Kids say the darndest things, right? When I was about 5 or 6, I asked my paternal grandma, who gave birth to ten children in eight births (my dad is the oldest in the second set of twins), why her tummy was so big. She responded gently and kindly, "I guess I just like cookies!" My…

Probably five years ago, I started saying things like this: "I don't think I want to have biological kids. If I ever get married, I think being a step-parent is a great idea." "Step-parenting has to be like Parenting Lite. You're only on the hook for 50% of the time! Piece of cake." "I mean, it's really the best…

As I have put words to these different anecdotes and stories about the kids, it has occurred to me more than once that someday, in some way, Ana and Yoseph will read these. I wonder what they'll think about them. I hope that they will see how much I loved them from the beginning. I hope that they…

The first time I met Ana and Yoseph's mom (over margaritas, a setting I highly recommend for any ex-wife/new serious girlfriend meeting), she shared that Ana is definitely a daddy's girl. That is undoubtedly true. And it has made it that much more satisfying over the last year and a half that Ana and I not only love each other,…

I recently went back to my hometown for a long weekend to be with my sister as she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I was gone for three nights, the longest I've been away from my new family since I've been married. (I wonder how long it will be before I stop calling them…

My dad once told me that at the end of a long day, all he wanted was to come in the front door and have his little kids run to him, excited to see him. Isn't that sweet?! My response at the time was two-fold. First, to ask him if we did that, and thankful…

My mom was really great at teaching us to do chores. She gave us responsibility, but not too much, and helped us know what constituted handling that responsibility well. To this day, my sister Heidi and I joke about our love/hate relationship with wiping down the stove, because it was always the final step in finishing the job of…

I became StepMolly to two kids who already had some pretty great habits: great manners in general, excellent table manners, and better grammar than I have most days. I came into their lives in the summer before 1st grade (Ana) and the last year of preschool (Yoseph). So it was just about the right time for…

Facebook reminded me today that one year ago, this was my post. "This week's adorable stepparenting moment brought to you by Ana, when I picked her up from Daisies. With her friend Gabriella in tow, she said, "Molly! This is my friend Gabriella. Gabriella, this is my StepMolly." Seriously, how adorable is that?!

There are certain things that parents learn early on mean trouble: quiet toddlers; the sound of a splash from the other room; a high pitched shriek of any kind. What I have learned is that long trips to the bathroom usually spell big trouble. Tonight was no exception. After many days of a stomach virus, Yoseph appeared…