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The S House
Every kid knows that house. The one with no food in the fridge. The one with parents screaming behind closed doors. The one you run from instead of to. And every neighborhood has the other house too. The one where kids wander in without knocking. Where the pantry magically stretches to feed whoever’s at the table.…
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Spicy Guacamole or Cold Avocados
Picture this… the morning starts with that first hot, soul-moving sip of coffee. For a split second, you remember—you’re not just “Mom,” keeper of forms and finder of lost Barbies…you’re a woman. Another sip, and you’re actually warm inside, daring to walk back to the bedroom with a still-HOT cup of coffee in your hand. No…
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Chaos Then vs Chaos Now
Fifteen years ago, I was a 20-something mom with a house full of kids under six. My mornings were a carefully choreographed disaster. On this particular day, all my kids were miraculously loaded into the car by 7:20. They were calm—which should have been my first clue something was about to go wrong. Calm is…
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The Fun Mom Died at 33 Pounds Lost
Being fat was easier. There, I said it. It was easier to drink soda without a second thought. Easier to say yes to fried, buttery, delicious food without worrying about how I’d feel after. Easier to tell my husband, “Just grab me whatever they’ve got,” because whatever they had was fine by me. And honestly? I was…
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Haunted Rooms and Heavy Hearts
Nine years ago, Hailey walked into the room and casually announced: “Mom, my room is haunted. But it’s okay, he’s nice.” And that was it. She shrugged, smiled, and skipped away like she had just told me we were out of Pop-Tarts. Meanwhile, I was standing in the middle of our 100-year-old house, holding myself…
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Wall Licking, Hissing, and Pepperoni Politics
This week’s parenting highlight reel: • My six-year-old has started licking walls. Not once. Not for a dare. This is a lifestyle choice. I threatened to take her iPad. She shrugged… and licked the wall again. ( I’m just praying drywall isn’t a food group.) • Harper has learned to hiss from our cats. Which means my children now hiss at…
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The Load We Don’t Count
Right now, I’m clocking about 30 to 40 hours a week at night writing books. On top of that, I’m putting in anywhere from 30 to 60 hours on my company, depending on the week. That’s two full-time jobs, and neither one of them has “Mom” in the title. But then there’s homeschooling. The house.…
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The Color That Broke Me
My daughter once told me she couldn’t wear blue pants because blue was an itchy color. Same pants, same store, same size , but blue? Blue was different. Blue wasn’t “happy,” so it made her itchy. Half her school uniforms were blue. I was a single mom then, working 2–3 jobs just to keep us afloat.…
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Before Coffee, There Was Chaos
This morning started with a luxurious 2.5 hours of sleep because I stayed up way too late illustrating my next book. Enter: the panicked teenage phone call. Her ride to practice wasn’t arranged. Today’s the “big run-through.” She cannot miss it. Cue me, stumbling out the door like a zombie on a mission, carting a sleeping Harper…
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The Pretzel Test
Fourteen years ago, I was in the thick of it…five kids under six. Two were just ten months apart. One had classic autism (level 3). Every meal felt like a battlefield, me at the center, clutching a fork like a soldier holding the last line of defense. Ten little hands would creep across the table,…
Crumbs and Chaos 