Motherhood

moth·er·hood

/muh·thr·hud/

The nurturing of children from the deepest places of your heart, rooting for them to be their best selves while allowing grace when they (or you) fall short; tired, proud, overwhelmed, joyful, amused and busy—often simultaneously 

what to expect from the 4th trimester

What to Expect in the 4th Trimester

By / Motherhood

When a pregnant woman asks for advice about what to do when the baby arrives, she’s usually greeted with hundreds of different responses from different women (and men!). However, somehow she still won’t have a fair idea of what’s to come. The first couple of months after a baby’s born are often referred to as the “fourth trimester,” because life outside the womb takes a while to get used to. Here are a few things to expect during your own fourth trimester: 1. You won’t sleep—much. There’s a lot of sleeping for the baby during the fourth trimester, but not a lot of sleep for Mom, or probably Dad either. Newborns often have their days and nights mixed up, or else no concept of them […]

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Is Disney Creating Minefields for Moms?

Is Disney Creating Minefields for Moms?

By / Motherhood

Almost every little girl sings the songs from Disney movies. Many have worn their princess gowns to Wal-Mart and even taken spoons from the table to create their own dancing silverware to many of the Disney ditties. You were probably one of those little girls doing the exact same thing to your place setting. Yet today, that same entity, Disney, who has brought much delight to many children, has also chosen to introduce cultural shifts that you may or may not agree with into their story lines. As mothers, we have to acknowledge the changes in our society and educate our children. This is a parent’s responsibility, not an entertainment entity’s. Unfortunately, Disney has joined those in the entertainment world who think their job is something more

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practical mom advice for breastfeeding and formula

Practical Mom Advice on Breastfeeding and Formula

By / Motherhood

Being a mother may seem like the most basic thing a woman can do. Because women’s bodies are designed to be able to carry a human life, it may seem like nourishing them would be easy and natural. The assumption is that breastfeeding is easy, and that it’s possible for everyone. Well, that’s just not true. Some women can’t get pregnant, or can’t carry a child. Some women have very difficult pregnancies. And the same is true for breastfeeding. It’s not always for every mother and child. Now, the generally understood medical opinion is that “breast is best” and hippie mamas everywhere will shout it from the mountaintops. However, there are many factors that I urge you to think through before you feel pushed—and dare I say it,

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Alarmist Mom: How to Fight The Urge to Freak

Alarmist Mom: How to Fight the Urge to Freak

By / Motherhood

I have a new hobby in my middle age. I am an alarmist. I wonder if this is something new or if I’m just now realizing it. When they were little, I did a decent job shielding our boys from my tendency to warn them about impending doom. I vowed to never say things like, “Get down from there, you’ll fall,” or “Put that knife away, you’ll put someone’s eye out.” By not saying these things, I hope I communicated something like, “You are such a refined amalgam of balance and skill and strength and grace that I trust you will rarely fall.” And, by golly, they didn’t … very much. I wonder if I’m already losing my filter. We have a

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Remember This When Your Baby is Growing Up

Remember This When Your Baby is Growing Up

By / Motherhood

My husband and I are incredibly thrilled to be pregnant with our third baby. We recently had one of those trendy “gender reveal” parties and found out it’s a little girl. But then something happened that I didn’t expect. I felt sad. It’s not that I’m disappointed—I’m very excited to have another girl—but she might be our last baby. As soon as I realized it was a girl, the phrase popped into my head, “and they had three daughters,” past tense, and rather final. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for the future, but a piece of me doesn’t want this childbearing phase of life to end. I think whoever invented the idea of cherubs must have felt this same way, because babies

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Your Teenage Boy Will Break Your Heart, and You’ll Be Better for It

Your Teenage Boy Will Break Your Heart, and You’ll Be Better for It

By / Motherhood

What is it about teenage boys? I’ve been in love with them since I was about twelve. They are, in general, insensitive, inarticulate, clunky, and smelly (even when they discover deodorant and cologne, because they don’t discover moderation until later). But they are all those things with a seemingly endless supply of charm. I’m in love with them. Good thing, since we raised four. And, at one time or another, all of them broke my heart. I mended, though. A Mama’s Boy Let’s be honest; most moms secretly want a mama’s boy. A boy who will engage us, prefer us, unburden his very soul to us. All things teenage boys hardly ever do, in part because they don’t know how and in

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Do-You-Have-Core-Values-in-Your-Parenting-

Do You Have Core Values in Your Parenting?

