savagemama

My five-year-old is a bad ass. And don’t you forget it. She can climb trees and swing, fearlessly, from the rope attached to her tree house. She walks the pasture by herself and ponders the horses, the fences. She is kind, observant and strong. She already has everything I always wanted for her. She knows who she is and what she wants.

Lately, that includes camouflage. I’m not speaking in metaphors here, really, she wants to wear fatigues, every day. When went shopping for clothes for Eliza a few months ago, her eyes lit up at the navy on gray pattern. After offering several other options I had a moment of soul searching in the boys department. I just couldn’t do it. I put my foot down.
Read the rest of this story »

One of my more direct friends asked me the other day what, oh what, I have been doing to fill my days now that I’m no longer working full-time. This question caught me off-guard as this woman is a stay-at-home mom. Surely, I thought, she off all people knows how to fill a day when you have small children and no job to go to everyday. But then I realized her question wasn’t an accusation. She was probably just curious and I’m just a little sensitive.

Read the rest of this story »

Five summers ago, fully pregnant with Eliza, our water heater stopped working. It was mid-July and Seth’s parents were visiting. Seth’s dad loves a house project so the two of them set out to replace it. While we were without hot water, Seth would squirt me, naked and oh-so round, with the garden hose in the back yard so I could cool off and have some semblance of a bath. The water was ice cold but refreshing on my swollen ankles and taut belly.
Read more >