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The Right to Party

What do you get when you combine 17 kids under 7, 13 orders of Pizza Hut pasta, a huge inflatable water slide, a cake the size of Rhode Island, and a stereo blasting old Poison songs? A. A pounding headache B. 17 smiling, sticky, sunburned faces C. Savannah’s 5th birthday party D. The most generous neighbors in suburbia E. All [...]

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Rest in Peace, Hamper

Like all newly expectant moms, I went registry-crazy when my first baby was cooking. Armed with my mouse, laptop, and a mile-long list of “must-have” recommendations care of Babies ‘R Us, I created a wish list of enough stuff to feed, wash, carry, push, soothe, and pimp out a thousand little Savannahs. There was no [...]

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A Princess Turns Five

                        My oldest baby is five today, and I couldn’t be more shell-shocked than if I’d just woken to discover that she’s speaking fluent German or has learned to drive. Savannah has always seemed ahead of her time, with emotions and insights and vocabulary far beyond her years. Today, the calendar takes a leap — not [...]

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My Three Things

Okay, so I’ve resolved to end each day with a quick catalog of three (or more) things that made me happy during the past 24-hour period. I’m hoping this will help me master the art of living in the moment throughout the course of the day, to help me learn to unwrap ordinary moments to [...]

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Third Shift

2:43 AM, fresh off  another late-night “Clara-bye.” You never know whether Claire will wake up in the middle of the night and, if she does, it’s anybody’s guess whether she’ll be shrieking and inconsolable or just mildly whiny. Tonight it was the latter, and getting her calmed down was more pleasure than pain. After crying [...]

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