• The Time We Took Two Under 2 to Italy

    “Would you do it all over again?”, asked my youngest sister. My mind quickly recounted slamming my hands into the mattress in a sleepless fury, while yelling, “I can’t do it anymore!”. And then I flashed to our self-guided nighttime walking tour through Rome, gelato in hand, engulfed by the romantic magic of a brand new city full of monuments…

  • Loving My Second

    “To fall in love you have to take the risk of changing yourself for that person. You have to let go. Let go of who you thought you were before you loved that person.” – Father Richard Rohr  Sometimes the hardest thing about being a mom isn’t the long days or the sleepless nights. It’s the love. A love so…

  • Life with Two Kids

    Now seven weeks into life with two kids, I often get asked how things are going.  “It’s hard,” I reply honestly. “Two kids is no joke!” We are in it. Having two kids is the hardest honor I’ve been blessed with. Somehow two feels like triple the work and I feel like I should need less help than I do.…

  • June 1st

    The four of us lay in bed. Sitting comfortably on a cloud of hormones and pure joy. We couldn’t stop smiling and staring at her, FaceTiming our families to share the happy news. I had thought a thousand times about what her birth day would be like. June 1st now held her story forever. My water broke on May 31st…

  • The Bookshelf

    It was 9:30 at night. My insane need to nest, coupled with my husband leaving for eight days on a work trip (three days after our big move), had me a little furniture assembly happy. I’d been staring at that white kids bookshelf online for two weeks before I purchased it, so when it finally arrived, I was beyond ready…

  • New Home // Home Birth

    I strolled into Home Depot with my checklist scribbled into the notes section of my iPhone. Maisley sat in the front of the cart, casually along for the ride and intentionally preoccupied by her Trader Joes cheddar rocket snacks. I’m never above asking for help in that giant store, so I flagged down the first orange vest in site. “Excuse…

  • Who Am I Really?

    :: I sometimes feel like I am so busy pursuing everyone else’s vision of success, creativity or happiness that I’ve lost sight of what my own soul is truly after. :: Two weeks ago, in the Redwoods of Santa Cruz, I found myself in a room next to 200 other people, hanging on the words of renowned life coach, Martha…

  • A quick look back, before leaping forward

    As Ryan and I sit here on the first day of 2018, my first thought is to recap and remember the past 365 days, before I jump into another whirlwind around the sun. Our new tradition is to write down highlights of the year, so that in 10 years, 2017 doesn’t become a lost year of early parenthood fog. 2017…

  • Holiday Overflow

    This week has been overflowing. A festive clutter of new toys and old, miniature body balms, and stubborn dead pines dusting the corners of the floor. Things have been sitting undone for much longer than I intend. A messy car, the clean dishes on the drying rack begging to go home, and a laundry basket that doubles as a dresser.…

  • Baby Two: Keeping it Real

    I haven’t written in a while. Mostly because I’ve been spending my “free time” trying to escape my first trimester nausea reality, by replacing it with other realities, like Suits.  It’s been challenging to remain fully present, and enjoy the recent holidays and happenings when so much of my mind is occupied with baby two. The only moment of clarity…