We have a toddler in the house again and it just reminds me that it takes a lot of energy to constantly monitor the movement of an active munchkin. Fortunately, we are not yet grandparents in the official sense. We can wait a long time for that one. This toddler is in the form of a six-month old puppy that normally lives in the apartment of child Number 1, and came to visit for the holidays. Yes, for two weeks we have had four kids and four dogs in the house. The children o

On Tuesday night, Number 2 came home! It has been nine months since she was last home, but I say it has been a year because she was only home for 2 days in April, so that didn’t really count. Now, we have the whole family together, under one roof. This “reunion” made me rethink something that I had been feeling for a while. Much to my wife’s disappointment, I had been saying for some time that with our girls gone that there is no drama in our house. When we all gathered i

After all these years, and now that the kids are teens to young adults, I have to admit that my husband, the two-decade full time dad of our four kids, handled something much better than me; and now I am trying to catch up to adapt my ways. MIKE: Finally! I will still take it, even if it is years later. Now, what did I do so well? I am dying to know. As a working, career-professional mom, time is a valuable commodity. Actually, it is valuable for everyone. As a parent who wo

Oh, the holidays…a time of highs and joys, girls and boys, gifts and toys. Among the glow of lights, music that excites and dessert delights, the stress of gift giving can raise the blood pressure to new heights. So, here is the question of the day, the week, the season: how do we define equal – by the number of gifts or the amount that is spent? It can be a parent dilemma, especially as the kids enter the teen and young-adult years. There was a time, years ago, when my husba

Having high school kids at home has its advantages. No longer is there a bedtime routine or long, chapter books to read so the kids go to bed. Gone are the days when I have to draw baths at 7pm to make sure the little ones are in bed by 8pm. No longer do I have to remind the kids to brush their teeth and put their dirty clothes away, wait, I do still have to do that! I digress. Times in our house have certainly changed over the year, and in turn, so have my nighttime rout