When I was younger, I was very involved in volunteer work. In high school, I worked with a group of students that visited patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and raised money for cancer research, among other things. I continued this tradition of service in college, spending time tutoring kids from a local youth group, working on home repairs at a local Habitat for Humanity house and participating and leading Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge service trips to Meridian, Mississippi and Covington, Louisiana.
There is truly nothing that can describe the feeling of service, especially in a setting where you get to meet the families that you are helping and work alongside them building their new homes! As a young lawyer, I was always mindful of pro bono opportunities and ensured that it always made up a certain percentage of my work hours each year. Read more…
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When I was expecting my son, my husband and I decided that we would not find out if we were having a boy or girl. We had undergone fertility treatments and there was not much of a surprise about the pregnancy itself, so we decided to save the big reveal for the delivery room.
I didn’t have any preconceived notions about whether I wanted a son or a daughter. After all of the years I spent trying to get pregnant, I truly did not care what sex the child was, I felt truly blessed to finally have the chance to be a mother.
Female friendships have always come easily to me — I have one sister who is truly my best friend, a very close relationship with my mom and lots of really wonderful girlfriends. I have never had many friendships with guys.
Growing up, we lived in a neighborhood with lots of girls and very few boys around the same age — in fact, all of the neighborhood girls played “house” nearly every day one summer, and the only neighborhood boy was invariably cast in the roll of “Scruffy” the dog! Now fast forward to me, parenting a three year old boy!
Chase is the first (and currently only) boy on my side of the family. When he was born my mom, sister and I didn’t really know what to expect, and sometimes, we still don’t. Read more…
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I’m happy to be back after a long hiatus from World Moms Blog. I was taking a break from blogging but not from reading and loving all of the posts from our worldwide web of writers. I am happy to be back contributing to the blog and sharing some thoughts from my little corner of the universe!
As I’m writing my first post back, I’ve just finished wrapping the last of the Christmas gifts, and I’ve checked and re-checked my son’s letter to Santa to make sure we didn’t forget anything that can reasonably be gotten (a real-car sized Lightning McQueen is not something we’re investing in this year, Chase, sorry!).
For the past year or so I have been increasingly concerned about how “into” branded toys and things my nearly 4-year old son has become. Read more…
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Our son is turning three next week. He wants a baby doll for his birthday so of course, that is what he’s getting.
I mentioned this to a friend last week and she asked what my husband thinks about it. Surprisingly, I did not even consider that he might have an opinion on the subject. In my view, our son has asked for an age-appropriate toy for his birthday so I was just going to hop online and order one that looked cute.
Turns out, I was right, and Andy just shrugged and asked if I needed him to pick it up at the toy store near his office. But, my friend’s question got me thinking about boys and dolls.
Chase is a typical three-year old boy, he loves just about anything with wheels. Right now, Thomas the Tank Engine toys maintain their ubiquitous presence in our lives but he also enjoys playing with generic race cars, taxis, buses, front end loaders, cement trucks . . .you get the idea.
But, in addition to all of the “right” kinds of interests, lately Chase is also extremely into everything involving babies. Read more…
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As any Manhattan dweller will tell you, living in the Big Apple can’t be beat. Culture, parks, restaurants, and all sorts of excitement are all right in our backyard. (Well, we don’t actually have backyards, but I digress). The one big drawback? The size of the living space!
After all, because 1.6 million of us have decided to inhabit this 22 square mile island, something’s gotta give! I know, this is not the only place in the world where people cram themselves into a metropolitan area, but for me, the space issue can, at times, be a real issue!
We live in what is known in NY as a “junior four” apartment—basically, it’s a large one bedroom with a dining alcove that can be converted into a second *small* bedroom. Before Chase was born it was a perfect set up. When we bought the apartment we had a different lifestyle–we actually had space for dinner parties and the occasional houseguest! Now there is a train table where the bar cabinet once sat, so as we all know, things change!
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Was it Tom Petty who said it? Waiting is the hardest part. I am quite good at waiting. Waiting to get pregnant, that is.
The first time around it was over 2 years. All of the failed attempts were so difficult; living life in two-week increments became the norm—first, waiting to ovulate and then waiting and hoping to see that elusive second line on the home pregnancy test. I lived this way for nearly a year with no luck, and then pursued fertility treatments with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE) for a little more than the next year.
My husband and I learned all about the alphabet soup of making a baby: IUI, IVF (with or without ICSI) and PGD were all things we had to consider. I have no problem speaking in acronyms with my RE or ObGyn anymore (see what I did there!?). It seemed the whole world was getting pregnant, I couldn’t walk to the subway station in the morning without seeing at least 8-10 baby bumps (yes, I counted). Read more…
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