Ages + Stages

My kids suck at unstructured, inside play. They do this brand of play that is exactly what siblings have been doing since the dawn of time. It's called pick pick pick, poke poke poke, tickle, scream, repeat. I think...

It took exchanging more text messages than usual to find a window of time to connect for our monthly phone chat. Juggling schedules and kids is always a bit of a dance, but the back and forth of this...

At 11 a.m. this morning I was driving around doing errands when I heard a news report that brought tears to my eyes.  “A mass shooting has been reported at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Several fatalities have...

I was grocery shopping at Winco several years ago with my baby son who had just starting to sit upright in the cart. I wiped the cart down with at least 100 sanitizing wipes and padded him in with...

Confession: Having the kids home during the summer forces me to face the fact that I have shared not only my strengths but my weaknesses with them. I see the ridiculous contagious nature of the trivial tantrum being thrown by...

Food allergies are on the rise, affecting approximately 1 in 13 American children. For those parents who have experienced food allergies first-hand, it can be overwhelming and scary. To help us better understand what we need to know about pediatric...

I have to start by saying, I LOVE giving gifts. I am notorious for giving belated birthday gifts in my family because I am always trying to find the *just right* present and sometimes that takes me until after...

“Mom, I’m gonna have to call you back. Jane just spanked some guy on the playground.” I couldn’t hang up fast enough. I had just witnessed my barely-five-year-old daughter slap the backside of a man I had never seen...

Halloween has a tendency to create some conflicted feelings in us as parents. Our child self so deeply remembers the joy of having the opportunity to gather vast amounts of candy, swapping and enjoying to our hearts content.  Our adult self...

Everyone has their assumptions about stay-at-home-moms. They spend all of their time inside of Target, get to stroll through parks whenever they want, and have all the time in the world to keep the house clean. Maybe that is...