, M.A.
Title: Sage Homeschool: a lifestyle of connection [Read more…]
By Andy Malinski
My dad owns a baseball signed by a man named Carlton Fisk—once a catcher for the Boston Red Sox. But it’s not his affiliation with the Red Sox which caused my dad to make this purchase—after all, my dad is a life-long Yankees fan, so such a piece of memorabilia treads toward sacrilegious. He has this ball because, as young boys, my dad and Mr. Fisk played sandlot ball together in Vermont. [Read more…]
When I was pregnant with my first son, Jack, I bought one of those infant bucket seats. It didn’t occur to me to get a convertible seat that would grow with him; the convertibles didn’t seem comfy for a newborn. Before he turned one year old he grew out of it. I finally bought a new one when I found myself pushing him into the seat to buckle him in. I bought the cheapest one from Target and figured that would last him. I didn’t really think about the future. It was cheap and it fit. [Read more…]
