The truth of motherhood: All the feelings of your baby growing up

The truth of motherhood: All the feelings of your baby growing up

The other day I was driving home when I saw the google maps car zipping along in front of me. I cracked up, which made my girls ask, “What are you laughing at, Mama?” Well, the funny way time passes was what made me laugh—but that would have made little sense to my kids, who just turned 3 and 5.

I told them a story instead. Read more

The all-time best toddler thank you

The all-time best toddler thank you

Toddler thank yous are honest—and heart-melting. Here's the best one I ever heard. Ten Thousand Hour Mama
Image by Becca Jean Photography

The other morning Kiwi got up before the rest of the family. Like many mornings, we cuddled on a chair and woke up together. I pulled a quilt over us, one I’d sewed when I was pregnant with Peeper.

“I made this quilt when I was pregnant with your sister,” I told Kiwi.

“I come there?” Kiwi asked.

I wasn’t sure what she meant. “When you pregnant?” she added.

I clarified that I was pregnant with her after Peeper was already born. (Details like these often escape toddlers.)

“You grew inside me,” I explained. I pinched two fingers together until they were almost touching. “You were this little, and then you grew bigger and bigger and bigger inside my belly until you were born!”

Kiwi paused, taking this in. Then she said, “Thanks, mommy.”

*heart melt*

You’re welcome, my beautiful daughter. Even without that perfect toddler thank you, I’d do it a million times over if it meant I’d get you in my life.

Growing kids, heartwarming moments and the best toddler thank you I ever got. Ten Thousand Hour Mama
Image by Becca Jean Photography
New Year gratitude: Starting 2017 right

New Year gratitude: Starting 2017 right

Thinking back on 2017, I remember a lot of anxiety, frustration and fear about the direction our country is headed. I was ready to say goodbye to the year with relief—then we spent the final days of the year at the coast. There’s something about the ocean’s rhythms that put me at peace, and apparently the trip gave me a healthy dose of perspective, too. I wanted to welcome 2018, then, with some New Year gratitude.

I pulled together 12 of my favorite moments from 2017 in this recap post. I had such a blast looking through photos and remembering these moments. I kept laughing out loud at my family’s shenanigans.

New Year gratitude exercises are becoming a bit of a tradition around here, apparently. I wrote a post about what I was grateful for in 2016 and listed 50 things I’m grateful for at the end of 2015—it’s wonderful to look back on those posts!

No one can know what the future will bring, but we’ll do our best to make 2018 just as memorable as last year—and to continue New Year gratitude throughout the next 12 months, too.This New Year gratitude exercise primes you for your resolution to be more grateful every day. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more

Enduring a holiday hangover

Christmas has come and gone, and in spite of a holiday hangover, we had a phenomenal day.

The morning started with the girls and their cousin absolutely jazzed about their stockings, the presents under the tree and the note Santa left behind thanking them for the cookies, milk and carrots they left out the night before. We opened presents in shifts—after all, kids’ attention spans are short enough that they want to play with the toys they just got for Christmas.

But in all, the best part of Christmas didn’t come wrapped. As always, the best present was the presence of our loved ones.

The excitement is worth the holiday hangover, but thank goodness Christmas comes only once a year! Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more

The love of sisters and the rage of sisters: Hugs and punches

A friend recently told me they’re thinking of having Baby #2. My immediate reaction: awwwwww! In spite of having some really difficult nights—which involve hours and hours of trying to get the girls to sleep—and breaking up fights over the most ridiculous things—like wanting to sit on these six square inches of couch despite having a whole sectional with plenty of room—I’m happy for my friend because of the love of sisters.

Just the other night, I was reading the girls a book. I noticed their arms reach out for each other. They hugged the whole time I read, and I pretended not to notice for fear of disrupting their special sister moment.

My heart nearly burst, though, when I heard Kiwi: “Aw, big sister,” she crooned. Maybe, just maybe, these two are on their way to becoming best friends.

For the love of sisters: Will these 2 become best friends? I sure hope so. Ten Thousand Hour mama Read more

Toddler, aka Christmas destroyer

Kiwi, at two years old, is single-handedly wrecking Christmas.

Ok not really, but this toddler is destroying Christmas decorations at an alarming pace.

“Be very careful,” she says as she pulls an ornament off the tree, despite our “one finger” rule, which I designed to let her sort-of touch the fragile baubles without actually inflicting any harm.

In spite of her promises/self-warnings, though, ornaments end up in pieces within seconds.

