The July issue of Exhale: A Literary Magazine for Intelligent People Who Have Lost a Baby, or Have Trouble Making Babies in the First Place includes a fabulous (and award-winning!) piece by my colleague and friend, Kim O’Connell. “A Feast for What Was Lost” is a must-read. My essay appears as this issue’s featured story….
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THE DC writer mama says goodbye
Ouch! I just read in my DC Baby Newsletter that DC Baby author Sarah Masterson is leaving town to return to Austin, Texas. I probably should have known this long ago if I’d been paying attention to anything besides my impending move and the havoc it’s wreaking on my son. But I didn’t know Sarah…
How much more annoying could we sound?
At first it was kind of cute, my son inserting “actually” into his sentences. And then he started doing it all the time. It has been one of the first verbal habits I’ve started to find pretty annoying, actually. Damn, there it is. At first I thought it was annoying because he was using it…
When regular life looks scary
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on June 24, 2009 When regular life looks scary: the DC Metro crash I’ll never forget the first time I was in the car with a mommy friend alone, sans kids. Ahead of us, a Metro train was slowing into a station, and I instinctively called out,…
Whole foods come from the ground
We didn’t plant a whole garden this year because of the move, but at least we’ve got a little bit of a harvest on our patio and in the yard. At least my kid knows what green beans, peas, blueberries and black raspberries look — and taste — like in their original home.Now if I…
No vacation for mama
I wanted a weekend in my house to myself to write, do yoga, prepare food only for myself. But hubby just never made those plans to take Junior on his first overnight away from mom. So then I decided I could pack up and spend 9 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday at coffeshops and…
What I eat
For a long time, I’ve been eating a lot of calories. A typical breakfast would be sausage, one or two eggs (mostly just the yolk), raw/cultured sauerkraut, sprouts (usually pea, lentil or azuki bean — not alfalfa), sauteed zucchini and some kind of green vegetable cooked in homemade chicken stock. Kombucha and supplements on the…
"Let me focus"
After I washed my son’s boo-boo and rubbed some tea tree oil on the wound, I offered a zebra bandaid, which was not acceptable to His Highness. He wanted a red one and insisted on getting it out himself. I tried to help him open it, but he brushed me away with a most serious…
Joining the profession
Once I got the piece published in the Post, I felt like I could call myself a serious enough writer to join what used to be Washington Independent Writers (now gone national to be “American” I.W.). Though I didn’t register in time to go to any agent pitch sessions (which frankly was a relief after…
TV Blues
Last month PBS Kids hosted a lovely event for us DC Metro Mom bloggers. I ought to have posted something about it, but it was kind of culture shock for me, and I didn’t want to write and sound ungrateful. Before the event, I didn’t know anything about Super Why or any shows for preschoolers….
The thrill is gone — from messy to neat and back again
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on June 11, 2009 The thrill is gone — from messy to neat and back again For the first week we were trying to sell our house, it was kind of a game to keep it clean. How fast can I wipe up that spill? Neatness was that…
I have my kitchen back!
After weeks of needing to keep a clean house in the hopes that someone would buy it, I’m so excited to finally have my kitchen back! I’ve finally got stock rolling (from bones I’d had to stuff in the freezer), I soaked millet last night in whey and water and made porridge this morning, I’ve…
Mama and son in the Washington Post
I’m thrilled to have published my first piece in the Washington Post. Last year, right after we attended Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s, I knew I wanted to write a piece. The event is such a great opportunity for kids to be exposed to classical music, to instruments and to other art forms. I called the ASO…
Public radio, how I’ve missed you!
I used to love listening to radio on the weekend. Often I’d be cleaning or doing laundry or sorting the schoolwork I had to grade while I listened to Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, Studio 360, sometimes From the Top. Back in my grad school days listening to WNKU (across the river…
Blogging because nothing else can get done in 15 minutes
I can’t seem to face any projects. I never know if someone is going to call to come see the house, and my few (as in seven over two days) childcare hours are hardly my own with house stuff and with finally trying — in an admittedly half-assed way — to take care of my…
Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?)
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on May 16, 2009 Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?) My husband and I “aww”-ed in unison when watching a preschooler at Adam Lambert‘s old community theater ask the American Idol finalist how he got so good at…
Baby wants to join a Yahoo group
“Yahoo group!” I could not believe my ears. But then he said it again; my tiny little three-year-old shouted exuberantly and unmistakably, “Yahoo group!” The follow-up question: “Is that for your meeting?” My son asks before he goes to bed if I have to go to a meeting. I either say yes or that I’m…
Hearing yourself in your kid’s talk
After sharing some sushi with his friend today at Whole Foods, my son said, “If you could save one for my daddy, well, that would be great.” Other favorites me-isms include, “Well, I’m just looking for something” while standing in front of the fridge and “Where is the…” (about anything) followed without skipping a beat…
In box finds simplicity
Wow, 11111! That’s a great number! Can you believe it’s the number of unread messages in my Yahoo mail In box? No, I am not kidding. And yes, many of them are digests of lists I seem to think I ought to keep even though I can get everything in the group site archives. The…
Moving targets — when your kid can’t count on you
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on April 28, 2009 Moving targets — when your kid can’t count on you “Leave, Mommy,” said my son when I walked over to where he was enjoying a friend’s toys. And upon leaving another playmate’s house, he protested: “No, I want to stay here. I don’t…