Remember who I am. 

Yep, that is the number one thing I wish I'd done when my kids were tiny. 

Instead, I turned over every part of myself to them. 

Gave until I had nothing left to give, and then, pushed harder.

Of course our job is to meet their needs when they can't, particularly as in...

It was a quiet summer Saturday morning.  I was up early, a cup of hot coffee in my hand while momming mantras ran through my mind: I will stay calm today. I WILL stay calm today. I can do this. 

The day before with my 4 year old had been hard. The day before that, even harder. Honestly, it had j...

My three kids were born between 2000 and 2005. Their early years were filled with friends and family wanting to give them digital toys that talked, LeapPads, and hand-me-down Ipods. (remember those?)

And me, politely saying “No thank you. I don’t want them to think of technology as a toy.”

T...

Why your baby often crawls backwards before forwards.

Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies of all time. Seriously, I was ten years old when the movie came out, and spent two years begging my parents to let me watch it, primarily because I loved dancing so much. 

And at the ripe old age of 12...

In the first article, Welcome to the World Little One, we explored your baby’s basic survival needs during the newborn phase. 

In the second, What is Self-Soothing, Really? We explored the process of calming ourselves and how it connects to our sense of self. We learned that teaching them this firs...

In the first article of the series, Welcome to the World Little One, we explored your baby’s basic survival needs during the newborn phase. 

Today we tackle self-soothing. 

Google it and you get a lot about babies, kids, and the ability to fall asleep and calm down by themselves. Yes, that is the ...

We come into the world as brand new, tiny humans with three basic survival needs: food, shelter and sleep. Shelter represents safety. Food represents nourishment and growth. Sleep is the foundation of it all. 

Your newly born baby isn’t able to control any of these things. 

During the infancy of this blog I’m turning the vulnerability spotlight on myself so that you can really get to know me at the deepest level that a blog connection can create. To that end, I’ve been attic diving into old papers, photos, and VHS tapes (yes, you read that right) and unearthed this gem...

To Mother (v) to love and learn in equal measure.

I am an only child.

This is relevant because I really didn’t want to be. In fact, I made it clear with unnecessary repetition to my mother that the lack of a sibling was unacceptable!

My mother, however, was not an only child.  Moreover, at the te...

“Well that’s it” I said to my husband the day we sent our oldest to Kindergarten, my eyes moist with transitional tears. “What?” he said. “We’ve put in everything we could these last 5 years and now it’s time for her to try them on in the real world”. I was so right and so wrong at the same time. 5 ...

Me, circa 1986, doing what I love best.

A conversation with me as a child:

Any Grownup: “Cara, what do you want to do when you grow up?” 

Me, holding at least one baby doll and instinctually rocking back and forth: “Be a mommy”.

“Aww”, the grown ups said, “that’s so sweet” when I was little. It’...