Summer used to be magical. The hot weather, the outdoor adventures, the complete and total lack of responsibility. School was over for the year and there was nothing to do except swim, ride bikes and eat ice cream cones. Sometimes we were sent away to stay with grandparents. Other times we went … [Read more...]
Life As A SAHM Was More Emotionally Taxing Than My Job
For ten years, I worked tirelessly at home as a business owner, freelance writer, mom, and wife, and I thought I was the happiest woman alive. As it turned out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite my insistence that my life at home was exactly what I wanted, it took a major shift to realize I’d … [Read more...]
My Son Wouldn’t Stop Lying Until I Asked Him This Question
When I was little, I had a phobia of lying. If my mom asked me if I was hungry at 2 pm and I said no, but I became hungry at 2.30, I worried that I had lied. I couldn’t lie, or even think about lying, without the guilt eating me alive. This wasn’t always the case. It stemmed from a specific … [Read more...]
Size Doesn’t Matter…Or Guilt Either
I had Will in July of 2008. He spent a week in the NICU because he was just a little 5 pounder, or as my sister fittingly announced, 20 quarter-pounders. Three weeks earlier, one of my closest friends had a little boy. He also spent a week in the NICU. Both of them needed their blood sugar levelled … [Read more...]
Enough
Every single day I wonder: "Have I done enough for him?" "Am I doing enough for him?" "Did I do enough today?" "Do we have enough money for this? "Is my effort and energy enough?" And every single day I think the answer is no. I know that I can only do what I can do but I always go to … [Read more...]
2012 – My Promise to Myself
Although it is already January 9th for me it is Day 1 of the New Year. Today is the first day back at school and the first day in weeks that I have sat at my desk without interruption. Today is the first day I have thought about what 2012 might bring for me, my family, and UrbanMoms. Many … [Read more...]
Got Guilt?
I have mentioned before that I'm Irish. First generation Canadian. My oldest sister was born in Belfast. Irish is even my nickname. Therefore I must always have a sense of guilt about me for something at all times. It's innate and I see it in my sisters. We must … [Read more...]
Little Green Monsters
When the Baby was born three months ago, our friends and family all asked if the Boy and Girl were jealous of their new baby sister. "No!" I exclaimed proudly. "They are so in love with their sister that they are competing over who gets to be with her the most." I … [Read more...]
Acceptance & Forgiveness
So, my kid broke her leg. Her Dad and I felt terribly responsible for it at first. We bought and take care of her ski equipment, which caused the fracture -- her bindings didn't release her boots from her skis when she fell. But it goes deeper than that, too: we are her parents. We are supposed to … [Read more...]
Best Diet: Worst Diet
This is the best diet EVAH! This is the gaping hole where my dishwasher used to be. It broke. It flooded the kitchen. It ruined the floor. But that's old news. I've been avidly shopping for new dishwashers ever since and enjoying the "broken-dishwasher-diet". Let me explain: when you … [Read more...]