When I found out that our recent attempt at IVF using the last of our frozen embryos did not work, I felt gutted. This was the first week in December or so, the final month in what was a very difficult year. In a way, it felt inevitable — the...
Written by Megan Ernst When I was pregnant with my son I became a research machine. If you asked me the best way to bathe a baby, get through a birth contraction, or soothe a newborn baby to sleep, chances are I had read an article about it or watched...
Dog hair. Dog hair everywhere. Stacks of junk mail. It’s not that I don’t ever throw the stuff away — it’s that my daughter thinks junk mail is the best thing on earth. And who am I to argue? It’s free, it brings her an incredible amount of glee, and...
Before my daughter arrived, I swore I would never… Say no to reading a book. I’m a librarian and a mama to a toddler; I took whole classes on children’s literature and picture books! So you’d think of all the things for me to unequivocally say yes to, it’d be...
Dear Restaurant That Usually Has Crayons But Then Didn’t That One Time, Hey. Hi. Howdy. Can we chat? I have a bone to pick with you. Look, I know it’s technically a parent’s job to come fully prepared for the next apocalypse. Our diaper bags and purses and satchels are...
It took several years of trying to have my daughter, and the whole time, people brightly told me to sleep while I could. When I became pregnant, people continued this urgent advice-giving, the words tumbling from their lips at a madcap pace. Of course as luck or fate (whichever is...
We’re halfway through two in our house and I just have to say, if you’re in the thick of new-baby fog: it gets loads better. There are so many little delights that come with a two-year-old, so many marvels that never make it into the milestone books. The fact that...
It’s been in the single digits outside and we’ve been snowed in and going a little crazy, and now I have some things I need to get off my chest from our extended time inside. What better way to share them than here with you? My child is so cute...
I used to spend so much time on the Internet looking at the ways my future house could be — would be, I promised myself. The perfect wallpaper, the perfect grey walls, the perfect nursery decor, the perfect big farm table for the dining room. I had the concept of...
I’ve been teaching my daughter to say please and thank you for things diligently. “What do you say?” I’ve been prompting forever. “Pees!” “And?” “Tank You!” It’s an ongoing process, but she’s finally to the point where she’ll say the words unprompted every so often. And yet, despite my consistent...