Every January there’s a day or two like this: shorts weather in the middle of frozen weeks. Days when we open the windows and let the humidity in, sniffing the air and saying, “Oh right, that’s what that feels like.” In the afternoon, I put shoes on the kids and we trek outside to scooters…
Read MoreAll articles filed in motherhood moments
When the Stars Aligned…
Most days, I know what I want to blog about well before I make it to the computer. This week, not so much. I have a very big post in mind, but I’m not quite ready to write it yet, and besides, after I spent twenty minutes on the Nordic Track and made it downstairs…
Read MoreBig Feet
The thing about having four children close together is that I’ve been locked in small child mode for so long, I’ve become fixated on the age of five. By five, they should be past diapers and defiance, they can brush their own teeth and bathe themselves, be trusted with certain tasks and I can feel…
Read MoreBusted
The words leaped off the page, preventing me from skimming through the last few pages of the magazine I was supposed to be going through so we could get rid of it: FIRING THE BUTLER AND THE MAID, it said. I tore through the article, and phrase after phrase made me wince: …choosing clothing and…
Read MoreIn Which My Daughter Becomes Me
After my sister and I drove my parents to the brink of insanity with our bickering, my parents finished the basement and moved her downstairs, and I had my very own bedroom in the northwest corner of the farmhouse. From then until I moved out of the house, the double bed was shoved into the…
Read MoreThe Ties That Bind
During my first pregnancy, I was a voracious reader of all things baby-related. So I knew going into the birth experience that not everyone falls head over heels for their baby at first sight. Sometimes, the collective wisdom of the experts warned, bonding takes time. By the time Alex finally made his appearance, after almost…
Read MoreBittersweet…till he brings me back to reality
In six days, Michael will be six months old. You know what that means: it’s time for the first meal. I was determined to make it all the way to six months on breast alone this time, but like his brothers, he had other ideas. Ideas that involve wailing if left on the floor during a…
Read MoreMoonglow
The world is black and white and silver beneath the full moon as I stumble down the hallway and retrieve a hungry boy from his crib. It’s been weeks now since we’ve needed to turn on the light to help us latch, so as we enter the room, the nursing chair waits in a mural…
Read MoreHe’s Cranky? Run Some Bath Water!
People are always asking me, “Is Michael always this happy?” The answer is basically yes. He’s a very smiley baby, and if he isn’t it’s because he a) needs a diaper change, b) is hungry, or c) is tired. I credit the NICU. If ten days being poked, prodded, and forced to lie for hours…
Read MoreClass Clown In Training
Remember this picture? When Christian saw this picture, he shook his head and said, “I’m telling you, we’re gonna have trouble with that one.” That was a year ago. When Nicholas was barely two years old. Now just imagine what life is like with this child at three. “Mommy, I a goofball,” he says to…
Read More
Kathleen M. Basi 