Recently I was carrying Exley on my hip and rushing around after Jack. Suddenly I started spinning and darting my eyes around the floor.
“WHERE’S EXLEY??!!” I yelled.
It took my mom to burst out laughing for me to realize what I had done.
The X-Files: A Story of a Second Child
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: adjusting to 2 kids, adjusting to second child, attachment parenting, Breastfeeding, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, new baby, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
Two Different Moms
I feel like 2 different mothers sometimes. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but not the flying into a rage part. Well, ok, sometimes the rage part. OK, OK, often the rage part! Get off my back!
But what I want to highlight here is that I feel like each child brings out a different part of me. It’s the anxiety ridden mother versus the calm, cool and collected mother. I had heard from other mothers that the second baby is easier. I didn’t know until I actually had a second baby what that meant for us. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
The Exclamation Point
Jack is 3.5 years old, but it feels like he has been the closest person to me forever. He changed me in ways that no one has. He changed my purpose in life from little things to the biggest things. I always knew I wanted another child. I also knew that I would experience a heartbreaking change in my relationship with Jack. I predicted it so vividly that it made me choke with sobs. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: adjusting to second baby, adjusting to second child, attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
Sibling Relationships and Avoiding Rivalry
I am not any kind of parenting expert, but we have now welcomed number 2 into our home. It has been 10 months and there is one measly little thing that I can say that I feel like I am doing well. It was a concern of mine, and many parents who are adjusting to 2, that my first son, Jack, would feel left out or jealous. I knew that Jack would have complicated feelings about my second son, Exley. I wanted to be sure not to shame him for his feelings. I wanted him to feel as doted upon as always. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: adjusting to second baby, adjusting to second child, attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids, sibling relationships, sibling rivalry
Surrender
By Melody Fetterman
A great deal of my pregnancy was spent anticipating birth. I was afraid of it for a long time, for most of the time. Luckily, my fears dissolved as I neared the end of my pregnancy and I felt peace. And though my son’s birth was not silent or simple, it was peaceful in its own way. I remember it as a storm. The lightning contractions, the thunderous moaning, the sounds so loud that the world seemed quiet. And then, just as a storm ends, it was over. My son was born. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, birth, Breastfeeding, child discipline, childbirth, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
I Love My Baby More Than You Love Your Baby:
How the On-Line Motherhood Support Community is Committing Mass Suicide
We love nothing more than to say we have this wonderful, global community of women designed to support each other in a way that many people in our daily lives have not. And yet, we shit on this very community every single day. Many times a day. All day. I am just about at my wits end with the woman on woman hating on the internet. Yes, I am talking about you. And I am talking about me. Every single one of us needs to take responsibility.
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: advocacy, attachment parenting, baby led weaning, benefits of breastfeeding, breast feeding, Breastfeeding, breastfeeding beyond infancy, breastfeeding in public, child discipline, childbirth, disciplining children, exclusive breastfeeding, extended breastfeeding, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, mama tribe, mom to mo support, natural parenting, NIP, nursing aversion, nursing in public, parenting advice, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggle, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, pregnancy, pregnancy women, raising children, raising kids, weaning
I’m Going to Miss You
Dear Sweet Baby,
You are not a baby anymore and if I called you “sweet baby” you would say, “I’m not a baby! I’m just Jack!” But to me it seems like just yesterday you were that baby. The baby that changed everything that life is all about for me. It seems like it has gone by so fast yet I feel like I’ve known you for an eternity. Like you were always here on some level and you were just waiting for your chance to meet me in this life. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: adjusting to second baby, attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, pregnant with second child, raising children, raising kids, second baby, welcoming second child
Let It Go
I’ve probably uttered this phrase 7 million times in my life. Someone pissed me off, hurt my feelings, bruised my ego, or whatever and I said to myself “I’m just going to let that go.” Then I turned to walk away and stewed on the situation for days on end, repeating it in my head, imaging up various outcomes. They didn’t know that I was bothered so I figured I had “won.” But did I really ever let it go? Have I at age 37 ever let anything go? [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, let it go, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
What I Believe He Will Believe
I came across the concept of Core Beliefs in grad school for Social Work. The idea hit home with me as I could relate to it on many levels in my personal life. I was able to identify my own Core Beliefs and see how these affected my thinking habits. It wasn’t until recently that it hit me that now that I am a mother this concept is far more important than I could have ever imagined. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, cognitive behavioral theory, core beliefs, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
Every Again Until the Day We Die
I yelled at Jack last night. Truth is I yell at Jack a lot. I can honestly say that barely a day goes by when I don’t snap at my little boy. I can tell when the days are going to be bad. I can feel it in my bones. I’m holding onto anger and resentment and negativity. The worst part about it is that I am aware I am doing it. Awareness is half the battle. Being aware of thoughts and feelings allows us to choose differently. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Attachment parenting // Tagged: attachment parenting, child discipline, disciplining children, gentle parenting, instinctual parenting, motherhood, natural parenting, parenting advice, parenting blog, parenting challenges, parenting skills, parenting stress, parenting struggles, parenting styles, parenting tips, positive discipline, positive parenting, raising children, raising kids
