My husband and I were sitting in our final birthing class, watching a required video about cesarean sections. I had been feeling uncomfortable for much of the class, telling my husband I might go stand in the back of the room because I couldn’t find a comfortable position in my chair. However, I didn’t move. Instead, as a graphic appeared on the screen illustrating how, exactly, they get the baby out during a c-section, I felt my body temperature rise at an alarming rate. I took my jacket off . . .
Practice Makes Refinement
Have you noticed? The days? They’re getting longer! I’m so happy. No offense to February, but I’m always happy to bid it farewell. March just sounds like spring. Sure, where I live we’ll still probably have a number of snowy days, but March feels like we’ve really turned a corner on our journey out of winter. The days are literally getting longer, and I’m fairly convinced I can notice every extra second of daylight. Oh, also, I’m sleeping for approximately six minutes per night, so that could . . .
Realizing the Actual Dream: Inviting Others In
My best friend is due with her first child (a girl!) just six weeks before my first child (a girl!) is due. I remember calling her shortly after finding out I am pregnant to tell her the news. “Oh, Mal,” she exclaimed, “This is the dream!” And it was. We’d been talking for months about potentially entering motherhood. We were both very aware that after all the conversations we’d had with our spouse and emotional energy we exerted to make a decision as huge as this one, there was still the . . .
Guest Post: Stretch Armstrong, Desire, and Laughter
Hi friends! Here is my latest piece for Red Tent Living: Several years ago I really wanted a Stretch Armstrong doll for Christmas. The doll’s marketing team must have known what they were doing because they targeted me through catchy commercials and it worked. Once I saw the rubbery doll stretch to incredible lengths, I was sold. Wouldn’t you know, my consistent Stretch Armstrong-focused pleas worked—he was waiting for me under the Christmas tree that year. I was mesmerized by Stretch’s . . .
Before the Curtain Call
As you know, my husband and I moved across town just before Christmas. The apartment we left was the first one we shared together as husband and wife. We moved into it freshly married—6 weeks, in fact—and 2,000 miles away from what we considered “home.” Two years later, we’ve left that apartment with a dog in tow and a baby on the way. Our lives expanded in that little home. We began the lifelong adventure of figuring out how to love each other well and how to respect one another’s quirks. We . . .
Guest Post: Lessons in Love
My latest piece for Red Tent Living is up! This month, their theme is, "Do You Love Me?" Here's where that prompt took me: Lessons in Love Growing up, I loved playing “house.” I’d run around the basement pretending to be cooking, cleaning, and going on dates with my “boyfriend.” Everything in my game of adulthood was easy and lighthearted. There was rarely any conflict or hardship, which might be why his words, spoken fifteen years ago, cut me so deeply. I can remember exactly where I stood . . .