As mothers we’re all pretty tired most of the time, worn down from the demands of raising the most important people on earth, and we need each other’s company to share in the difficulties and confide in the hardships.
Sharing helps us feel less alone in our endeavors and assuages our insecurities and doubts. It was very therapeutic for me to start writing for WMB a year ago, especially during a particularly difficult period when I shared my motherhood experiences while living in Mexico in my post “Living Under House Arrest“.
It is a great gift that we can learn from and lean on each other by sharing the difficult moments,but today I need to write about the immense joy that I feel as a parent. The joy that is still expanding inside of me since last night, forcing me to find an outlet to wax on about how happy I am before I explode.
In my sharing, I hope to celebrate my joy with you as well as allow all of us to remember the fleeting moments that make this whole parenting thing so immeasurably worthwhile. You will know what I mean… Read more…
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I’ve been out of the workforce for nearly five years, is how I begin my thinking about going back to work. Admittedly, not the most confident thought to have when networking with old colleagues, bosses and updating my resume.
So, I’ve been trying to come up with the optimistic “but…” line. And the more I think about how motherhood will have an impact on my management skills, the more I’m able to shift my thinking to, I’ve learned a lot over the past few years, and this is how it’s made me a better manager than ever!
I stopped working in 2007. While I was managing a housing reconstruction program for victims of the 2005 Tsunami in Indonesia, I had my third miscarriage in as many years, and it broke me. It ended my nascent career in international humanitarian aid and development. My husband and I returned home to the US feeling like dejected wanderers with no foundation to uplift us from our failure to create a family. Read more…
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It really does take a village to raise children. I am convinced of it.
In the beginning, I managed the twins with my husband and a 24/7 baby nurse for six weeks. After my husband went back to work, it was just me and a full time nanny for three months.
And when that didn’t work out, it was only me and a housekeeper who came around two, then three times, a week. This arrangement lasted until the kids were over a year old when I asked her to come everyday.
I stopped caring about the cleaning and only wanted her full attention on the children. Read more…
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Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I was born in Thailand and have lived in so many places that there is not one place that I can genuinely say I am “from.”
At this moment, I live in northern Virginia but it is really only a pit stop until next July when my husband and I, and our two kids, will go live in Vientiane, Laos for two years. And this is after having just lived in Mexico for two years…thus is life in the US Foreign Service.
What language(s) do you speak?
I speak Thai like a six year old, English like a native speaker, can recall some Uzbek, trying to retain Spanish, and now learning Lao.
When did you first become a mother?
I gave birth to my twin son and daughter the day before I turned 42 in 2009.
Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?
I have been a stay-at-home mom since my children were born up until three weeks ago when I started Lao language training at the Foreign Service Institute. Read more…
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In less than 24 hours the packers will be here to pack up all of our belongings. In 13 days we’ll be driving north out of Mexico and into the next chapter of our journey in the intrepid life of an US Foreign Service family.
Throughout the house is a series of piles, some of which are cordoned off with anti-toddler barriers made up of sofas cornered with loveseats, and other piles atop the most unreachable pieces of furniture away from little curious, grabby hands.
But, despite our efforts, our 20-month old twins know that something is afoot, and they team up to undo all the hard work that goes into keeping our hectic life organized and manageable.
They peak under the sofas and squeal in a questioning tone why stuff that is usually in the kitchen is on the floor in the corner over there, and they try to trick us into letting them enter by throwing balls into the ‘no-go zone’, expecting to be allowed in to fetch them…a definite no-no. Because, you see, these various piles are not all going to one place (wishing as I write this that it was that simple). Read more…
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The cliche that becoming a parent changes your world view in a profound way gets kind of old, but it is so true. My outward view of the world and how my children’s lives will be affected by their environment is at once richer and more complex.
The breadth of information and experience I desire for them to know is infinite; the protection I want for them emotionally and physically is visceral – all pretty predictable stuff in the cliche. What has surprised me, however, is the inward reflection on myself, particularly my memories, the way they have shaped who I am today. It makes me wonder how my children’s own memories will shape who they become.
Do you have memories from your early childhood which make you wonder if they actually happened the way you remember them? How did you feel at the time and how has that feeling stayed with you? Real or not, your memories exist and how you feel about those memories has probably impacted certain decisions or actions in your adult life. They have certainly impacted mine…in significant ways. Read more…
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As mothers we’re all pretty tired most of the time, worn down from the demands of raising the most important people on earth, and we need each other’s company to share in the difficulties and confide in the hardships.
