As with most things, my packing game has dramatically changed since having children. What used to be a strategy of planning outfits a week in advance has become a joke of loading all the things into suitcases two hours before we hit the road. And I mean all the things. The priority isn’t even clothes…
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Dear Emma, We chose open adoption for two reasons: 1. You. 2. Your birth mother. I wish we were selfless, but we didn’t choose open adoption for us. It would have been so much easier for your dad & me to close that road off. It would have been so much easier. To tell you…
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I’ve always been a snacker. I mean, who doesn’t feel happier with a snack in hand? But add three tiny humans to the mix who also live for the snacks, & it’s like Why do I even make all the meals? Our world revolves around snacks. I remember after Jude was born, the thought of…
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When Blake & I began our domestic adoption process in January 2015, we knew two things & two things only: 1. We wanted an open adoption and 2. We were nervous about an open adoption. But the whole thing was so abstract & surreal, we just plowed through the paperwork & hoped the right emotions…
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Growing up, the word sensitive & I became synonymous. I had sensitive feelings and sensitive skin. What a combo! Anyone else have to wear prescription sunscreen growing up that never absorbed into your body but made you look like Casper for the next eight hours? Other words were given to me, too, but sensitive stood…
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We’ve all been there, you guys. You gave him the wrong granola bar. You wouldn’t let her wear her swimsuit to school. He took her Chapstick. You said no to coloring with Mommy’s permanent markers. Obviously, these are all valid reasons for prostrating oneself on the floor & crying all the tears while simultaneously producing…
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People up north must surely have a system. For starters, everyone owns a true winter coat because they’re guaranteed long-term cold weather (unlike us Texans who are all, “Well it’s 75 today so we dug out t-shirts for everyone, but the forecast is saying the high is 31 tomorrow so I guess we’ll just keep…
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I wrote these posts about my kids on different days, but I keep going back to them individually to re-read because they’re all just in such sweet parts of their lives. So I thought I’d combine them here. People say the days go by slow, but to me, the days seem to be flying, especially…
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Family Christmas on my mom’s side wrapped in Arkansas yesterday. It’s an event that’s been part of my regularly scheduled Christmas programming every year since my arrival in 1988. If your family ever needs lessons on how to conduct a proper game of Texas Christmas — more commonly (& possibly offensively) known as Chinese Christmas,…
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A couple of days ago, I had the awesome opportunity to talk to a group of high school senior girls about our adoption story & how we’ve chosen to raise our three kids. These girls are all planning to pursue child development either through nursing or education, so this was a way for them to…
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