Oh how I’ve missed this blog. I mean, I don’t feel guilty about not posting frequently — the whole point of this space is that it is mine to post to freely (or, um, not). However, I’ve had several moments since last month where I’ve wanted to post and just haven’t been able to find the . . . → Read More: California

Freakish core strength at 5 months

Violet is such a giggly, chubbalicious fixture in Jon, Laurel, and my lives that it’s truly hard to imagine that we ever lived without her. I mean, of course we remember what our lives were like as a family of three — and it was a beautiful life — but . . . → Read More: The Sweetest Six Months

Breaking away from the pack!

I grew up in a classically intense, achievement driven Asian household, yet I haven’t gone the tiger mom route. Instead, probably driven by Laurel’s shyness plus a few really crappy experiences where Laurel has said she wanted classes or camp then kicked and screamed the rest of the way, I’ve simply . . . → Read More: Running Free

Six years and nine months ago…

Dear Laurel,

Today you are 7 years old. I’ve been joking that when you turn seven (and head to second grade, and start soccer, and…) I will sob like a baby. Because somehow 7 seems like the threshold of a new phase of childhood. You’re moving on up from little kid . . . → Read More: Letter to Laurel

Violet and my view from the picnic blanket…

Late yesterday afternoon, Laurel became obsessed with the idea of having a picnic. Not in our backyard, but out somewhere. Admittedly, by this point in the day Jon and I were tired and less than enthusiastic. We kept trying to find ways to convince her out of . . . → Read More: Sisters, Revisited

For the last several months, I’ve been dealing with some heavy family stuff. At first, I was consumed with anger. It has taken considerable restraint to not blast the water cannon, as it were, in this space. Instead, I’ve turned to my therapist to help process things. Jon and I have spent countless hours trying . . . → Read More: You Can’t Choose Your Family…

On Saturday Jon and I went to a party (hosted by of one of his work friends who I hadn’t yet met) that really took me back to our early dating years. There was the circling around looking for non-permit parking, the apartment buildings squeezed tight within arm’s reach of one another, the tight and . . . → Read More: The Verbal Fountain of Youth