mom stuff

Tales From the Sick Side

February 28, 2013

Remember way back on Tuesday morning when I posted about Nathan’s recovery and what a madwoman I was for thinking it was something more serious? Good times, good times. That lesson about how mommas should take care of themselves? Totally valid. But there’s another lesson to be learned, as well. Just because you’re crazy, doesn’t [...]

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Think I’ve Got It All Together? Not Even Close.

February 26, 2013

Even though I bill this blog as a series of “warts and all” snapshots of our life, I often wonder if that is how you perceive it. Sometimes I think the answer is yes – many of you have expressed appreciation for my honesty and laughed with (at?) me over poo stories. But on the [...]

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The Other Side of the Softball

September 11, 2012

Seven months ago, I took Sarah Kate for softball evaluations. I was on edge, knowing that the coaches probably weren’t expecting a “disabled girl” to show up. I feared the moment when she would have to run, revealing her limitations. But I faced my fears, because she had none. Last night we returned to the [...]

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The Secret to a Happy Life

August 14, 2012

Over the past two years, I’ve met a number of people with Down syndrome. Some of them have been adults older than I am, some young adults, some teens, some children, and in almost every occasion I’ve met one or more members of their family. If you listen to the naysayers about Down syndrome, they’ll [...]

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The One Thing Every Mom Thinks

July 24, 2012

I jokingly told someone recently that having a toddler doesn’t make me feel young – instead, I feel a lot older than I did before Nathan was born. The constant running and chasing after a kid that gets quicker and more evasive with each passing day hour is enough to put me over the edge [...]

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Loving the Beach, Without Hesitation

May 31, 2012

We moved to Mayberry, near the gulf coast beaches, four years ago, and we vacationed on these same beaches for over a decade before that. During that previous decade-plus, we had often talked about moving near the coast, and after a beach trip in late August of 2007, we decided to do it. I love [...]

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Whose Poo Is This? My Descent Into Madness

May 1, 2012

Motivated by my oldest child’s grief over losing her beloved cat, I decided to keep my eyes open for another pet. A pet that would be hers. A pet that, unlike Doc, could sleep on her bed without forcing Mr. Andi to pull out his inhaler. A dog that, as she said, would be “small [...]

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Stay at Home Motherhood: The Third Way No One’s Talking About

April 19, 2012

A lot of the recent discussion about stay at home moms has centered around wealth (or lack thereof). In the wake of the Rosen/Romney controversy, some commentators described not working as a luxury afforded only to wealthier moms. Other news outlets refuted that assertion by using data to characterize stay at home moms as poorer [...]

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Nathan is Beautiful…and I May Be Crazy

April 10, 2012

Holy Week for the rest of the Christian world was more like Hell Week for us. Nothing tragic, but it was a week long test of my ability to remain “sunny.” As I was writing on Wednesday morning about what a rough day Tuesday had been, I had no idea that Wednesday wasn’t going to [...]

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A Special Needs Mom’s Heartache: Not What You Expect

March 1, 2012

I know that when some people look at my family, they see heartache. They see struggles. They think to themselves, “Thank goodness that’s not me.” They imagine that my life is difficult, that I am sad most of the time, and that I want to escape from the hell that I’m living in because I [...]

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