By / Motherhood

Great parenting requires a great foundation. Being intentional and consistent in your parenting choices takes more grit than you can imagine if you don’t have children, and more than we can muster some days for those of us who have kids! It also takes a fair amount of grace—for your children and for yourself. A component of consistent parenting is developing the core values by which you will raise your family. Whether you are aware of it or not, most of us have already developed core values and practice them. Your experiences as a child, your parents (or lack thereof), the places you’ve lived, your education, friends, and beliefs have all influenced your core values. Thankfully, they are not always set in stone,

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5-Simple-Ways-to-Balance-Mom-Life

5 Simple Ways to Balance Mom Life

By / Motherhood

Friends ask me all the time, “How in the world do you find the time to run your own business and write articles?” It is not like I am some superwoman! In fact, if you ask my family, they will inform you that I am far from possessing any powers! I cannot do all things and do them well. So yeah, I am running my own home business, but my laundry pile is competing with Mt. Everest as we speak. I have also had to make sacrifices along the way in order to find the time to do the things that I love, and I have some tools that help me get things done! 1. Community. I am involved in a few communities of people who hold me accountable to goals. We were not

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16 Recommended Games for Special Needs Children

16 Recommended Games for Special Needs Children

By / Motherhood

I belong to a game-playing family, a love that is especially exercised around the holidays when looking for gift ideas and spending wintery nights at home with the family. With our oldest son in the middle of elementary school, we are just beginning to play more strategic and complicated games. However, our younger, kindergarten-age daughter has special needs that affect her gross and fine motor skills, as well as cognitive and verbal abilities. None the less, we are determined to involve her in our board game binges. No more sitting to the side watching the rest of us; therefore, my newest mission involves finding games that will include and challenge her at the appropriate level. This has required a decent amount of research

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How to Handle Little Boys Who Think They Know It All

How to Handle Little Boys Who Think They Know It All

By / Motherhood

Little boys are know-it-alls. At first I loved that about them. Tell a little boy he is handsome or strong or smart and, likely, he’ll say, “I know.” And when he stands with his buddies on the doorstep of his prom date’s house, they will say something like, “All the girls want me,” while the girls are inside saying, “I wish my hair looked like yours,” to each other or, sadly, “I look fat in this dress.” And then you realize that knowing it all, for a boy, hides insecurities and doubt. But a boy’s know-it-allness isn’t always so transparent or endearing. It can wear you down, commencing as it does on the heels of the “why?” stage (that one doesn’t last

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10 Tips for Soon-to-Be Moms

10 Tips for Soon-to-Be Moms

By / Motherhood

I’ve had a few friends who are expecting their first baby ask for a little advice on how to prepare for the bundle of joy. So here are a few things that I figured out or know because a wise woman told me so. 1. Nursery Placement and Planning. When placing your nursery furniture, it’s important to make it look nice. It’s also important to make it convenient for you to use each of the pieces in the room. For instance, when you wake up to the cry of your newborn at 3:00am, walk in the nursery, and immediately smell something … terrible … you know that you’re gonna need to change a diaper, and probably clothes, blankets, and maybe sheets. You

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Are You Believing These 7 Lies About Your Son?

Are You Believing These 7 Lies About Your Son?

By / Motherhood, Best Of

The origin of this post is a mystery. Does this list come from my observation of our granddaughters and my recent speculation about what my life might have been like had I had a girl, just one? (FYI: I never really wanted a daughter, but these precious girls make me wonder why not.) Or does it spring from my wonderment these days at how utterly different my husband—classic boy—is from me? We’ve been married 35 years, and I am discovering that the divide between us is wider than I ever dreamed it was. The divide, that is, between how we think and feel and process the world around us. The divide that has been there all along, covered in fog like Cloudland

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Helping-Your-Child-Develop-Their-Own-Voice

Helping Your Child Develop Their Own Voice

By / Motherhood

Words and how we use them have a special emphasis in our family. Our son, a chatterbox, expresses himself to anyone who will listen. He formulates every thought that comes into his head aloud. An engaging storyteller, words effortlessly fall out of his mouth, creative and abundant. Yet for our daughter, who is nonverbal due to a genetic disorder, it takes great effort and concentration to communicate even the simplest of thoughts. We usually try to decipher her needs and desires from a mixture of gestures, signs, and utterances. Our children, ages four and seven, are completely different individuals beginning to engage uniquely with the world around them. Words or no words, they each have a valuable voice. And when I say

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10-Ways-to-Help-Your-Daughters-Accept-Their-Bodies

10 Ways to Help Your Daughters Accept Their Bodies

By / Motherhood

When my daughter was a little girl we had a storybook that explained all of the different parts of her body and how each one had a unique and special job to do. It was a cool book with great pictures and it gave her a sense of awe that we all should have about the unique and complex functions of our bodies. As she got older, our discussions morphed into talking about the exteriors of our bodies. You know, about our shape (all wrong) and our hair (again, all wrong). How my body needed more exercise, how hers wasn’t functioning as well as the other girls at certain sports. How the cutest-ever clothes didn’t look right on us. Toss in our

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6-Halloween-Survival-Tips-for-Moms

6 Halloween Survival Tips for Moms

By / Motherhood

The Grit and Grace Project ladies banded together to share some of their best Halloween tips for you and the kids… 1. Buy candy you don’t like. Then if there’s any leftover it won’t land in your mouth. 2. Don’t break the bank on kid’s costumes. Make something from what you have—and it doesn’t have to be “Pinterest worthy”—just have fun! Plus it will create great photos for future teenage embarrassment. 3. Leave the family pet at home. Chasing your pet who is chasing the kids in costumes is never fun. 4. Buy your candy early, during candy sales or use coupons. 5. Avoid opening said candy bag before October 31—unless you were smart enough to follow tip one! 6. If your

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