You can I can probably think of some pretty good insulting names that start with the letter B. But in the minds of children, those words don't exist, and even more importantly, their B word is MORE of an insult than the ones adults choose to use. How could this word exist in their language and view of the world? Where do they hear it and why is it so debilitating? What exactly is this word that brings children age two to eight to tears when they are called it? Baby. I remember a few months ago when our oldest son was called "baby" by some of his classmates. He was angry, upset and didn't know how to respond except to start calling them a baby back. His teacher stepped in and got him to calm down and insisted he wasn't a baby at all. Later that day, we discussed the word and what it meant to be an actual baby, and why someone might call you that as something mean. Hank insisted he wasn't acting like a baby when he was called that word, and he vowed to ...

The discussion on whether to have a child or not is one thing. The decision to expand that family is another. Eric and I always  knew we wanted to have children, in fact, when we were teenagers, Eric knew I wanted to be a mom more than anything when I grew up. I was more eager to start that family than he was, but we agreed that the timing was right for us after a little while and so we started our family and got Henrik. I always wanted my children close, probably because my sisters and I are close in age and I liked that dynamic. But, I also wanted to get it over with too, there's a lot of physical demand that happens to a woman when she has a child, and I thought, if I had them right in a row it would be better in the long run (the jury is still out on that one). So, when Henrik turned one, we decided to have another child. There was never any doubt about having Theodor. Once we had one kid, we knew we wanted another for playmate reasons, shared childhood experiences, shari...

* Your birthday was May 2nd, I'm just now getting to posting it. Please forgive me, son.  Dear Henrik,  Today is your fourth birthday. I actually cannot believe that four years ago today, you made me a mother. I wanted nothing more in life than that, and, on a cold, snowy day in North Dakota, that wish came true. In the first seconds of your life we knew you were sensible, we knew you were patient, we knew you were going to be an easy baby. We didn't know that you'd carry those traits with you these past four years. May 2, 2010 To this day, you are cautious but curious, inquisitive but reserved, sensible but sneaky, talented but humble, smart but modest, and polite but sassy. You absolutely amaze me every day, from your reasonable requests to smart-ass comments, to the sheer talent you have in every thing you do, to the sweet, heart melting secrets and always strong, genuine hugs. September 2013 You son, can do anything you want to do in life. You wer...

It was when our neighbor, an almost five year old, decided that he was going to ride his bike without training wheels that Henrik finally wanted to test out his big boy bike too. He'd gotten it for Christmas and thought it was "cool" because it was re-furbished by his father in Hank's favorite colors: black and green. It had new pedals, a new seat, handle grips and came complete with flashing lights and a muffler. But he had no interest in riding it. "It's too big for me, maybe when I'm older" he'd reply every time we asked him to try it out. But on this day, without hesitation, he hopped on the bike. "Can you help me mom?" I knew he could do it, he's been balancing on his balance bike for two years and he already knew how to pedal. I was the one pushing him to ride this bike for weeks, heck, months. "Sure can, bud, climb on, don't ever stop pedaling. Ever." He clinched the handlebars, he checked for cars, and just ...

I was challenged to write a blog about my "Tales From The Crib" by the folks at Dropcam To learn more about camera and their competition for the best stories from the crib contact Tiffany at:  tpham@dropcam.com Several months ago I wrote this blog about our family and our sleep schedule. It was a hard time for our family: we were in transit from living as a family of four to moving in with my parents for a few months while my husband was away. Now that we're back as a family of four, we've had to figure out how to become a family again, and how to make schedules work, how to include dad in our lives again, and how to transition two children (not in cribs) into a new room with new beds in a new place. It wasn't easy. Right off the bat my husband took over bedtime, honestly, it was a huge relief. I had been tired of putting these kids to bed night, after night, after night. By the end of the day I was just exhausted, and to have a bedtime fight or strugg...

I have yet to blog about our Olympics lesson, it's been difficult with our life lately to find time to blog activities and projects. However, today, as I sit and watch speed skating while the boys sleep, I'm finding time to catch up. Over President's weekend my husband had a four day weekend, a rarity in his line of work, but glorious when it happens, and he decided he wanted to take the boys to get hockey pads so that they could actually skate and not get hurt. This all started last weekend when our oldest started to show some interest in hockey and actually wanted to skate. After clinging to the pushing gate (for teaching kids how to skate) for quite some time, we were able to convince him that it was OK to let go. He fell. He looked like he was going to cry but I rushed in, "It's okay Henrik, you just fell." I picked him up, he sniffled. He started to let out a few tears, "It's okay to cry, but you didn't get hurt, you are just upset about ...

I've been reading a lot: mommy blogs, parenting magazines, books about parenting, Facebook posts from the parents I respect the most, and I just watched a clip from Glennon Doyle Melton on the Today Show . It can be so overwhelming to be a parent sometimes, and while I feel I'm putting in the good fight daily, I realized while I sit here and take a deep breath after the hour long fight with a two and three year old about taking a nap, that I don't have it bad at all. It's exhausting. The hours are never ending, and most days I give up things that I want to do so I can put my kids in a place where they can be successful (ie: not using my gift cards from Christmas so I can buy pants that fit so I don't have both boys in tow, or going to the gym when my kids are really going after one another) but in my heart, I know that I've made the right choice, for me. I proudly devote every waking moment to these boys. If one doesn't nap, I take the opportunity to do on...