“My days are filled with tripping over Matchbox cars, breaking up wrestling matches, searching for big sticks, laughing at poop jokes, and talking about sports. I’ll never be the mother of the bride. I’ll never walk my daughter down the aisle. But I can assure you, I’m not missing out on anything.”
‘Oh wow, three boys! Are you trying for a fourth to get a daughter?’ Strangers ask me this on a regular basis. I always stop and ask myself, ‘Why?’: Boy mom says ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’
‘I asked the agent, ‘Do you need their ID?’ She said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I never gave any proof of my role as their guardian.’: Mom urges ‘we need to do better’ after airport fails to protect against child trafficking
“Today, I could have stolen your child and flown to another state with them. No proof of name or identity necessary. Unchecked. Unchallenged.”
‘She said, ‘It’s pretty sad special ed kids will be allowed to attend school 5 days a week, but other kids can only go for 2!’: Special needs mom responds to school reopening backlash, ableism
“She continued, ‘The kids that are going further in life aren’t the special ed kids, sorry to say but it’s the truth. It’s easy to manage the class size and have them all attend.'”
‘Dear God, please bring me a 4-year-old sister.’ Then came an email. ‘Let’s not get our hopes up.’ I wanted to protect her.’: Couple adopts 3 ‘unlikely siblings,’ ‘We are a family’
“I couldn’t shake this feeling. ‘I have this strong sense we have a child who is already alive.’ I whispered to my husband. ‘Nothing would surprise me at this point,’ he responded.”
‘It doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, brown, or yellow. If you’re healthy or unhealthy. Single, married, or divorced.’: Woman urges ‘miscarriage does not discriminate’
“Miscarriage does not discriminate.”
Thank You To The Friends Who Understand My Anxiety
“When you come across friends who begin to understand, you realize this might be a battle you face every day, but it’s one you won’t have to face alone.”
‘They are WAY too big to be picked up!’ They’re unaware I never held their tiny bodies. I fell and sobbed.’: Couple adopts 4 kids, ‘Being parents is the most extraordinary privilege’
“I’ve pulled live frogs from my son’s pants. They’ve peed in their dresser drawers. Their tiny lives are brimming with trauma and neglect. I’ve lost friends and family. I’ve missed major portions of their lives. They will always belong to another mama, too.”
‘As a man, I will never be able to breastfeed my children, but I can do my best to support my breastfeeding wife.’: Husband urges ‘teamwork is essential’
“She’s exhausted. She’s dealing with postpartum PTSD. She’s not sleeping. She doesn’t have the extra hours to pump. Give her a shoulder to lean on.”
‘The ministry called. ‘We have a boy and a girl. Would you be open to adopting two children?’ WHAT? Could this be real?! We were moved to tears.’: After 11 miscarriages, failed surrogacy, couple adopt 2 kids from foster care
“11 miscarriages, a failed surrogacy, and a failed adoption later, a family member on my husband’s side begged us not to give up. ‘Try ONE more time.’ If it was meant to be, it would be. ‘These are actually our babies?!’ TEARS upon tears of joy came upon me as I held them.”
‘It’s nobody’s business!’ I’d tell myself. I was in survival mode. I dropped to 75 pounds. I thought I’d never wake up.’: Woman shares recovery journey from eating disorder, ‘I chose a life of fullness’
“I had to navigate the chaos alone. When I finally got to see my fiancé, he was hurt and confused. I was 75 pounds.”
‘Some curves don’t need to be flattened.’: Woman urges ‘you are not a before, you are not an after, you are a right now’
“Countless nights I prayed. Countless nights I spoke to the air hoping someone was listening, and I would wake up and not be me. I wanted so badly to fit the mold.”
‘I just want to run my car into the wall.’ He became short with us. Our arguments were violent. I tried so hard to reach him.’: Mom of 4 loses husband to suicide, ‘I choose love over bitterness’
“After we lost Hannah, he began spiraling. One night, he came home extremely late and he was crying. His drinking increased. I tried to reach out to him but his personality was split in two.”
‘I vomited in a bush from pain. I was told your 20’s are the best years of your life but I was watching them go by.’: Woman with ACNES syndrome starts fashion blog. You can still be YOU’
“I was sweating profusely and vomited in a bush from the pain. I was too young to get sick! I’d always been told your 20’s are the best years of your life but I was just watching them go by from my bed.”
