“Stay calm and rational. Kids need ‘alone time,’ just like we do. It’s the parents’ job to be in charge. It drives me nuts.”
‘I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! They yell and hit their siblings. It’s an emotional grenade.’: Mom offers advice on dealing with sibling conflicts, ‘It’s up to US’
‘As I went through my daughter’s camera roll, I came across a photo of this blanket. I smiled. Suddenly, my problems didn’t seem so big.’: Widow thanks daughter on day of husband’s death, ‘The girl who smiled when it seemed impossible’
“Every year, we go back to try to find it – that peace from this horrible grief. Except this year, they were closed. Just that night. To sanitize.”
‘He had red dots all over his body. ‘He needs to be seen in the ER right away.’ No one would look at us. I was in shock.’: Mom of 9-month-old with Acute Myeloid Leukemia says ‘We’ve been given a second chance’
“You know it isn’t good when the doctor sits down at eye level with you. Josh and I took turns holding Holden and crying. We could feel how they all pitied us. We prepared to fight.”
‘The guilt strikes me. I think about the long list of things I have to do. And then, I wonder, ‘What is wrong with me?’: Tired mama vents to a friend and is reminded it’s OK to need rest
“I vented to a friend. I asked her, ‘What is wrong with me?’ She wrote back. There is only so much one can take.”
‘Do you want to meet your birth parents?’ I remember hearing her shut her car door. I could no longer breathe.’: Woman adopted at birth reunites with birth family, ‘It was my journey to take’
“As an adopted child, feeling like you are ALONE is often just a part of the territory. Feeling that way when I’d been given so much was difficult and made me feel so guilty. With sadness and the ever-growing ‘birth family’ hole in my heart, I moved forward with my life. These ‘search angels’ did more for me than they will ever know.”
‘I send them back, I’m selfish. I keep them home, I’m depriving them of proper education.’: Mom weighs in on school reopenings, ‘We could all use a little extra love right now’
“I don’t want to take that mental health risk, so I’ll send them. But, now I’m greedy and don’t care about the teachers. Okay, so I’ll send them… but, we have to skip Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday parties. Now, my kids are upset. They miss their family.”
‘I thought you’d be more excited.’ I had a pit in my stomach. I wonder who it was that we lost.’: Mom navigates secondary infertility, rainbow baby, ‘It all lead up to one moment’
“I bought a shirt that said, ‘Shhh, I have a secret, I’m going to be a big brother’ for my son to wear but I forgot it. I am a very superstitious person and this was the first bad omen I felt. All the blood rushed out of my head.”
‘She’s missing a bone in her leg.’ We had an impossible decision to make. I kissed her little broken foot goodbye.’: Mom amputates infant daughter’s leg, ‘She’s our saving grace’
“The doctors hit us with a heavy blow. ‘She won’t be able to walk. Ever.’ We tried to memorize how she looked with two little legs.”
‘I gently patted my son’s back when I heard a crackling, wheezing sound. ‘Something’s wrong, I just know it,’ I told my husband.’: Mom candidly shares journey with parenting PTSD
“I cried to the nurse on the hotline, ‘It sounds like he has fluid in his chest.’ I would sit nursing my son, crying endlessly in that rocking chair. Every breath my son took heightened my already over-the-top anxiety attack. I knew it wasn’t just anxiety. It was something more. This was the start of so many triggers.”
‘I cried all day, waiting for a call from our doctor. She needed to see us right away.’: Family discover 2 other children have complex heart issues after newborn’s complications
“I was secretly hoping for a girl, but the sonographer told us it was a boy. I looked at Austin, smiled, and said, ‘At least we make healthy boys.’ The sonographer’s reaction was a little startling. She said, ‘Well, wait…’ She couldn’t get a good view of his heart, but she didn’t know why.”