So far, several penguins, two angels, a snowman, a chairlift full of animals Eric had previously declared “unbreakable” and another handful of decorations are awaiting repair—or, more likely, the trash—in a makeshift ornament graveyard atop the microwave. And we still have a week until Christmas—plenty of time for more casualties.

Our toddler is single-handedly wrecking Christmas, but I don't mind. Here's why. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more

Saying goodbye to summer feet

We are just coming down from a beautiful, sunny summer here in Portland. But along with the return of school and pumpkin spiced everything, the rains are back. Luckily, fall is my favorite time of the year, so I welcome the change of season—but I’m sad to say goodbye to summer feet.

You know, summer feet: When your soles harden from climbing trees and playing chase and walking around barefoot. Or maybe it’s been so long since you cultivated your childhood summer feet that you’ve forgotten.

My girls are definitely familiar. But just as their soles have toughened up after a summer of outdoor play, this fall, we bid goodbye to summer feet.

Kids going barefoot embody the carefree spirit of childhood. Saying goodbye to summer feet—and to summer—is bittersweet. Ten Thousand Hour Mama
Photo by Diana Feil

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Embracing a child’s joy in the rain

“Raining!” Kiwi shouted, her face beaming and shower-splattered. “Raining! Raining!”

As she ran, her joy in the rain was contagious. “It’s raining!” I echoed, laughing.

It rained this weekend—barely, but anything to quench our burning state’s thirst is welcome. As huge swaths of Oregon burned this summer, we played indoors, asked school to cancel outdoor recess, canceled trips. The inconveniences we endured from smoke-filled air are nothing in comparison to the communities ravaged by forest fire.

So as we skipped and stomped in the shallowest of puddles, the rain felt healing—like the most welcome weather in the world.

It's a welcome change to embrace a child's joy in the rain when the weather brings relief for the summer wildfires in Oregon. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more

A mom flashback: Growing from the size of an appleseed

This weekend I had a mom flashback. You know the kind—definitely not triggered by any wild drug but inspired by some everyday reminder of how little your kids used to be and how big they are now.

I was standing at the kitchen counter peeling apples. The girls, my mom and I had picked like 30 pounds of apples at Detering Orchard outside of Eugene over the weekend. I knew I needed to do something with the giant box of apples on the counter, so I started to make applesauce.

And it was peeling those Early Macintosh beauties that gave me the mom flashback.

Mom flashback: Marveling at how my babies grew from the size of an appleseed into giant, beautiful, rowdy kids. Ten Thousand Hour Mama Read more

Mama truth photography: Beauty in the everyday crazy

Mama truth photography: Beauty in the everyday crazy

The morning Portland family photographer Ashley of Weeno Photography was scheduled to come to our house for a Mama Truth Session, I nearly called it off. Eric had been out of town for days. It took me two hours to get the girls to sleep the night before. And then they woke up at 5. But I didn’t cancel. Instead, I thought to myself, “Ashley is about to get more truth than she bargained for.”

Lately, the girls have been challenging. They’re chronically tired and we have been struggling to ensure they get more rest. They fight over ridiculous things (“I want the yellow bowl.” “No mine lellow!”). Kiwi cries and throws epic tantrums that we can do nothing to soothe.

So I’m not entirely sure why I thought I wanted a Mama Truth Session, where photographer Ashley LaMattino-Perlberg comes to your house to hang out for a few hours and captures whatever happens, from making a snack to soothing a booboo.

I think it was our initial contact. “The beauty in the everyday is always there,” she said. “And yet it’s so hard to see it ourselves. That’s why these sessions are so important!” Her words resonated deep within me. And it turns out she is so right.

A Mama Truth family photography session from a Portland photographer showed me the beauty in the everyday crazy of motherhood. Ten Thousand Hour MamaA Mama Truth family photography session from a Portland photographer showed me the beauty in the everyday crazy of motherhood. Ten Thousand Hour MamaWhy mamas deserve candid photos of themselves—and not only staged family photography—to show the everyday beauty of motherhood. Ten Thousand Hour Mama

I’m so grateful we did a Mama Truth photography session, which Ashley did for free for my family. The photos are beautiful, yes. Even more, though, the photographs showed me the beauty of my everyday life with my kids. And get this: Below, you can enter a giveaway for a chance to win half-off a Mama Truth Session with Weeno Photography. And anyone who mentions this blog post by the end of October will get $100 off a Mama Truth family photography session. Read on to find out more and enter!

We received a free family photography session in exchange for a blog post. As always, all opinions are my own. Read more