A few months ago, my husband told the younger two kids that Santa would bring them a real dog if they started using the potty. A switch flipped in the youngest’s head and he has been diaper free – except for nap and bedtime – ever since. Ellie is still working on it, but is…
Tag: family
Seasons change
The weather turned this weekend, and we had our first cold snap. Luckily my mom always sends one outfit per kid right before each season change just so I am not caught off guard. Their clothes were fine for the lower temperatures, but one warm jacket for one cold August Benjamin Honaker was lacking. …
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Ant Bed
I have been washing the same load of laundry for two days. The first time I loaded all of that dirty laundry in the washing machine, I had no idea I would forget to put it in the dryer two times yesterday and three times today. I started the load as a woman full of…
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A week in the life
What does a mother do in the week leading up to her 4-year-old daughter’s open-heart surgery? She spends a lot of time talking to the air. There is a constant string of dialogue in her mind, with God or anyone else up there who might be listening, about helping her to just do the next…
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The Last Time
My husband asked me to go outside and look at the moon with him last night. Our oldest son got a telescope for Christmas last year and we like to set it up in the front yard and look up at the sky at night. Most nights when we have finished the bedtime rush with…
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A Picture’s Worth
“Where is Gus?” Jack asked when he got in the car after school this week. “He’s home with your dad. Ellie and I just finished at her doctor’s appointment, and I didn’t have time to go get him before it was time to pick you up from school,” I said. He looked over the edge…
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Buddy Breathing
“Is ‘nasty’ a cuss word?” Jack asked me right when he got in the car one time after his day in kindergarten. “A cuss word? Who has been talking to you about cuss words?” I asked confused because I don’t know that we have ever really talked about “cuss words” at home. I mean, the…
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The Morning Grind
Getting my children, my husband and myself out the door on weekday mornings is not my greatest gift. The person I am in those few hours is absolutely not my best self. I may be doing the next right thing, but I am not very nice about it. Every week night, I go to…
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But do you really hear me?
I went to Target this week in search of a shirt that I bought there at least three years ago. A mustardy, harvest-goldish colored short-sleeved t-shirt from the toddler section that has black bug outlines on it.
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Surviving Sleep
I didn’t have kids at this point. I don’t even think I was in a serious relationship. Since that day, though, this conversation stuck in my mind and even haunted me, because as a naïve single woman, I could not imagine the horror of not getting my comfortable, uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep each night.
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typically not typical 