World Moms Blog

I have two young sons. When I think about what I want for them in life, love is on top of the list.

I want them to feel the love of their family – the unconditional love of both their parents and the love that comes from the special bond of being brothers.

I want them to know what it’s like to have the love of true, life long friends who will celebrate their strengths and look past their weaknesses.

I want them to understand what it means to love themselves and everything special and unique that only their spirits bring to the world. Through this, they can reciprocate all the love that they receive.

I want them to feel love for the natural world around them.

And I want them to experience romantic love, hopefully with more positive than negative outcomes (because let’s be honest….heartbreak is part of the deal).

It’s this last part that prompts me to write today. The awakening of romantic love and sexual attraction is Read more…

Back in March of 2011, I wrote a post for World Moms Blog titled “Searching for My Inner Domestic Goddess,” which detailed my numerous shortcomings in the traditional homemaking department. Since writing that post, I have spent some time trying to broaden my domestic horizons, specifically in the kitchen, and I am pleased to report that I no longer think I can accurately claim “I can’t cook.”

Now, I am not great. Not by any stretch. I make many meals that could be described as edible at best. But I am learning and have successfully pulled off some new dishes. Check out this root vegetable pie! Read more…

I hate it when I lose my cool with my kids, especially in public. I have been a mom for 6 years now (I have 2 boys –  one 6 years old and one a toddler), and I work really hard to be constructive and patient with them. I try to redirect and channel their energy. I try to reinforce positive behavior rather than always focusing on the negative. I try to talk directly but calmly and not raise my voice.

But even with the grandest of intentions, sometimes I turn into “that” mom.  And it’s during those times that I am amazed at the things that come out of my mouth. Now, I don’t go off the deep end. For example, I remember how one year when I was in elementary school, my classroom had a teacher’s aide who would always yell in her booming, deep voice, “If I have to come back in here, I’m going to BASH SKULLS!” I never go there. And I have really cleaned up my language since becoming a parent. But in the heat of the moment, I sometimes say things that are so cliché-parent and completely ludicrous from a child’s perspective. Let me share some of them with you. Read more…

I grew up in a devoted Roman Catholic household, but over time, I have drifted away from the church.  I have the utmost respect for all my friends and family who are practicing Catholics, but as I really pondered my own spiritual beliefs and stance on various social issues over the years, I realized that the Catholic Church wasn’t the best fit for me.

To be honest, I lean more toward agnosticism. I believe we are part of something much bigger than ourselves to which we can positively contribute by our words and actions, but I am not sure how I define that “something.” I am a spiritual and moral person, but I don’t feel drawn to formal religion. And I do not want to go through the motions with something if it does not truly resonate with me.

While all of this felt fine for me and my similarly minded husband for years, I started to panic when I became pregnant. Despite my misgivings about certain teachings of Read more…

Several years ago while doing a monthly breast exam at home, I found a lump. This wasn’t exactly new to me, because ever since puberty, I pretty much have had benign lumps come and go.

As my doctor once told me, I’m “lumpy.” (What a morale boost for a young woman!).

So when I found this lump, I didn’t panic.

It was a week before my son’s 2^nd birthday, and I had a lot of other things to take care of. I assumed I’d be in and out of my doctor’s office with the same “not a big deal” feedback I’ve always received. Read more…

I just took my son to the movies for the first time. He is 5 ½, and I hadn’t taken him to the theater yet because he is very sensitive to visual media. Well, he is sensitive in general. He just seems to hear, see, smell and feel things more intensely than other kids. I wanted to take him to the movies when he seemed  eager, when we could really talk about what the theater would feel like, and when we had the right movie to see.

My son watches really tame stuff at home, and most “kid” movies these days are pretty  intense.  You combine this with his natural skittishness about all things action-play-fighting-related (see my post titled “Boys Will Be Boys?”), and it just didn’t make sense to push the big movie theater experience too soon. Read more…