Parenting

“This might be a little uncomfortable,” my doctor said. I put my headphones in and clutched my iPhone, turning the volume up on my white noise app, and braced myself for another D&C.

Don’t flush the toilet. Don’t turn on the lights. This is a good time to either meditate or partake in that incredibly wise bit of advice to sleep when the baby sleeps.

Most of my friends have kids who are much younger than mine. We often share our parenting woes and victories, and I am always talking about the light at the end of the all-consuming-toddler-stage tunnel. There are things that were challenging, daunting, or slightly dreaded in my mind when my kids were toddlers. Now, these are wonderful cherished times with my teens:

10. 15 minutes alone in the grocery store has become your equivalent to a therapy session.

“How many time have I asked you….” I say in frustration, and then it hits me. The real question I should be asking is how many times I’ve uttered that phrase.

We live in a culture that simultaneously claims to embrace the equality of men and women and at the same time seriously devalues femininity.

Target’s lack of gender signage is obviously a sinful, confusing disaster. You should definitely never shop there again. But just in case you ever need to buy a gift for your kid and Wal-Mart is closed, here are some tips for how to navigate the Godless dystopia that is the new unlabeled toy section of Target:

No one ever really tells you what it’s like when the magic of pregnancy has become the sometimes-not-so-magic of postpartum. This is my postpartum reality.