It sounds silly and obvious I’m sure, but when we adopted Theo at 7 weeks old, I had no idea that bringing home a puppy would be so much like bringing another child into the family. He was so young and likely fairly traumatized from...
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Every year, Christmas has slowly gone from being my least favorite to my most favorite holiday. The uptick began when Jack celebrated his first Christmas at 11 months old. We were living in a tiny apartment while Justin was working full time and completing his...
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It probably sounds silly, but living in New York City taught me how to shop efficiently online. I bought everything from diapers and groceries to setting up and dealing with laundry on the internet. New York City is a great place for shopping for fun...
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The islands of Hawaii are deeply rooted in our story as a family, starting with my marriage. As a child I was fortunate enough to visit one time, and not again until I met my husband. Justin spent his undergraduate years on Oahu while attending...
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As a child, I didn’t spend a lot of time around my immediate family. We lived across the country from my dad, my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. I developed a fondness as well as a skill of keeping pen-pals with my best friends from...
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Parenting isn’t one of those things that I went into fully prepared for. I hadn’t really thought about what kind of disciplinarian I’d be as a mother, or how often I’d allow sweets in their diet, or how often screen time would be acceptable. I...
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The pathway through the holidays isn’t always the smoothest journey for our family. For years when we lived in New York City-truly where we spent the majority of our time raising our growing brood-we’d either have visiting family members or we’d spend the holiday by...
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"That attitude and confidence will suit her well when she’s grown,” a stranger called out to me as I struggled with Zoe. Our oldest daughter Zoe has forever been known as our strong-willed, confident and entirely loving child. She learned early on how to express...
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I don’t consider myself an expert on much. I’ve done a lot of things for many years, from studying to actual real-life experiences and working in the field, but it would take a lot for me to appropriate that term to myself in any way....
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Yesterday while making breakfast, Evvie bounced into the kitchen singing and swinging her baby around like she usually does. She has quite the spirit, one that I can’t say is completely unique to her (as she often reminds us of Beau), but certainly a special...
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We’re big communicators in our family - it’s the one thing I try to be the very best at with my kids. Each child is so different that this has been a real challenge in some ways, as well as a learning experience that changes...
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Earlier this year we enrolled Evvie into a preschool program a couple of days a week for two year olds, just like we did with Jack, Zoe and Beau. It was a good time to start socializing, but mostly it was intended as an independent...
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