It’s not that I planned on being pregnant at 19. I mean don’t get me wrong I wasn’t an “afterschool special” or anything. I was married and I eventually wanted kids, it just happened way before I was ready. As I struggled through diapers and breast-feeding and formula I soon realize that it wasn’t like it looked in the brochure. Every milestone came after much anticipation and provided instant relief of “Whew! Thank God I didn’t screw that up.” The time eventually came to sta

#Fear #Moms #EmptyNest #Faith #Uncertainty #Parenthood #God #Sinnglemom #Jesus

#Fear #Moms #EmptyNest #Faith #Uncertainty #Parenthood #God #Sinnglemom #Jesus

As my baby approaches a few of these milestones, I find myself thinking about the skills, the traits and the flaws that I have instilled in my children. As I rapidly become slingshotted into empty nest syndrome, I can’t help but think that all these years of parenting have shown my child the best and worst of me, and now, they are going to carry it with them. Today at church I heard a saying that I haven’t heard in awhile.  “The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.”  So true,

My boss is very pregnant with her first child. Very pregnant. Like so pregnant that you can’t help but wonder everytime she’s a little late for work if this is “the day”. She walks around looking absolutely stunning and self-assured…nothing like how I looked when I was pregnant. She and I are almost the same age. I say almost because she’s a little younger than me, but I figure, I can use the the age curve. While my boss gets ready to give birth to her first child, and

While walking through Hallmark, I was overwhelmed with the choices. There were twenty good cards for him, all saying how wonderful a man he is. It took me forever to pick out just the right card. I had to find one that expressed my gratitude and obviously something to make him laugh as well. Hallmark knocked it right out of the park. After choosing a card and picking an envelope to match, I had one additional card to buy. I started reading through cards, looking closely

I’m a 38 (almost 39, but we aren’t talking about that) year old single mother of one grown child and one child that is as close to grown as you can get. I have adult children. When I tell people that I have adult children they look at me with either the side head tilt of sympathy because they think I qualified for a starring role in an after school special about ten year olds giving birth, or with the jaw dropping, eyes bugging out of their heads disbelief. My appearance d

Somewhere around Rebecca’s first birthday I decided that she would get a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. A Cozy Coupe is basically a small plastic red car with a yellow roof and black steering wheel. It’s a kids toy that requires Fred Flintstone type power to make the car move, and is basically a carbon copy of a smart car except smaller. It was a great gift for a first birthday. I brought the box home and ripped it open feeling just like a kid on Christmas day. I was going to

I remember sitting across from my ex mother-in-law listening to her tell me that I had manipulated her son into getting me pregnant and that, although this completely trashed my life, all she was angry about was that I had ruined his life and his chances of any success. On that day, at the age of 19, feeling like a complete and utter failure, I made a commitment. I would be a great mom. I’m not proud of every parenting decision I have made since then, like the time I made m