Recently, my Aunt Kelley died. Outside of my nuclear family, she is the family member I was closest to. She bore the title of my mentor, which I think she actually awarded to herself over 20 years ago, and it stuck! She was so ready to meet Jesus, and though we are devastated and sick…
mollydeuberry
I make a LOT of parenting mistakes. Overreact about something small? For sure. Resort to raising my voice after a couple of attempts at getting someone to follow directions? You bet. Bribing children of all ages and stages to do something by promising food or toys? I am here for that. But every once…
If I had been willing to acknowledge it, I would have seen it coming over the last couple of years. Broccoli the Bear, one of the few items that consistently made the trek between shared custody homes, has finally been relegated to the closet. Yoseph, nearly age 13, would trot him out from…
Two months before Tim and I were married, I changed jobs. It was a different type of role than I had held previously. Though I was excited about it, I felt myself overwhelmed by the transition. It was more than the job, of course. It was a career shift as well as a new job;…
I have always acknowledged that it's hard to be married to me. I mean, when you marry for the first time at 35 and haven't co-habitated with anyone since basically your sophomore year of college, it makes you a little difficult to be around. Not only was newlywed Molly attached to her way of doing…
Harry recently turned two. The jumble of emotions that statement creates in me is dominated by one: relief. Relief that we are through two of the worst years of my life.
But, really?
Whoa, that's a pretty bold statement, you may be saying. Sure. It is. And it's true. We had a baby who didn't sleep. Turns…
Tomorrow Baby Harry turns one. As I reflect on the last 12 months, I realize that I am approaching this day much more soberly than I anticipated I would. The last year has been so. very. hard. I have been pushed physically to a brink I didn't know existed. There are entire weeks--almost months--I have…
An avid Disney fan before there were children in my life to justify a trip to the theme parks, I have spent a lot of time reading various Disney articles and tips. As I reflect on my last two trips to Disney, and those two did include kids, I realized I have learned some things…
Last week we shared the exciting news with Ana and Yoseph that our family is growing by one--we are having a baby in the spring!
As the news sunk in, there were LOTS of questions. I think the most heart-melting one came from Ana.
"So...what will we call the baby? It won't be our stepbrother or stepsister,…
For the last two years of my stepmotherhood, we have tried to figure out a good way to celebrate Mother's Day. Tim took the kids to pick out fresh flowers, one of my favorite things. They signed sweet cards. But it always felt a little bit awkward.
When Yoseph's class hosted a Mother's Day tea, his…