Family Life | Make It Personal | Self Care
Surviving Parenthood
If you knew what was involved in parenting, would you still go back and choose to do it? I’ll be honest, most days I would say, “no.” I would say that I’m clearly not cut out for this. In fact, parenting isn’t in my strength-finder results. If I... Read More
Birth - 5 years | Make It Personal
Overcoming New Parent Anxieties
The words “new parents” and “anxiety” seem to be synonymous. If you Google the phrase “parent anxiety,” you’ll see titles such as “49 Parent Fears And How To Ease Them” and “Top 10 Fears Of New Moms.” As a relatively new parent myself, I can tell you I... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal | Mental Health
What My 5-Year-Old Taught Me in My Darkest Moment
Recently, my husband and I welcomed our third daughter, Sailor. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be pregnant—and even more excited to have another girl! (One day I’ll write a blog post about people who say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry you didn’t get your boy!’)... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal
Are People Without Kids Happier?
I read an article from 2016 that said people without kids, in the United States, are way happier than people who have kids. Because you are reading a parenting blog, I’m assuming you are one of those people with kids and this news is less than inspiring. Maybe... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal | Self Care
Parenting Dangerously Close to Empty
I love to live on the edge. At least that is what I tell my kids when they are all frustrated with me. I am that person. That person that drives until the “E” light in my car has been shining at me for about 30 miles. It... Read More
Make It Personal | Special Topics
How to Protect Your Marriage from Parenting
For many, parenting can be tough on a marriage. For around 30 years, researchers have studied how having children affects a marriage, and the results are conclusive: the relationship between spouses suffers once kids come along. And why shouldn’t it? We stop saying and doing the little things... Read More
Birth - 5 years | Make It Personal
If You’re a New Parent, You Might Be Asking What You Have Gotten Yourself Into?
When you have a baby, your world changes in an instant, and you may begin to wonder WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? We all start out with a picture of what we think family should look like. Then we actually have a family. And we discover it’s... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal
Planning for Exceptions in Parenting
Think back to elementary or middle school. Do you remember the first time you asked someone if he or she liked you? You probably played out the scenario over and over again in your mind. You may have role-played it in your bathroom mirror. Whether it was over... Read More
Family Life | Make It Personal
10 Reasons Having Kids is Awesome
It’s easy to focus on all the negatives involved with having kids. They’re . . . inconvenient, selfish, messy, unpredictable, irrational, and one of the most expensive investments you’ll ever make. Raising kids is tough—that’s for sure. But it’s not all bad. In fact, some days with kids... Read More
Finding Out Your Child Has Autism
The day I discovered I was pregnant with our first child was one of the happiest days of my life. My husband and I had been married for three years and were ready to expand our party of two. My pregnancy was a healthy one, and I was... Read More