‘Jagger, what are you eating?!’ He was smirking with pink stuff near his mouth. ‘Ohhh noo!’: Mom hilariously urges ‘keep laxatives out of reach of your children’
“I woke up to the sound of him sharting in his crib.”
‘No one told him he was being adopted. No one prepared his little heart for so much change. The day we arrived to meet him, he was absolutely terrified.’: Mom adopts 4 children into forever family, ‘My heart just knew’
“With tears in her eyes, their aunt told us through a translator that their mother had died. She couldn’t afford to feed them. My husband and I never talked about older child adoption. We had never talked about adopting 3. But my heart just knew, these were our kids.”
‘His head hung, pajamas on from the night before. He forgot his bag. He never experienced forgiveness.’: Kindergarten teacher shares student’s act of kindness
“I walked over and found a gold pack of gummy bears, and a sticky note that read, ‘I love you.’ I burst into tears.”
‘I saw a message from a woman I didn’t know. My husband’s breath caught. I was already pregnant.’: After infidelity, single mom learns to thrive with medically complex son
“I watched as they wheeled his small body out of the room, shattered I hadn’t even been able to touch my baby. Suddenly, I had to provide for myself and my son. Motherhood already looked nothing like I had expected.”
‘He looked at me after only 15 minutes of school and said, ‘How many more minutes?’ I almost lost it. It broke me inside.’: Mom vows ‘I will do my best to be your teacher this year, buddy’
“My momma’s heart was broken yesterday as I sat with Camden on his ‘first day’ of Kindergarten–8 hours online. 6-year-olds are supposed to play and be so excited for their first day of school, not broken.”
‘DCS is on their way to get the kids.’ We hugged a million times. I cried my eyes out..’: Mom describes ‘unpredictability’ of foster care, ‘They’ll leave your home, but never your heart’
“Our 3-year-old snuggled in my lap and cried. DCS drove away with our kids. I cried. How do you convince them you will always love them? It’s not their fault.”
‘You shouldn’t have the truck you do if you’re asking for financial help.’ We are not going to stop our lives because we have 2 special needs kids.’: Mom urges ‘they need to be kids too!’
“Everyone always says, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’ It’s simple. I do it because it’s what is best for Sophia and Grason.”
‘I’ll be back for you, I promise.’ I looked back with tears in my eyes. Her life is a revolving door of state workers and strangers.’: Adoptee becomes volunteer foster care advocate, ‘No act of love is too little’
“Her vocabulary includes words that would break your heart. As she expressed the pain in her heart, I felt as if I was looking at my former self. ‘I know you, I see you, and I am going to fight for you.’ She looked at me with tears in her eyes, and told me she believed me. I’ll show her she can.”
I Put My Child On A Leash, And It Shouldn’t Be Controversial
“Before I became a mom, I would’ve been the person that said, ‘I will NEVER put my child on a leash, he’s not a dog!’ And then I became a mother.”
‘Why, Mommy? Why are you hurting me?’ Blood poured out of her mouth. The next 60 minutes were pure torture.’: Tongue-tied newborn’s traumatic surgery reminds mom of faith
“‘The entire bottom of her tongue is connected to the bottom of her mouth.’ Her angry wails became a high-pitched scream of pain. I turned away. Tears poured down my face; it took all my willpower not to stop the procedure. The feel of her lips on my skin brought back painful, traumatic memories.”
‘You should just go have a one-night stand and get pregnant.’ I had never felt so dirty.’: Woman becomes single mom with support from loved ones, ‘I never felt alone’
“‘If I have no prospects by the time I’m thirty, I’ll have a baby on my own.’ I was stagnant. I hated the person staring back at me in the mirror. All I had to say was, ‘I was wrong.’”
‘Oh, how a boy needs his momma. This job is so much bigger than just keeping them alive.’: Boy mom pens emotional open letter
“They need back scratches, stern looks, and smiles their friends don’t notice. They need our ‘I love you’s,’ and those hard moments as we slowly let them go. A boy needs his momma to be happy when he is happy and sad when he is sad. Being a boy mom is so much bigger than I thought.”