Category Archives: infants
Happy belated Mother’s Day from a 2-and-a-half-year-old mom
Living things change. They adapt and grow and die. Trees leaf out, snakes molt, babies grow up into frat boys. It just happens. Aren’t you glad I picked this picture instead of one of a frat boy? So why is it I thought the moment I had a baby that I would be a (…) MORE »
The Two Percent
Nathaniel is my only child. He’s 20 months old. I had him when I was 40. For most of my life, I never planned on having children at all, then I met my husband who used to answer, “A dad,” when he was a kid and adults asked him what he wanted to be when (…) MORE »
Are We Done?
First, I need to apologize to all my friends that have heard this a million times already. I am sorry, but not that sorry because I value your opinion, but I do realize this question can only be answered by my husband and me. How do you know when you are done? Even the question (…) MORE »
What I thought motherhood would look like
Other than a couple brief moments of rocking a swaddled newborn to sleep, I just started having some moments of, “now THIS is what I thought being a mom was going to be like.” And J will be 2 and a half next month. Do tell, what were the images you had in your head (…) MORE »
Mommy Fight Club
It’s a makeshift ring. The match-up is uneven but intense, becoming a barnburner. In Corner 1: “Mama” Schmidt—5’1,” 100#– a four-year veteran of the club. In Corner 2: “Little G” Schmidt—17# 11 oz., 27”—an unmistakable natural. The bell rings. Mama begins to sway, slowly, steady as a cobra, experience coaching that stillness is death. Little (…) MORE »
An Honest Mom on Taking Care of Myself
Before I became a mother, I was grotesquely good at taking care of other people. I credit my naturally empathetic, sensitive nature, my incredible-caretaker mother and my co-dependent upbringing. In the months before I got pregnant, it dawned on me that my constant tracking of other people’s emotional and physical needs could be an asset (…) MORE »
