Speed Bump

I give myself a B for today’s parenting. Breakfast was uneventful (if slightly less than nutritious), the dog was a bit less crazy than usual, lunches got made and we all got out the door with completed homework and full water bottles. Importantly, there were no tears and no yelling. Success. I try not to grade my parenting daily, but more often than not I end the day feeling inadequate. Some days I feel like an outright failure as a parent - days that begin with a hurried morning to get to an early meeting, a meeting where nothing gets accomplished and that I should have skipped. Days that start with forgotten lunches and misplaced library books lead to an evening where I’m late to drive the soccer carpool and dinner gets on the table at 8:45. Everyone is tired, some of us cry, some of us yell. No one goes to bed happy. But even on the days I give myself an F, I hug my kids before they go to school. I feed them a healthy dinner and tuck them into bed with a kiss. I ask them about ...

Can the 4th of July really be here and gone already?  The July 4th holiday always feels like the mid-point of summer to me. Time is going too fast! Roxie is a 4th of July baby and we celebrated her birthday with a special pink dog treat and a trip to the dog park for a swim on a hot morning. Roxie is now 12 years old, an old dog by any measure. I told Charlie and Izzy the other day that Roxie was my first baby. They thought that was funny. My life with just Roxie 12 years ago was so very different from what it is now. When I brought Roxie home at 8 weeks old, I had just returned from living in Italy and was settling into a new job in a new city where I knew no one. We navigated St. Louis and then Kansas City together before we expanded our world and made room for our lovely little family. I think we've done pretty well for ourselves.  I've heard it said that parenting is a marathon, not a sprint. In marathon running, you have to be physically prepared, but true succ...

Parlez-vous francais? Neither do I. But I secretly wish I could - definitely my favorite language to listen to. But before we talk about the French, can I get a Rock Chalk? I have to start this post by congratulating the Kansas Jayhawks for their improbable run to the Final Four. No one predicted this team to get this far. Just a few years ago, I would have been making plans to head to New Orleans for the games this weekend. But it isn't that easy with two little ones to plan for. So instead we will be cheering from home, wishing we were there. At any rate, I'm not sure they can top yesterday's win over UNC and our old friend Roy. Call it a season, wrap it up. It can't get any better than that.  Besides basketball, I have a couple parenting issues on my mind this Monday morning. This past Saturday I did something I've never done before - hire a babysitter to watch the kids while I'm also at home. We're trying to get our house ready to put ...