Spilled Milk {teaching your kids how to deal with failure}

"No use crying over spilled milk", the saying always goes. Which is true... unless you're the one who spilled it OR you're the one that has to clean it up. That was how my morning started today, and I'm beginning to wonder who ever thought that was a good thing to say in the first place. Whoever they were, they obviously didn't have kids! However, they might have known a thing or two about grace.

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Intentional Parenting: Training Your Kids for Success

We didn't want to have endless fights with our kids and we especially didn't want to be reactive parents. We wanted to be purposeful, proactive, intentional. And then we stumbled upon the one truth that changed the way we raised our kids.

The Ultimate Baby Products List {favorites from a mama of 4}

Contrary to popular advertisers’ opinions, there are many, MANY baby products you can absolutely do without! This list, however, is not one of them. As a first-time mom, I was the ultimate sucker for a good commercial. I bought the Boogie Wipes (fantastic but not necessary), the wipe-warmer (my husband literally laughed me out of the room on that one), and the most expensive diapers…. for the first two weeks. Then I got smart and realized there must be a better way to be a good mom besides stocking up on every product that’s suggested on the registry website. There are, however, some major life-savers that I wish I had known about before I needed them! Now that I know, I keep these products in stock CONSTANTLY. I’m telling you, a few of them have literally changed our lives!

The Secret Weapon: Our Number One Baby Sleep Hack

If you would have told me 10 years ago that today I would have 4 kids, I would have laughed at you. What would have amused me, even more, would be to hear how we have struggled to sleep train every. single. one of them. I thought with number one I had it all figured out when I stumbled upon a way to get her to sleep on demand at 3 months. Nope. Thing 2 came around and blew that theory right out of the water. Then what worked on 2 didn't work on 3, and so on. I don't have schedules for you, a great revelation of how many months your baby should co-sleep, the best sleep sack (although I could recommend my favorite if you asked!), or how long is too long to 'cry it out'. They may still be sleeping in your bed by the time they're 4. BUT! I do have one little simple trick that may just get that baby to SLEEP, regardless of where they are. The answer? Music. Too easy? Maybe, but it might just change your life. 

Week One {5 Baby Must-Do’s in the First 7 Days}

The first week of your baby's life is perhaps the most amazing and awe-inspiring as you watch them slowing begin to awaken to the world they have arrived in. But let's be real - those first 7 days are perhaps the most intimidating, terrifying and ultimately the hardest you've ever experienced to date! And instead of getting easier things tend to get harder, at least for a time. Although my husband and I both came from big families and had lots of experience with babies, when we brought our firstborn home from the hospital, many nights I would begin crying as the sun went down, so dreading the long night ahead. True story. And, no matter what you do or don't do, transitioning into life with a newborn is as painful as growing a limb. Or so I can imagine.

This Mom’s Open Letter to Target: The Real Reason We’re Boycotting {It’s Not What You Think}

Dear Target, From the beginning of your business venture, your CEO's, executives, marketing teams - everyone down to my local branch manager - have dreamed up and executed a brilliant strategy. You realized that in order to secure yourselves a place next to Walmart you would need to hone in on a very specific consumer, one …

When I Heard The Bells

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year! Nothing gets me like twinkling lights, sweet spices and the music that has made the holidays magical from my childhood. One song in particular struck a chord with us this year as my 5-year-old and I listened to choruses to decide her Christmas solo. Nearly as soon as we …

A Daddy’s Heart {A Father’s Day Tribute}

Father's Day was always a very special day in my house growing up. All six of us kids would elbow our way into the kitchen to help mom serve up the best breakfast of the year and then fight over who got to pour his orange juice. Some lucky duck would think quick and race into the closet to deliver his bathrobe and slippers. I'm pretty sure he got non-stop back rubs from the moment he woke up until he finally peeled us off to put us to bed at night {enter the Velcro sound effect}. We would shower him with gifts, homemade cards with scribbled names and always - always - mom would initiate a craft (usually something he could wear) that had all of our hand-prints on it. If you peek in his closet today you can still see the ratty sweatshirts with fabric-paint hand outlines boasting 2, then 3, then 4 and 5 then 6 sets of prints, names and ages. He wore them proudly and we loved to go up and find out hands throughout the year and compare how they had grown. Needless to say, we loved our dad - adored our dad - and there was one very simple reason for that: he adored us.

The Stay-At-Home Mom That Stays At Home

Hello, my name is Jasmine and I'm a Stay-At-Home-Mom. No, I'm not introducing myself at SAHM's Anonymous; more like the "stay-at-home-mom's that don't want to stay at home club". I can't help it - I can't sit still! NOT that I'm sitting still at home with my LIttle Miss and Mr. Not a chance! But …

How To Teach Your Kids About Modesty {And Why It’s Important}

I was at a BBQ recently with my 4-year-old daughter when she called me over to a little group of teenie-bopper girls she was sitting with. "Mom," she called in that infamous tell-tale voice, "We've got a problem." Upon my approach, however, I saw no spilled lemonade, everyone was smiling, and there wasn't a trace of blood anywhere. "What's the matter?" I asked, confused but not surprised. 4-year-old divas going on 35 always have a problem - they're like birds. They migrate to find drama and they usually go in flocks. "Somebody," she began, exaggeratedly peering around the group, "Has shorts on that are TOO short." She delivered her last line with all the confidence of an old grandmother lecturing those young whipper snappers, and no, to my horror and dismay, there was no way the comment went by unnoticed. It was well heard by everyone in the group. I wanted to melt into the floor. But she was right. Somebody DID have on shorts that were too short, and it was my 4-year-old that had the guile to address the problem.